And the survey says?

dont feel bad i am in the same boat

you have to have it in you in the first place

i have looked thru several books but

i just don't have it in me  so the books didn't help me

As the cab driver told the violinist when asked how to get to Carnegie Hall, "Practice, practice, practice."

I've been painting figures for well over 25 years and I'm still learning. Get hooked up with some of the figure specific/friendly  sites such as Missing lynx, Planet figure and Armorama and post your work for critique. You'll learn a lot. Try to find a local club or mentor who can help guide your through this dark and arcane art. Attend shows, if there are any near you and ask questions of the figurists there.

PS You're only the second person I've ever met who's used the phrase, "rock with lips!"

I agree, there's at least some inherent talent required, but don't give up!  In this thing of ours, there are as many techniques as there are modelers, almost.  I just read Francois Verlinden's book "The System, volume one," and he certainly makes it look easy to copy his technique with oils.  Give it a read and give it a try!

ajlafleche wrote:

PS You're only the second person I've ever met who's used the phrase, "rock with lips!"

Its an Army thing thats what Mechanics call Truck drivers in the Army

And thank you all Very Much i figured i might as well expaned my modling no how.

I recomend the Verlinden book highly to new painters, and have for many years. My oil method has since grown much more complex, but I started out with Verlinden's very simply, straight forward method. You should get satisfying results in your first few attempts. They may not be perfect, but you should be able to get results good enough to see improvement, and that should drive you to keep working at it.

Shepard Paine's book Building and Painting Scale Figures is another great source for learning, covering all aspects of building and painting figures. Bill Horan's Military Modeling Master Class is another source, more for inspiration than learning IMO, but he does lay out his teciqrhne for painting in Humbrol Enamels, which I found to be difficult to master. Still, Horan is one of the world masters, and you can't argue with his results. Andrea also has an interactive CD-ROM on painting figures with acrylics that looks to be top notch. I've not seen first hand, but it looks to be solid material, which is also available on VHS. Of course Osprey, Schiffer and other publishers have solid books on the subject as well. Check the book section of your local hobby store, or online hobby store.

 Don't get locked into one method. Try them all out and see what fits. You may find that one method works on some things, while another works on others. I use oils primarily, but on modern subjects, I often still use enamels for clothing. Lately, I've been toying with acrylics for clothing, though I am finding them harder to work with. Still not getting the hang of the glazing method, but it is improving slightly. I think I'll stick to oils for flesh tones though.

 Also, study the work of other painters. Look at what works on their figuers, and what doesn't. It will help you learn what to do and what not to do on your own. Though your interest seems mainly to be armor, I would suggest subscribing to Historical Miniature Magazine. There you will be introduced to the works of the masters of the figure modeling world on a bi-monthly basis, plus lots of how to articles and kit reviews.

  Here's the link   http://www.r-kproductions.com/historical_miniature_magazine.php

Thanks you plymonkey. I do both mostly A/C but figred y stop there i have to have an open pallet to do other things so i figured id try figures havent bought anything yet so figured maybe there might be a good starting point any sugjestions.

You can read every treatise on figure painting ever written, but until you sit down and put paint to plastic/resin/metal you won't get very far. As ajlafleche said "practice". The more you do, the better you'll get. You will fail, you will suck, you will quit, you will strip paint, repaint, cry, scream, and then one day you will hit on the technique, timing, materials that you sit back and look at your piece and you'll be happy. You'll feel better and once you have these little victories you'll try newer and bigger figures. Soon, you'll be missing paying the bills to buy paint and figures, sell the house, skip meals, friends will knock on your door with no answer because you'll be at your work bench with a grey army at your beck and call. Romans, Goths, Napoleonics, Medieval, ACW, ECW, WW2, all will be there on your desk waiting for paint. You'll be hooked. The guys at Warriors, Verlinden, Alpine, Dragon, Pegaso, Seil, Andrea will be wringing their hands like a pimp at a Shriners convention. When its all said and done, and you find yourself on the bathroom floor at the World Expo or at Euro Militaire and you are destitute, unshaven, underweight and stroking Pegasos newest release, then you'll be a figure painter. At least until someone comes in and says "Man, did you see those new injection molded armor kits?"

Hit some of the shows and hang around the figure entries. ASk questions, look at techniques, you'll be amazed what you can see and pick up by being able to see the actual figure. The stuff reproduced in the books looks good and looks like there is more there than actually is. I've seen guys that in the books I thought they wer into some insane detail, until I saw their pieces in person. While good, I was able to see that they make the illusion of more detail and do wonders with paint and color.

The other thing, is to do some pieces and put some pics here on the forum. The more you are open to criticism both constructive and critical, the better you'll become. While not the same as sitting at the bench, there are some very talented figure painters here that can offer some very good advice and help you along. Most importantly remember a few things.

