can someone please tell me the best way to paint 1/35 figures especially faces

[Guest]

Hi all,

can someone please tell me the best way to paint 1/35 figures especially faces as i get the uniforms at best ok and the faces sometimes let down the whole model.

Thanks

Antony

[Guest]

I think others will probably give better advice but here is how I would do it.

Paint a base coat of flesh. However, for each new figure put in slightly tiny amounts of browns (or tans) as no two people have the same exact skin tone. However, use common sense here. For example, dont paint a WWII German infantry figure with the same skin tone as an African.

Then consider an ink wash, probably brown. For more info the best person I can think of to speak to about this would be the guys from your local Games Workshop store. The ink will run into the recesses of the face and darken things like eye sockets, skin folds etc. If you dont want to use inks take a paint a shade or two darker than the figures skin tone. Then really thin it down. I dont know how much to thin it down as Ive only ever used inks but you want it thin enough that it doesnt affect the main colour of the guys face, but thick enough to colour recesses. I personaly prefer to dip my brush and get as much off the brush as possible, then get a little more. This isnt like dry brushing, but I call it semi-drybrushing.

Then take a colour a shade ligher than the figures skin tone and dry brush over the top.

Would love to see your results when you have done it.

Actually you have prompted me to buy some of those kids soldiers and have a bash. Hmm, perhaps a tutorial coming up?

[Guest]

Hi the way i paint figures is with oil paints, the big advantage being that they remain wet for longer to allow you to blend the colours better. Ok i use Tamiya XF15 flesh and paint a base coat on to the face and hands.Take some light blue acrylic and add two vertical stripes one through each eye, once dry add a fine line of black through the centre of each eye. Now mix yellow ochre burnt sienna and white together to give you a flesh tone mix up three seperate batches on a little palette in one batch add a bit more white, in another mix a little and i do mean a little burnt umber now you have a standard flesh tone a highlight tone and a shadow tone. First i add a little of the standard colour and wit a soft bristled brush blend this into the base coat, now add just a touch of burnt umber round the eyes and the sides of the nose and blend. Now take a little of the highlight colour and add to the front of the face and then blend this with the standard tone you have just applied, once it is blended to your satisfaction take a little of the shadow colour and add to the sides of the face again blend this into the existing colours.Now mix up some red and a little white to give you a rich pinky colour and apply a little of this under the cheek bones and gently blend, add a little of this to the lower lip and there you go good skin tone is acheived by blending the paint not actually the paint itself, hope this is useful.

scott

[Guest]

what the other two before me says is right but what the dont say is the quality of the paint you use i find this just as important than how to paint....i use th vallijo paint (sorry if spelt wrong...lol) and this works a treat in my 1/6 scale figs......i start by giving the face a wash of light flesh tone then i both lighten and darken as i go

i know there is a big differance between 1/35 and 1/6 scales but i use the same pattern and 90% of the time it comes out just about right......

[spanner570]

I'm sure all the above are commendable methods, but I like to keep things as simple as possible.

Like Scott, I use enamel paints, namely Humbrol Flesh.

I thin it with dirty turps to grey it a bit and that's it. It's thin enough to get into the wrinkles, creases and eye sockets.

If I need a haggard look, I get out my trusty pencil and he soon has bags under his eyes.

Apart from that I don't go near the eyes, as to me any more work in that area in 1/35 spoils the whole face.

You will find a method that suits you best, as we all do in this lark!

Ron

[Guest]

for details, i use a cats whisker glued to a balsa wood stick instead of a brush.