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School me on how to paint larger figures-animal hair

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  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: NW Washington
School me on how to paint larger figures-animal hair
Posted by dirkpitt77 on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 4:54 PM

   Hey peeps,

 

    Working on AMT's old Bigfoot kit, and need some tips on painting.  He's in a base coat of MM Acryl chocolate brown right now with a Future gloss coat.   Should I do a wash of a darker color for the deeper engraved parts of his hair, and then maybe dry brush the more elevated parts of the molded hair with a lighter color?  School me!   Thanks!

 

   Chris

 

   P.S. no budget for new paint purchases, so don't bother advising me to buy this or that.  MM Acryls and Future is all I have to work with.  Thanks!

 

    "Some say the alien didn't die in the crash.  It survived and drank whiskey and played poker with the locals 'til the Texas Rangers caught wind of it and shot it dead."

  • Member since
    March 2008
  • From: The Bluegrass State
Posted by EasyMike on Thursday, February 9, 2012 8:30 AM

dirkpitt77
...Should I do a wash of a darker color for the deeper engraved parts of his hair, and then maybe dry brush the more elevated parts of the molded hair with a lighter color?...

Yes.  Try it and see what you get.

There are several How To Model and How To Paint books on the market.  Do you have three or four of these?

Smile

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Massachusetts
Posted by ajlafleche on Thursday, February 9, 2012 9:30 AM

As I recall, your figure is sculpted in a pretty smooth finish with a few very large indicationsof hair, more like wrinkles on clothing than the look of fur or hair. Dry brushing is not particularly effective on this, nor will a wash have any place to settle.

Okay, that's the problem, let's try to fix it.

For your highlights. lighten your base color and thin it. Apply light coats on the upper portions of the raised surfaces. Now darken your base and thin that. Again, apply light coats to the lower surfaces. Next, mix an intermidiate value of the shadow and highlight and try to blend them to the base with very thin, light coats. You may need several mixes to do this. An airbrush would make the transitions quicker if you use one.

When doing the above, don't use black or white, use tans or yellows.

Unfortunately, while that will give you highlights and shadows, you will still have a comic book art smooth figure.

Some options I can think of...Do you have any flocking material in your workshop...the stuff car guys use on carpeting?  That will add texture, though theimpression will be of very short hair (Bigfoot gets a buzzcut!Big Smile) Maybe even some static grass? Upiu'll need to apply this before painting.

Your best option may be anthema to most of us...try to get brushstrokes as you paint. Use your cheapest brush and streak darker and lighter versions of your base color in the direction of the hair growth. make the strokes the length you want to suggest for hair, maybe a couple scale inches. Next, take your finest brush and add some very fine highlight and shadow streaks along the hair. Yeah, this is going to take a while.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

  • Member since
    January 2006
  • From: NW Washington
Posted by dirkpitt77 on Thursday, February 9, 2012 10:29 AM

      Yeah, adding flocking or some other product for the hair is not gonna work.   I'm trying to have this guy ready for CoMMiESFest in 9 days, so I'm just going to do the quick & dirty  wash and highlight route.  He doesn't have to be perfect-after all, Sasquatch has been reported to look very unkempt and scraggly anyways in some reports.  I'll practice in a less visible area and see how it turns out.  Then go from there.    Keep ya guys posted.   :)

    "Some say the alien didn't die in the crash.  It survived and drank whiskey and played poker with the locals 'til the Texas Rangers caught wind of it and shot it dead."

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