Hello,
I am very new to figure painting and I am still learning this art. (Not sure if art can be learned).. This bust was gifted to me by a good friend of mine. Figure is a 1/9 New World Miniatures S.F operator in Afghanistan.
So I took the plunge.
Face was painted with oils and the rest of the bust was painted with Vallejo and Tamiya acrylics.I chose to paint the uniform in Desert camo . I tried to paint the scarf several times with a pattern and failed terribly. So left it flat white. Couple of my own observations after the figure was completed was 1.The eye symmetry is questionable , the gaze looks little weird. 2.Eyebrows didn't turn out the way I expected








Hope you like it and please give any feedbacks , comments so that I can improve my skills.
Regards
V

nice figure his scarf could use some hatch pattern of like a blue or black.

his hair could have some different shades of blond and brown in it

overall nice figure

Thanks for the suggestions Frank. Will try to do it...

Yes, the hair is too monotone, and the colors are to different to work together, so it looks cartoony, You could try building up different washes and blend it more together and give it more life. I love the way the camo on the uniform looks, and you have nice skin tones. I could be you've done it alle ready, and it's just not visible on the picture, but a bit of gloss varnish on the eyeballs look very realistic on large scale figures.

Good first effort.. don't let it be your last

Here's a pretty basic Bust painting SBS that might help you out

Just a couple of things I learned

# You want many very light, almost translucent, thinned layers of paint on top of each other.. and not one or two thick layers

# Keep a paper towel next to you.. and each time you load your brush with paint.. unload as much of it as you can by touching the tip of the brush on the paper towel a couple of times

# The most important advice I ever got was "keep on painting".. that's the only way you'll learn from your mistakes and get better.. a lot of practice.

On another site for figure painters, Timelines Forum.. I remember one of the really good painters showed one of his very first figures he ever painted.. and you'd be surprised how bad it looked

So, keep practicing.. some of those figure painters have been at it for years

HTH
Hisham

Thanks a tonn for the valuable tips Erik and Hisham. I have a 1/6 Frontovik bust next to be painted. One thing I still dread is using acrylics for skin tone and I love using oils for their flexibility and slow drying time. Thanks again for the encouragement Hisham..