Don't let your expectations exceed your abilities.

Be open to criticism, retain what you think is helpful, disregard the stuff you don't think you need or that is just bs or someone being stupid.

That with practice and the willingnes to try new things you'll advance faster than if you were worried about final results and what others might perceive of your work. Are you painting for you, or us?

Don't be too critical of yourself, you are your worst critic.

If you can, look for quality figures with clean and crisp detail. You are not going to get the same results with Tamiya figures from circa 1975 molds that you would with a Warriors, Apine, Fonderie or Verlinden. The extra money is worth the investment for the better figure. If you have a better foundation to start, you'll have an easier and better result from your work.

Be willing to strip and clean a figure and start over. Not everyone will be a home run. Expect failure, accidents or that your experiment or new technique isn't working. Its why we experiment.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. There are no trade secrets. No secret recipes. This is a talent based hobby and you develop talent. There is no clinical proof that humans retain racial memory. You may have an aptitude for it, but you must develop skill. Others have gone before you and invented the wheel. Ask them. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask that keeps you baffled. You will be surprised how much you will pick up by listening to others tricks.

Enjoy it. If you're grinding your teeth at night over a figure, try fly fishing.

Mike

Man i hate fly fishing. And thank you for the infomation  and what iam in for.

Once you "get it", it's addicting. I did armor for years, doing figures only to support my dioramas, but then I got my first 120mm figure and I have scarcely looked back. Eventually, I started sculpting my own figures and now all I really do are my own figures.

 I do still build an occassional armor model, spending most of my time scratch building interiors and beefing up the exterior details, only to leave it unpainted and incomplete in my closet. I also enjoy beater pickup models and a few car models, but figures are my forte, and I consider myself a figure modeler.

Ok so i guess this next payday ill have to find a shop that sell figures and suck thing. anything else i should look for?

Well, while you are whipping out the wallet.....

A good set of paint brushes. Get the best you can afford and take care of them. A liner, a flat, a round and a 10/0 round or hairline will do you well. If you plan on doing figure work with oils and acrylics, get two sets of brushes. One of the acrylics and one for the oils. You'll be much happier.

Some Aves Apoxie Sculpt, magic sculpt, or tamiya putty. For filling seams near arms, legs, waists, whatever.

A pin vice or two or three. This will help you to drill for pins to secure arms, equipment etc. Also to drill into the feet and legs for anchoring pins. The other pin vices come in handy for mounting smaller pieces or heads to handle while painting. I cut myself a hand full of 2x2 blocks about 4" long that I temporarily mount the figure to so that I don't have to handle the figure. I can set them on the table and they are stable but big enough I can pick them up and hold them comfortably while painting. I don't mind getting overspray on them when I air brush or prime the figure.

An optivisor comes in real handy for painting detail on smaller scale figs.

Good lighting. I use two lights that point down at the table. So that it is awash with light. A neat trick when painting figures is to use a single light pointed down (at the angle of your sunlight) to see how the highlights and shadow fall on your figure. If you really get into figure painting, take a black and white photo with your digital camera of this lighting effect to use for future reference while you paint.The black and white photo really shows off the illustration qualities of the light and makes a big difference and a convenient reference. Holding it under the light is just as easy if you don't have the photo capability. But becomes cumbersome if you have to keep shifting lights around on your table. A simple clamp light with a tungsten bulb works good for this.

A set of mixing cups and a way to clean your brushes. Hint here, don't use the same rinse for metallic paints as you use for your regular paint. The little metal flakes will end up on your figure if you use a common rinse and make him look like a disco fairy princess. Something frowned upon in most militarys. And the source of alot of jokes amongst figure judges.Change your rinse water frequently.

Splurge the $1.25 and pick up some distilled water for thinning your acrylic paints. No contaminates in it, nor does it have a high mineral content or chlorine content that can "frost" large areas of color on your figure. If you have a water softener its less of a problem. I live on an island near the ocean so most of my water will scale up a pipe in a week so I know its pretty hard.

Give the same attention to your figures as you do your model. Nothing detracts from a model with figures faster and more than a really nice model covered with figures that you did in an hour. It will be time well spent and be a nice compliment to a nice build.

There are some really nice books out there for supplemental info on figure painting. Kalmbach publishing has a couple of really helpful titles. ANd most figure painters will have these in their library.

The fortitude to carry on no matter how badly you think you've done. Everyone started somewhere. Ya gotta walk before you run.

Good luck with this, I look forward to your work.

Mike

 

Thanks renarts for the shopping list Looks like ill have to work a couple weeks straight to afford this stuff but if it helps its well worth the money and i think iam gona go with acrylic since there arnt vary many shops in the pheonix area only one that i know of in scottsdale, and dont have any CC so i dont buy online.

