i undercoat with a flesh coloured enamel,it seems to key the oil better,and also helps the oils dry out

okay Jeff i can take a hint,like you i undercoat with a flesh coloured enamel,it seems to key the oil better,and also helps the oils dry out,it all depend on the kind of face i want to paint,light or dark,if dark i will use quite a dark mix of base enamel,it is very improtant that you let this undercoat thoroughly dry out,i then use flesh colour straight from the tube,very very sparingly,then with a stipple brush take most of it off,this will give you an almost dry surface to work on,i then work on the shadows of the face ie. eyes, ears under chin and nose,under helmet or cap,and neck line,a good tip is when laying down the undecoat,cover the hair as well,when adding shadows you can work them into the hair instead of just having a straight line.I use Burnt Sienna for the shading,but it is really a matter of choice what you use,stipple rather than drag the brush for this,at this stage i like to put a small dab of red just below the cheek bones and stipple this in towards the ears,and put in a dark jaw line,mix some oil flesh and black,more flesh than black,and paint a tin stripe down the jaw line and between nose and mouth,stipple this in as well,it should blend with the red and flesh colour,at this stage i leave it to dry.When dried,i lighten the flesh colour with white and
lightly dry brush the highlights,if possible bush from the bottom up,chin to nose,and top to bottom,forehead to nose,block in thecomplete eye socket with whichever you want the colour to be,i suggest you use enamels for this,as ,if you make a mistake,they dry pretty quick and you can try again,When the eye colour has dried if you want the fig to look one way or the other,one spot of Off White one side or the other will give you that effect,then add pupil,and if you are feeling gutsy a white highlight in the centre.After this you can take the face as far or as little as you want,the trick is to take your time and know when to stop.
A final tip on dry brushing the face,when you have the paint on the brush,wipe the excess off
on your thumb,then you can tell how much is going on the figure,err on the side of caution.
Arthur
Am Alba Mannich

I'm attempting to paint my figures faces the Bannerman way ....a jabbing motion to put on the flesh colour. But when I try this it just doesnt work out. My oil paint mixture for the flesh is thick and when applying it on the face, it results in a thick layer with brush strokes very visible.