Can anyone recommend a good book on painting 1/35 figures? That is one part of my modeling I really need to improve.

Thanks

goog question, it's the same here hope to get some response.

Kevin and Sandro,

By no means is this an absolute, but this is my reference library for figures.



A little bit of everything, to be sure. The Osprey books are really well done and have plenty of step by step color photographs. The Citadel is fine for basics then delves into the world of 28mm metal figures, so not totally appropriate. Shep Paine's and Ray Anderson's books are model bibles, so it would be a crime not to include them.

Hope this helps you both with an idea of where to start.

Matt

The following should be a good starter for you plus it has some good books listed

www.michtoy.com/FigurePaintingDemo.pdf linkname

Matt

Just curious of your opinion of the Osprey books you have in the photo? I was reading the review on this very site, and they don't seem too bad. I might have to look at picking one or two or more up.

Kevin

Kevin,

The three Osprey books I have (two of the Osprey Modelling series [gold trim] and one Osprey Modelling Manual [largest of the three]) are really well done. I have close to 10 of the Modelling Manuals and around 15-20 of the smaller Osprey books.

I consider each book in my reference library as having some specific purpose or value. These were a good deal when I got them and are always good to go back for reference. Specifically the "Modelling WWII Figures" book is nice in that it references Vallejo paints primarily but has others. It was published in 2000, so it's not terribly outdated, and is primarily a 1/35th scale reference book, as the others vary from 1/9th down to 1/48th in my other books (not counting the 28mm Citadel guys).

I'd highly recommend them to anybody. Most of the list from trooper82 above is also on the recommended reading list on the inside covers of these Osprey books as well.

There are a couple of decent ones out there. By default, you should have Shep Paine's Building and Painting Scale Figures as it's the best overview of the principles that I've ever found. Bill Horan's painting book is a close second. T am hesitant about plugging most others for someone (like me!) who has much to learn, the problem being that 8-12 still photos of the process don't give you the tips and subtleties you need to pull off a well done figure. If they did, well executed figured would be common-place out there! Not that I haven't pulled really useful tips from many of those books but you'll need to figure out an awful lot on your own. In all honesty, if you're willing to go with Acrylic glazes, but the DVD from MXpressions. Being a video, it shows the subtleties of the technique really well but doesn't go into as much detail as Mr. Paine's or Horan's book since it's not tens of pages of writing. Combine those two books with the DVD and I think you're in pretty darned good shape.

I'll add to the list. Lynn Kessler is a close friend of mine, an AMPS Master, and one of the best figure artists I know. His book, How to Paint Realistic Military Figures, was published February 2003 and can be bought new for $20 from booksellers. The whole book is a step by step approach in acrylics, highly illustrated and well explained in simple language in simple steps. I highly recommend it.

Few months ago I bought on internet auction F.A.Q. about painting figure techniques. The book by Andrea Press is prepared the same way as Mig Jimenez's F.A.Q.

In my opinion this is the best book concerning painting figures I had in my hands.

Michal

Hey Kevin,

I think you really have to dial-in your question to media and technique specific books. There are just too many good (and not so good books) out there on figure painting, but most are specific to the author's painting technique and style. Unless that's the same technique as the one you need info about, you can spend a lot of money and not learn much (even from otherwise excellent books).

The Osprey book, "Modeling Scale Figures," by Mark Bannerman shown in Matt Smith's post is a good discussion about the various techniques from artist oils to acrylics, but is really very general in nature. However, if you're not sure about what technique you want to develope, it's gives a good exposure to most of the commonly used ones.

I paint in artist oils, so I'm partial to the Shep Paine books, and Mark Bannerman's Osprey title, "Modeling Panzer Crewmen of the Heer," which has a very nicely photographed step-by-step on face painting with oils.

Osprey:: Modeling Panzer Crewmen of the Heer

Bill Horan's "Figure Moldeling Master Class" book is a very good explanation of his painting with hobby enamels, although his technique is almost unique to his work. He also shows the work of a couple of dozen other figure painters, but each has his own unique style and specific medium that he paints in.

The problem you will have is that unless you have a specific technique or medium (oils, acrylics, or hobby enamels) that you use (or want to use), most books won't do you any good in providing specific "how to" info. Most authors only cover their specific techniques and what works for acrylics doesn't really work for oils (or vice-versa). Hobby enemels can be blended wet-on-wet like oils or used as glazes like acrylics (this is what Bill Horan does), but the techniques for each use are different.

If you know what technique you want to learn, then you should get books specific to that. Others might be good for inspriation, but they won't do you much good for what to do.

Maybe with some info about what you want to learn, the book recommendations might be more useful.

HTH,

"Modelling Scale Figures" by Mark Bannerman would be my tip as a good start point.

It gives some good explanations of the techniques and theories of what your trying to achieve and it covers Oils, Acrylics and Enamels.

From there you can start working on your own style and then look for more focussed publications.