HI Frangkly.
THe more you paint the better you will get with the figures. Just dont give up. We all started the same way! A while back I wrote a tutorial on how I paint resin busts, which you might get some ideas from, even though 1/35 scale figures are so much smaller, and the eyes dont always have to be painted to show realism. It is not the only way and not the best way to paint figures.... there are others on here who are master painters ( AJFleche being one...). So here goes , hope it helps some:
I am doing a step by step with acrylic paints using the Verlinden
U.S. Soldier in Vietnam.
Like styrene kits, I first washed all parts with dish soap and warm
water to take away any left over mold release.
Any pour stubs or flash was filed/sanded flush. So, far, these busts
have been well cast so no putty was needed for filling.
The helmet, face and bust were then primed with Citadel Flat White.
After giving the primer time to dry, 2 coats of Citadel Dark Flesh
were applied.
The first layer will leave some streaks....the 2nd coat was diluted
with water and applied as a wash:
The helmet and bust were painted with Vallejo Black Gray.
Here's a rough color pallete of the colors I'll use:
The next photo shows the start of the drybrushing stage. I used
Citadel Dwarf Flesh (Medium Flesh) and a wide, soft paintbrush on the
LH side of the face:
Next color I drybrush is Citadel Elf Flesh (Light Flesh). The LH side
of the face is covered:
Next step is adding washes to deepen the skin tone.
I dilute Citadel Dark Flesh with water and coat the entire face. The
photo shows the LH side with 3 wash coats:
Next photo shows the eyes painted with Vallejo White. Diluted Dark
Flesh was used to tone down the white and create an outline near the
eye lids. The eyeballs were then painted with Vallejo White and
Brown. The hairline was darkened with Citadel Chaos Black wash, and
the mouth painted with Black. I added some Citadel Dark Flesh to the
lips. I then painted the teeth white.
The 5 o'clock shadow is Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform diluted and added
as a wash. This one took 2 washes. I coated the eyes with Tamiya
Clear Yellow. (A tip to remember is that if you darken the shadow
too much, let dry and dilute the Light Flesh color and wash over the
affected areas. If this takes out the skin tone, add a wash of
diluted Dark Flesh. You can go back and forth until you are happy
with the results.)
Face added to the helmet and bust:
Comparison to finished bust:
I added 2 1/35 scale figures to look at:
With both of these figures, I used shadow to highlight the face. When painting, I use alot of washes. The uniforms will have a basecoat color, then that color + white will highlight the folds. I then use the color + black as a very thin wash and go over the entire uniform to settle in all the creases. The face and hands are done like the resin bust tutorial with drybrushing and washes.