British Airborne - Red Devil - Dragon kit

[pjgtech]

Ok so a little update.... ?
I applied the gloss varnish coat on Monday.
I then had a play (my 1st) with an oil wash, very dark and very thin mix of dark umber, black and white, which flowed quite well.
This morning I applied some very light (white) oil paint highlights using a dry brush, eg: very small amount on the brush, then remove as much as a could, then just very gentle strokes on the figure to highlight raised areas......
Slowly I am learning all the techniques, not sure about my practical application though! It still looks very "splodgy" to me.
And I'm still not happy with the face, but I think on my third attempt I got it sort of looking ok (from a distance, and if you squint), and now I don't want to touch it anymore in case I ruin it and make it worse... ?♂️
But its my first figure, so hey, I don't expect it be perfect. ?
So this figure is now very nearly finished. all it needs now is another day or so to dry and then its final coat of matt varnish, (as its still a bit shiny) which will hopefully bring it all together.
Some pics.

[Richard48]

Great work.If you need a good varnish to kill the Shiny shiny then id recommend Winsor and Newton Galleria varnish.The Range does it etc.Nice to see more figures done.Been years since i painted any.
Richard

[Tim Marlow]

Great work.If you need a good varnish to kill the Shiny shiny then id recommend Winsor and Newton Galleria varnish.The Range does it etc.Nice to see more figures done.Been years since i painted any.
Richard

Plus one on the Galleria. Mix it well and it brush paints really nicely. Clean brushes with white spirit. It is pretty much the same stuff as Humbrol Matt Cote…..except it comes in a much bigger bottle so is cheaper per unit volume….

[pjgtech]

I was going to use Tamiya matt varnish, would that be ok once the oils are dry? Its been over one day, but I was going to give it another day to properly dry out, as I only put one very thin coat of oil wash on, and it seems to be dry already now. But will wait another day just in case.

[pjgtech]

Final update and pics on this one I think....
Not happy with the finish, still a bit shiny?
Not happy with the face.
But happy overall considering its my first figure. ??
Pics....

[Jon Heptonstall]

A couple of things.I don't think there's any need at all to put a gloss varnish on your base coat.Any oil wash or shading will work fine on a figure with a flat Matt finish.It may be worth thinning your paints on the Dennison smock colours to give a more subtle,faded effect.
Oils are worth messing about with over the base coat even if you're not applying shadows and highlights.A simple wash gives depth and shading.
Jon.

[wotan]

Good job for your first figure. In your place I would add more matte varnish so that the shine is completely killed off. I use an artists spray matte picture varnish, this works well over oils and should end up completely matte. Like Jon says I never gloss varnish figures, particularly if I use oils. Applying washes or highlights over the base paint works just fine.

One final tip on the overall figure I would try to achieve a higher level of contrast in order to make the figure pop. Darker darks and lighter lights will do this. Finally try to add shadows and highlights using colours other than black and white. This will make the figure more three dimensional. Using opposite colours often works well, Blue over yellow, green over red etc.

John