painting modern u.s. soldiers tutorial (edited 8-28)

i was going to practically write a book for this but then i realized that no one cares whether or not i started using acrylics in the beginning or whatever. this tutorial is for painting the 3 tone desert u.s. camo NOT the a.c.u. pattern. until i myself can paint that, you guys are on your own! so, please keep in mind that this is my first tutorial and while i have like 100 pics, i obviously cant post them all so i will have to do what i think is best for this. by having to do so, i leave this with those of you who really want to know more about my painting in order to improve yours or copy mine or do both. please dont hesitate to contact me with any questions you might have. i want you to be able to do what i do...and if your interested in doing what i do, starting with this tutorial will help you i hope immensily!! mustangtom70@yahoo.com or p.m. me or whatever. i hope no one will find fault in this as it is again the way i paint my figures.

im going to do this step by step and while some of it may not apply to what you are doing, the "core" of it is there. btw, all paints referenced in this tutorial are either windsor & newton oils, or humbrol. however, any enamel paints will work for this. no more talk...time to get on with the show...

step 1: assemble your figure. whether plastic or resin your results will still be the same painting wise. in this first pic you will see 3 figures, 1st is a trumpeter figure (ignore his missing arm), second is a dragon figure and 3rd is a resin figure from new world miniatures. i also have to assume that you already are knowledgable on putting figures together.

step 2: find a base to attach your figure. you can use just about anything and the logic behind this is to keep you from touching the figure during painting. i personally use a piece of sq. tubing from evergreen and place it into a piece of non hardening clay. in these next couple of pics you will see examples that i use all the time. to attach your figure use a drop of c.a. glue. just a drop is necessary as you dont want to permanently attach your figure. if you use wood, i recommend you use a drop of elmers glue. the only draw back is you will have to wait until it is dry to proceed. the first time you go to paint your figure and the head falls off because u couldnt wait you'll kick yourself repeatedly.

 you will notice in this tutorial that i didnt prime my figure. i dont normally. however, i dont think this is bad practice as it helps spot flaws and any missed areas. also i dont wash my figures, but, it too is good practice because of hand oils, demolding agents, etc.

step 3: painting flesh isnt nearly as difficult as it may seem. i've got it down to a science and it works really well. first, i take some humbrol #103(cream) with a toothpick and place it on my pallet. i use a cheap .99 cents plastic pallet available at an art supply and some modeling stores. i think even michaels has them. i use an eyedropper and "drip" one drop of oderless mineral spirits onto my paint and mix it thoroughly. the reason for the thinning of paint is because you want it to just "cover" your figure. not doing so can result in visable brush strokes, covered detail if on too thick, and just an overall unattractive finish. thinning also lessens drying time and gives a clean even coating of paint over the entire figure. it is easy to over thin as well as under thin, but i usually use only one drop. the only time i use two is if i use alot of paint. you will notice when you do this wether you need one or two drops. if you thin it too much, add more paint. anyway, cover all visable flesh areas with humbrol #103 (cream) or any light color sand paint...even white as a primer will work.

a picture of my "pallets"...well used!

these are the basic colors you will need for any and all flesh in my opinion. yellow ochre, burnt sienna, raw umber, cadmium yellow, flesh tint, and titanium white. i had some old acadamy oils so i threw those in as i am still using them until they're gone!

add a mix of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, and raw umber. use less raw umber than the rest otherwise it will come out too dark.

mix these together thoroughly until you get a mud mixture.

step 4: apply this mixture all over the flesh areas. put it on thick. while it looks like a mess it's actually what you want.

step 5: use a flat wide brush and in downward strokes remove the excess. after each stroke. wipe on a paper towel or clean rag. continue to remove the paint until it looks like its almost gone.

step6: i use a cheap detail brush for the brunt of my figure painting. you can get a pack of 4 for 4 or 5 dollars from hobby lobby. contrary to popular belief, cheap doesnt mean bad. my cheap blue brush (which i will refer to from here on out as my blue brush) does all of my detail work and is exceptional in my opinion. anyway, take this brush and apply cadmium yellow to all of the highlights on the face. if you noticed when you removed the base mixture, the humbrol #103 (cream) is showing through representing our "highlights". apply sparingly and lightly to the face and all flesh areas. the idea isnt to engulf these areas in a sea of yellow.

step7: now we play a waiting game. i usually wait 45 minutes, although i've waited as long as two hours, before we blend the cadmium yellow into our base mixture. the reason for this is we have to allow for the solvents to dissolve to make blending easier. take your detail brush, and gently blend it into your mixture. the key is not to "remove it" but lightly blend it.

step8: doing exactly what i did in step 6 i add flesh tint to all the highlight areas. (same as cad. yellow).

step9: repeat step 7 (only wait and blend flesh tint)

step10: repeat steps 6 and 8 but instead use titanium white to the same highlighted areas.