Figure painting is a learned talent...notice I didn't say skill. It does take a certain amount of talent to pull off a realistic figure. I ruined a dozen figures before I got it right, in fact, the prize model in my collection had his face repainted at least 12 times before I was happy with it.

Many new figure painters think they can get the results they want with a coat or two of paint, like we do on models of machines, tanks, aircraft, etc.

Truth is, the human face has a wide array of tones and hues, from the highlights on the nose to the shadows around the eyes. The problem is that each color must be blended into the next, and knowing where to put those specific colors is the hardest part to achieve.

Personally, I think figure painters (those who are trying) fail because they give up. If you go into the project knowing that you'll mess it up, you'll  be ok.

What I did with each project was develop my own technique. I used oils exclusively for the longest time, but I've recently switched to acrylics. This is, in my opinion, easier for someone who's starting out. Oils work in solid colors that are blended together. Acrylics work in layers, like washes, applied to specific parts of the figure's face.

At this point, I'm using 3 shades of paint and 1 shade of ink for my figures' faces, and I'm very happy with the results. Could they be better? Probably, but I'm happy with the results I've achieved thus far. As others have said, even the best figure painters in the world are learning new techniques every day.

Practice, practice, practice...

Jeff

I know iam gona screw up a hole lot I aint no Pacaso, but i figured it would be a nice complament for my other models and i figred since i did real good in art class when i was in school id see what i could do with my LOL nolige lets see how nuch i can remember.

I have no problem painting figures, but I just have problem getting the skin tone right.  I need to get myself a tutor or a mentor to get it right.  I guess some people are born with it and unfortunately, I don't have it in me :(

What kind of paint are you using? What does you typical base/high/shadow mix look like?

This has become one of my favorite threads.  Excellent discussion!

renarts wrote:

Don't let your expectations exceed your abilities.

  

renarts wrote:

Don't let your expectations exceed your abilities.

i agree  and that is why i have practiced for yrs and still turn out  poo poo

Well ive been wondering throught the forum lookin at some of the figures the members painted and WOW that knight is awsome i have a Vary Vary long road ahead of me. Oh i have a Question not to sound wierd or anything but i got to thinking is painting aface on a figure any diffrent than the whay a woman would aply her makeup or the FX guy on a actor to acheve surton shadows?

same principle.

I use vallejo acrylics for painting faces and what has worked for me is this.

I use a base of medium flesh. This is like a golden yellow ochre. Once this is cured, I give the face a wash of dark brown. This gives you some line work to start to work in the details as the nostrils, facial creases, eyes, the flair of the nostrils and the ears are now outlined with a brown. I now mix up a pinker flesh color to put in the first layer of skin highlights. On top of this I use a light flesh color to make the other highlights like the bridge of the nose, the high cheeks brow ridges, smile lines nostril rounds etc. THen the base is mixed with some red or burgundy. A light wash is applied to the cheek hollows and either side of the nose, the adams apple if visible, the upper eye socket and upper lip. Now my figure is looking  painted up like the crazy lady that lives in the box in the alley behind the walmart.  Not to worry. I layer a dark flesh color over this and then start to build this up till these areas look ruddy. Like soldiers outside. If the transitions are too starke, you can go over the area with a very light and thin wash of the base color that acts like a glaze.

The eyes get painted with a buff color and a very thin wash of pink is dropped in. Capillary action runs the pink around the edge like real eyes. The corneas are dropped in with a fine brush. I always have my figures looking slightly to the side as this is a great way to avoid the crosseyed look.The pupils get dropped in on top of this. I work left to right to prevent the brush being in the way of the previous eye and makes it easier to keep the eye aligned. Once dry a drop of clear in each one does the trick.

 

The way I started doing faces wa to do a base coat, when dry add a wash of dark brown and then drybrush a highlight color. This works great on smaller scale figures and has yielded some very respectable results till you feel more confident to really try "working a face."

I'd akin it to theater makeup, particularly for B&W movies. The "artsy" side of figure modeling, regardless of paint choice, is that you really accentuate and even exagerate the highlights and shadows.

I already posted this pic in another topic (sorry everyone), but, aside form being a beautiful piece, it illustrates my point. This is a 54mm (1/32 scale) vingette done by Doug Cohen. He uses acrylics and takes the shadow/highlight contrast to the extreme, but to excellent effect.



This can also be seen in my 1/9th scale bust of Japanese warlord Uesugi Kenshin. I used oils, but obtained the same results.

 Ive seen that tread and that guy is just astonishing in the way those figures came with the shadows and the 5O'clock shadow on there faces, the yes on your look real almost like he's staring at you.