Today we concentrate on painting the face of our 80- 54mm figure. We are using the Acrylic paints from Vallejo.
Part.1: Since we already primed the figure in grey we must add a base coat to begin this process. Make sure the face is clear of any dust first or it will mix with the paint.
Part.2: Add No.815 Basic Skintone (1 : 4 – water : paint ratio) evenly to hands and face. Don’t worry about overlapping outside the skin areas. You can always overpaint those areas again. For example: paint may overlap onto the unpainted rifle, this is preferable to leaving gaps of grey primer between the rifle and the hand. NOTE: The warmer the environment the more water needs to be used or the paint may dry too quickly and cause an uneven layer to form. Let this dry.
Part.3: Add a wash of Mahogany Brown (846) and Matt Medium (540). Only add a tiny amount of brown to the Matt Medium and mix well. Add an even amount of water (1:1 ratio) to the paint to make it translucent. This wash brings out the creases in the skin and darkens any depressions like the eye sockets or between the fingers of the figure. Let this dry.
Part.4 & 5: Apply Brown Rose (803) to the lips carefully to bring them out and define them. This darker brown is better than a red as red lips look a little strange on a soldier. For the eyes first add a line of Flat Brown (984) to the entire eye region and then add two dots of white (951) to each eye for the ‘whites’ of the eyes, thus leaving the brown only in the centre for the pupil. The brown line can also help define the eye at its edges (looks like eyelashes).
For other skintones you can experiment to suit personal tastes.
For a more browned skin you could base coat the face with Marrion Beige (875) and add a wash of Black (950).
For an oriental skintone perhaps try use a Medium Flesh (860) for a base and Terra Matte (983) for a wash.
NOTE: Always keep a triple 0 (000) brush aside only to paint eyes and buttons and so keep it’s definition and shape.
