how do you paint faces on 1/35 scale figures!?

First off painting faces is the most challenging part of modeling so it is going to take major practice to get it so don't get discouraged. There are a couple of different ways and types of paint to use. You can use either enamel paints (water or oil based) or artist oils. I use the artist oils because they don't dry fast and they are very easy to blend. I use 3 fine sable brushes for the painting. One for the over all painting of the face. One for just the eyes and another one for the blending.
What I recommend to you is to check out the book "How to build dioramas" by Shep Paine. This is the book I learned with over 20 years ago and still use today to paint with. It has a whole section on painting faces and with practice I'm sure it will work for you. You can check out one of my figures in the March 2002 Readers Gallery of FSM for a little additional inspriation.
Best of luck to you,
Pat

im pretty new at this but for getting into those small areas i usually use small pin needles or a sanded down toothpick.to tell the truth it seems primitive but it works good and its cheap.

This site deals with Fantasy miniatures, but their tips might help:
How to paint eyes
How to paint faces

Then there's this:
Painting Faces and Eyes - scroll down until you see that header.

I usually start with the eyes. Begin by painting a horizontal white stripe across the eyesocket. When that dries, paint a narrow vertical stripe the color of the iris, then when that dries, make an even narrower black stripe in the middle of the iris stripe, for the pupil. These two stripes can be shifted left or right, making the figure appear to be looking left or right. Once that is done, then continue to paint the face. The eyes should be the focus of the figure, and this technique works for me on scales down to 1/72nd. Good luck, and have patience!

I described an easy and hard to screw up method under "Painting figures" in this section. Try it. Good luck.

Please try this link, it will be a lot of help: http://www.missing-lynx.com/articles/articles_figures.htm

the other thing you might try...and you animal lovers leave me be!

Try a whisker off a cat's face to paint the really fine details. Single whisker. When I was painting my mini's, I had a couple from here and there (no I didn't take ALL the poor cat's whiskers, just one from each), and they are almost perfect for doing that really really fine detail, like eyes and the line between the lips...

I will agree with everyone else, Shep Payne's book is the best there is for painting faces...just sit down with the chapter on faces, and go thorugh it step-by-step...get the right tools too (as listed in his book)..they make the whole difference! Good luck, it is fun when you "get it" ..I know I am now

I use acrylics. I make sure I'm using the biggest brush I can get away with and thin my layers down very, very much.

Then I slowly blend up the colours, using translucent layers so that I can build colour without having to mix a new colour.

As far as where the shadows go, hold the figure with a bright light hitting it from the direction you have the light in your scene, then squint a little bit. This will make the contrast between light and dark a little easier to see. Use that to determine where the highlights go.

I make them filthy (like they would be after days/months in combat) and unshaven. Man some of these guys must have eyes like hawks to do all that eye detail. Anybody good enough to get them bloodshot? LOL

these are all great ideas, and as a beginner you should try as many as you can before you choose the one you like the most. As a beginner myself, I found that buying the best quality heads and hands with the best detail was the way to go...you cant make a purse out of a sow's ear so-to-speak. All of the techniques work on any scale, just remember when you paint eyes and such in anything under 54 mm (1/32 scale and under) unless the soldier or figure is in wide-eyed amazement, you are not going to see much white/blue of the eye...instead, since they are outside, you are going to see more of a squint, which can be replicated by the techniques above (base coat, build it up with dark for shadows, light for highlights). Oils are the way to go, and you will be amazed with the detail that "pops up" Experiment and have fun, and good luck!

I agree with Paakerson, it takes alot of practice to get the faces right. I have been building models on and off since I was a about 8.(45 now) Take your time, try different ways of painting. Faces are hard but really make the figure.

I also have Building Dioramas #1. And I keep trying to talk myself into buying #2.