step11: repeat steps 7 & 9 (wait and blend titanium white)

step12: set aside and let dry for at least 48 hours or more depending on the humidity.

step13: painting the uniform: first i start by mixing humbrol khaki drill (#72) and humbrol white (#34) about a 50%-50%  or 1:1 mix. this will be our base coat and our first color for our 3 tone camo. (again all paints in this tutorial are thinned as stated above and i will not feel the need to continue to state the obvious). apply this color with a good brush being careful but not too careful to avoid small details. if you get paint on some, it really doesnt matter...just dont "try" to intentionally do this unless your eyes are better than mine and can pick up the details you covered. i also let my paints dry for a minimum of 15 minutes between colors.

step14: i paint the boots with humbrol #83 (ochre). this is a good shot of how thinning my paint just covers the boots, uniform.

step15: using my blue brush i paint what i call "spinach" patterns next. these are the green colors or the 2nd of the 3 tone camo colors. these patterns are random. there is absolutely no ryme or reason to how i put them on. each figure like each b.d.u. is different. this color is a mixture of humbrol khaki drab (#159)(70%) and humbrol beige green (#90)(30%). you can add more or less of either two colors and still get pretty much the same results so exact measurements are not required.

step16: next using my same blue detail brush (cleaned in between steps obviously), i apply "worms" or "squiggly's" to the uniform. this is humbrol german red brown (#160). this is the 3rd color in our 3 tone camo. again, pattern recognition is irrelevant here. i randomly paint them in different areas around my "spinach" patches. this can be over done so if you feel its helpful, do a search on the internet to look at the actual pattern. i probably over do mine but in the end i think it looks good and works for me. you will find i like to paint what looks good to me and not try to "accurately portray" every single thing. if that's what you want...hey, more power to you.

step17: body armor: this is also another 3 tone camo but this time i paint it in woodland camo. woodland camo is really one of the easiest patterns to paint in 1:35 scale. there doesnt have to be any "thinking" to doing it either. i begin by painting the entire armor in humbrol khaki drill (#72). then i apply green patches (exactly like we did with our "spinach pattern...just random "blotches" of paint). i use humbrol marine green (#105).

step18: like step 17, i randomly paint brown patches intertwined with the green ones but still leaving some of the original base color showing in areas. painted with humbrol german red brown (#160). you'll start to notice a pattern with me in that i try to make it as easy as possible and if there's no thinking involved the better so again, there is no "set pattern".

step19: again with no real set pattern, apply black "worms" to the uniform. these are simple squiggly's that i like to generally make to look like small "forks" or "3 pronged" worms. i use humbrol black (#33).

step20: using my blue brush, i apply humbrol olive drab (#155) to any straps, gear, packs, or anything that i feel i need to paint in this color. i generally dont like to have a monotoned soldier so i like to add color to the gear. sometimes its sand, sometimes its black, sometimes it o.d., sometimes its woodland, sometimes its 3-tones. i think its better to do it this way as it makes the figure more dynamic and less "dull"!

step21: the knee pads are painted in humbrol tank grey (#67) mixed with a little (#33). these can also be painted in tan or in o.d. for my figure in this tutorial, i also painted his gloves in tank grey/black. once dry i dry brush lightly over them with humbrol khaki drill (#72) mixed with white (#34) (our very first mix). i use black (#33) as a shadow for all tank grey items applied with my blue brush.

step22: i make and apply a brown wash of burnt umber oils to the folds and crevices of the boots. then apply a lighter wash over the rest of the boot. when this dries i dry brush humbrol khaki drill (#72) mixed with white (#34) (our very first mix) over the boots.

step23: making a wash of ivory black and raw umber oils, i apply this sparingly (with my blue brush) to my body armor and packs. the idea is to just let capillary action draw the wash into those areas rather than have the figure dripping in a wash that will ruin all the other colors painted. the desire is to make the armor, etc, slightly darker but that's all. once dry, i dry brush over the entire body armor, packs, etc, with humbrol lemon (#99) this accents green very well.

steps 24 and 25: final: paint any left over gear such as the weapon. in this case i painted it humbrol black (#33) and dry brushed it with a gun metal ink. however silver will work just as well. i just prefer the ink. once completed a final coating of testor's dull coat to protect our finished soldier.

i hope this has been educational for you. and mostly i hope you will be able to paint fantastic figures from here on out. thanks guys. btw, you will notice i didnt talk about the glasses (not all figures need or have glasses) but these are painted black (#33) and once dry, 3 layers of future was applied to the lenses. shadowing was done with my blue brush. the "spinach" shadow is khaki drab (#159) and the base color is dark stone (#84). just brushed into all the folds.

i edited this on 8/28. only things i changed were some wordings, and during the painting of the uniform part (step #15) i called humbrol #90 "sky" when it is in fact beige green! sorry for the mix up.