Painting Advice For A Novice

[Bobby]

Hi all,

So glad I stumbled across this site. It´s a real goldmine! Congratulations to everyone here for making it such an active site.

I´m not quite a beginner as I used to paint models about 12 years ago and I´ve decided to get back in the game recently! I found this site after doing a search for "Viva Zapata" which is the 54mm Andrea model I am currently working on. Gothic Geek´s WIP thread came up: http://www.planetfigure.com/threads/andrea-54mm-viva-zapata-wip.31268/
a really fantastis bit of painting that prompted me to seek advice on my own efforts.

First of all some photos of my progress so far (please accept apologies for my terrible photographic skills). Here´s the flckr link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87900810@N03/8044632925/in/set-72157631673317508/

The main things I´m not happy with are:

1. The eyes - I managed to lose the eyelids altogether in painting in the eyes and therefore lost the squint that the sculptor intended for the face. Is this retrievable or should I just put it down to experience? Can you guys give me any advice regarding painting in eyes in general?
2. Grainy finish to paint (I think this is connected to the fail with the eyes) - I´m using Vallejo acrylics. Any advice here? Would oils be a better option and are they much more difficult to use?
3. Photography - I´m using an ordinary old digital camera with not particularly good lighting. I need to improve the lighting set up but the photos seem to make the paint job look (even) worse than it is to the naked eye. Does the camera never lie or could I improve this with lighting / new camera etc?

Apologies for storming in with so many questions! Thanks in advance for your help. Love this place!

Cheers.

 

[housecarl]

That looks bloody good to me Bobby.
Here's an eye tutorial. http://www.planetfigure.com/articles/eye_tutorial-mark_benette/eye-tutorial.html
Never had a problem with grainy paint. I can only put that down to not shaking them enough.
Carl.

 

[Andrew Craft]

Hi Bobby, looks like a decent start to me.
Carl beat me to the post with eye tutorial links.
As Carl said grainy paint can be from not shaking paints enough and I've also had problems when the primer I used wasn't shaken enough and came out a little rough. Sometimes if your paint mix is too thick (not enough water) it can cause a grainy effect too.
You should be able to get the eyes back to shape with the tutorial Carl linked.

Andrew.

 

[Bobby]

Thanks guys, much appreciated. Andrew, I think you´re right regarding the paint mix being too thick. On the hotter days here in Barcelona it´s a constant battle to keep the paint wet enough! That and a combination of me rushing things a bit probably.

 

[housecarl]

Add a touch of either Vallejo glaze medium, or Winsor & Newton blending medium. They'll slow your drying time down.
Carl.

 

[Mark S]

Bobby, a grainy effect may also happen if you allow paint ( quick drying acryilics) to dry on your brush. You may start with too much paint on the brush and it begins to dry and come away in grainy lumps on before you wash and replenish the brush.
Simply have less paint on your brush and wash and replenish that paint more regularly.

 

[Tarracus]

[quote=" On the hotter days here in Barcelona it´s a constant battle to keep the paint wet enough!.[/quote]

Yep. I can certify that. You must work faster than on winter season. I recommend the advise housecarl has given to you about mixing with a little drop of glaze medium

 

[MarquisMini]

Hello Bobby , and welcome to PF.
I use vallejo acrylics for all my painting and some Andrea colors too.I will recommend a 1: 1 ratio for base color by using distilled water , i used to have some problems with a "grainy" texture but somenone told me to try it to dilute the paint with distilled water and works really good , and it get really hot here in South Florida , so for this kind of weather works well.
I also recommend to shake the bottle up a good deal of time , Vallejo compare to Andrea you need to really shake the bottle up.

On another note, interesting profile pic you have there , you wouldn't be able to walk half a block here in Miami without running the risk to be beaten by cubans ( and i don't blame them) .
best regards

 

[Einion]

Can you guys give me any advice regarding painting in eyes in general?

Practice x3; it really does make a huge difference. If you find you're struggling with eyes then it's worth just sitting down with a few metal heads (so you can strip them easily) and just practice doing eyes, instead of only gaining experience when you're doing the eyes on a new model.

Eventually you kinda want painting eyes to become second nature, so they're not something you sweat over.

There are a good few prior threads here on painting eyes with various tips to help make the job easier, including doing them first (so if necessary you can overpaint them and start again more easily), painting eyeball-out, not using a too-white mix for the white of the eye (helps prevent a staring effect) and painting the eyes looking a little to the right or left rather than dead centre, it's also a little more forgiving initially.

Pay particular attention to the size of the iris, it's easy to paint them too small.

2. Grainy finish to paint (I think this is connected to the fail with the eyes) - I´m using Vallejo acrylics. Any advice here? Would oils be a better option and are they much more difficult to use?

This is likely from the surface of the casting and/or the primer. Paints like the Vallejos aren't inherently prone to a grainy finish.

Oils are in their way both easier and more difficult to use, the latter in particular if you've never used them before. Lots of people use find oils a little better suited to larger scales, although they are perfectly capable of working well at this scale and smaller in the right hands.

3. Photography - I´m using an ordinary old digital camera with not particularly good lighting. I need to improve the lighting set up but the photos seem to make the paint job look (even) worse than it is to the naked eye. Does the camera never lie or could I improve this with lighting / new camera etc?

It's very common for photos to show stuff you don't see in the flesh unfortunately. One of these things is an exaggeration of surface gloss, so up to a point photos can indeed lie.

Your camera is probably partly responsible here (although it could be fine) but you're sure to see a huge improvement in image quality if you fix the lighting. Lots of light - diffuse light - is the main thing to aim for here.

Apologies for storming in with so many questions!

That's what the site is for, this forum in particular

Einion

 

[Einion]

On the hotter days here in Barcelona it´s a constant battle to keep the paint wet enough!

Make yourself a stay-wet palette - can't recommend one enough.

Einion

 

[Bobby]

Nice one guys! Great stuff, thanks a million.

 

[Bobby]

Here´s a little update to this WIP. Three new photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87900810@N03/8066371294/in/photostream/lightbox/
I really must work out how to resize images to include as thumbnails (and get better lighting). Anyway, I tried to take everyones advice on board when shading the trousers. Hopefully you can see that there´s a smoother finish on the trousers than the rest of the figure. This is after diluting the paint much more as per the advice.

 

[housecarl]

Looks very smooth to me.
Carl.

 

[Einion]

That does look like a big improvement already!

Einion

 

[DEL]

Here´s a little update to this WIP. Three new photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87900810@N03/8066371294/in/photostream/lightbox/
I really must work out how to resize images to include as thumbnails (and get better lighting). Anyway, I tried to take everyones advice on board when shading the trousers. Hopefully you can see that there´s a smoother finish on the trousers than the rest of the figure. This is after diluting the paint much more as per the advice.

Quite a difference Bobby...the trousers are very good and if you continue along thesre lines you'll have a cracking result on what's not an easy figure.
Cheers
Derek

 

[Bobby]

Thanks guys. The highlights are more pronounced than the terrible photos show. I´m now undecided as to whether to go for the pinstripes on the trousers that the box art shows!

 

[Bobby]

Some more photos of my progress: http://www.flickr.com/photos/87900810@N03/8087696711/in/photostream/lightbox/

I had a friend visiting that has a good camera so he did these for me. Unfortunately the legs are out of focus on them although the overall quality is much better than mine.

 

[housecarl]

Nothing wrong with that Bobby.
Carl.

 

[Mirofsoft]

I liked very much the sitting guy with a gramofoon
Best

 

[Andrew Craft]

Nice work Bobby, you've come back to the hobby strongly.

Andrew