Hells_Clown Posted July 14, 2003 Share Posted July 14, 2003 I have a rather hard time painting skin, esp on female models. Faces aren't too bad, but arms and legs n stuff are more difficult. On male figures it's not quite as hard, cuz they all have bulging pectoral muscles and the like. But on smooth lines like, oh say, a certain gigantic succubus, it's much more difficult to bring out the subtlties. Advice? Tips? Tricks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted July 15, 2003 Reaper User Share Posted July 15, 2003 Okay...with skin, especially 72mm Succubus skin, you will want to use exceptionally thin layering, which essentially comes down to painting with strong washes and extreme brush control. You could do the shading with standard wash techniques--I used a very, very thin wash of Oiled Leather to warm up her skin tones and give her a little shadowing, for example--but the highlights you'd need to layer. The basic skin tone in the one I painted is a 50/50 mix of Ruddy Flesh and Hill Giant Brown. Subtle washes of very thin Oiled Leather were used for the shading; add Linen White to the basic skin tone mix for highlights. Remember to make your paint very thin so that you can't see much of a brush stroke, to use only a little paint on your brush at a time, and to use a brush with a very good point on it so you can control where the paint goes. Additives like Extender/retarder (so you can keep your thinned paint at ideal consistancy longer) and Flow Improver are invaluable. The real key to doing a larger-scale model is to remember that your shadows are not going to be as dark and your highlights will not be as bright--because the model is big enough to create its own shadows, if you overdo it it'll just look blotchy. When it comes down to it, painting 72mm makes your painting brain work in whole new ways! :) With skin on standard 28 mm models, it's the same thing. Thin, fine brush control, try to use a softer brush (sable, preferably Kolinsky--Taklon or harsher hairs almost always leave brush strokes that work well for texturing things like cloth or leather but don't help skin!) with a good tip. Smaller models will demand stronger shadows and highlights. If you don't know where to put the muscle shadows because they're typically not sculpted on as much in women, consult an anatomy book to see where the shadows go. Hope that helped a bit, --Anne :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mengu Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 Trick: Cheat. Look at what someone else has done that you like, and try to create the same effect. For example if you were going to do a Mize female (a good example for low muscle definition), you could do a search on Cool Mini for Tyden or Laurana and look at what you get. It's not all going to be superb examples, but I think you learn a lot about what to do and what not to do by examining other people's work. Tip: There sometimes is a misconseption that the raised areas of a miniature must be highlightd. While not entirely wrong, this is not totally accurate. The raised areas will have more light on them, but most light sourcess are above the figure. Keep this in mind when painting muscles (or anything else). The tops of the raised areas should be highlighted more than the bottoms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katieo Posted July 15, 2003 Share Posted July 15, 2003 If you have access to a color printer, print out some pics of nice painted versions of minis with the effect you want. Take them with you to wherever you paint and refer to them while you are painting. When I was learning how to paint faces I printed out a pic of a Celtos mini Jen Haley had done, then I painted the same figure using hers as a guide. Shading under the cheekbones, the temples, the little shaded area right above the top of the nose, highlighting the bottom lip, there were sooooo many things I learned that day. :love: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 If you have access to a color printer, print out some pics of nice painted versions of minis with the effect you want. Take them with you to wherever you paint and refer to them while you are painting. Excellent advice. I also print out pictures of actual animals in order to reference coloration and patterning. I find it really stirs my imagination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mengu Posted July 16, 2003 Share Posted July 16, 2003 Yes, that reminds me I also use calendars as reference. I have a wolf calendar and a frog calendar I keep around purely for coloring reference. A lizard calendar would be good too. And of course a swimsuit calendar is a must have :D :love: :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 And of course a swimsuit calendar is a must have :D :love: :D I'm with you, Mengu. I find a swimsuit calendar really helps me achieve interesting skin tones... In fact, the day I hung one up, I achieved an interesting blend of purple and blue and brown around my left eye! I tell you, that girlfriend of mine has a mean right hook! :oo: :p Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katieo Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Geez! Do we gotta teach you guys everything? ;) Grab your camera and tell her you'd like her to pose for you for some "reference material" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted July 17, 2003 Reaper User Share Posted July 17, 2003 Darn it, Katie, you're giving away all the "female secrets" again...they're gonna deport us if we keep telling guys how to understand and communicate with (and avoid being pounded by) the opposite sex!! --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchantra Posted July 17, 2003 Share Posted July 17, 2003 Darn it, Katie, you're giving away all the "female secrets" again...they're gonna deport us if we keep telling guys how to understand and communicate with (and avoid being pounded by) the opposite sex!! --Anne Hey, I just tell my BF he can draw me whenever he wants to. He is an artist of a sort in his spare time, so I let him create a way :) Besides there are rewards to be reaped after he is done drawing... *ahem* I don't consider this giving away secrets. I consider it helping a few male souls who have lost their direction :laugh: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katieo Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 :laugh: Don't worry Anne, there'll always be guys who don't or won't get it (especially when making up can be so fun!) Every now and then a couple of us have to help out the poor bruised Whizardly types. :laugh: Ya know... I've never painted a fig with a black eye before... and with all this reference material around... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 I've never painted a fig with a black eye before... and with all this reference material around... Ha-ha! You ladies are a riot. I hope you've had a good time at my expense! :laugh: Now then... a male secret... perhaps we stir up trouble so that we can guarantee there will be an opportunity to "make up"... Ever think of that, hmm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Froggy the Great Posted July 18, 2003 Moderator Share Posted July 18, 2003 Speaking as a guy...um, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errex Posted July 18, 2003 Share Posted July 18, 2003 Darn it, Katie, you're giving away all the "female secrets" again...they're gonna deport us if we keep telling guys how to understand and communicate with (and avoid being pounded by) the opposite sex!! --Anne Hey, I just tell my BF he can draw me whenever he wants to. He is an artist of a sort in his spare time, so I let him create a way :) Besides there are rewards to be reaped after he is done drawing... *ahem* I don't consider this giving away secrets. I consider it helping a few male souls who have lost their direction :laugh: Lady, some of us paint little pewter toys in lieu of having a relatioship with the opposite sex. Stop torturing ussss. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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