Here I will cover an in depth review of how I painted these two busts. They are Dwarf Boxer from Clynche.art and Practice Bust #2from TorridaMinis and were printed by me on my Sonic Mini 4k. Painted entirely by airbrush(so far anyway) over about four hours, not including video and photography.
Tutorial Part1 : Volumetric Highlight
After priming with Vallejo Black Primer, I put down a coat of Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Neutral Grey 5. Unlike traditional Zenithal highlights, I go for a more realistic volumetric highlight. To do this I applied my spray first from the direction my imaginary light was coming from, above the dwarf's left shoulder, and below the woman's right hip. You can practice this sort of technique by shining a flashlight from various angles over a grey mini and decide where you like the angle, and then take a picture for reference. The other important consideration here is that you aren't just spraying a cone of paint at your mini. You will need fairly precise control to get this sort of result, but can always just spray from one angle if you are still learning. Turn your compressor pressure up to about 35 PSI and use light trigger pressure to control your airflow and gently pull the trigger back to control your paint flow. You will want your paint about the consistency of skimmed milk. If you are less experienced to airbrushing practice drawing smooth lines on some scrap cardboard first. And always keep your airbrush moving to prevent spider webbing.
What I do now is careful passes wherever there is a ridge of muscle. So along the curve of the shoulder, biceps, abs, breasts, whatever is facing the light source. The goal is to be able to look at the mini as if you were the light source (for the dwarf look at the mini from 45 degrees from the front left of his shoulder) and see no black. I keep repeating the passes over each part until I have a fairly opaque coat. Then I go to the exact opposite angle of the light source (behind and below the dwarf's right hip or above and behind the woman's left shoulder) and spray a few layers in the direction opposite the previous step. You will want a thin band of black in between both sides of the grey.
Tutorial Part 2: Pre-shadows
Please begin these from part 1. It is a wall of text but I try to very thoroughly explain the process.
I ran out of space in the previous step for the final highlight. So after I have my opaque and semi opaque greys down, I add multiple layers of thinned down Liquitex Titanium White. You will want to turn up your airbrush pressure to about 40PSI for this as white pigment is thicker than most. Go back down in PSI for the following steps. You want several layers, making an opaque coat of white at the points closest to the light source, applied in the same manner as step one. This is very similar to traditional highlighting techniques. On the opposite side, like in the previous step, you will want a semi opaque white, and it is perfectly fine just to spray from a few inches away to get just a light layer of white here.
For the next part I apply a mix of two drops Scale75 (S75) Black Leather, two drops Liquitex Muted Grey Ink, and one drop Liquitex Carbon Black. These are thinned with a few drops of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner and a few drops of Vallejo Flow Improver. Again, consistency should be about skim milk. The thinner thins and the flow improver prevents dry tip and helps maintain a smooth flow of paint out of your airbrush. In this case I specifically target anywhere the grey meets the black, deliberately spraying so I cover both the black and grey simultaneously. The focal points are places that will be in deep shadow. This is where you will definitely want finer control.
Tutorial Part 3: Skin Basecoat
Please begin with part 1 because everything in this tutorial layers on top of each other. I will post three parts each day until complete so check back soon!
Now we get closer to the preparation stage of the skin! It seems like a lot of work but the next step will make it all worthwhile! I mixed two drops of S75 Red Leather, two drops of S75 Deep Red, and one drop of Liquitex Perylene Maroon Ink. This is a new colour from Liquitex and I love how deep red it is. You could get a similar result with Citadel's Flesh Tearer's Contrast but the reason I mix inks in with other colours is to inject a huge amount of extra saturation into the mix. As usual, it is thinned down and you want a 50/50 mix of flow improver/thinner and about double this mix to the amount of paint you use.
This time I spray the paint in a thin layer over everywhere EXCEPT where the original bright white highlights were. If looking from the perspective of your light source you should see mostly white with a little pink visible. I keep building up layers until I have a very vivid, but not quite opaque, red. The idea here is to simulate muscles underneath transparent skin. Next up we will see all this groundwork really pay off!
