Help with faces!

[matty1001]

I really need a tip about painting faces, iv painted this face to this stage, (probably the best face iv painted) but the flesh is far to light, iv been adding really watered down brown glaze (about 15:1) to darken it, is this what i should be doing? Or should i put a new layer on? HELP!!!

(i put a few pics up, with and with out flash, the one truest to RL is probably the most right one, where you can see the full body of the mini)

 

[demonherald]

Thats the right way to go to darken back down but better to avoid going that light in the first place.
The most common mistake people make is to make the highlights too big.
This is often down to the highlight colour going up a step too far and looking odd if all the skin isn\'t covered.
Try smaller shifts in shade and paint highlights only to the raised areas.
Practise practise practise That certainly ain\'t the worst face I\'ve ever seen.
good luck

 

[matty1001]

I had used:
Base coat: Bronzed flesh
1st highlight: Bronzed flesh and Elf flesh
2nd: Elf flesh
3rd: Elf flesh and white
Very tips: White

Should i not use the 3rd highlight? or darken my base coat?
Im just going to glaze this one now though because i dont want to start again and ruin it! But for future reference?

 

[demonherald]

I\'d say just not mix as much of the highlight colour in so the stages are closer to each other.
If you look at photo reference of real faces the colour changes aren\'t very dramatic except on aged or weathered skin.

 

[Ogrebane]

Dont water down as much. I go maybe 8-1 but no more. Also when you get the flesh right I would use a red wash on the end of the nose and cheeks to gice a ruddy complextion. Looks good on hobbits and dwarves.

 

[EricJ]

ok, let me just preface this by saying it may not work for everyone...or well, anyone other than me, since I don\'t know very many others that do this, but I do faces (and skin) like this:

Elf flesh base coat
glaze it a few times with very thin dark flesh (this is a very red-brown)
glaze a few more times with shadow grey (this is a very blue-grey)
reapply elf flesh carefully as highlights
top highlight with white.
then I touch up shadows with either dark flesh or shadow grey or both.

Basically I find the the combination of a red and blue create a far more realistic skin tone than simply using a brown. And by applying a touch more blue or a touch more red, you completely change how warm or cold the hue of the flesh comes out.

 

[mattsterbenz]

Greetings! Maybe a couple different ways of doing skin will help you decide which one you like. I began with a mix (Graveyard Earth, Bestial Brown, and Tanned Flesh) all equal parts, then highlighted up by adding in Elf Flesh, then shaded with thinned Scorched Brown with a little purple ink added (helps make it look more natural.

Hope this helps!

 

[matty1001]

Cheers for all the help, il try out EricJ\'s the next time i do a face, but OgreBane il add some red into this one (for the ruddy look!)
Cheers for the help!

 

[Banshee]

i,ve done a small tutorial about the use of colours in faces.. it is in painting forum.. talking about my arwen.. look on it..maybe can be useful

 

[penguin]

Lord castor of Kislev (yeah, it\'s a big photo ):

Basecoat of dwarf flesh, shade with blood red. Highlight with dwarf flesh plus white, shade with red. Blend in a bit of purple. Highlight elf flesh, then dwarf flesh plue white gradually until light points are all white. Do a final very thin wash of paint around selected areas, eg. under the cheekbone, under the eye to add deinition. Paint the eye black, then white leaving a thin black border. Then paint the pupil black, and finally add a very tiny dot of white for the glint in his eye :twisted: Don\'t forget to use a very thin brush, a lot of water and a lot of patience.

Hope that helps!

~Bill

 

[krom1415]

Hi matty1001,
There\'s some great info here regarding faces, and I would certainly take such excellent advice.
I just wanted an excuse to put my latest one up,
I use foundry paints,
primer black
do eyes ,tongue teeth etc
flesh shade a
mix with flesh shade b
shade b
mix with c
hilight with shade c
Light wash of GW scab red
wiskers mix of black and grey
scar scab red line of flesh and highlight
a bit of fiddling and this is what you get

 

[matty1001]

Cheers everyone, this is probly the best thread for faces now! Loads of examples and schemes! Il have to save this in my favorites.

 

[faulkns]

Matty

All the above is really good and I like the adding of purple or red.(I will try this myself next time)

My personal list for a gaming figure quality is:
Basecoat - Bestial Brown
1st layer - VMC dark Flesh
2nd layer - Elf Flesh
Last Highlight - Bleached Bone/Skull white mix
Thin wash - either Scorched Brown and W & N Nut Brown ink
Or
GW Chesnut ink and W & N Nut Brown ink

The level of highlights and whether you do intermeadiate mixes between layers is personal and comes from trial and error.

My advice is to highlight up from dark base and keep it simple until you are confident. Take a look at articles on faces (Non-human as well) to check the main highlighting areas.

As a general rule of thumb these will be:

triangles of cheek bones
Bridge of nose and edges of nostrils
Forehead
lips
Chin & outside of lower jaw

Here\'s some Republican Romans I am in the middle of doing for WAB to illustrate. The skin is at various stages as I am trying different colour sequences. Try it yourself on a spare or old mini

 

[matty1001]

Heres a new attempt at a face (And my new WIP, dont no what mini it is though! Sylann or something but the rest is written in Italian!) Iv tried giving red washes, like Bill explained to do, and used brown washes to keep each layer darker. The eyes are intentionally red, but im guna do somthing about the lips.

 

[Torn blue sky]

\"Yeah,yeah, I know..Theres\' something wrong with your face\" ~Jack Burton~

All good ideas, I find it easier to fall into a niche. you\'ll get there in time matey! It\'s a peice of pee, really it is! :]

 

[Bill]

The face is looking good Matty. Nice definition on the cheekbones You could bring up the highlights on the front of the face (his nose, for example), one more step to make it \"pop\".

~Bill

 

[Dragonsreach]

Ooops.

Sorry Matty1001 I must have missed this thread.
Oh yes seeing as you\'re a Geordie as well I don\'t mnd helping out.

Anyhow see if this article is any help:
Painting faces with Expression (Part 1)
Painting Faces with Expression (part 2)