200mm WWI British infantry.

A little more work on the eyes to bring them closer to completion. I am working from a Masterson's Stay Wet Handy Palette as I always do. I think this, as well as obviously keeps the paint from drying, helps if I make a mix of colours such as our basic flesh tone, which stays usable for a couple of days at least.

Using MA light sea blue I filled in the iris leaving some of the french blue showing. A thin wash of MC light flesh has been put around the eyes and the black line has been softened with couple of thin coats of
MC burnt red.



Further very thin coats of burnt red are applied over the black line around the eye until it looks more 'natural', the corners are touched in with burnt red also. the light flesh has been softened with a transparent coat of our basic flesh mix of 50/50 brown sand and basic skintone. The iris has been further touched in with MA dark sea blue leaving some of the french blue showing.



The black of the pupil has now been touched in with MA black and a small white 'highlight placed with MA white.



A little more work in the corners and some tidying up of the eyelids and under the eyes and we won't be miles away. Any body got any suggestions or questions please come in.

Quick update, Ive put the first highlights in using MC Basic skintone. Six thin coats in the areas marked out originally on the highest parts of the face.



Then the second highlights with 50/50 mix of MC basic skintone and MC light flesh placed in the centre of the first highlight layer.

First shadows have been put in under the eyes, chin, nose etc, anywhere where shadows would naturally be on the face. MC brown sand and MC burnt red. 50/50



Second shadows over the first leaving an outline of the first shadow. MC burnt red with a touch of MC brown sand. Don't worry about the lack of blending and sketchy effect, well take care of that later with the final glazes and transparencies.

Oh I am really liking this Gary. It's just what I needed. Great explanations.

Thanks AL.

Just as a note of interest Im making this guy quite red faced as he's running with full gear under heavy fire, you can reduce this by using less burnt red in your shadow mix. Also his forehead is heavily shaded as hell be wearing his helmet.

Andy...

Thanks Andy.
Note to self: Allow shade layers to dry before applying further coats!!!!!!, woke up to this today.



Im begining taking shade back by applying thin layers of intermediate shades and highlights which will hopefully take me back to a basic flesh appearance. I will use all our colours and mix them to give me many shades between each main colour and this is my palette.





This is where I've got him back to, Ill now have to re apply the highlights and shades as we did before.

LOL.... yeah, he does look somewhat Gary!!!

Working on getting him back now Al. LOL

How about showing the brushes you are working with. I am enjoying this very much.

Thanks ZB, Im using Windsor & Newton Series 7 Miniature brushes 000, 00, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.



So far Ive only used the 00 and 0, which is usual on the head. I won't use the larger brushes until we've started the body etc.

Ive got him back to more or less where he was before my red shadow catastrophy so next Ill be building up highlights and shadows again.

Gary, this is extremely helpful to me as I have some figures to paint and I would have just slapped some paint on the face and called it done (still might as I haven't the skill which you so obviously do). You mention washes. Are you thinning the paints to get them to a wash or using them straight from the bottle?

Dave, thanks for taking a look. Thanks for this, I didn't give a thought to clarify between proprietary out of the bottle "washes" and thinned paint. I am in fact wrong to call the layers Im using washes as they are in fact glazes, or transparent paint. Apart forming a wet palette I avoid thinning with just water as I find this does produce a wash effect where the paint runs off high areas and into recesses, and also can leave a 'tide mark' when dry. As we're about to start highlighting and shading which will require blending this is worth a read.

http://www.how-to-paint-miniatures.com/miniature_advanced_painting_blending.html

I produce a transparent or glaze (or try to LOL) using mediums which whilst not over thinning the paint consistency cause it to be less opaque and allow the layers and colours beneath to show through which helps to blend the layers. Matt medium has a similar effect whilst not surprisingly drying very matt, and I also have retarding medium which prevents the paint from drying quickly and allows blending to be done 'wet on wet', like an oil paint technique where rather than using many slightly lighter colours of paint next to each other to produce a blending effect, the paint layers are 'smudged' into each other.




I found this short video to be quite helpful. Hope you keep dropping in Dave, and thanks for the interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH6K297EWnI

By Eck Gary these figures take an enormous amount of work!! looking good so far though and your descriptions are as detailed as your figures.

Sorry that Im not around to comment as much as I used to, I only get on once a week now, keep it up chap, will be back next week!!!

Cheers Ash, thanks for looking in, catch you soon.

Blending with many, many transparent glaze layers using a wide range of colours from our darkest to lightest tones. Below is my palette for this. The browns are the colours we've used previously and the pinks are MC burnt red, MC rose brown and MC light flesh. The orange colour is MC sunny skintone.

All colours are mixed with glaze medium at one drop of medium to three drops of paint (roughly) to create transparent layers, and by painting between the tones with varying depths of colour we can start to 'smooth' him out a little. (hopefully LOL). Also it is worth bearing in mind that our 'eye' doesn't see the figure like the camera does and from a more 'normal' viewing distance the paint looks considerably smoother than it does in the photographs. I liken this to looking at a painting, if you put your face right up to it you see splodges of colour and as you move away the painting comes to life. I always find my figures are best viewed from a distance of a couple of miles LOL.



Some stages of blending below.






I'm going to put the chin strap in now and shade unto that as I find this can affect the flesh, which may need a little more work when the leather strap and helmet go on.

This is the time to ask the question ... why do you paint the face first then the chin strap etc ??

I was always told / taught ( found it easier) to paint the raised areas first as its easier to "cut" into the edge of a raised surface than paint down onto an already painted surface (i.e the edges next to the flesh)

just a question, no criticism ... just wondering why :)


p.s. top job so far, might have to get a larger figure to try and get a decent look ... then again i'd probably just end up with a 200mm coco the clown instead of a 1/35th lol.

Hello Colin, I suppose its down to personal preference at the end of the day but this is how I started to paint, sort of inside out if you get what I mean. I always end up touching up and detailing anyway, so I don't think it would make much difference to be honest. I always put a pin wash between hair and straps etc to create a definition/transition between them and help with shading which they would create and tidy up the joint where cutting in has occurred.
Thanks for looking in and your interest.

G

Put the beginnings of the leather chin strap and helmet liner using a base coat of MA US Flat brown and highlights of MA Light brown. Ive also started tinting the skin lower on the face upto the chin strap using multiple coats of Vallejo fleshtone shade wash (Game Colour)

Andy...

Thanks guys.

Started the helmet with base coat of MA Dark green, highlight with MA Hemp and shadow with MA Cam Dark Green. The rusted chips have been put in using Vallejo model wash dark rust. base coat put all over and allowed to dry then highlights around the outside of the rim, and around the top of the dome. The shadow has been applied into the crease where the dome meets the rim and requires more blending work.