Tutorial Part 4: Skin in the game!
Please start from the beginning when viewing these as they all stack on top of each other.
This is where all of the previous work pays off! I combine two drops of S75 Pink Flesh with two drops of Liquitex Muted Pink Ink and two drops of my custom skintone mix in the Titanium White bottle from the picture. The skintone mix is about five parts Liquitex Titanium White, two parts Liquitex Yellow Orange Azo Ink, and one part Liquitex Quinacridone Magenta Ink. I also pour any leftover skintones back in here so it is almost like a sourdough starter of skintones.
So I will load up my airbrush with the paint thinned to the same consistency as before and, still following the muscle contours so as to maintain the contrast, apply several thin layers until I have an opacity I am happy with. Again, you don't want to go full opacity and this part is more a matter of personal preference. Keep in mind here as well that the more layers you put down now, the more tanned your end skin tone will be. Don't worry too much about where you are specifically applying the paint either at this step, the goal is overall coverage. Make sure to keep the paint in your airbrush for the next step! Next up we will start highlighting!
Tutorial Part 5: Skin Highlights
Make sure to view these from the beginning as they stack on top of each other!
This step is pretty straightforward. Using the previous mix, I add two drops of S75 Pale Skin. I will also re-thin since I have unbalanced the mix by adding in three drops of thinner and three drops of flow improver.
Then, using the same spots I originally put down the Titanium White, I apply my highlight skintones. You still want to have a strong highlight facing the light source and only a few layers on the side facing away. The skin is pretty pale now, so let's add some warmth and deep shadow in the next step!
Tutorial Part 6: Bringing skin to life
Please go through these in order as each lesson stacks on the previous ones.
Now that these are about as pale as a Canadian in March, it is time to put some colour back in their cheeks, literally. I mix together three drops Liquitex Muted Pink Ink and one drop Liquitex Transparent Burnt Sienna Ink, and thin it with four drops of thinner and four drops of flow improver. You want it to spray reddish pink, and if it comes out closer to reddish brown, just add another drop of Muted Pink. I like to call this blend "Liquid Life" because as soon as you add it, the mini starts to look properly alive.
The key with this step is to be as precise as possible (don't forget to always be moving your airbrush tip back and forth slightly to prevent spider webbing) and you can help yourself when using only inks by turning your PSI down to around 25. The other thing to remember when using inks in this manner, which is called colour filtering, is that you want to build up your colour gradually. It will spray on very transparently, much like a glaze, but you want to apply the filter to a spot and then move onto the next area you want to work on while the previous area dries. Once you have sprayed all the areas you want, go back and build up the first spot further.
You will want to target areas where there are a lot of blood vessels under the skin as well as areas transitioning from shadow to light. For shadowed areas, you aant to get some spray in the shadow and some in the lighter areas. You can see this in her armpit and the bottoms of the dwarf's abs. Then a few light passes over places like knuckles, elbows, knees, and anywhere there is a crease in the skin. Pay special attention to the face. You want to have more layers around the cheekbones (see her face), underneath the jaw, the eyes, and along the side of the nose facing away from your light source. Next up, reinforcing the shadows!
Tutorial Part 7: Throwing shade
Please read these tutorials from the beginning since each step builds on the previous steps.
Now that we have brought warmth back, we also need to reinforce the shadows a bit too. I take 2 drops of Liquitex Muted Green Ink (you could do the same with Citadel's Akhelion Green) and thin it with two drops of thinner and two drops of flow improver. Green is a naturally occuring colour in skin that is in shadow. It happens because the red wavelengths of light are bouncing back off of skin and then the opposite colour, green, is left over. I go back into all the deepest shadows with a few passes each, similar to how I did the Liquid Life mix, but only in the deepest parts and parts I felt needed a bit more character, like along the creases of the dwarf's biceps and abs, as well as underneath her abdomen and breasts as well. After this step, if you are not doing environmental lighting, you can just skip to part 9. If you want to get crazy though, strap in for part 8 where we will really make the skin pop!
Tutorial Part 8: Environmental Lighting
Please read these from the beginning because each step builds on the rest.
