Figure Painting Step by Step

Hello friends,

I did a small step by step report about figure painting.

You find some details about brushes and colours I used.

Perhaps it´s interesting for you.

Yours Günther  

To enhance the depth of the later finish;a black varnish with Tamiya XF-1 Black has been applied with my airbrush over the entire figure.

 1.  Face Painting

The initial painting of the face is conducted with a 1:1 mix of Valejo 70.876 Brown Sand and 70.814 Burnt Cadmium Red.

Mouth and eyes are painted Black in the next stage.

Vallejo White is brushed with a fine Winsor&Newton Series7 (00) in the middle of the before mentioned areas.

Detailpainting of the eyes is conducted with a light Blue circle and a Black dot in the middle.The lips are painted with Vallejo 70.814.

Highlighting of the face is done with a mixture of the face color(70876/70814) with Vallejo 70,815 Basic Skintone. Painted to the raised parts of the face.

Deep shadows painted with a mixture of the face color and a little bit Vallejo 70.950 Black.

Here we blending the contrast. A new skin color is mixed with more Basic Skintone (70.815) to the face color and heavily thinned with water. This mixture is applied like a wash over the whole face.

This process is repeated unless the effect is looking satisfying.

A mixture of the new skin color with more Vallejo 70.815 Basic Skintone and a little bit Vallejo 70.950 Black is brushed on the certain face areas  of the five o`clock shadow toobtain a more greyish tone.

Here the painting of the face has been finished.

The key of a nice looking painted face is the repetition of the whole blending and contrasting processes  until the effect has a realistic appearance.

Basecolor 70.876 with 70.814 mixture 1:1.

Highlighting 70.815

Shadows  70.950

Explanation of colour brands.

My prefered colours for figure painting are Vallejo and Andrea acrylics.Vallejo offers a wide colour range,but tend more to a semi-matte finish with a slight glossy hue.

Accordingly,these are great for leather and metallic effects.

A really flat finish can be achieved with mixing Tamiya X-21 Flate Base under, but not too much

to prevent misting effects.

When a dead flat finish is desired, Andrea colour is a good alternative.My prefered medium for thinning is plain tab water.

The thinning ratio is up to each painters individuel preference and experience.

Brushes: Winsor&Newton Serie 7.

     
The metal effect on the helmet or the gun can be achieved with Vallejo Dark Grey tones and subsequent drybrushing with lighter tones. Metallic colours can exaggerate the effect, thus are recommended to use very carefully.
    

2.Uniform Painting

The parka is primed with a mixture of Vallejo 70.830 German Field Grey and a tad Tamiya XF-21 Flat Base.

The upper folds are emphasized with a mixture lighter than the base tone.it is composed with Vallejo 70.830 and 70.815 or 70.856  mixed with .Black is brushed into the recesses.

The whole Parka is now blended with the thinned base tone Vallejo 70.830

3.Seam and skin

The seams are carefully prepainted with black colour in a narrow stripe.

A very thin streak of lightened base color is painted over the black stripe.

The skin inside the hood is primed with a Light Sand colour.

Washing is done with Mig Brown oil color wash and a following drybrushing with a flat brush and Light Sand colour or an even lighter tone for a more pronounced effect,

4.Leather Painting

 Vallejo 70.826 is my prefered choice for highlighting dark leather and Vallejo 70.825 for highlighting lighter leather.
Basecolor for leather mixture of 70.950 with 70.846.

The boots are primed with Vallejo 70.950 Black with a little bit 70.846 Mahagony Brown.

Pure Vallejo 70.826 German Camouflage Brown is painted over the upper folds and the sole.

Black is brushed into the slots to increase the depht.

The whole boots are now painted in diluted Black to blend in the contrast.It is the same procedure is used with the face painting; Priming with the base colour , contrast and blending.