Painting a 54mm face with Oils
Using Andrea Miniatures
D'Artagnan
Before I start painting.....
A little bit about the face being used, the tools needed and the paints that are necessary.
This is the white metal casting of D’Artagnan from Andrea Miniatures. It’s an excellent face, and I do urge you to buy well-sculpted figures.
If you’re using replacement heads, there’s a lot of companies producing them now – Alpine, Scale 75 and of course the grand daddy of them all, Hornet Heads.
As for 54mm figures, there are too many companies to mention that have good sculptors working for them, so rather than name names, it’s a case of finding sculptors that you can trust to do a decent job.
Apologies, but I can’t advise any further than that.
This method can be used on any scale, just using slightly bigger brushes is all it takes to adapt the method, and that is simply to cover ore area in less time.
Paints to be used are pretty simple.
A pale coloured or white primer of your choice
A pale flesh tone acrylic
Oil colours ;-
Mars Brown OR Burnt Sienna
Titanium White
Mars Black or Ivory Black.
To begin with the head needs to be mounted securely to something. In this case the head is separate from the main body casting, so I drilled a hole into the neck and glued a piece of wire in place. If the head had been attached to the body then that would have been pinned and fastened to a wood block to be used as a handle.
In cases like this I have a few sets of Mole Grips that can be clipped to the wire and used as a handle.
However you choose to do this, the handle needs to be comfortable to hold and to allow the wet paint to remain untouched until it’s fully dry.
Just a bit about acrylics.
I’m old school and don’t use a wet pallet, I just use a white tile to mix paint on – oils or acrylics.
One thing that I do is to add a drop or two of washing up liquid to the jar of water I use for cleaning my brushes and for thinning the paint. The detergent breaks surface tension, and makes the water flow better.
Some people use distilled or deionised water, but I use a mix of ice cubes melted with water that has been boiled in a kettle.
Brushes.
Buy the best you can for detail work. I’ve even started using eye-liner make-up brushes in some cases, but get some cheap brushes too for applying undercoats and for blending.
Keep brushes used for water-based paints separate from ones that will be used for applying oils. And if you can, have another few brushes that are reserved for painting with metallic colours.
Washing brushes and thinners.
I have four jars of “thinners” on my painting desk – two with water in them, and two with White Spirit. One water and one White Spirit is for normal “flat” coloured paints, the other two are for metallic colours.
Cloths and rags.
Two of these, one old t-shirt that is used for wiping brushes on that have the flat colours, and I use a piece of kitchen roll to wipe and clean any brush that’s been used for metallic colours.
So why all of this separation ?
Oil and water don’t mix, we all know that, so using a brush for one and then the other doesn’t do it any good. The thinners ( water or spirit ) will not dry properly within the ferrule, which will create problems, and you’ll get contamination of the paint from the opposing thinner when painting. Simply put, just get another few brushes and keep them separated.
Metallic colours are made from flecks of pigment floated in a carrier medium. It is IMPOSSIBLE to get all of these out of a brush’s bristles, and they will appear in other mixes of your paint when you least want them. Also, they will migrate and get on your brush when you wipe it on a cloth, so use kitchen roll and bin it after each session.
Drying oils.
They will dry at room temperature, but it can take a while. Also the slower they dry, the less of the carrier evaporates and the glossier finish to the paint will result.
I use an old kitchen cupboard that until recently had a 40w tungsten filament light bulb in it to provide a constant heat. In this day and age of saving money and tungsten bulbs becoming rare and expensive to replace, I hit upon the idea of using a heating mat from a reptile vivarium. It’s about 300mm square and uses 9w to run. I put a cake cooling tray above it to place models on to keep them away from the direct heat, and it works just fine.
Previous to the drying cabinet, I used a metal plate on top of a double radiator with a tall Tupperware over the top of the models to keep the heat in and keep dust out.
So there’s various ways of doing it, so long as heat is applied gently, and dust is kept off it.
Photo #2 shows the face with its pale flesh undercoat of acrylics.
The mix I use is about and even amount of MP White and Flesh Colour, added to this is about a third again of water. There’s two or three coats of this mix been applied, thinning the paint with water to it flows well. All that’s necessary is for the colour to be even and solid over the whole area.
OK, then let’s paint.
Photo #1 shows the bare metal casting attached to the wire pin I mentioned. The head has had the mould lines removed and is ready for priming.
Some people wash their castings in hot soapy water, I don’t bother because I prime with a mix of Isopropyl Alcohol and a small amount of acrylic paint. The Iso dissolves any grease or mould release, and the paint is just there to show me which areas I’ve managed to get paint on.
