some questions on oil painting

[angus147258]

Hi,

I have a few questions:

Do you paint one wet layer over another wet layer?
When I do this (and later blend) I find that the color I'm aplying dulls and soaks into (kind of) the layer under it. What I have been doing is aplying the mid tone and wet blending the shades and highlights into base. After this is dry I reaply all of the shadows and highlights and maybe a few tone shifts. How do you paint?
When I paint I get horrable brushstrokes showing. How do I get rid of this?
Is there a basic guide that shows how to paint with oils?
What colors do you paint your skin tones with?

Thanks,
Jake

 

[KeithP]

Here are some guides to give you ideas:

Look thru the hobby hints for all kind of good basic info.

http://www.hubhobbyshop.com/hintpt.htm

http://www.btinternet.com/~model.soldiers/page38.html

Over an acrylic or enamel base coat apply a very thin coat of your oil base, wait 10 mins and remove excess oil paint with a clean dry soft brush. From your description, you are using too much paint. I paint mainly wet on wet. Again, brush strokes on oil means too much paint!

There are flesh mixes in the hobby hints. Do a search here on pF, too.

Keith

 

[Roc]

I work wet on wet.

1) base coat applied sparingly, a little dab will do you.
2) medium shadows and highlights, blend.
3) deep shadows and highlights, blend..
4) with a soft large brush gently go over the painted area, this will eliminate brush strokes .
5) when completely dry apply extreme highlights and shadows using the glazing technique.

Cheers
Roc. .

 

[Kisifer]

Here is a link from me too :
http://www.acesofiron.com/paint_face.htm

Regarding the technique I will agree with Rocco and Keith. When paint wet on wet the basic color that you applied needs to be very thin, just covering the undercoat.

Xenofon

 

[Sambaman]

Jake,
One of the most important things to consider is how you are prepping your surface for the oils. Are you starting with an acrylic or enamel "undercoat"? I too think it sounds like you are using too much paint. Oils are VERY translucent in some cases, and if you don't have a good solid undercoat you may feel like you have to lay down much more paint than you should to get coverage. First thing is to choose an undercoat color that will help underscore your oils. Then do as the others have stated and apply your oils over that. You might be surprised at how much of the undercoat shows when it's done! I have been known to paint an area twice just to get coverage rather than try to build it up too much at first. Not often, but some colors, particularly reds, tend to be more translucent than others.

I personally work from dark to light. I mix all my shades up before starting any particular part, highlight, midtones and shadows. I work wet-on-wet, and always try to work dark to light. I apply my shadows first, blend my midtones in and then work the highlights in last always blending on the figure as I go. I personally blend on the run, so to speek, and don't ususally use any other brush to blend with other than the one I am painting with. I will occasionally use one when painting large areas that need more smoothing than normal. The best thing to do is practice! All of the responses have good advice in them. Get some scrap plastic or spare parts out and see what works best for you! HTH,

Jay H.
OKC

 

[Jon Metters]

A tip from a video I bought: I use Liquin in the flesh mix. Sometimes some thinner as well. Not sure exacly what Liquin brings to the party - but I like the results.

Jon

 

[KeithP]

Liquin adds a shine (and will thin and add transparency, too). . A little goes a long way in the flesh mix...

Keith