I’ve been reading the awesome articles on the missing-lynx website about face painting. I’m following the instructions and laying down a base coat of dark/desert yellow before going to work on the details, washed, etc.
Although the body is still covered in primer (and some yellow over-spray). In the articles I believe the author uses separate heads and glues them to the finished body after completion. Well I’m working on a Tamiya military figure, and removing the head isn’t really feasible.
So, should I just spray the base coat on the head, mask it up somehow (damn that’s going to be fiddly!), and spray the field grey over the uniform? Is this common practise? I’d prefer not to brush paint the body if I can help it. I’m curious to know what everyone’s methods are which have worked for them, as figure painting is very new to me.
Any help or guidance is much appreciated.
Cheers,
M
Most 1/35 figures are not sprayed when painting. Also, I never use a primer and have no problems. Just brush paint carefully and it should work out just fine. Good luck.
Last time I did a tank figure I just brush painted it. I usually only airbrush the larger figures basecoat only. If you do need to mask it though, you could try liquid masking material.
Let me echo what has already been said. An airbrush should only be employed to apply a coat of flat clear when you’re finished painting. What you may consider using are acrylic colours as a primer/undercoat, then oil based enamels over top of that. This method always gives a consistant appearance to the colours, and brush strokes or streaks are eliminated. I always use artists oils to shadow and highlite the figure, but only after the enamels have cured for 24 hours. I use this method to paint 120 mm figures as well as 54 mm ones. I hope this helps.
I’m a total noob to figure painting, so it’s all coming in handy.
I perhaps should have explained a little better originally though, only the base coat will be airbrushed, the rest done with brushed enamels. I got this from one of the articles at missing-lynx.com . That’s not to say it’s the best method though.
I’ll just take all the information on board and experiment.
Thanks again,
M
Airbrush your primer, never hurts and can help adhesion, finding mold lines, seams, etc. If you have large areas of a single color, such as a cape or a greatcoat, you could airbrush that, however, the common pratice is to paint figures from the inside out. Since flesh is the most critical factor and the face the most critical flesh area, that should be done first.
In general figure painters use brushes. I’ve used enamels, oils and acrylics. I currently use Andrea/Vallejo almost exclusively. The effects rival oils and drying time is a lot less, For figures, your worst choice is Tamiya. The reasons are manifold. If you can’t get A/V, go with Model Master or PollyScale acrylics. ModelMaster enamels ar eht ebest and if you go with oils, choose “artist” quality rather than “student” qulaity since hte pigment is a lot finer.
I usually use a black or dark yellow "primer "airbrushed on ,… but this is more to work as shadowing or skin undertones rather than actual primer coat , I always hand brush both uniforms and faces ,… buy high quality fine sable brushes for your faces and camo patterns ,… this cannot be pulled off with cheap nylon brushes .
I also prefer oils for skin tones as they give more drying time and better color blending ,( they are also much more forgiving of mistakes ) . Buy the colors suggested in the missing linx articles ,… there are about 5-6 mandatory colours of oil you will need ,… they will last you for years ,… so they will not need to be purchased again .
There are many techniques for almost all facets of figure painting try a few of them and see which one works best for you .