Jumping in with both feet

[Adam Baker]

I've been interested in doing figures for awhile, and I've had several that I've had assembled for quite awhile, but that was as far as I ever got.

This wekeend, I pulled them all out, worked quite a bit on filling in seams and correcting problems that I saw, and then this afternoon I got all of them primed w/ some Floquil grey primer, so I could see how well my prep work turned out.

Here are the figures I'm working on.

Figures in the back are 120mm, a US Navy Top Gun Pilot and a Desert Storm SAW Gunner.

2nd Row on the left is from Seminar Resins, it a pilot flashing the victory sign. The other 3 from VL, and the "US Troops Desert Shield" set. They are going to be used in a Desert Storm era road block scene, which I'm still trying to put together. I wanted to make sure I could get the figures painted before I really got rolling on the diorama.

The front row are also all VL. On the left are SS Infantrymen, which will go in a vignette w/ a 1/35 German Kugelblitz and a custom base that I'm working on right now. The 2 on the right are German Infantrymen/Winter Dress. They were originally going to go w/ teh Kugelblitz, but I changed my mind on how I wanted to display the Kugelblitz, and now they dont work w/ it. I figured I'd go ahead and work on them and figure out what to do w/ them later.

I'm in the process right now of figuring out what colors to paint everything. For the 2 SS Infantrymen, I have a copy of Osprey's Modeling Waffen SS Figures, which has some very nice walkthroughs for painting the correct camo on the figures, and lists paint suggestions.

Unfortunately I dont have any idea what to paint any of the other figures. I spent quite a bit of time this evening trying to find something that suggested paints for pilot figures, as I'm very interested in getting both pilot figures I've got painted up. The 4 Desert Storm figures will all get the chocolate chip camo scheme's, just need to find out what colors are best for representing the tan & brown colors.

 

[ChaosCossack]

Wow, you really did jump in with both feet.
Just take your time, ask questions and don't be afraid to make mistakes... that's how you learn.
Where do you live? Any clubs or shops near by, that's always a good place to start.

Good luck

Colin

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks Colin.

I live in Gastonia, North Carolina, and I'm actually the president of the local model club, and thankfully there are a few good figure modelers in the group that I've asked questions of and gotten some help from in the past. We do have a local hobby shop, but unfortunately its closing its doors in mid April.

 

[ChaosCossack]

You've already got a leg up... I'm guessing you are an armour guy. Big head start

Colin

 

[Adam Baker]

Actually, I'm a little bit of everything guy, haha. I don't have any one specific genre that I prefer over another. I just build what ever strikes my fancy, from race cars to tanks to sci-fi.

 

[ChaosCossack]

Yeah, I hear that... I'm mostly into "Horse and Musket" era but I've done fantasy/sci-fi (mostly 28mm GW stuff) a few planes and tanks and of course motorcycles. Variety is the spice of life!!!
Look forward to seeing some of your work posted. Even through out some pics of your progrees.

Colin

 

[Adam Baker]

I thought I'd post up the little bit of progress I've made recently. I was working on the Waffen SS figures I have in another thread, and had a lot of problems that resulted in having to strip the paint from the figures and start over. Because of that, it really took the wind out of my sails and just left me w/o any motivation to work on them.

On Tuesday night, I got the bug to do some figure painting, so I pulled out all but the Waffen figures b/c they havent been reprimed, and started painting the flesh tones on them. Using a 1:1:1 mix of Vallejo Medium Flesh, Sunny Skin Tone and Basic Skin Tone, I came up w/ what I think its a pretty nice looking flesh tone.

Here are the pic's of where I'm at right now.

And a couple close up shots to get a better look at the color

I found that painting the Vallejo over the grey primer helped out a whole lot for coverage. I tried painting a couple of parts that were bare resin, like the head for the 120mm pilot, and just had a lot of problems, so I'll probably strip the head tonight, and then put down a coat of primer, before I try painting it again. Tonight I'm probably also going to start working on the shadows & highlights on the figures, and see what happens. Gonna use Winsor & Newton oils for the highlighting & shadows.

