Just starting Out

[dannyk01]

Ok.. i have been building armour (tanks) for a bit now and i have finally decided to paint figures. I think i have done an alright job on the uniforms for my US soldiers but i am stuck doing the skin tones. i have been told that using Vallejo acrylics is a good idea but does anybody have a guide somewhere which might be able to help me? I also have a few Citadel paints handy aswell.

Oh yea, i also forgot to mention that im doing 1/35 figures.

 

[tonydawe]

G'day Daniel,

Welcome to the wonderful world of figure modelling and to Planet Figure.

There are as many different ways to paint flesh tones as there are different paints and every figure modeller eventually develops their own style and techniques through a process of trial and error.

My advice (for what it's worth) is to practice on a few spare heads. Make sure you prime the surface first with a good quality spray on primer (such as Tamiya) and when its dry paint on a Basic Skintone base coat. Allow it to dry completely and then paint another thinner coat over. When these are dry, you have a good platform to start building up your highlights and shadows.

The secret to acrylics is to keep your paint thin and apply a number of coats to progressively build up the colour, rather than slap it on and get a thick coat that obscures the surface details. Creating shadows on faces can be done by using a darker shade of your base coat and progressively building up the shadows through a series of washes, and wiping away the excess with a dry brush so that it remains in the recessed areas.

The best thing to do is check out the work of the great painters here on Planet Figure and read their comments on how they achieve the effects they do. The best figure modellers in the world are here on Planet Figure and they are all very generous with their advice and will provide you with plenty of inspiration and encouragement.

Good luck mate.

Cheers

 

[specmod]

Practice

Practice practice practice, like Tony said, you need to experiment and try to find a teqnique that suits you. You will have alot of peaple telling you that you have to use oils, acrylics, whatever, but at the end of the day, use what works for you.
l myself am a big fan of acrylics, and use alot of the citedal paints, followed by a series of washes and then pick out all the details with shading and highlights.
On this sight which l am new to, there are the best figure modellers from around the world, who l am sure will be happy to share their knowledge with.
Happy modelling
Cheers Andrew

 

[dannyk01]

Thanks for all of the posts, i had primed the figure a couple weeks ago with that Tamiya Surface Primer (the white one). I just added an enamel yelow-ish base colour to the face and hands. Would giving the face and hands a dark brown wash be a good idea to start the shadows?

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Daniel,

I'd paint the darkest shadows first and then gradually apply dark flesh to dark brown washes over the shadow area and "feather the shadows"so there is a gradual transition rather than a sharp line separating the shadow colours from the normal skin colours.

Like I said mate, trial and error. If you find something that looks good to you, stick with it. If you have a chance to take a few pics and show us,do so, as it will allow us to see what you're doing and provide specific advice.

Cheers

 

[dannyk01]

Alright.. i know it's late for me but i will post some pictures when i get home in the afternoon.

 

[dannyk01]

Alright.. due to my camera having no charge.. i need to wait for the battery to recharge...

 

[dannyk01]

alright.. i know i shouldn't really do a triple post but here are my images... the camera i was using was the quick and easy use type (not the proper good photograpghy camera because thats got dead batteries aswell) so here they are..

One quick thing i should mention is that i "misplaced" my other figure that i was doing before.. so here is a different one that i painted with a desert yellow..

 

[busso_boy]

another Perth PF member is a good thing. welcome Danny

 

[dannyk01]

Alright... i know that i didn't do my washes to neatly but i hope it will do.. I used Citadels pre-mixed wash called Orgyn Flesh for the skin and Bestial brown for the indent" areas.

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Daniel,

It's not clear to me from your photos whether you have applied a flesh base coat before you added the dark wash. If you have, my apologies.

I suggest you thin your wash colour out with more water (to the consistency of a weak cup of tea) and allow it to run and pool in the grooves and recesses on the surface.

Allow the wash to dry and then add another wash, even more dilute than the previous wash over the top. Repeat the process over and over until you've got a smooth transition. Try not to put the wash on areas you expect to carry highlights, as this will pollute you highlight colours later.

