Hello ladies and gentlemen. I have problems in painting 1/35 figures and hope any of you experts can kindly help me. I always have problems in painting face. I know that I should not only paint flesh color on the face only, but also do shade and shadow on the face. But I never get it right. My figures look like singer Boy George or Elizerbeth Taylor after her 99th face lift. My figures always look lifeless. Also I don’t know how to paint shade on the cloth folding. Please help, thanks. BTW I am new in figures painting.
Anthony, what type of paints do you use?
Anthony, I usually paint the faces burnt sienna first, then blend a mixture of yellow ochre & white in, taking care to leave the recesses dark. This gives my basic shadow. I then highlight the obvious areas like the forehead, nose and cheekbones. When totally dry, I drybrush a small amount of flesh overall. I then reline the eyelids and add the pupils. You are not supposed to see the white of the eyes. Invest in a 0/10 & 0/5 brush for the fine lines and a #1 brush for the large areas.
Clothing:- I paint an overall darker base colour for the uniform, making the creases/shadows prominent. The plain base clour is the drybrushed on and a lighter shade drybrushed on for highlights. A thin wash is applied afterwards to further accentuate the shadows.
Keep practicing and happy modelling.
Tappie.
Thanks for the help Tappie. I surely will try you suggestion. I am wondering whether enamel paint or acrylic paint will make any difference. Thanks.
I usually use enamels as acrylics dry too fast and tend to go on much thicker than enamels. On larger figures I use artists’ oils, but it takes longer to dry.
I’m glad to be of help.
Happy modeling,
Tappie
I’m in the same boat. When I started modeling again, the figures was the hardest part for me. I can call them generation 1, 2, and now generation 3 figures as my technique has improved. Buy a bunch of kits and just keep practicing until you find what works for you.
I use acrylic paints and dry brush with enamels. I am still working on faces too 
-Muzzleflash
If you really want some practice (and all-important conversion skills) try picking up a box of Games-Workshop figures. For less than $30, you get 20 or so figures. They’re great practice for skin tones trial and error. As a bonus, the “Catachan” box makes great Marines!