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Painting FleshHere is a collection of suggestions for painting leather clothing, armour and acroutements on miniatures: Stan Olson: Red Dyed leather works out to a more Maroon (deep) red colour. Craft colour paints usually have this shade . Mix in an ivory off-white/light grey to get a dusty shade for dry brushing. Blue dyed leather would start with again a deep navy blue, drybrushed with the same colour mixed with an off white/light grey. Natural leather is a shade of tan-flesh colour (light shade) but most people want to give it a wash with a thinned mixture of the original (light-pale) colour and brown ink (e.g., Citadel Flesh wash or Brown ink with a touch of yellow ink if you want to lighten up the brown ink). David Kuijt: Leather could be almost any colour that cloth was. Leather was often decorated by painting, and could be dyed or bleached to a very broad spectrum of colours. Cuir bolli is thick leather boiled and/or impregnated with water. It would be very dark brown, possibly black. When painting cuir bolli I would use a medium brown and a wash of Liquitex Burnt Umber; or possibly a dark (chocolate) brown and a black wash. For other leather, especially belts, baldrics, brigandine, or the like, almost any contrasting colour is possible. I tend to use earth tones for rank-and-file soldiers, because bright coloured dyes were more expensive than the more muted vegetable dyes. Joe Mann: Chestnut base, black or dark brown wash, beige highlighting/drybrushing. Anonymous: After primer, light coat of an off white/dirty white paint, then wash dark brown, and after a light brown drybrush over raised areas of the coats. Jimbo: For leather I use a light brown, followed by a very light drybrush of a lighter colour, followed by a dark wash of brown and chestnut ink. David Vance: I have used a black undercoat and then drybrushed various browns (heavy with the dark shades, then working in less with lighter shades) on as well. This looks pretty good, and also gives the uneven, worn look as well as being REAL FAST. If you are going for a slick black leather color (knee-high boots and leather skin-suits) then the black base color, a LIGHT drybrush of medium grey to pick out details with a very controlled use of straight white to sharply emphasize those details works well. There are undoubtedly more many ways to paint human flesh than there are variations in actual human skin color. One common denominator, however, seems to be the use of contrasting/shading techniques to bring out features, especially in larger 25mm/28mm figures: start with a basic skin tone, wash in a slightly darker color for shading/contrast, and then highlight by dry brushing a slightly lighter skin tone over raised features. Here are some tips and alternative techniques for painting eye-catching flesh on your miniatures: Doug Barker: After priming, paint flesh-coloured areas and let it dry. I use Ral-Partha "Asian" since it is a touch darker than a lot of other flesh tones, and I don't want my troops to look as pale as I do. Use a coat of brown ink (eg, from Games Workshop) on the areas just painted. Ensure that only crevices (eg, eye sockets, area under the chin, beneath cheek bones, between the fingers/toes) are heavily covered. The nose, cheek bones, forehead, forearms, calfs, knees and chin should all be visible to you immediately after putting on the ink. Allow to dry. Use a small amount of the original flesh tone to touch-up the raised areas mentioned (nose, forehead, chin, cheek bones) as well as large, flat raised areas (thighs, forearms, exposed neck, calfs, shins, large exposed muscles on topless guys). I don't dry-brush since it wrecks brushes at a phenomenal rate, so I have to be careful that I don't overload the brush with paint and have it seep into crevices. Chris Brantley: In 15mm scale for "European" flesh, I have taken to using a light pinkish flesh color (craft acrylics), which darkens (loses its cartoony character) and highlights features nicely when you do the Miracle Dip technique (dipping in Mixwax Polyshades Tudor). For more "Mediterranean" flesh, I use a craft acrylic "dark flesh" or "ruddy flesh" with the dip technique. To spead up the painting process, a friend of mine occasionally uses a spray primer in "wicker" color, skips painting the flesh and goes straight to the dip. It looks just fine. Catiline: On 15mm I undercoat black then paint flesh in Humbrol leather and then paint on muscle definition/ highlights depending how fat I want them to be, with flesh. However on 25/8mm this seems too crude. John Hansen: I tend to spray coat them white (although I have on occasion used black) then on 25mm I use a dark redish brown as a basic layer. I then apply a dark to medium flesh and then a highlight of light flesh. I have also found on some well defined figures that if after applying a grey primer color if I wash them with a thinned out black, I can then do the red to med to light and it works very well. One of the most useful tools I've found is borrowing a good book on theater makeup from the library both for the face and body. Joe Mann: For caucasoid flesh, a sort of sunburnt/ruddy base, or else a darker, non ruddy base, chestnut wash (stopping here is often sufficient, light beige drybrush, standard treatment of eyes and mouths as described better by others. Stan Olson: I would prime the figures white, then paint the flesh areas with a medium pale flesh colour. Next take that water based Acrylic flesh colour and add a reddish-brown to tint it, and add water to turn it into a Wash. (You can also add Flesh wash Inks instead). Then dry brush with your original flesh paint. Some more natural detailed flesh tones could be added, by mixing a pale pink blush colour into the original flesh colour and using this mixture as a wash specifically for cheeks, mouths, ears, and other areas subject to blushing due to wind burn/sunburn/physical exertion. Tony Stapells: I prime white, then paint all the flash GW Flesh. Then it's time for GW's Flesh Wash, let it dry, and then a final drybrush of GW Flesh to bring out the highlights. Like all painting, the wash takes a bit of practice to determine how much to use. But the wash flows nicely into the deep 28mm creases, and later the drybrushing picks up the sculpting relief. It seems more "natural" and blended than building colours atop black primer. (As an aside, for the clothing, I also do the reverse. I paint the basic colour, and then paint on a darker shade into the folds). Sample. > Top of Page > Painting > Tips & Guides > DBA Resources > Fanaticus Last Updated: 20 February 2005 Questions, comments, suggestions welcome. |