And does anyone have any suggestion's for creating a black skin tone? The other 120mm figure is a black man, and I'm not sure what colors would be good for that type of skin tone. I used to have a good book that had various skin tone color combinations but for the life of me I cant find it anywhere.

 

[Joe55]

OK, this is straight out of the book 'Color Theory and Application' by the late Bob Knee:

"Start with Burnt Umber, and if you wish a warmer tone, add a bit of Venetian Red (remember Venetian is powerful!). To shade use an Ultramarine Blue or Winsor Blue. To highlight use Mars Orange with Naples Yellow for the real highs."

I recently completed a Buffalo Soldier and for the most part followed the above combinations. I don't have Mars Orange so I used Winsor Orange instead. I also used Yellow Ochre and a tiny bit of Titanium White. I simply worked mixes till I was satisfied with the tones. Hope this helps.

Joe

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks a ton for that info Joe, I'll give it a shot. I know I've got at least most of those colors. Making a run to Hobby Lobby tonight, so might see if I can get the ones I dont have.

 

[Joe55]

My pleasure Sir, glad to have helped. Have fun!

Joe

 

[Adam Baker]

Joe, do you have any pictures posted of your Buffalo Soldier? I stopped at Hobby Lobby last night, and looked through their oil paints, and found out that I have Burnt Sienna already, and since its pretty close to the Burnt Umber, I didnt get the BU. I did however, pick up a tube of orange. They didnt have the Mars Orange you mentioned so I got what I thought would be close to that.

 

[housecarl]

This is for acrylics Adam, but still should give you an idea for highs and lows.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones
Carl.

 

[Einion]

And does anyone have any suggestion's for creating a black skin tone? The other 120mm figure is a black man, and I'm not sure what colors would be good for that type of skin tone.

There's a huge variation possible, from a lighter café au lait all the way to very dark (the ones that look blueish in the highlights because of reflected light). So pick one and then it's easier to plan the mixtures you might require.

If you're using oils Burnt Umber is actually a decent starting point for dark skins since it is usually just about the right hue for human skin - orange or red-orange. You could in theory use straight BU as your base colour, darkened with any dark blue or black for the shadows and lightened in any one of a number of ways.

For lighter skintones BU isn't always a great choice because it can mix quite dully (but experiment, they do vary). Overall I think it's best to do the lighter types in the same way as caucasians, mixing from scratch so to speak. My suggested palette for this can be found here.

Einion

 

[Joe55]

View attachment 95468





Here are some pics of the Buffalo Soldier I just completed. Actually, I still need to give him his corn cobb pipe. This is the first time I post any pictures and I don't have mastery of the camera yet. Check out the galleries, there are many more and better examples.

Joe

 

[Adam Baker]

Very nice! That's about the look I'm hoping to achieve.

I had been thinking about using Burnt Sienna as the base for my figure, but after using it to detail some figures tonight, it looks like its too much to the red side, so I'll probably be getting a tube of Burnt Umber this weekend.

 

[Joe55]

Right, you definitely need the Burnt umber. It will be useful for your other figures anyway and also if you build armor and aircraft.

Joe

 

[Einion]

I had been thinking about using Burnt Sienna as the base for my figure, but after using it to detail some figures tonight, it looks like its too much to the red side, so I'll probably be getting a tube of Burnt Umber this weekend.

Burnt Umber is very useful to have (not just for its colour, in oils it dries very well) but do remember it isn't essential - lots of painters don't have any. For this use you simply need that sort of colouring, which is easily achieved in other ways, e.g. from a red earth and black, or a mix of three primaries.

Since you already have Burnt Sienna, although it tends to be a bit transparent as the basis for flesh mixtures try blending it with a little black and any of your dark blues and seeing what each mix gives you. Either route can make for a colour very close to that of Burnt Umber.

Einion