If the surface of the model still repels the paint, then yes, I give it a wash with hot soapy water. But that is unusual in the extreme.
Photo #3 is where I begin painting on the oils. This is a mix of Mars Brown with a little bit of Titanium White. You can substitute Burnt Sienna or any warm brown for the Mars Brown if you like / need to.
The paint is applied to the whole face with a large brush, making sure to get it into the recessed details as this will form the basis of the shadows.
To even out any brush marks, and remove any excess paint, I use a large soft brush to gently stipple the whole of the face. Wipe the brush regularly on a soft cloth, and the result should be as shown in photo #3.
Now to start building up the mid-tones.
Photo #4 shows the areas that I have made slightly lighter than the original coat of paint. The forehead, nose, top lip, cheekbones, jaw-line, ears and chin all receive spots of Titanium White from a fine brush. The spots of white are tiny as the white is a very strong pigment. A clean soft brush is then used to stipple the spots of paint so that the light colour blends in and mixes with the darker colour. Remember to wipe the brush on the soft cloth before moving to blend a new spot of paint.
This regular wiping of the brush on the cloth is really important. It is where a lot of people have problems with painting using oil colours, in that whilst the brush is being used to blend an area, it picks up paint from the surface of the model. Transferring this paint to another section of the model – because excess paint hasn’t been wiped off the bristles – will cause contamination, which to speak bluntly, is why you can end up with a muddy looking mess over most of the area being painted.
Don’t wash the brush though, this will make matters even worse, because then when you return to a different area, there will be thinners on the brush, which will dilute the paint on the model. Reserve washing brushes until the face is finished, the paint isn’t going to dry anytime soon.
So, blend a spot of paint by gently stippling the area, then wipe the brush on the soft cloth. You’ll get into a habit of doing this quicker than you think.
Now I said add small spots of paint didn’t I ?
Yes, well, the reason for this is that you can always add more of the white if it hasn’t done much, in fact that’s what I do to build up the highlights.
What you can’t do is remove the white paint if you’ve put too much or too big a spot on.
However, if you have done that, and it’s all part of the process of learning, then washing the face with White Spirit and a soft brush will remove the oil colours, but usually leave the acrylic undercoat intact. Let the White Spirit dry off, and just start over. Nothing lost, no one died.
Photo #5 shows the face from a different angle, it’s at the same stage as photo #4, and at this point I haven’t really started emphasising the features all that much, it’s just general areas that are slightly lighter. The band of shadow across the upper part of the forehead is just me anticipating the shadow that the hat will cause, and if the head is bare, then this shadow should be a lot thinner and right at the hairline.
Photo #6 and now the lighter areas – light mid-tones or dark highlights, call them what you want – are being formed on the forehead in this shot.
Here’s where a fine brush and a gentle hand are beginning to be needed. Looking closely, the lighter areas are not a single block, there are the beginnings of worry lines towards the centre of the forehead, there is a frown line either side of where the eyebrows will start because a spot of the white has been added to the central area just above the bridge of the nose, and the temple areas have been lightened too.
All this has been added with a fine brush, small spots of paint and a small soft brush to blend, with more of that repetitive wiping on a soft cloth.
Again, more paint can be added if the lightness hasn’t built up quite so much, but it can’t be taken away, so “less is more” and adding small spots several times is better than one large spot of paint and it going wrong. You’ll get the hand of it though, honest.
Photo #7 shows the difference now between the forehead that has been worked on, and the rest of the face whish is still at the stage I was at in photos #4 and #5. however, you can see that the face is beginning to come to life, and that just using the two colours can give a lot of transition in colour.
One thing to note, is the line of lighter paint running from just to the right of the right hand nasal flare ( as you look at this picture ) to just to the right of the mouth.
I think I began adding more light colour to the face before remembering to take this shot, but it does show that to make wrinkles a small line can be added rather than a spot of paint, and hopefully you can also see just how little paint has been added to begin the process, because this hasn’t been blended in yet.
Photo #9 shows the nose being worked on. A line of Titanium White down the line of the nose, and two small spots applied to the nasal flares, then blended in. Once that is done, a further spot can be added to the nasal flares and also a spot added to the tip of the nose, and then very gentle blending.
Photo #8 shows the what initial line having been blended in, and another line has been added to build up a highlight. I’ve added spots of paint to the cheek bones, chin, ears and jaw line too, and again blended them in.
Photo #11 gives a view of the other side of the face, again nothing has changed from photo #9, it’s just a case of having a look-see to find a balance and get a handle on where the next spots of white need to be added.