For this step I mix 3 drops Liquitex Turquoise Deep Ink, 2 drops Liquitex Carbon Black Ink, and 1 drop Liquitex Phthalo Blue-Green Ink, thinned with 5 drops each thinner and flow improver. This step is less finesse, more thinking about where your secondary environmental light source is coming from. In this case I am treating it as moonlight and I am going to have it coming from above and behind both busts. Moonlight contains a lot of blue, and tints all existing colours with that colour. You could also use oranges and yellows for firelight, greens and yellows for a forest canopy, or pinks and purples for a cyberpunk city.
For this step you will have to decide which light is stronger. In these the front light source is going to be bright, but focused. So the shadows from and moonlight are going to slightly creep around the front. If the light was going to be strong and the only light source, like firelight, then you would just paint the back third of the bust, but in this case I am leaving only the front third or so unshaded. I included a few extra angles here so you can see what I mean.
I spray the back of each bust from a slightly low angle, making sure most of the colour gets in the shadows. Again, we don't want it opaque, the previous layers we did should still be readable underneath. Just several very thin layers like we did with the Liquid Life, building up saturation until you are happy.
Tutorial Part 9: Finishing Up
Please look at these in order because they each build on the previous lesson.
For the final step of the skin, I use 2 drops of S75 Pale Skin and 1 drop of S75 Golden Skin, and thin them with 3 drops each of thinner and flow improver (Forgot to take a picture, sorry). Then I spray the paint from a very sharp angle in a similar direction as the light source (above for the dwarf, below from the woman) along the shadowed part of the mini. So for the dwarf, I spray from above and behind his left shoulder (light from above and in front) and the woman will be both the front right of her back and the left side of her torso. Just a few light passes here are necessary since you aren't bringing the skin back up to full opacity, just enough to look like the skin is tinted blue. Finally, using the same mix, I will give a few final passes over where the white originally was, just to really make the skin glow and bring everything together.
Thanks for joining me for the full tutorial! I hope it will help you improve your skin technique or at least inspire you to keep trying. I will post more tutorials in the future and eventually the whole process on youtube.
Tutorial Part1 : Volumetric Highlight
After priming with Vallejo Black Primer, I put down a coat of Liquitex Soft Body Acrylic Neutral Grey 5. Unlike traditional Zenithal highlights, I go for a more realistic volumetric highlight. To do this I applied my spray first from the direction my imaginary light was coming from, above the dwarf's left shoulder, and below the woman's right hip. You can practice this sort of technique by shining a flashlight from various angles over a grey mini and decide where you like the angle, and then take a picture for reference. The other important consideration here is that you aren't just spraying a cone of paint at your mini. You will need fairly precise control to get this sort of result, but can always just spray from one angle if you are still learning. Turn your compressor pressure up to about 35 PSI and use light trigger pressure to control your airflow and gently pull the trigger back to control your paint flow. You will want your paint about the consistency of skimmed milk. If you are less experienced to airbrushing practice drawing smooth lines on some scrap cardboard first. And always keep your airbrush moving to prevent spider webbing.
What I do now is careful passes wherever there is a ridge of muscle. So along the curve of the shoulder, biceps, abs, breasts, whatever is facing the light source. The goal is to be able to look at the mini as if you were the light source (for the dwarf look at the mini from 45 degrees from the front left of his shoulder) and see no black. I keep repeating the passes over each part until I have a fairly opaque coat. Then I go to the exact opposite angle of the light source (behind and below the dwarf's right hip or above and behind the woman's left shoulder) and spray a few layers in the direction opposite the previous step. You will want a thin band of black in between both sides of the grey.
Tutorial Part 2: Pre-shadows
Please begin these from part 1. It is a wall of text but I try to very thoroughly explain the process.
