Painting questions....Help appreciated :)

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Rbeato

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I have been messin about lately tryin to learn the craft of paintin head sculpts. I'm getting better and better each try but I am curious as to how much you dillute your paints. Ie: for skin tones..been using a mix of titanium white, burnt sierra and raw sierra and distilled water...but what kind of consistency is good to use it for washes and such? seems like after i put on a few coats it covers up to much of the sculpts details. i see most paint apps on here where it looks like very thin coats were used where every little detail still shows. any certain tips for adding a 5 o'clock shadow on a sculpt that is made to have one? any special way to do eyebrows?
thanks for the help
 
You will see a lot of either airbrush work or extremely thin washes. I, like a lot of painters, use both. Washes have very little paint. Its how you get the color build up without thickness of paint.

One thing I like to use instead of water is windshield wiper fluid. You know the blue stuff that cleans your car windshield. Its great because it evaporates much faster then water. Airbrush artists have been using it for ever. I use it with my airbrush work and also for my brushed on washes. Get the cheapest you can fined without the different additives. Give it a go and see what you think.
 
Excellent tip Robbie, i'll give it a try. It seems when i try washes since they do have very little paint that after it dries that you can hardly tell that anything has been added, especially at the beginning. I have read that its best to either start off with a white layer then use wash on top of wash which I have tried except just like the skin tone washes the white hardly shows up. Too little paint? Or do I need to get a certain kind of primer to start off? I'd like to try the pastel techniques as I used to be really good with them, used to use an airbrush but not in a long time, so I may stick with brushes for now...?
thanks again
 
You'll want to dilute your mix until you get a milky consistency, then apply as many coats are you see fit. I normally end up applying 6 or 7 coats for each head until I get the whole head covered.

Unfortunately I don't use an airbrush :(
 
thank you sir. glad to know I did dillute it right. I do want to get some citadel paints, currently looking at the names they use now as I only know the old names of them. Also I really want to get a set of nice paint brushes. Any tips on them? Brands/ types?
 
got a bunch of citadel paints today. :yess: lookin forward to gettin some time tonight to try em out. Now i just need to figure out some good paint brushes.
 
One thing I like to use instead of water is windshield wiper fluid. You know the blue stuff that cleans your car windshield. Its great because it evaporates much faster then water. Airbrush artists have been using it for ever. I use it with my airbrush work and also for my brushed on washes. Get the cheapest you can fined without the different additives. Give it a go and see what you think.

Windshield wiper fluid i might have to try that. I have been told vodka has the same effect but more pricey :lol

Will the blueness of the fluid have any effect on the finished colour?

You'll want to dilute your mix until you get a milky consistency, then apply as many coats are you see fit. I normally end up applying 6 or 7 coats for each head until I get the whole head covered.
Some sound advice here but i would give you one more tip mix your colours before diluting it as when diluted the colours will be a lot darker once dry.
 
Thanks for that Pete. I did not even think about that. I'm still trying to figure out how to do a five o'clock shadow. Character will have brown hair, so do I use a but lighter brown and apply it as a wash to that area? And when do I paint that area? Early on or after most things have been done?
 
I prefer to simply dilute citadel paints and apply them with an abundance of very, very fine detail brushes... instead of using an airbrush, lol. However, utilizing this technique means constant use of the paints, so they tend to dry out faster than normal. Hence, why I now store my paints in a sealed box and then triple "ziploc bag" said box. :lol

I don't know why, but I find the results are similar enough at times that it's worth avoiding the hassle. The few instances where I actually used my airbrush was a pain in the neck, after the deed was done. The results are nice, but god I must be using the wrong thinner to clean up afterwards. >.>
 
Thanks for that Pete. I did not even think about that. I'm still trying to figure out how to do a five o'clock shadow. Character will have brown hair, so do I use a but lighter brown and apply it as a wash to that area? And when do I paint that area? Early on or after most things have been done?

What character is it for if you mind me asking? feel free to pm me if its a secret and i can give you some more specific tips :wink1:

Quite often with dark brown hair stubble will be more grey than brown.

I tend to mix medium gray, a little bunt umber and matt gloss to give it more transparency. I add it at the end but make shore to keep some skintone to allow you to blend it in at the cheeks.

I would also advise to buy some small pots and mix up a batch of basic skintone so its uniform with the rest of the paint. You will just need to darken it and lighten it in areas.

Hope these helps it saves you a lot of trial and error i had :lol
 
hi, what type of technique used and the final clear coat to protect the color?
thanks
 
"windshield wiper fluid"

Will give that a go, can't stand waiting for paint to dry when I'm experimenting with colours.

I think a clear matt or gloss enamel is used to protect the head sculpts when painted depending if you want a shinny or dull finnish.
Hav'nt used any myself but am going to.
 
have gotten pretty good at skintones and details but still can't get a good 5 o'clock shadow. i must be missing a step or somethin. is there a certain brush to use for this as well?
 
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