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Do figure modelers mix a new color for every part of the figure that needs drybrushing? Do they drybrush every part?
I am no master figure painter, by any means. But I have found that the more dry brushing I do on figures, the better they tend to look. Especially when they have varied equipment and lots of contours which the drybrushing will make more apparent
I very rarely mix custom colors, but select logically progressively lighter shades of the base color from within my paint stash.
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I do small scale figures a lot, and I use my own technique. I start by painting that proper colour for that area, heavily dry brush with a lighter shade, then sparingly dry brush with a very light shade, usually white or tan. Finally, I mix a drop of my proper colour with 5 or 6 drops of clear coat and cover the area again. I find this last layer kind of blends it all together. Works for me.
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With just washes and drybrushing, these figures went from these base colors
to this
Hey JMorgan,I paint alot of figures but I don't dry brush. If you are focusing on painting figures, I would suggest the blending method, the technique is slow, but the result is more natural.I hope this helps,Ben AKA VS
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Victorious Secret Hey JMorgan,I paint alot of figures but I don't dry brush. If you are focusing on painting figures, I would suggest the blending method, the technique is slow, but the result is more natural.I hope this helps,Ben AKA VS
And it uses oils, too, unless I misunderstand you when you refer to blending.
With acrylics, the same effect is achieved by applying successive layers of thinned paint, similar to washing or glazing.
Either technique can produce a natural look, though.
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I use the method discribed above and I've found it has wonderful results. A mix of both techniques can produce some amazing effects and I all depends on how you want the results to turn out. A few lightened shades of dry brushing works very well to produce some really nice textures if you use older brushes that are kinda frazzled.
But the wash-like layering of progressive color shades using acrylics looks much smoother and lends itself more to leathers and flesh tones in a most convincing way.
Both techniques have their uses and both can be manipultaed to suit almost any need that may arise when painting figures.
This figure below is from MiniArt and I did some undercutting of the collars and removed the binocular straps (no binoculars are included) before painting.
The eyes are the trickiest part of figure painting in any scale and there are a lot of different ways to tackle the problem. I use a dried up Micron Pigment Artist's Pen as my brush for dotting the eyes in and that makes it super simple for me, but others also have methods that work better for them. Such as a softened tip of a toothpick for example. One step most beginners tend to skip is painting in the eyelids after they've painted the iris of the eyes in. If you paint in the whites first and then clear cote them before adding the pupils, you can simply wipe out any mistakes and try again until you get them right where you want them. Then painting in the eyelids (use a slightly lighter or darker shade of you base flesh tone) then "closes" the area around the eyes just like they do in real life. Try to use the shape of the eye area on the figure to determine how open the eyes should be. Let the sculpter guide you, in essence. Of course better sculpted figures will have eyelids on them and that makes that job easier. But the older ones can be painted up just as well if you can develop a sense of light and shadow to trick your viewers into seeing 3 dimensions when the surface is more flat in reality. It is a matter of practice. If you have a collection of old figures that you don't plan on using any time soon then just start painting and working out the techniques that will work out best for your eventual style. I hope this was helpful. Most of what I picked up in the last two years I found on YouTube in one place or another. Adapting styles already out there to suit my tastes. Practice and patience. It gets adictive eventually.
The eyes are the trickiest part of figure painting in any scale and there are a lot of different ways to tackle the problem.
I use a dried up Micron Pigment Artist's Pen as my brush for dotting the eyes in and that makes it super simple for me, but others also have methods that work better for them. Such as a softened tip of a toothpick for example.
One step most beginners tend to skip is painting in the eyelids after they've painted the iris of the eyes in. If you paint in the whites first and then clear cote them before adding the pupils, you can simply wipe out any mistakes and try again until you get them right where you want them.
Then painting in the eyelids (use a slightly lighter or darker shade of you base flesh tone) then "closes" the area around the eyes just like they do in real life. Try to use the shape of the eye area on the figure to determine how open the eyes should be. Let the sculpter guide you, in essence.
Of course better sculpted figures will have eyelids on them and that makes that job easier. But the older ones can be painted up just as well if you can develop a sense of light and shadow to trick your viewers into seeing 3 dimensions when the surface is more flat in reality.
It is a matter of practice. If you have a collection of old figures that you don't plan on using any time soon then just start painting and working out the techniques that will work out best for your eventual style.
I hope this was helpful. Most of what I picked up in the last two years I found on YouTube in one place or another. Adapting styles already out there to suit my tastes.
Practice and patience. It gets adictive eventually.
- Mike Brindos "Lost Boy"
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