I ran out of space in the previous step for the final highlight. So after I have my opaque and semi opaque greys down, I add multiple layers of thinned down Liquitex Titanium White. You will want to turn up your airbrush pressure to about 40PSI for this as white pigment is thicker than most. Go back down in PSI for the following steps. You want several layers, making an opaque coat of white at the points closest to the light source, applied in the same manner as step one. This is very similar to traditional highlighting techniques. On the opposite side, like in the previous step, you will want a semi opaque white, and it is perfectly fine just to spray from a few inches away to get just a light layer of white here.
For the next part I apply a mix of two drops Scale75 (S75) Black Leather, two drops Liquitex Muted Grey Ink, and one drop Liquitex Carbon Black. These are thinned with a few drops of Vallejo Airbrush Thinner and a few drops of Vallejo Flow Improver. Again, consistency should be about skim milk. The thinner thins and the flow improver prevents dry tip and helps maintain a smooth flow of paint out of your airbrush. In this case I specifically target anywhere the grey meets the black, deliberately spraying so I cover both the black and grey simultaneously. The focal points are places that will be in deep shadow. This is where you will definitely want finer control.
Tutorial Part 3: Skin Basecoat
Please begin with part 1 because everything in this tutorial layers on top of each other. I will post three parts each day until complete so check back soon!
Now we get closer to the preparation stage of the skin! It seems like a lot of work but the next step will make it all worthwhile! I mixed two drops of S75 Red Leather, two drops of S75 Deep Red, and one drop of Liquitex Perylene Maroon Ink. This is a new colour from Liquitex and I love how deep red it is. You could get a similar result with Citadel's Flesh Tearer's Contrast but the reason I mix inks in with other colours is to inject a huge amount of extra saturation into the mix. As usual, it is thinned down and you want a 50/50 mix of flow improver/thinner and about double this mix to the amount of paint you use.
This time I spray the paint in a thin layer over everywhere EXCEPT where the original bright white highlights were. If looking from the perspective of your light source you should see mostly white with a little pink visible. I keep building up layers until I have a very vivid, but not quite opaque, red. The idea here is to simulate muscles underneath transparent skin. Next up we will see all this groundwork really pay off!
Tutorial Part 4: Skin in the game!
Please start from the beginning when viewing these as they all stack on top of each other.
This is where all of the previous work pays off! I combine two drops of S75 Pink Flesh with two drops of Liquitex Muted Pink Ink and two drops of my custom skintone mix in the Titanium White bottle from the picture. The skintone mix is about five parts Liquitex Titanium White, two parts Liquitex Yellow Orange Azo Ink, and one part Liquitex Quinacridone Magenta Ink. I also pour any leftover skintones back in here so it is almost like a sourdough starter of skintones.
So I will load up my airbrush with the paint thinned to the same consistency as before and, still following the muscle contours so as to maintain the contrast, apply several thin layers until I have an opacity I am happy with. Again, you don't want to go full opacity and this part is more a matter of personal preference. Keep in mind here as well that the more layers you put down now, the more tanned your end skin tone will be. Don't worry too much about where you are specifically applying the paint either at this step, the goal is overall coverage. Make sure to keep the paint in your airbrush for the next step! Next up we will start highlighting!
Tutorial Part 5: Skin Highlights
Make sure to view these from the beginning as they stack on top of each other!
This step is pretty straightforward. Using the previous mix, I add two drops of S75 Pale Skin. I will also re-thin since I have unbalanced the mix by adding in three drops of thinner and three drops of flow improver.
Then, using the same spots I originally put down the Titanium White, I apply my highlight skintones. You still want to have a strong highlight facing the light source and only a few layers on the side facing away. The skin is pretty pale now, so let's add some warmth and deep shadow in the next step!
Tutorial Part 6: Bringing skin to life
Please go through these in order as each lesson stacks on the previous ones.
Now that these are about as pale as a Canadian in March, it is time to put some colour back in their cheeks, literally. I mix together three drops Liquitex Muted Pink Ink and one drop Liquitex Transparent Burnt Sienna Ink, and thin it with four drops of thinner and four drops of flow improver. You want it to spray reddish pink, and if it comes out closer to reddish brown, just add another drop of Muted Pink. I like to call this blend "Liquid Life" because as soon as you add it, the mini starts to look properly alive.
