karpouzian Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I know the basics of basecoat, midtone, highlight, but I'm having some difficulty figuring out placing on hair highlights, and was wondering if anyone had a tutorial out there... Or suggestions on hair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I like the red hair triad but I often go to a brown shadow and highlight up to the carrot top red. It gives a much richer red. Also look at pictures of hair natural highlights are often on the ends, midpoint depending on length and on the top, unless the hair is dyed in which case the roots are darker. On the top of the head I often will paint on my highlights not necessarily following the sculpted strands. The ends I almost always use the sculpted strands to pick out a few highlights. With red once you are finished use a glaze of the clear red if you have it all over using control strokes. Hope this helps you some. If you would like and if you can not find a tutorial I will try to do a quick work in progress on red hair with the triad as that is what I almost always use when painting red hair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rastl Posted October 14, 2012 Share Posted October 14, 2012 I guess this is hair. I used the redhead triad on the mane, tail and hoof fuzz. As for a tutorial hair is one of the few things where I don't do my 'shadow to highlight' order of painting. Start with the midtone. Wash with the shadow. Darken the deepest shadows. Start the highlights with the midtone (they got darkened in the shadow wash). Pick out the highlights with the light. Remember to keep the highlights small and tight since hair is shiny. I can't resist well-sculpted hair. Pretty much any part that catches my eye gets a highlight. Especially on the minis with windblown hair. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karpouzian Posted October 15, 2012 Author Share Posted October 15, 2012 Hope this helps you some. If you would like and if you can not find a tutorial I will try to do a quick work in progress on red hair with the triad as that is what I almost always use when painting red hair. This would be appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 15, 2012 Share Posted October 15, 2012 Ok I'll pick a figure prep and prime it tonight, and Wednesday I should have some time to paint some hair, and take photos for you. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 As I found out I have to work tomorrow and will be DMing Weds evening, I started painting some red hair tonight. I worked for about an hour an a half and accomplished a fair amount. I still am not done and will finish this for you Thursday or Friday depending on my work. I picked two of my test minis with different hair to paint red. I have a few minis that I use to practice different things on and the first mini is Dark Sword's Vison in Fantasy Female Ranger, I received her at Rhonda Bender's blending class at Gencon. Which on a side note was a great class and Rhonda did a wonderful job teaching it. If anyone has a chance to take a class from her I would recommend it as she is a very talented painter and was alot of fun to take a class from. The second mini is also a Dark Sword sculpt from the Elmore Masterworks line Chick in Chainmail #4. I picked the Ranger because her hair is wind blown and highlights will be a bit different, with her I intend to try to go a darker red. The Chick in Chainmail has thick straight hair which I will try to paint a bright "little mermaid red". First picture my palette from darkest to lightest, the colors are 1/2 drop Brown liner 9064, 1/2 drop Redstone shadow 9223,1 drop auburn shadow 9241 1 drop Redstone shadow 9223 and 1 drop auburn shadow 9241 Auburn shadow 9241 1 drop auburn shadow 9241 and 1 drop carrot top red 9242 1/2 drop auburn shadow 9241 and 1 drop carrot top red 9242 After a basecoat here is both the minis side by side On the Ranger I started with a basecoat of my darkest color the mix of brown liner, redstone shadow and auburn shadow. I like to use redstone shadow with my reds because I like how smooth the color is and the coverage it has. Some paints I know have a good base I will use a little of in a color to help control the way the paint acts. The Chainmail Chick I started with a basecoat of pure Auburn shadow. I had to put about three coats to acheive this basecoat. The Ranger when by herself still reads as a dark red here she looks more brown next to the Chainmail chick. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 The second step for the Chainmail chick was simply a wash of my darkest color the auburn shadow, redstone shadow and brown liner. It's a little hard to see in the photo but this gives her hair a bit more depth and looks more realistic. The second step for the Ranger is also subtle I began working my way lighter on her hair. The first highlight is the auburn shadow with redstone shadow. For my 1st and 2nd steps I used a #2 round brush as I still want my first highlight to be somewhat broad just to lighten up the area not to pick out highlights yet. After the wash on the Chainmail chick I had to wait longer for her to dry so I got more done on the Ranger. The third step on the Ranger I spent a little time working back and forth with my first highlight of the auburn shadow and redstone shadow adding my 2nd highlight of pure auburn shadow. In these pictures you can start so see where I chose to place my highlights. I like to paint hair like this with a highlight on top where the light source is coming from, with a mid highlight part way down to show a light reflection to make the hair look shinier and the ends also. I think the reason I highlight like this is because my hair is undyed and when photographed has similar highlights. At this point I start to work back and forth with my base and highlights until I get it to look right to my eye. