General Washington

[Charles]

As I transition from model aircraft to figures I dusted off an old Airfix 54mm model of George Washington on horseback. The kit is circa 1974. I want to practice my hand brushing skills and am starting off with acrylics. I picked up some Vallejo skin tones and have an array of craft store acrylics already so it made sense. Supplementing these are Tamiya acrylic lacquers.

As I am starting out in figures, my ego is as small is it will get. Please feel free to offer suggestions, tips, ideas, etc. From the photos I can see that I overdid the washes and next time will try a wet palette so I can blend in darker mixes and add highlights for effect.

Thanks for looking.

 

[winfield]

Ok, since you asked, forget washes. You cannot control a wash. Learn to lay in shadow using a brush. Washes and dry brushing, except for in specific applications, produce less than optimal finishes.

 

[Charles]

Looking at the work on this site, I whole heartedly agree. My next figure will be will little to no washes!

 

[Oda]

Welcome aboard Charles.This little universe of ours is really magic and I trust you will get many hours of fun and creativity.My two cents of worth suggestion would be this:Start with something much simpler.A foot figure with not many different kinds of surfaces and textures and as you get to control the brushes and colors work your way to more complex subjects.Youtube is filled with videos explaining painting techniques and PF is full of many talented people who are also very accessible and more than willing to help and provide guidance.In every little step you will make in figure painting I can guarantee you'll get enormous satisafaction by your achievements.One last thing,stay focused on your resolution to be a figure painter and know there is absolutely no substitute to benchtime.....and that's the best part in our hobby.

Oda.

 

[Charles]

THank

Welcome aboard Charles.This little universe of ours is really magic and I trust you will get many hours of fun and creativity.My two cents of worth suggestion would be this:Start with something much simpler.A foot figure with not many different kinds of surfaces and textures and as you get to control the brushes and colors work your way to more complex subjects.Youtube is filled with videos explaining painting techniques and PF is full of many talented people who are also very accessible and more than willing to help and provide guidance.In every little step you will make in figure painting I can guarantee you'll get enormous satisafaction by your achievements.One last thing,stay focused on your resolution to be a figure painter and know there is absolutely no substitute to benchtime.....and that's the best part in our hobby.

Oda.

Thank you, Oda. You make a very good point about starting small. I've started out on the next project (1/16 Tamiya Samurai) that was both cheap and available (I've had it for 15 years!). It does look to be "busy", but I also have a very simple 120mm American Civil War resin kit that I can work on. Additionally, for in between drying times, I have many 1/35 soldiers that I attempted as a kid with the Tamiya paints when they first came out, that I am repainting the faces for practice. My early conclusion is that 1/35 is too small for me!

The tidbit about benchtime is invaluable. It's all about the repetition, and lessons learned each time, isn't it?

Thanks again for the note. The is a wonderful form with a lot of top notch work here.

Charles

 

[KenBoyle]

Ok, since you asked, forget washes. You cannot control a wash. Learn to lay in shadow using a brush. Washes and dry brushing, except for in specific applications, produce less than optimal finishes.

Looking at the work on this site, I whole heartedly agree. My next figure will be will little to no washes!

OK, I agree with Steve, with a small clarification. Defintely lay in your shadows and highlights with brush work, not washes. However, afterwards a controlled wash with the base color over the shadows and highlights can be used to tie everything together. Don't overdo the wash though, as you will lose too much of the highlights and shadows. Experiment to get the effect you want.

Also, in my opinion a wet palette is a must and makes painting more fun.

Cheers,
Ken

 

[Warren SMITH]

Welcome aboard, gotta love the Airfix 54mm range... hope you continue to post, you will improve.. there are some real talents on this site, and they are more than happy to help you improve..

Smithy