Self-imposed art, model and crafting challenge wrap-up.

I've been quiet with the blog the past couple days, but stayed busy at the workbench. Priming miniatures, more game terrain and managed to have an actual game (I might do a battle report later). There were a few more projects I didn't post, but will add to the challenge record later on.

Day 11 if the self-imposed art, model and crafting challenge.

Gave this guy a faux bronze paint job. I used Vallejo acylics. I like how it turned out. The touches of green in the recesses gives it that tarnished look.

Having some small scale fun. This fella is a pikeman from the Thirty Years Wars. I experimented with a satin varnish to give it some protection, in case some day I find motivation to build a wargames army.

Using a cheap synthetic brush for base coats and saving the Sable brushes for finer painting.

Lincoln re-visit. Toning down the contrast.

"He has a face like a Hoosier Michel Angelo, so awful ugly it becomes beautiful, with it's strange mouth, it's deep cut, criss cross lines, and it's doughnut complexion." -Walt Whitman

A feast for the eyes! I do believe this paint job is from the talented hands of Danilo Cartacci. I've re-posted the image because the previous one was too dark...And this piece deserves another post! Thanks again Gary!

Capa Figure Prep and Paint

Here's one method I went about preping the figure for primer. After giving the figure a good wash and has dried, I cover/mask the area's to be glued later on, with painters tape. The tape doesn't leave any residue, but is sticky enough to hold while priming. As for paint colors, I used practically all the gray's, warm and cold tones, in my stash, including an ink and pastel.

505th PIR 82nd AIRBORNE painted!

This figure was a blast to paint. Having never painted a figure in black and white, it was really refreshing to do a subject out of my norm. I used almost every shade of grey in my stock of acrylics on this one, from drab warm greys to cold bluish tones. I'll post more pics once the dust settles on my current project. Thanks for visiting.

Step 8. For the whites of the eyes I use Vallejo Pale Blue. For the iris I used Vallejo Prussian Blue with a touch of grey for highlight. Eye lids were painted with a mid-tone flesh color.

The last two colors used are for extreme highlights. Outer corner of the eye, top of eye-brows, top of nose. Ratio of three drops water, one pant.

It's hard to tell with the picture but there is a pronounced contrast from upper to lower face. Total face painting session took aproximately four hours.

This SBS was designed to show what techniques I use for face painting. Most of these techniques were learned from simple observation, by finding other artist who's "style" I liked and simply emulate.

I hope this SBS helped in someway, somewhere.

Step 7. Second sitting. This is where I do alot of playing with blending paint. I take a palette w/ three wells side by side and select the three paints (see pic below) that I used for the upper cheek, nose and forehead area.

Now I "up" the water ratio. Two to three drops of water to one paint. This is where Reaper shows it woderful blending capabilities. Mix paint thoroughly. Going from dark areas to light, dip brush in well, touch side of damp towel once, unloading paint. Then lightly go over transition areas, of the forehead, cheek, nose and upper lip area just under the nose.

I'll go back and forth, from dark to light until I see a transition. Sometimes I'll mix two colors in between the wells to get desired color. Not shown, but I also put a drop of Vallejo Violet, between the wells, and added tiny amounts to help flush the cheeks a bit. Like I said, a little playing to get desired effect.

I've also filled in the eye sockets with Vallejo Burnt Umber.

Step 6. Now I go back and add a touch of highlight using, the workhorse of the palette, Reaper Tanned Shadow. This time add more water, two drops water to one paint. And use light verticle strokes along the jaw line (sorry for the horrid pic), not much, just enough to show some highlight.

Then I go to Reaper Mahogany Brown and hit under the nose, upper lip and inner ear.

This is the end of my first sitting. Approximately one and a half, to two hours.

Step 5. This is where I do a little playing with the paint. I'll start by giving this fella a little 5 o'clock shadow. Using Reaper Tanned Shadow and Vallejo Dark Sea Grey I cover the jaw, chin area and upper lip. I'll add a mix of Tanned Shadow and Vallejo Violet in the next well over and tone it down. Ratio of water to paint is still about the same.

You'll notice I use the space in between the wells to mix and play with the colors.

Note that this is all being done in one sitting and the color wells from previous applications are still wet, with the exception of the basecoat.

Step 4. Now I use Reaper Tanned Highlight. I hit the forehead, upper cheek, bridge of nose (but not the tip), crease area under nose and upper lip line. Same ratio again. One part water, one part paint.

When applicating, I'll go over the same spot a couple times until I get the coverage I want. Always off-loading the brush on a rag before applying. The brush may look clean after touching the rag, but there still is enough pigment to cover.

I've gone back and edited the posts and added steps to make easier to follow. My apologies, I'm not a writer!

Step 3. Now I'm using Reaper Tanned Skin and will cover forehead, nose, upper cheek, "smile line", the outer lower lip area, chin and neck area. Same water to paint ratio. One drop paint, one drop water.

Step 2. Now I take the basecoat color Reaper Tanned Shadow with one equal drop of water and cover everything except under the chin, nose, eye sockets and ears.

I'll apply two even coats of this color.

Please note that I mix with the brush handle end and not the bristles, like I've seen some artist do, because acrylic paints KILL brushes. I'm stubborn because of this and will not break in a new brush until the ones I'm using are frayed and cloted with paint residue. I can be also, for lack of better words, anal about brush care and clean constantly.

When mixing in the tray, I do it as light as possible so as to not punch a hole through the foil, and have a handy rag near to wipe off the handle tip.

I should clarify that this is just the basecoat. It took three applications to give it a solid even coat. The ratio of water to paint is typical when I apply color. Later, when I start to "blend" it will get higher in water. More later.

Caucasian face painting using Reaper and Vallejo acrylics

Step 1. The following sbs will be on my current approach to painting caucasian flesh with acrylics, namely Reaper and Vallejo paints.

I've been using Reaper flesh colors on the past 10 or so figures and I can't speak more highly of them. They are, in my opinion, superior to Vallejo. One of the appealing characteristics of Reaper paints, is there is little to no pigment seperation once mixed. They blend wonderfully and with the variety of tones, there is no need of mixing colors.

Being a quick and messy painter, I often do not take the time to wipe off excess paint off the "nipple" on Vallejo bottles, so thankfully, the bottle cap structure on the Reaper's are better than Vallejo. There is no large cavity between the cap and nipple for paint to build up and make it difficult to open and pulling the nipple out of the bottle. Thus the nipple dispenser is rarley clogged and is relatively clean every time I open it.

Plaese note that I will "spoon feed" this sbs and should have something new every day. This will be a "run on" post so I will not title this sbs with each segment, so those following via planetFigure, please continue to visit.

"Attention Ladies...The Blouse Man is on the premises"

Here's the finished piece. I've added some paper cups and a discarded cardboard box. For some reason I had a hard time figuring out on what to use for a box, until Gary suggested using index card. Well, duh on my part! It worked perfect and was just the right thickness. I just so happen to know a little about boxes and their construction so it was an easy build.

I took some pics with the flash and w/out to show the contrast in the fleshtones. I also added a little more mud and splashes to her lower half. Any more would, in my opinion, take away from the overall paint job. I'm sure I'll get a yes or nay on this overal from my peers but I'm still in the camp of "less is more".

Thanks to Gary for the tips! And especially thanks to my mentor and right hand man on these off-the-wall projects. Of whom, I'm sure, have not heard the last of.