Painting tips & techniques thread

[dekadentdave]

The purpose of this thread is for customizers to share the various techniques they use and to offer advice for novice customizers and tips for others to help improve the quality of customs they create such as paint mixing and applications, washes, highlights, shading, sculpting, molding, kit-bashing, etc. Please describe as detailed as possible how you arrived at the finished result and sugestions for creating specific applications. Please post images of the steps used in the process when they are available. Hopefully this will help novice customizers learn and develope techniques to craft their skills and to inspire others in their customs.

[figuremaster_les]

Goodness! I will try!

I have so many tips all over the site now...but I will keep this in mind next chance I get to shoot some, and will show some of my techniques.

Bottom line, I am very messy, so to see me at work, is not to see my finished work, which is clean and pristine. Watching me you would all gasp! I can hear it now...
"No! Les...but...don't...but...ok...ok...that's ok...whew...I thought that was gonna be rough, but it turned out ok!" :lol

I use my hands a lot, and blend with my fingers a lot, so that alone is one tip for you! ANd I wash my hands a LOT while I work.

That's a start!

More to come...:D

[Boba Fett]

I don't have any advice, but I would like to know the best way to "weather" or "dirty" an item. I've always wanted to purchase a 12" sandtrooper and weather/dirty his armor to place in a diorama.

[DarkArtist81]

I'm about the same as Les.... my work station is a mess... just filthy. During the painting process my fingers get coated with various paints and such. Especially now that I have started to use my hands more, with advice from Les.

I also follow a loose "step" system that I find very useful. I do skin tones alone and let the sculpt be for a while.... I don't touch it again for at least an hour.

Then I do whites of eyes and the base hair.... and then I leave it alone again.

I come back and add the highlights and finally the colored parts of the eyes. With eyes I tend to mix at least 3 different shades to get a better blend. More is always better as long as you get a nice effect in the end. Experimentation is always key, and you will surprise yourself in the end.

I also want to express the importance of layers.... Washes followed by drybrushing will add depth and vibrance to any sculpt, just try it and see. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results and you might even find a gem in a bargain bin somewhere that comes out looking like the Mona Lisa. I'll do a followup post with more in depth how to on washes.

Next post..... WEATHERING!!! :D

[DarkArtist81]

Ok.... weathering techniques....

There are many ways to weather your costumes and give them a little more life. Paint is always the best way to do it without destroying your clothing, but from time to time.... alternate methods can be fun.... :devil

In the case of My Sith Anakin.... he needed burn marks. And since I was not trying to go all film accurate, but more of a realistic (IMO) look of someone fighting that close to lava flow.... fire was needed.

I carefully lit a lighter and brushed it gently across the areas I wanted to singe. With a thicker garment you can use slower sweeps to get the effect you want, but with the thinner clothes... ie.. Jedi Tunics... you will need to sweep a little faster.

The cloth will turn a shade of orange before it actually turns black or lights on fire, and this is usually where I stopped. Only on spots that needed the full burnt look did I let it go any further. I also used a nail that was heated on a candle flame to simulate ember burns. I used a pair of pliers to hold the nail, as it would have burned me quite badly had I handled it bare handed, and poked at the leather tabbards until I had enough texture.

I followed that with a drybrushing of greyish black over the tops of the burned areas to get a nice sooty look. I then brushed this over the top of his boots, glove and belt to deepen the effect.

Most weathering can be done with paint and water... such as my Jack Sparrow. If you want you clothing a shade darker or dirtier... mix some paint... brown or black... into some water. Make sure that you use more water than paint.... basically you want the fluid to look like tea. When this is finished, dunk the clothing into the mix. Let it soak fully...

When you remove it, you can either rinse it (to have a lighter look) or let it dry (for a darker look).

Sometimes thinking out of the box can make things even better as well... I wrapped the sash (for Capt Jack) around another figures legs to let it dry.. It helped give it a more ratty look, like it was a well loved... worn every day sash. Things like that can help the look of your custom more than you would think.

[Icemizer]

DarkArtist you may want to consider buying a cheap soldering iron instead of using the hot nail. Same result and much much safer. Also with some fine tips you can add scarring or lines to the figure that will have actual depth to them.

[DarkArtist81]

DarkArtist you may want to consider buying a cheap soldering iron instead of using the hot nail. Same result and much much safer. Also with some fine tips you can add scarring or lines to the figure that will have actual depth to them.

Thanks Icemizer! Yeah, I was in quite a pickle when I put that one together... I searched my house high and low for something to use! The nail was the only thing that worked... :lol

But, yeah... in the future... I just might get one of those!!

[dekadentdave]

What is the best colors to mix for lips? I want to repaint the lips on my Anakin but I don't want it to come out looking like he's wearing lipstick.

[DarkArtist81]

I used a mixture of red, burnt sienna and Warm Skin Tone.... all Model Masters Acrylics... :D