Patience is the key. Keep at it mate, you'll get there.

Cheers

 

[dannyk01]

Ahhh... Danm, i didn't put the best skin-type basecoat basecoat. Just out of curosity, is there any that you would reccomend? For the washes.. they are pretty thin but i think i apply them a bit to heavy. I will try to dilute them down even more and see how it goes. I am honestly enjoying doing these just to see how it ends up.

 

[tonydawe]

Daniel,

If you're using acrylics, I can recommend Vallejo and Andrea. Both have a good selection of flesh tones, from very light to dark.

Cheers

 

[dannyk01]

Alright.. next time i go to stanbriges (most proberbly saturday) i will take a look. Would it be a bit better to get something lighter (like albino-ish) or something more neutral?

 

[tonydawe]

Depends on how much money you can afford to spend Daniel. Given that you're a student, I suspect you're on a tight budget.

I'd start with Vallejo Medium Flesh.

This colour will allow you to do most Caucasian skin types. To create a shadow tone, add a small amount of Dark Brown (Burnt Sienna) to the Medium Flesh. Avoid using black to create your dark flesh mix, as it usually ends up grey.

To create a flesh highlight colour mix a little bit of white in with the Medium Flesh. For the upper highlights, mix a little bit of Medium Flesh in to your white.

As I've said before mate, trial and error is the key. There are literally hundreds of posts on pF regarding how to mix flesh tones, and you can spend hours reading them all and become horribly confused.

At the end of the day, you just have to experiment by mixing things around, trying, failing and learning from your mistakes. None of us get it right all the time, and most of us have had many more failures than succeses.

If you're going to Stanbridge's this weekend ask for Muppet and ask him to help you. He's a good bloke and will give you good advice.

Cheers

 

[dannyk01]

Yea.. i didn't see muppet last week speaking about him.. Mainly because i didn't really look out for him. About the paint, thanks for the tips, i will get a medium flesh and try to do some skin tones. Last night i was doing some different brown washes on the pants and i think it is starting to take shape, later i will post a few pictures showing my progress.

 

[dannyk01]

Alright.. i did some washes (on a different figure since im doing both togethor) and i got the tone i like for the pants. I added a basic green to the top (i know it's not the right colour) and i will exeriment with trying to get it right. For the pants, i mixed up a few citadel paints and made them into thin washes and go the base coat. I then mixed up a dark brown and light put it on.

Just for a question about the highlights on the pants, is drybrushing a good idea?

Here are some pics of my progress. Sorry if the images aren't the best, i need to get the other camera out sometime.

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Daniel,

You've made a good start.

I wouldn't recommend dry brushing the highlights on. Try painting a thin coat of paint (which is a lighter shade of the base colour: base colour+ white) onto the areas you want to highlight. Then you want to "feather" the edges of the highlights with a dry brush and gradually blend it so there are no sharp lines between the highlights and the base colour.

Repeat this process a couple of times, each time retreating up the highlight towards the uppermost point and put your lightest highlights there. Remember to keep your paint thin. Unlike a wash, where you let the paint run freely into the recesses, you want to keep your highlight mix controlled and only apply it where you want the highlights to go.

I hope that makes sense. If you want to bring one of your figures along to WASMEX, I'm happy to sit down with you and show you how I do it.

Keep going, you're doing well.

Cheers

 

[dannyk01]

Yes, i wouldn't mind taking to figures to WASMEx. Thanks for the help so far, it's helping a fair bit

 

[dannyk01]

Today i got some paints to properly start the skin tones. I got Vallejos medium fleshtone, Flat Brown and Sunny skintone (i need to thank my dad for these).

Here are some pics of one of the figures i put the medium fleshtone onto the figures hands and face. Later i might put a few light washes of the flat brown, is this a good idea?

On a little bit of a different topic, i put 1 thin layer of "wash' but only on the area, i'm ganna' try to :/

Sorry for the bad picture quality.