¹⁄35

Figure painting with Acrylics

Painting: Skin colour

First of all, before you start painting, you need to mount your figure to something so you don't get any grease or fingerprints on the figure during painting. I usually mount my figure to an old Tamiya acrylic paint jar lid, with a small amount of CA. When this is dry, wash the figure gently, I use only water but you may choose otherwise. Wrap the figure in kitchen roll and leave for 30 minutes to dry.

Take your primer Rattlecan, I choose white as it is easier to shade, and spray the figure, misting coats on and rotating the figure to get even coverage. HINT; don't try spraying and rotating at the same time, and don't forget to put the soldiers gear on like I did!

When this is dry I start on the flesh, using Orange Brown , Beige Brown, Dark Flesh and White. I mix a colour I am happy with, and use this as my base colour, it is usually darker than I am aiming for as it fills in the shadows and low areas. Apply this in a thin layer over the hands and face (don't forget the back of the neck).

When this coat is dry I usually paint the eyes, but by the looks of it my figure has his eyes closed, but I will talk you through eyes anyway. The main thing to remember is that eyes are not White, the best thing to do is to tint the White with a Brown colour to get an off-white colour. When painting the Whites, make sure the paint is thinned enough for it to run into the eye recesses. If any spills, remove this with a wet brush and repaint when dry.

For the irises take a colour of your choice (that's suitable for an eye) and dot it in the eye, don't place them directly in the centre, you can create different expressions with the positioning of the iris, so experiment and use what you find best. It's best not to paint the pupil, because who at this scale is going to be looking for pupils, I mean you have eyes sorted, at 1/35 that,s pretty good! The next stage is to paint a more solid colour of flesh onto the face and hands, I have lightened my previous colour for this, and thickened the paint a tiny bit, bear in mind the paint still needs to be thin.

Whist you are waiting for this to dry you can make a start on the boots, mix a tiny bit of brown in with some black and thin the paint, then paint it carefully onto the boots, if you have thinned it correctly, the black will be thinner on the high details of the boots and darker in the creases.

After this, I applied a darkened skin tone wash on the ears, and facial creases, and used a lighter version of the skin tone to highlight the nose and brow, I also painted the lip with a mix of Red and Orange Brown.

I have decided to use a dark colour for the hair colour on this figure, Beige Brown mixed with flat Brown, apply this mix thinly, so that the white base coat can bee seen on the tips of the hair. Once you are happy with your skin tones, we will move onto the uniform.