Painting a Face in Artist Oils

[bucsfan21]

PhilK, I have your painting tutorial on my painting bench. Plan on using it in the days to come. Your articles and tips were always easy to follow. Now, if I could paint half as good as you!

Hope life is going well for you! Best of Everything, Terry Martin-Member of the Atlanta Miniature Figure Society

 

[bucsfan21]

Smudger, I also have the late Bob Knee's book on mixing colors. Appreciate you mentioning it. Still credit him with showing me the basics of Artist Oils. My first painting class was with Bob Knee at the Sword of the Phoenix Location across from Perimeter Mall in Atlanta.. And those wonderful 90mm American Series figures from Series 77! Good times, good memories!

Best of Everything, Terry Martin-Member of the Atlanta Miniature Figure Society

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[clrsgt]

The Shep Paine and Danillo Cartacci books as mentioned are invaluable guides.

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

getting the mix right is only half the deal unfortunately , what scale are you in .
Most oil painters have there own mix which you will never achieve an exact copy as even they can't do it the same each time
But Massimo Pasquale has a good mix you can see on Ytube

The old tried and tested method with Tit White, burnt Sienna and Yellow or gold ocher is a bit stale these days .
You could try : Tit whit ,Flesh Ochre , naples yellow deep and a hint of blue to cool it down , you will also need a brown for the darker shades in the mix .
Other additions can be Alizarin crimson and a tad red for the cheeks.

The above is only a starter for ten , you need to find your own preferences with oils and what works for you.

Good luck

Meant to say ,black as a base coat is not a great idea, try Humbrol dessert sand it is almost flesh in colour , this will save you applying oil to thickly .

 

[Chrisr]

Some great information and tips here. Many thanks to all who have posted them.

One tip I read years ago was to add just a touch of veridian to the mix to cool it down. Apparently most face powders contain a hint of green.

 

[Fantomas]

Hi Terry,
Here are two SBS from Massive Voodoo:
http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.ca/2011/07/tutorial-miniature-painting-with-oil.html

http://massivevoodoo.blogspot.ca/2011/12/oil-paints-complete-your-acrylic.html

And another article:

http://thevirtualinstructor.com/blog/how-to-mix-skin-tones

And an interesting article about painting gold:

http://surfacefragments.blogspot.ca/2012/10/how-old-masters-created-look-of-gold-in.html

 

[Nicolaos]

Hi guys!

Just to know, do you recommend sealing with some varnish or not? One of my good friends working with oils wants to know. As I'm using acryllics, I don't have an answer, I've just read your topic and I tought you could have some advices.
Warm thanks in advance and Happy New Year!
Nicolae

 

[bucsfan21]

Nicolaos, I use vanish to give the finished eyes some gloss. But I do not use varnish to seal the figure's flesh tones.

Someone else may chime in on this matter...

I do add Windsor &Newton product Liquin when mixing up my flesh color. Just a touch of it to my flesh mix. It gives the flesh a bit of a sheen.

Best of Everything in the New Year, Terry Martin-Member of the Atlanta Miniature Figure Society

 

[Nicolaos]

Thanks a lot, Terry! Have a best New Year!
Nicolae

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

Nicolae, try using a semi matt varnish for the eyes so not to give too much of a gloss ,you can always add a second application if needed .
You could seal the whole model with dulcote spray but it will kill the colour a bit and give a matt finish .
I personally just let the oil evaporate over time as it will go down to a nice sheen , esp for napoleonics but you may want a more matt finish for other stuff so dulcet can be a good option or into the lightbox and give it a bit of a cook.

 

[Nicolaos]

Thank you very much, Ron! My Belgian friend will be delight to see your answer.
Happy New Year!
Nicolae

 

[Chrisr]

Terry,
My face painting tutorial is still on the Timelines site.
Phil

Phil,
Do you have a link to this?
Chris

 

[DEL]

Everybody has a perfectly valid reason for using their preferred technique with oils and all of the above advice will work.
The one thing I never do is 'force dry' oil painted flesh. I find that leaving it to dry at room temperature leaves just enough surface oil to give a convincing skin sheen.
Oils are very forgiving particularly if you paint wet on dry, if say the shading on the face doesn't work then a quick wash down with white spirit takes away the wet paint leaving the dry 'undercoated' area intact.

 

[Nicolaos]

Warm thanks, Del! Happy New Year!

 

[pkessling]

I never used overcoats over oils. Mix a little liquin in for skin tones and smooth leather. Otherwise, I preferred to use undercoats to set the texture, i.e. Plaka for totally matte, JS and Cel Vinyl for clothing, etc.

 

[Nicolaos]

Thank you , Phil!

 

[pkessling]

"Phil,
Do you have a link to this?
Chris"
Not sure if it is there any more. I did several print articles for Historical Miniature and Military Modelling with step by step photos on painting faces.

 

[OSS]

The best resource I've seen on the matter is Danilo Cartacci's book: Painting Miniatures

Take a look at this and this review here at PF.

Just ordered it cant wait

 

[samson]

Terry,
My face painting tutorial is still on the Timelines site.
Phil

hi any chance you can put a link up to your sbs ? thanks rob

 

[Taiko]

Hi,
here is my article I have written and it is free. I hope it helps you.
https://www.patreon.com/posts/welcome-drink-11511367

And I am going to create a step-by-step video....from the box to the display cabinet...cleaning the model, priming, painting the face, clothing, weapon...

Milan D.