When to start over

[Canbeans]

I need a expert opinion or thoughts. This is a silly question, "when and how often do the expert painters goof up and start all over".
My current problem is I'm painting two beautiful 75 mm Pegaso pieces, Montezuma and a Maya warrior. After airbrushing the base skin tone I have found a few or many little bumps and fine pieces of lint that settled during the drying period. I figured what I did wrong (clean the darn area I airbrush at!!!!) but I'm distracted by this, they are expensive to begin with so they deserve a first rate job. So going back to the above question what do the experienced figure painters do and do they make mistakes and how do they handle them.

I feel very stupid asking, this is one of the top ten questions I always wanted to ask. Please pass this on as I welcome all feed back.

Respectfully, Aaron (A D D) Bean

 

[gordy]

Great question Aaron, I've not painted a piece in quite some time but I can offer up a suggestion to maybe use some fine steel wool to knock off any lint that has dried. I'll let the pros take over now

 

[housecarl]

I wouldn't call myself an expert, but I strip more than Demi Moore. I always have it in the back of my mind that I could have done that better. So it just has to go, but I have regretted it on many occasion though, when the re-run is worse than the first try.
Carl.

 

[Uruk-Hai]

Well, if youre not satisfied and it annoys you, then you better do something about it.

More often instead of stripping, I dont think I have the legs for it as Carl do, you can actually sand it away and retouch it. After shading, highlights, washes, filter and weathering is usually not visible.

On the other hand if it makes you loose interest in the figure your painting perhaps its better to accept the flaw and take the lesson learned to the next figure you will be painting?

Cheers
Janne Nilsson

 

[gothicgeek]

I hate stripping a piece so would either .... go over it with a brand new blade in my X-acto and knock the bumps and bits off.

Use a very clean bit of scotch-bright pad and work the bits off.

Mix up similar colours and spot repair. Carry on if happy...



HTH

Mark

 

[redhorse]

I normally don't start over, but since it's just the base flesh coat that's not much more than just priming. In this case, I'd scrape and sand down, then re-spray.

 

[Einion]

Not a stupid question at all Aaron. I think everyone will have screwed up at least a couple of times, stripped and begun again from scratch, but the need becomes less common the more experience you get. Overpainting isn't quite the same but I imagine that's more common, even if it's just when the colour didn't turn out quite right rather than something having gone wrong technically.

My current problem is I'm painting two beautiful 75 mm Pegaso pieces, Montezuma and a Maya warrior. After airbrushing the base skin tone I have found a few or many little bumps and fine pieces of lint that settled during the drying period.

If there are not too many I would pick them off carefully with the tip of a cocktail stick or something like that; I've even scratched them off with a fingernail sometimes. You can pare things like this down with the edge of a sharp blade (for fluff embedded in primer for example, since it's so much tougher) but you have to be very careful as you're using something that can mar the casting. After this you then spot the removed areas with a fine brush or overspray.

Einion

 

[tonydawe]

Hi Aaron,

I know I've stripped and repainted figures several times before I'm satisfied with the final paint job, and frankly, if I had two such kits I'd be very fussy about the paint job too.

Personally, I fail to finish quite a few figures. Many just gather dust in my cupboard, waiting for the day I run out of other things to do and decide to have another go at them; others never get a second chance.

There's no shame or emabrassment in admitting you aren't happy with a paint job and starting again. At the end of the day, I want all my figures to be as well made and well painted as my meager talents will allow, and if that means I need a couple of attempts to get it right, then so be it.

 

[DEL]

Aaron
I've done all of the above and expect to continue to do so.
In your case given the stage you're at I'd strp them.
My problem is never knowing when to leave a finished piece well alone, My wife has taken 3 'finished' heads to her school which is now closed for the next seven weeks to stop me from 'tweaking' them to the point of ruin.
Relax.
Derek

 

[Andrew Craft]

Hi Aaron,
I'm no pro I've only been painting for a year but I find if I'm not happy with how a figure looks then I'll strip it back and start again. I find it's good practice doing the figure again and the ones I didn't strip and just kept going on I find the mistakes really stands out to me, no one else seems to notice but I do and that's the point. I'm happy to strip a figure as long as I've learnt what I did wrong in the first place.

Andrew.

 

[Blind Pew]

Hello mate, it's not making the mistake that matters. It's learning from it, and as Janne rightly says, doing something about it. It seems that it's worth doing as, it very early days in the painting side of things. If you just leave it, it will always bug you and detract from the rest of it.

 

[IIICorps]

...I'm distracted by this...

You've answered your own question.

 

[Steve]

I will strip a figure in a heartbeat if it gets too out of control for any reason. Particularly in cases of surface flaws I find it difficult to correct the flaws without disturbing the whole thing.