James Cann (lespauljames) shares with us how he paints his 1/35 figures with Acrylic paints. Thanks James.



If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

Thank you, Jimmy, very well done. I just recently finished my first 2 figures and this tutorial will help out a bunch. Simple figures can add a lot to an armor build to make it less 'static' and give a reference to size, no excuse to not include figs now!

Thanks again for taking the time to put this article together

well written jim

a well painted figure will always add scale and a sense of realism to your models......
neil

James and Niel
thanks for the comments, of only one person learns how to paint only a boot from my article i will be dead pleased!

In my opinion a few more glazes on the clothes, so that you dont get the white showing through, then some zenithal highlights would improve the greens. Also, try to use an off white colour instead of white when highlighting anything. The leather could do with quite a bit more shading as the white underneath makes the brown look quite "pinky" untill you block out the white.

The skin is looking good so far, a few red tinted glazes around the cheeks and around the mouth and on the nose would look good. Remeber to keep the neck darker than the face skin to emulate shadows.

Overall a good start, cant wait to see more.

Alex

I would tend to agree with Alex's comments. And using white as a base coat on a figure is not, in my opinion, going to be a good foundation to build your pallette of subsequent layers. For me, black is a better color to use as a base coat. Working from dark to light will offer a more realistic appearance than trying to use the paint by numbers method of adding shading.

this article, displays a technique i find works, and that i am happy with,
using a white basecoat would make shading easier for begginers before they would wish to move on to oil painting, or layered shading, i must say that this figure is now in my lhs on display next to a tiger and has had only positive comments,
as for peinting styles, each to there own, if it works for you, use it,
i paint on figures with almost exclusivly vallejo acrylics, i am not wondering into oils as i ahev tried then and they dont work for me.


paint by numbers.......
right..

jimmy out.

this is the first figure i paintied using this technique, and i think its pretty cool, (my pervious fig aRT was shocking)

I think your figure looks pretty cool, maybe you need to do improve a bit the rendering of lights/shadows, your figure is highly detailed, but in plastic kits with less detail, you notice a lack of realism that can be improved with a superb painting. I suffer specially with the faces, where i have to do an huge effort if don't want it to look like dummies(i'll read again your explanation on faces, i have much to learn!)

I also use to paint with vallejo(nº1, no doubt), but my tecnique is a bit different from yours. I start with a coat of the base tone (without any primer) and then move on the highlights: with acrylics you cant paint in layers with the paint heavy thinned. Painting sucessive coats you'll get a smooth gradation. If some of the lights look too much hard-edged or too white, i add a very smoth wash with the base color over the area. Finally, i add the shadows in the same way, with thin layers of the darkened color in the clothes. Some details as the buttons or pocket flaps coul be made in the same way than in a rivet in a tank: with a small drop of thinned paint to outline the detail. Other details may be outlined with a sharper edge.

Have you got some photos of non-resin work?(i mean, tamiya, dragon...)

to be honest i only work in resin.

I like the effect the wash technique has on certain items. It's not what I would normally do, but in certain colours it really stands out (I really like the ammo pouches, for example, looks great in that leather tone). Mixing this technique with preshading and drybrushing for darker colours would yield some great results - and your technique is quick and simple, which is a great bonus.

All looks good from this end

I think this is a very good tutorial, and I look forward to trying it out soon as I have a small (no pun intended ... oh, what the heck, let it stand) army of figures that would greatly benefit from better technique. Thanks for sharing

terrible joke !!!
hehe just kidding,
thanks to all who like the feature, and thanks to Henk and the team! for getting it up and running:D
it may not be the most detailed, and tricky technique, but for people like me(people who struggle to paint figs,:P:D) this hopefully will help!

Excellent feature and interesting techique. I've been looking for something similar, so thanks alot for posting this. Will see if I dare post anything when I got something finished.

m0rfar , thankyou for your comment im glad you enjoyed the feature, i haave tried to put across a simple effective technique that practically everyone can use

Hey, Kid - has anyone ever told you that you are a genius? Well I am, and my son is 9 years older than you.

I'm just getting back into 1:35th Military Modeling after having been away from it for thirty (that's right - 30) YEARS, and I have been looking for a simple way to paint figures that didn't require 50 gazillion coats of flesh, 25 gazillion hours of dry time and a Partridge in a Pear tree to get decent results.

Congrats - you have enlightened me. Pray teach me more - I am your devoted disciple. And I like rock music, too, though my tastes are probably a little old school for you, leaning towards 70s and 80s (I'm listening to Sting as I write this).

Anyway, thanks alot, pal. Your simple techniques of painting will help me to get back in the saddle again. There is hope for my Diorama of elements of 'Das Reich' and the 101st Airborne after all...Take care,

E Strongblade

Rats - did not realize that this article is 2 years old 'til after I answered it. That's OK - the compliment still stands and I hope that you still have the time to model. Too many of us allow RL to prevent it in those critical 20s, 30s and 40s growth periods.