Jump to content

How to Paint 1/35 figures? Need help, is there a web site


Recommended Posts

Actually, it´s all here on ARC if you do a proper search...:

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?...Figure+Painting

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?...Figure+Painting

http://www.arcforums.com/forums/index.php?...Figure+Painting

and the best one that describes all I would tell you the same way is here, courtesy of Pete Wenman:

http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/tnt1...nman/tnt130.htm

István

(*bruceleevoiceon* "...and now go and practice!") :cheers:

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hey Mike,

Figure painting is the most over-looked aspect of aircraft modeling. What did Shep Paine say..."A bad figure can ruin a really good model. A really good figure can drastically improve a bad model."

As for figure painting, I read all of the books and did my best to teach myself, but I couldn't pull of the quality of work that I aspired to. Then a buddy of mine who owned his own hobby shop held a figure painting course after-hours in his store. It cost me $75.00 for four nights; figure included. Mark was an accomplished figure painter and when he demonstrated the "stipple" technique (using a flat-wide-soft brush to pat the line between two colors to gently blend them together) it finally sunk in. This is what Shep, Verlinden, Mike Good, etc always tried to write about, but until you actually saw it in person, you couldn't understand. Now it all makes sense. I can figure paint my rearend off now.

The true master in figure painting is Bill Horan. Getting a copy of his book would be a good start. He uses enamels in 1/35 scale, but in the larger 120mm he's gone to oils because of the wider surface area. I'd like to try his method in 1/35, but I'm in a comfort zone with oils. Maybe one day.

Randy

Link to post
Share on other sites
Hey Mike,

Figure painting is the most over-looked aspect of aircraft modeling. What did Shep Paine say..."A bad figure can ruin a really good model. A really good figure can drastically improve a bad model."

Randy

Amen to that, Randy! :cheers: Although I can hardly imagine that an experienced figurepainter can screw up an aircraft (paintjob, that is!)... :banana:

István

Link to post
Share on other sites
Yeah I only use enamels but I heard people say that Acrylics are the best for figures?

This is a real "horses for courses" thing. Enamels (and oils even more so) more often give you longer working times for blending, and a more durable finish for handling. Acrylics generally give you faster drying and cleanup times which can help with handling while working, and making it easier to do more thin coats and mixes to get the effect you're after.

Link to post
Share on other sites

As mentioned above, Shepard Paine's now-ancient text is still very good, and he really convinces you to try. Artist's oils sound intimidating, and they can be a chore to work with, but when actually painting, I find them much easier to use than jarred enamels or acrylics. Buy White, Gold Ochre, and Burnt Sienna, just for flesh tones at first. Then, if you like how they turn out, expand your work with them.

In any case, do not give up, even if your first several attempts are unsuccessful. It took me one or two expensive, metal soldiers to discover that I should be practicing on cheap troops (get the goofy soft plastic ones, a whole platoon for a few bucks!), even before advancing to styrene (Dragon, Tamiya) figs. In any event, keep at it! When I finally got good results, I was really jazzed about it, and still find painting figurines fun, if somewhat laborious.

Edited by Fishwelding
Link to post
Share on other sites

This is one of my favourite figures (1/35) from my collection, painted with waterbased acrylics only.

Darkest colours first, lightest last, highlighted, drybrushed with a touch of silver to give it a metallic look overal (after all, this guy is supposed to be a kind of "Spirit" of the Nekron (Warhammerfigure, sort of Terminators).

As you see, you can do quite some funny things with acrylics, too. Not my best figure, but one of the more interesting subjects and as I might say, one of the eyecatchers in my collection, as some of my friends told me.

Hope you like it. :thumbsup:

István

Edited by I.Illes
Link to post
Share on other sites

I.Illes - Your figure looks great!

Thanks everyone for the great tips! I am gonna go with Vallejo Acrylics for right now. I have heard good things about them. So I'll post some pics once I get my figures and paint.

Thanks guy's

Mike

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...