- Member since
February 2004
- From: Montreal/Canada
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Posted by JohnReid
on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 8:53 PM
Today I spent a couple more hours on the figure ,painting the face and hands and shading with pastels.
For
you expert painters out there my methods will probably seem a little
crude but like I explained before it works for me in a lighted diorama
setting.My style is impressionistic(I think that is what they call it)
as I dont attempt to paint in every detail but let the lighting work
for me.(Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking with it)
The
flesh color I made using white and yellow ochre to make a pale yellow
then I added small amounts of burnt sienna until I got a flesh tone
that I liked.I added a drop or two of flow medium and one drop of
varnish to the mix.If you are using JoSonja paints the flow medium
contains varnish already so be careful not to get things too shiny.With
a paint consistency of about 20% cream carefully paint the face and
hands.Apply as many coats as it takes to cover the burnt umber gesso.
The
hair I left burnt umber as I had put it on thin enough that there were
natural streaks in the hair already.The shoes I left burnt umber and
polished them with my finger using a little nose oil.(I am not kidding
here ,if you want a nice leather look rub your nose with your finger
and apply to the shoes)This is called personalizing your figure with
your own DNA.
I added a little more burnt sienna to the flesh mix and painted the lips and facial creases etc...
From
here on all the shading was done with pastels.Because my paint is flat
with very little varnish in it ,pastels stick to it very well .These
figures ,once inside the diorama ,will not be subject to handling so
pastels work very well for me.Simply take a dark grey or even black and
apply a small amount to a dagger type soft brush and work the pastel in
the low areas and around areas you want to make stand out such as
pockets etc....I then took a little burnt sienna pastel and shaded in
the face and hands.
Tomorrow I will finish painting some of the
details such as buttons and the tie pin and finish off the shading
process using overhead lighting like the figure will be subject to in
the diorama.
Now isnt that simple.Nothing fancy and with a little
practice very easy to master.The secret ,if there is one,is gesso,flat
acrylic paint and the best brushes that you can afford.Any Questions?
Cheers! John.
Guide my hand in your work today.JWRR. My goal in life is to be as good a person as my dog already thinks I am.
My Photoshop:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y250/JohnReid/
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