Photo #10 gives you a view to the side of the face at this stage, and you can see that the nose has gained a lot better definition, whilst the rest of th areas highlighted in photo #8, and this is where I begin moving from one area to another, lightening and blending areas to bring out particular features and gain a balance. You don’t want, for example, the top lip looking brighter than the nose, or the jaw line looking brighter than the forehead.
Photo #13, and a three quarter view shows the line running from the nasal flare to the mouth has been added to again to brighten it up, and the cheeks have been lightened as well. Less noticeable is an addition to the area on the brows near the temple, to brighten that area up too.
Photo #12 is looking at the left side of the face. The jaw line and ear have been added to in this picture, and it’s possibly as light as they will go now.
This view shows the opposite side of the face in photo #15, and I thought I’d pause things to show that I work on one side of the face at once, so whilst in photo #14 more highlights have been built up, this side of the face has still to be balanced up to match.
Photo #14 and white has been added to the spot above the nose on the forehead, more to the point of the nose, some to the top lip and some to the chin. Again, small spots of white, blended in and wiping the cloth before moving to a new area.
A note on “clean cloths” in this shot, if you really look closely there is a small hair sticking out of the paint near the tip of the nose – do you see it ?
Yup, well, it’s kind of unavoidable, that picking up small hairs is going to happen. Wipe the blending brush on the cloth and then gently touch the area with the hair once, check to see if you’ve picked up the hair or not. If not, another gentle touch, repeating until the hair is removed. The wipe the brush and check the area to see if you’ve removed too much paint or left a mark.
Photo #17shows the face at the point where I usually stop - the shadows and highlights are all OK and in the right places, definition is a little over the top for the highlights, but remember what I said about “optical Brighteners” so the highlights will dull down a bit, and the paint is still wet and shiny.
Photo #16 and things appear to slow right down. The additions made now are really small, and the blending brush being used is an old No. 0 that has lost it’s point.
This is the time when the face is viewed from all angles to work out whether the highlights are matched up correctly from one side of the face to another, and that the areas that should be brightest – point of the nose, forehead and cheekbones are appearing to stand out enough. In this shot I’ve added a bright spot with more white to the tip of the nose, worked on the chin and the “scowl” on the inner most area of the brow ridges and that point in the middle of them.
Things to remember :–
- · This is a face from a 54mm figure, the photos blown up beyond all reason and the slight texture that the paint gives can be seen.
- · The paint is still wet and very shiny, and it needs to dry before the reality of the work can be seen.
- · At no point was White Spirit used to thin the paints or wash the brushes during the process.
- · Always try to buy the best sculptures you can afford, and buy genuine kits, not copies. Buying genuine pieces supports the companies and sculptors and allows them to produce more, plus the quality of parts should be better to work on.
So, with the face at this stage, brushes can now be washed, the head can be put somewhere to dry and in my case I move on to either another component of the kit, or in some cases a completely different kit altogether.
It stops me messing about with what I’ve managed to get done, and ending up making a mess of things.
The final shots show the completed model with a close up of the face. Now the face has dried the gradations of colour seem a lot more harsh, but the brightness will fade back over the next few months and either balance out, or if it fades too much, the highlights can be reworked with a light mix of the oil flesh tone.
Any other additions ?
Once the face is fully dry – so I’m talking of a week in the drying cabinet, further additions can be made :-
Well, the eyes make the face look a lot better, and painting them to look to one side or another adds interest to any face, it also stops the model having that “thousand yard stare” that can lead to the face looking lifeless.
Painting the hair or a hat along with the collar will frame the face. Before making any further additions it is advisable to do this to “frame” the face and give it what can only be termed as “reference” the face on its own is unlikely to look the same as when the rest of the model is painted.
Once the above has been done, it might be an idea to add some pinkish areas. This needs a very light touch in this scale, and I would advise the use of Carmine oils.
Having gotten used to adding tiny spots of colour with a fine brush, the smallest of spots of Carmine can be added just under the brightest part of the cheekbone, and then use a soft, dry brush to blend this out to the surrounding area. Do both cheeks, and with what is left on the bristles, you can gently brush the tip of the nose too. If the forehead is visible, a gentle brushing with the residue on the brush can be given there as well.
If you’ve added too much of the Carmine, then a little white spirit on a clean brush can be used to gently remove the excess wet paint. Done carefully, this won’t affect the flesh tones that have already fully dried.
Hopefully I haven’t….
- A. Bored you rigid.
- B. Missed any of the steps.
- C. Clearly detailed everything.
If I’ve failed on the last of those three points, then please contact me using the contact button. I can then clarify things for you, alter or amend the article, and I’ll credit you by name for the amendment if one needs making.
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