speechless

WOW!!!!!!!!!

That face...so lifelike- amazing! How did you get it to look so much like real skin?

Colour choice is obviously important, I start with a base of Beige red then add minute amounts of burnt umber to shade. The highlights are created by adding basic skintone then working up to light flesh. I switch between shadow and higlight and build up the contrasts slowly but the key is to use loads of transparent layers to do it.

Three things are important, practice a lot until you are happy with your chosen medium, acrylic, oil, whatever. Then practice some more.

When I am painting skintones I have a mirror on my workbench. Paint what you see, not what you think you see. We are so accustomed to seeing faces in our daily lives, we can instantly recognise when something is wrong.

Lastly, and most important, you need to sell your firstborn to the devil.

Two out of three are true

Taking notes.
J

Excellent job on painting the face. Thanks for the tips on how you do it. Hopefully someday my faces will turn out as well as yours.

Cheers,
James

!

Thanks for the tips Andy- using a beige red base is not one I've tried before- gotta go find a head in the spares box now!

Mighty dang fine work Andy, the face especially! Ya, modifying small scale can be a pain, but like you said, well worth it.

No worries about how fast you produce, can't rush art, as they say. That practice camo looks spot on. Bravo work buddy!!

Cheers, Ski.

Thanks for all of the comments fella's, glad you are still watching

I definitely misjudged how long it would take for me to paint this figure, I don't get much modelling time so this feels like it is taking forever. I did however, manage to get a little done over the last couple of days (apologies for the rubbish pictures, had to do this with my phone).

I have tried to really separate out all of the equipment by painting slightly different shades of green. By using different complimentary shadow and highlight colours you can create loads of variations on the same overall palette.

I have used mainly Vallejo but also used several colours from the Lifecolor US Uniform sets so far.







More soon

Ouch, Having just looked at this on my tablet, these photos are nasty ! Please also bear in mind how big this figure is.

I'll try and improve the pictures for next time.

Excellent job on the equipement Andy !
Your painting on the highlights and shadows really adds volume and readibility to the figure.
Two remarks: it appears that on the back on the head you have some marks/line in the resin (as it's often the case at such place with hornet head). You might want to erase them. Also I have the impression the black stripes of your camo might be a little bit too large.
Other than that, your work is amazing, particularly when considering you've started from a plastic figure.

Julien

Hi Julien, thanks for the observations and good call on the rear of the neck. These big pictures do really highlight such flaws that are hard to see with the naked eye (my old eyes anyway !), I'll get that sorted out. There will be an additional round of painting for the head anyway as the shadow areas will be defined by the boonie hat once it is fitted.

Not sure I agree on the size of the black stripes though but something I will keep in mind when I paint the rest of the uniform. Personally I think it is an exercise in frustration to try and capture a camo pattern perfectly, I try and paint the essence of the pattern but sometimes it can be very difficult in this scale.

Cheers

Andy

Hello Andy,

The figure is coming along nicely. I like the colors you have used and the painting of the lightweight rucksack frame. I just have an observation about the buttpack on the rucksack frame. While it is plausible to have a buttpack mounted on the frame, they were usually mounted higher up. If mounted lower, it just seems odd that this Soldier is using the frame just to carry the buttpack without any other gear mounted on the frame. He is going to be carrying the wounded guy's pack, so you might try to add some gear to the rucksack frame. This is just an observation and some thoughts based on experience as a Recon Marine and Army Light Infantryman who carried a rucksack and other gear for over 26 years.

Keep up the great work on this figure. It is motivating me to try to work on some plastic figures.

Cheers,
James

Hi James,

Thanks for the insight, very useful (could have told me before I got the paints out though !) . Seriously, I did come to that conclusion myself too. I had the idea of putting a prc radio set on the rucksack but decided that he probably wouldn't have carried that and be armed with the M79 too. Maybe I will add a small pack or some more waterbottles on the upper cross strap, I need to see how the main pack sits first.

Great to have the feedback, especially from someone who knows, so thanks again.

Andy

Hello Andy,

Sorry about not mentioning it before, but it didn't come to mind until after the awe of your painting wore off a bit. I really liked how the camo on that one face turned out.

Some water canteens, a claymore bag or two, or even the radio if you can get the other pack to still fit with the radio in place would work. Or if you could turn that buttpack into the rucksack bag by using some putty, the placement would work for the low ride position for the rucksack bag on that type of frame.

Cheers,
James

Very nice work as always, Andy!

If you're really thinking about adding something else to the ruck frame, you might consider an ammo can as a watertight, hard-shelled container for some sensitive items - perhaps a KS-99 camera, lenses and field film development kit? Of course, the contents wouldn't be visible, but the frame would make sense carrying something hard, heavy, and / or fragile.

The PRC-25 radio idea is also not totally implausible even with a grenadier. Small recon teams multi-task and cross-load because there's usually never enough guys to designate to single functions. Everyone on the team has to do more, and everyone has to carry equipment or supplies for the overall mission, spare radio batteries, C4 and Claymores, extra M60 ammo, colored smoke grenades, M5 medical bag, and on and on. All are plausible options for your extra load if you choose to add something more.

Anyways, just a couple of ideas, but the figure looks great just the way you're developing him.

James/Mike,

Thanks very much for the input, I have just had a bit of a play with a few bits and pieces and I think what looks best is a 2 quart water bladder attached centrally over the buttpack, an ammo can underneath could work too. Maybe I'll add an entrenching tool, upside down tied on to the rucksack frame for good measure.

I did have a look to see if I had a PRC 25 but the only one I have is a plastic Dragon one which has really soft detail (not sure if these are available as aftermarket items). This would mean replacing the rucksack cross straps by the look of it so may be a little to much remedial work now.

Once again, thanks guys for the help, I need to just cover up all of those straps I painted last night now

Very Very nice work, great paint job. .

Thanks very much !

I don't usually get much modelling time, maybe 1-2 hours a week, but I got up early today and did a little on this guy, seems to be looking the part now.






Busy week this week so will be a while until the next update, stay tuned.

Wow!!!!!!!

Hi Andy,

absolutly amazing what you have done so far on this Figure. Your separate head with that face camo Looks really great and natural. The tiger stripe cammo is one of the best i have seen so far in 1/35 scale. The face Looks also very natural in Colors. Some dirt and weathering and you have an Medal Winner. Your work is always an Inspiration. Your Detail work on the grenade vest is awsome. I have this Figure set and it is incredible what you have done to this vest.

All thumbs up

Greetings

Stefan

Amazing work! WOW #2!

Mario

I say double wowww as I follow this built both on forum and FB with great pleasure.Awesome paintwork.

Thanks for the comments guys, glad you like it so far.

I like those previous comments because now I don't have to type them!. Nice.
J