Painting faces

Some things I find helpful in painting faces:

Paint the undercoat with Vallejo flesh, since Polly Scale will dissolve when turpentine hits it and Tamiya flesh is too orange.
Don't be afraid to paint whites in the eyes. I view the whole argument about whites versus no whites this way: real clothes aren't shaded, but you shade clothing on a figure to make details visible that otherwise wouldn't be seen. Maybe painting the whites isn't completely realistic, but they add a lot more character to your figure's face, and they are the only way to make the eyes look up, down, or to the sides, since the whites define whre the edge of the eye is.
If you can afford it, use Winsor-Newton Artist's oils (not the Winton oil color) for your shading, they cost $10-$30 a tube, but the pigment tension is great (they stick better and don't smear off when you blend like with Winton or Grumbacher.) Winton is next-best, but not as good.
Be sure to thin artist's oil with a good-quality turpentine prior to laying in your shading colors, since unthinned oils have the tendency to spread all over a face when you blend, whereas if you thin them a little, they are semi-dry by the time you blend them, and only the edge gets blended. They also stick better.
Avoid red- and orange-browns for the shadow color, a walnut brown works best. Yellow Ochre mixed with white makes a very good highlight color.
Use at least a #0 brush for painting the shading, and don't use anything smaller than a 1/8" flat brush for the blending. The blending brush also needs to be the softest one you can get.
Use an orangish-pink color for  the pink on the cheeks - NEVER use dark red or girly pink.
The last touch, a five 'o clock  shadow, should be added with gray paint that's thinned to the point of almost being a wash. It's best to appy this to the chin and jaw but not to the upper lip, unless your figure hasn't shaved for days.
And don't work on your men while the oils are drying - you can wipe off all that work in one touch of your finger

Hope this helps!

That was very helpful.  Thanks.

this site is always useful, take a look at the articles on here
http://missing-lynx.com/articles/articles_figures.htm
there are articles for each type of face
hope this helps
ben

Very true...very true...

Dan, don't sweat it.  The principles are the same, just takes a lighter touch.

Please excuse my ill mannered reply...I am so far off base with what you asked for because the work I've shown is in a larger scale, and more easier to detail than 1/35 scale. I believe that AJ has stated it correctly and hope that you get all the help necessary to paint faces.

Regards, Dan

The reason I started this thread was because experimenting on my own for 8 years still didn't work.  I've done some faces that look like characters from Star Trek.  I work in 1:35 so eyes are really hard, facial details end up over-sized.  This might be an aptitude issue more than technique. 

Nothing wrong with experimenting yourself, MM. That is how I got to painting faces. I would look at some modelling magazines at the hobby shop with how to's and be somewhat unimpressed with the work in some of them and thought  I could at least do the same if not better. And it is much easier than I thought...it's just doing it that stops most. And I have only been painting these figures and busts for the past 6 months, so hope to continue to improve as well.

Thanks.  I think I will try and find someone to show me how to do this. 

Thanks guys

More work here if you'd like to see it:

http://photos.kitmaker.net/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/10300

Ideally, finding a mentor would be the best way to learn this skill/craft/art. If you have  a model club near you visit and find out if there's someone ther or that they know of who is adept at this.

Next best thing is to use a decent camera with macro, take pictures and post with a request for critique. The good and bad about that is you'll get several different answers. just ignore the too frequent "great job" posts.

For practice, from what I can tell, the DML Gen 2 figures are really good. Also, you could invest in a few sets of Hornet, Andrea or Michael Roberts heads to work on faces. Some of these have no headgear so you can concentrate on the face more easily and the Andrea are white metal which means they'd be really easy to strip and restart as practice pieces. All of these are very well sculpted and give you excellent detail to work on.

Buddho:

Great work. Citadel colours are great to work with. I used them on my Normandy Para posted in figures. The comparison is a great photo, it could also be a two part bust grouping showing a fresh green troop and the hardened veteran at the end of his tour.

Cheers;

Gregory

Wow indeed. Somebody should sticky this! Excellent tutorial Buddho!

Here is a painting article I did on another site with a 200mm resin bust:

I am doing a step by step with acrylic paints using the Verlinden U.S. Soldier in Vietnam.

Like styrene kits, I first washed all parts with dish soap and warm water to take away any left over mold release.

Any pour stubs or flash was filed/sanded flush. So, far, these busts have been well cast so no putty was needed for filling.

The helmet, face and bust were then primed with Citadel Flat White.



After giving the primer time to dry, 2 coats of Citadel Dark Flesh were applied.
The first layer will leave some streaks....the 2nd coat was diluted with water and applied as a wash:



The helmet and bust were painted with Vallejo Black Gray.

The next photo shows the start of the drybrushing stage. I used Citadel Dwarf Flesh (Medium Flesh) and a wide, soft paintbrush on the LH side of the face:



Next color I drybrush is Citadel Elf Flesh (Light Flesh). The LH side of the face is covered:

Next step is adding washes to deepen the skin tone.

I dilute Citadel Dark Flesh with water and coat the entire face. The photo shows the LH side with 3 wash coats:



Next photo shows the eyes painted with Vallejo White. Diluted Dark Flesh was used to tone down the white and create an outline near the eye lids. The eyeballs were then painted with Vallejo White and Brown. The hairline was darkened with Citadel Chaos Black wash, and the mouth painted with Black. I added some Citadel Dark Flesh to the lips. I then painted the teeth white.