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 The third step for the Chainmail chick was simply going back with my basecoat color of auburn shadow and picking out what I intend to highlight. So not much change in the photo but her she is so far. No more work on her tonight as my eyes are tired from being up since 5 am. The fourth step on the Ranger was more highlighting with auburn shadow, I also began framing the hair around her face more and a glaze of her base coat is select areas I wanted to darken up. When I paint the hair of females I will take more time to frame the face and try to make sure the highlights on the skin reflect the highlights where light is hitting on the hair. For this reason when I paint I will basecoat the skin, line the face and then basecoat the hair at least around the face to avoid messing up the skin when I paint the hair. After I am completely done with the face eyes and all I will then tackle the hair. This way I can take into account my skin highlighting when I paint the hair. I did not do this on these minis and I find that I am struggling with framing out the hair around their faces. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I still have a good bit of work to do to make the hair look the way I want and I hope this is helping you so far. I never did a tutorial before and pictures are hard as the photo quality makes a difference. I am not an artist and I just found after painting hair on enough minis what I like, I have painted hair very different throughout the past few years and am just beginning to find the ways I like to paint it, each mini is different depending on the sculpt, paint it the way you like it and look at lots of pictures of real hair to inspire you. I'll finish this later in the week, good luck with painting red hair and be sure to post some photos as I would love to see how it turns out. I hope this helps you get started at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last Knight Posted October 17, 2012 Share Posted October 17, 2012 I still have a good bit of work to do to make the hair look the way I want and I hope this is helping you so far. I never did a tutorial before and pictures are hard as the photo quality makes a difference. I am not an artist and I just found after painting hair on enough minis what I like, I have painted hair very different throughout the past few years and am just beginning to find the ways I like to paint it, each mini is different depending on the sculpt, paint it the way you like it and look at lots of pictures of real hair to inspire you. I'll finish this later in the week, good luck with painting red hair and be sure to post some photos as I would love to see how it turns out. I hope this helps you get started at least. I'm very much enjoying this and looking forward to your next update. I've got auburn shadow and carrottop red coming soon, might have to look into the other colors you've used. :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marsya Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I still have a good bit of work to do to make the hair look the way I want and I hope this is helping you so far. I never did a tutorial before and pictures are hard as the photo quality makes a difference. I am not an artist and I just found after painting hair on enough minis what I like, I have painted hair very different throughout the past few years and am just beginning to find the ways I like to paint it, each mini is different depending on the sculpt, paint it the way you like it and look at lots of pictures of real hair to inspire you. I'll finish this later in the week, good luck with painting red hair and be sure to post some photos as I would love to see how it turns out. I hope this helps you get started at least. I'm very much enjoying this and looking forward to your next update. I've got auburn shadow and carrottop red coming soon, might have to look into the other colors you've used. :-) Thank you I'm glad to see your enjoying this. I plan to work on this tomorrow evening. I hope you like your new paint and both brown liner and the red stone triad are a good investment. I probably get the most use out of my brown liner more so than any other color I own. In fact I am on my 2nd bottle. If you have not used a liner yet they are a much thinner consistency, but flow very well and help with lining of minis. I use brown liner for everything from lining, eyes, blocking in shadows and mixing with others to darken a color. Show us pictures of your minis with red hair once you try out your new paints, I'd love to see them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Last Knight Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Will do. :-) I actually have a bottle of brown liner, thanks to L2PK4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CashWiley Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Marsya, thanks so much for doing this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caffiene Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Very nice tutorial :) I especially like the shot of the palette, to show what the mixes look like before they go on the mini. Thats the sort of "process" details that can be really handy but often get missed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karpouzian Posted October 18, 2012 Author Share Posted October 18, 2012 So, (and maybe this should be its own thread), why liner instead of a wash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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