This is the first time I've attempted to paint a flesh-toned minifigure using Jeff's most recent tips. I underpainted the hands and face with the thinnest coat of light red I could, then added very thin layers of flesh tone. The result is certainly better than typical for me; I shot the figure in two different places to try it out under different lighting conditions.
Note, however, that I did not add an ink wash to Chucky's flesh. This becomes relevant below.
Here are two photos of Lydia, Diana's conniving rival in the television series V. I painted this model the same way I painted Chucky, with one exception: I added an ink wash, typically recommended for miniatures to make small details like the shadows between fingers distinct.
Lydia still looks better than a lot of my human figures, but the ink wash has given her a ruddy look; I was hoping for something paler to better approximate Lydia's actor, June Chadwick.
I'm using Reikland Fleshshade for ink wash, but I wonder if perhaps there's a lighter shade I could use to avoid this muddy/ruddy effect. Or I could forego a wash altogether; Chucky seems fine without it.
1 comment:
You've got a lot of nice detail on Chucky. I mean, that's one creepy figure, and you probably should keep it locked in a box somewhere.
Figuring out what paints go together is the science-y part of art. Just because they come from the same company or the label says one thing or another doesn't guarantee automagic results. You just have to test every combination you can one by one and see what happens for yourself. Every artist is different, so that what might work for one painter is a disaster for someone else.
Leonardo da Vinci was a talented painter and an excellent draughtsman, but there were many who could keep up with him in either discipline. What made Leonardo a Great Master was his ability to make his own pigments and to combine them to make unique paints that the world had never seen before and won't again: he never shared his recipes with his apprentices. Figuring out the chemistry and physics of paint takes more than a lifetime.
Some pigments have chemical reactions with one another. Paint medium is supposed to be neutral, but sometimes it isn't, especially if you mix mediums like paint and markers for example. Some paint dries better than other, is more translucent than other, and most paints dry a different colour than is on the container.
I encourage you to experiment! Maybe not so much on your prime figures, though. Use those to showcase your unique formulas.
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