The 5 o'clock shadow is Vallejo Luftwaffe Uniform diluted and added as a wash. This one took 2 washes. I coated the eyes with Tamiya Clear Yellow. (A tip to remember is that if you darken the shadow too much, let dry and dilute the Light Flesh color and wash over the affected areas. If this takes out the skin tone, add a wash of diluted Dark Flesh. You can go back and forth until you are happy with the results.)



Face added to the helmet and bust:



Comparison to finished bust:

Carpe Diem wrote:

I should stress though that my suggestions are really just a starting point to progress from, plymonkeys picture really takes it to another level and gives us something to aspire to.

Yes, it does. Though, let me add, just for the record, that that isn't my own work, but the work of figure painting legend Doug Cohen. He works in Vellejo acrylics, and his work absolutely serves as something for us to aspire to, regardless of the medium with which we choose to paint in.

Thanks.  I'll have to give this a try.

i can sympathise Mortar as i have the most difficulty with faces too but get a result i'm happy with by doing the following :

using oils (great as you get loads of time before they dry), i first paint the face with burnt umber then wipe it off with a rag. This leaves nice dark shaded areas in all the places where they should logically be. I then leave this to dry.

next day, using a flat tamiya brush and as little oil paint as possible (by making very little go a long way), I add the flesh tone. (i mix this and dab a little on my hand to get a color comparison until i'm happy). The opacity of the paint will allow underlying shadows to show through, try not to get flesh tone in the deeper crevaces, ie: around the eyes, in the ears etc. Then use the tiniest ammount of white ( a pinprick on the end of your brush, you can always add more as you go) to highlight areas such as cheekbones, lower eyelids, bridge of nose, chin, and add a tiny amount of red to your flesh mix for the lower lip.

The great thing with oils is that if you're not happy you can easily wipe and start again which is all good practice. Also the long drying time is a great excuse for doing several figures at a time. I usually have 3 or 4 on the go at once.

i then airbrush the face with matt varnish.

Once dry I do the eyes using acrylic for the whites and oils for the iris and pupil.

Like I say, i'm no face guru but this works for me, i guess its really a case of finding your own technique from all the tips you can find. The best advice i can really offer is make your oils go far, wipe and begin again until you're happy and don't rush it. Its not uncommon for me to wipe a face several times and they often sit for days before i return to them in the right frame of mind.

you can see a couple that i posted, these were done using the above method which is very simple although experts may run in horror at the thought of it, but I have found it to be a good way to start and learn technique and progress from. Also a good quality brush is essential. http://www.finescale.com/FSM/CS/forums/634166/ShowPost.aspx

I should stress though that my suggestions are really just a starting point to progress from, plymonkeys picture really takes it to another level and gives us something to aspire to.

 

 

It's good that its free because I'd need a lot.

MortarMagnet:

Your more than welcome. Advice is free as long as I have it available to give.

Cheers;

Gregory

Tankluver wrote:

Is it possible 2 paint eyes on 1/35 model figures

These figures are 54mm, which is about 1/32nd scale. Note the eyes.



There's a Shep Paine trick for eyes that works well, especially for beginers. He lays in the whites (which aren't actually white, but a flesh toned off-white), then he paints an iris colored stripe, on each eye, from the top of the brow, across the eye, down to the start of the cheek. This stripe should be the width of the iris. Then, he lays in a thin, black stripe down the middle of the first stripe. Finally, he paints the flesh tone around the eyes, so that all that's left of the stripes are the portions covering the eyes. You can then paint the face as you see fit (oils, acrylics, enamals, what have you).

Again, thank you Gregory.

MortarMagnet, Tankluver:

Check any of those books out and all your questions will be answered.

Cheers;

Gregory

Yes.  I find the hard part to be making the face look real.

Tankluver:

Yes. Steady hand, fine brush good paint and it can be done. Just remember to keep them in scale.

Cheers;

Gregory

Is it possible 2 paint eyes on 1/35 model figures

Thanks Gregory,  I didn't think about armymen for practice.  That's a good list you gave me, I'll have to see if I can get a hold on some of those.

MortarMagnet:

I have found as far as faces, it's practice practice practice. I use scrap figures (Old Tamiya or even kids army men) to try new techniques out.

If you run a search through the World War II modeler website (link escapes me right now) There is a full article on how to paint faces.

I start with a flat flesh tone (Tamiya, or Citadel) then I use either oils or Model Master series of paints.

The last bit of information, if you can find a copy of any of these there are full descriptions of figure painting for all eras. These are the books I would recommend.

Verlinden Way Vol 5 - Francois Verlinden

Building and Painting Scale Figures - Sheperd Paine

How to Paint Realistic Military Figures - Lynn Kessler and Don Winar (Either Vol. 1 or Vol. 2)

Painting World War II Miniatures - Mike Davidson

Modelling WWII Figures - Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos - Osprey Modelling Manuals

Modelling and Painting Figures - Rodrigo Hernandez Cabos - Osprey Modelling Manuals

Military Modelling - The Art of The Model Soldier - Graham Dixey

Making Model Soldiers of the World - Jack Cassin Scott

 

That should keep you reading for awhile and give you more than enough reference.

Cheers;

Gregory