The key with this step is to be as precise as possible (don't forget to always be moving your airbrush tip back and forth slightly to prevent spider webbing) and you can help yourself when using only inks by turning your PSI down to around 25. The other thing to remember when using inks in this manner, which is called colour filtering, is that you want to build up your colour gradually. It will spray on very transparently, much like a glaze, but you want to apply the filter to a spot and then move onto the next area you want to work on while the previous area dries. Once you have sprayed all the areas you want, go back and build up the first spot further.
You will want to target areas where there are a lot of blood vessels under the skin as well as areas transitioning from shadow to light. For shadowed areas, you aant to get some spray in the shadow and some in the lighter areas. You can see this in her armpit and the bottoms of the dwarf's abs. Then a few light passes over places like knuckles, elbows, knees, and anywhere there is a crease in the skin. Pay special attention to the face. You want to have more layers around the cheekbones (see her face), underneath the jaw, the eyes, and along the side of the nose facing away from your light source. Next up, reinforcing the shadows!
Tutorial Part 7: Throwing shade
Please read these tutorials from the beginning since each step builds on the previous steps.
Now that we have brought warmth back, we also need to reinforce the shadows a bit too. I take 2 drops of Liquitex Muted Green Ink (you could do the same with Citadel's Akhelion Green) and thin it with two drops of thinner and two drops of flow improver. Green is a naturally occuring colour in skin that is in shadow. It happens because the red wavelengths of light are bouncing back off of skin and then the opposite colour, green, is left over. I go back into all the deepest shadows with a few passes each, similar to how I did the Liquid Life mix, but only in the deepest parts and parts I felt needed a bit more character, like along the creases of the dwarf's biceps and abs, as well as underneath her abdomen and breasts as well. After this step, if you are not doing environmental lighting, you can just skip to part 9. If you want to get crazy though, strap in for part 8 where we will really make the skin pop!
Tutorial Part 8: Environmental Lighting
Please read these from the beginning because each step builds on the rest.
For this step I mix 3 drops Liquitex Turquoise Deep Ink, 2 drops Liquitex Carbon Black Ink, and 1 drop Liquitex Phthalo Blue-Green Ink, thinned with 5 drops each thinner and flow improver. This step is less finesse, more thinking about where your secondary environmental light source is coming from. In this case I am treating it as moonlight and I am going to have it coming from above and behind both busts. Moonlight contains a lot of blue, and tints all existing colours with that colour. You could also use oranges and yellows for firelight, greens and yellows for a forest canopy, or pinks and purples for a cyberpunk city.
For this step you will have to decide which light is stronger. In these the front light source is going to be bright, but focused. So the shadows from and moonlight are going to slightly creep around the front. If the light was going to be strong and the only light source, like firelight, then you would just paint the back third of the bust, but in this case I am leaving only the front third or so unshaded. I included a few extra angles here so you can see what I mean.
I spray the back of each bust from a slightly low angle, making sure most of the colour gets in the shadows. Again, we don't want it opaque, the previous layers we did should still be readable underneath. Just several very thin layers like we did with the Liquid Life, building up saturation until you are happy.
Tutorial Part 9: Finishing Up
Please look at these in order because they each build on the previous lesson.
For the final step of the skin, I use 2 drops of S75 Pale Skin and 1 drop of S75 Golden Skin, and thin them with 3 drops each of thinner and flow improver (Forgot to take a picture, sorry). Then I spray the paint from a very sharp angle in a similar direction as the light source (above for the dwarf, below from the woman) along the shadowed part of the mini. So for the dwarf, I spray from above and behind his left shoulder (light from above and in front) and the woman will be both the front right of her back and the left side of her torso. Just a few light passes here are necessary since you aren't bringing the skin back up to full opacity, just enough to look like the skin is tinted blue. Finally, using the same mix, I will give a few final passes over where the white originally was, just to really make the skin glow and bring everything together.
Thanks for joining me for the full tutorial! I hope it will help you improve your skin technique or at least inspire you to keep trying. I will post more tutorials in the future and eventually the whole process on youtube.
