I've been doing amor modeling for a while, but never really gotten started with figure modeling/painting. Any recommendations of books, videos, etc. to help me get started?

Thanks!

If you do searches, there's a lot of useful information available on the Web.

Osprey has a couple of decent books on figure modeling.

You can also pick up a lot of useful information on figure modeling web sites.

Start with the figure site linked with this site.

Good luck!

Rich

NUMBER ONE: First decide what painting medium you want to learn and use.

There's a world of difference between painting with acrylics, hobby enamels, and oils, and most books, how-to's and other information is geared to one method. It can be confusing and a waste of money to buy and read books about a method that you don't use.

I personally use artist oils over acrylic under-coats, but if you want to paint using acrylics, it's pointless to spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to use oil-techniques.

Here's some basic figure painting info that you can down-load from our AMPS club website:

Figure Painting Part 1

Figure Painting Part 2

Figure Painting Part 3

The first part begins with an introduction to various painting mediums to give you some ideas about the different ways that guys paint. The majority, however, is geared to using artist oils over acrylic under-coats. Also keep in mind that these were notes that were presented with a series of live demonstrations, so you might have some questions about them. If you do, don't hesitate to ask.

Once you have some idea about what method you want to learn and use, then you can ask more specific questions and get tips and ideas targeted for that method. Until you're ready to do that, though, you're liable to get a lot of information that seems contradictory and that doesn't work well for you.

HTH,

What genre of figures are you looking in to? WWII 1/35 ?

If you have leftover figures from previous kits that you aren't intending to use, I suggest gathering them together so you always have a few handy to practice with . . . particularly important as you develop new techniques (like applying decals to figures, airbrushing highlights, painting camouflage) ; otherwise, after you've invested hours of solid work in your 'keeper' figures, you may find yourself hesitating when it comes to volatile decisions that may deface your previous layers! The paralysis of analysis. Your 'guinea pig' squad can also be colour references for later figures.

http://dpm-studio.com/wp-content/uploads/thedaily_31.jpg

A disproportionate amount of work goes in to preparing & assembling the figures; you'll want copious amounts of putties and several small files. Packages of files usually don't contain any concave 'U'~files, so you'll have to buy one separately (if you can find one! Luthier tools may be your best bet there). You may not notice if a model tank is a couple of scale inches too wide, but we have much keener senses regarding the human form; arms taken from one kit may sabotauge the body used from another kit.

For priming figures, my favourite for painting over is Vallejo IDF Sand Grey ( http://www.luckymodel.com/scale.aspx?item_no=VA-AV74614 ) but some people prefer black for preshading purposes. Primer colour will effect all the paint choices you make afterwards, so experiment on what gives you the best result. Calvin Tan's book, for instance, uses 'heavier' colour mixes over black primer. http://zyclyon-tutorials.blogspot.ca/2009/03/1_28.html

Fortunately, there's a lot of reference material and information about techniques on the web, as Mr. Nicoletti mentioned . . .
https://hfmodeling.kitmaker.net//features/3810&page=4

http://www.complex.com/art-design/2011/09/the-complex-guide-to-camo/frog-camo