Oil Paints for Figures Question

How long does it take for oil paints to dry?

Just short of forever..

Seriously, if you use them straight from the tube, it's a long time... I personally use enamels for the base color, then give 'em a quick shot of clear flat.  Then I shade with oils, adding a bit of thinner to them to get them about the same consistancy as the enamels...  You can speed up the drying time by applying low heat from a blow-dryer until they dry to the touch, but still not "set" if you have to go back and blend... 

Thanks, Col.

I may give acryilcs a whirl (the tube kind). I have been reading about the various methods for figure painting and liked how the oils blend together, but patience is not one of my virtues. So I'll see how the tube acrylics vs. the Vallejo/Andrea acrylics thinned with water works. 

Would 48 hours be enough time for oils to dry? I may use oils for the faces and acrylics for the rest of the figure.

 

I only do flesh areas with oils... But like I said, I put the base color of the face on with enamels... They'll blend with oils provided you haven't let them cure more than two or three hours... Clothes & equipment get enamel or acrylics... They don't need the amout of blending that faces do, IMHO, except maybe for overwhites and such... If you thin the oils before you use them on the face, they'll dry a lot quicker than straight outta the tube... I can get mine dry enough to handle in a few hours if I leave a fan blowing on them and ambient air temp around 74F or higher...

BTW, regarding acrylics... Thin those with rubbing alcohol rather than water... They won't bead up and alcohol evaporates faster than water... I use rubbing alcohol for airbrushing them as well...

Straight form the tube oils are both too thick and too slow drying. 48 hours?...when I first tried oils, it was well over a week and they were still damp. Of course back hten, maybe 1980, I had no one to ask.

I don't know of anyone who uses tube acrylics. If you're just starting out and don't have much invested in paints for figures, why not go with Andrea/Vallejo since they are designed to be used to paint figures. They also thin with distilled water (under $2.00 a gallon) The gallon I bought last year is maybe down a cup. I pour out enough to fill a take out condiment container and put the cover back on when I'm done with the session. I transfer it to the palette with a medicinal eye dropper.

Oil paints, especially unthinned, never completely dry but can be handled after a week or so.  I only use oils on metal figures.  You can park them under a heat source, such as a lamp bulb, for a couple of days & greatly speed the drying process.  Don't try that with plastic figures.

Regards,  Rick

Thanks, guys. Great info.

I guess I will use the oils (which I inherited from a deceased uncle who was a tremendous figure painter (monster, sci-fi). I really like how they blend but if they takle forever to dry it may get frustrating. I also have some of his tube acrylics, but it sounds like Vallejo/Andrea is the way to go. I will pick up the basic skin tone colors and try them.

I see Life Color has also issued a set of flesh tones for figure painting. Has anyone tried them>?

 

mucker wrote:

I see Life Color has also issued a set of flesh tones for figure painting. Has anyone tried them>?

I haven't tried them, but here's a review.

The very advantage to oils is there slow dry time. It gives you plenty of opportunity to work shading and highlights. The vehicle for the pigment is obviously oil and in most cases boiled linseed oil which has a moderate siccative property (drying property) and may take several weeks to cure. Look at the iodine number on the ol paints. That will give you a clue as to the drying characteristics and speed of drying/curing of your paints. A lower number means non drying where as a higher number is faster drying. (You want 130 or above).

In acrylic paint the vehicle evaporates leaving the pigment. In oil paints the vehicle oxidizes and thus cures the pigment.  This can be hastened with the use of a warm heat source (lightbulb, crock pot, hair dryer etc. ) Another trick is to put a dab of oil paint on some brown paper and allow it to wick away the oil vehicle. By using thinner to soften your paint you can cheat the drying process since the thinner evaporates. There will be enough oil to accomplish the oxidation and thus create the curing polymerization needed but you can cheat it with this method.

Experiment a little first, since you are wicking away the oil vehicle you will have less working time as well as a different working characteristic of your paint.

Purchase a couple of the How-To books for painting figures with oils.  They explain drying times and various media you can add to the oil to speed up drying time.

 

Thanks again, guys.

EasyMike: I've bough a few "How to" books and while they mention slow drying times, most of them are vague as the the actual times. I've found  that 24-48 hours usually is enough to dry to the touch (but not cure).

Renarts: THank you for that...it is very informative. I will do a little trial and error. I really like the blending characteristics of oils and the smooth finish they leave. Your comments give me a little faith that I may indeed be able to use them successfully if I learn more about them.

 

Many moons ago a friend suggested using Dorland's wax medium to flatten the finish of oils as well as speed up the drying time. I've used it ever since.