Hello,

I'm new to painting figurines, I don't know if any of you would have good advice on how to paint a figurine correctly...

Should I assemble the figurine before painting it or after ?

Should I use enamels or acrylics ? My tamiya acryls seems to dry to fast that the fresh paint sticks to my fingers when I hold the figurine and well.. you see the picture... I have to do it all over again to remove the fingerprints...

In what order should I paint it ? The one I tried to paint : I did the skin first and painted, shirt, coat and accessories after...

I bought a box of 8 1/35 figurines so I can pratice...

Any help welcome !!

Francois

Welcome to the dark side.


Depends. If the fit is really good, you can paint before assembly and get nice highlights and shadows in otherwise inaccessible places.



You left out artists oils! You'll need to develop your own preferences. Each medium has advantages and drawbacks. Acrylics can dry fast, allowing rapid production but reduce the blending time of oils. OIls blend better but take an eternity to dry. Enamels are in the middle but lack the palette of oils and the better acrylics (Andre/Vallejo)


Avoid these for figures. The frustration is not worth it. Unless you plan to paint one brush stroke at a time, time being many minutes or more, these are not brushable/. For acrylics, the best are Vallejo/Andrea, (go here and chose "Model Color from he drop down menu for an excellen tutorial) Model Master and PollyScale, in that order for figures.



That's the classic pattern, but be flexible as the figure allows.



If these are soft plastic, one piece figures, you're going to have a hard time, since the plastic does not hold paint well. If they're old Tamiya, the details are too soft, DML has the biggest range of classic plastic figures with some of the best detail. Some of the newer companies, Trumpeter and ICM, have gotten good reviews as well.

Any help welcome !!

Francois [/quote]

welcome to the figure world and it is different from tanks and planes because a human is very unique very different and that is what you should always have in your mind -your ar not painting a parking lot but a group of people interacting with each other.
I am a acrylic freak an use exactly the same method as oils (you can by acrylic retarder from art shops so you can blend them beautifully like oils then use the same color to do bulf colouring
That is the essencestart with u/coat (white black grey green brown) the do under colors which is the basic colour of the shirt boots face what ever then shadows then raised areas then highlights that is it it is then when you have that going that you start all the different tricks and turns like washes, dusting colour pencils, graphite pensils scratch building webbing cutting of face to make your own right up to an original piece that is more art that model- it doesn't take long just look at the figure forum here and ask questions
Also put pins in the figures feet drill fine holes in the feet the same size as paper clips then put the clips in the feet long enough to go throu a piece of ply then attach it to that by bending ends of wire ( add a piece of dowell to the ply to make handle- no more fingure marks
Ian

Hi, Francois!

If you are sure of the final position of the fig's arms & legs, assemble the torso, arms & legs before painting. It all depends. If there are awkward bent elbows, or if the fig is kneeling, it might be better to paint the limbs before assembly so that you can reach those spots. Especially when doing cam patterns.

It's also better to paint the head/face before gluing it on. Take it off the sprue and stick the base of the neck (with a dot of glue) to the head of a nail. Then you can rotate it and paint every part of it without having to touch it.

Same with the hands, weapons and accessories. As much as possible, paint before assembly. Glue a pin or piece of sprue to the back of the part so that you have something to hold while painting.

After assembly, if you feel the parts don't 'sit' together, you can help blend the pouches and other accessories in by weathering and muddying.

I use enamels cos that's what I'm used to, but it's upto you, mate.

Enjoy yourself and post some of your efforts.

We'll be happy to answer any further questions. Cheers!

Hello AJ,

Thanks for all the info !

I`ve looked in the local hobby stores and they don`t have Vallejo/Andrea products in my area.
The one they have is Createx. : http://www.createxcolors.com. Is that brand of paint any good ?

The other good to use in your opinion is Model Master ?

I got a lot of testors enamels paint that my girlfriend gave me for my birthday that I have not used yet for my models cause I mostly use tamiya acryls for tanks.

Would enamels be easier to use than acryls because it does not dry as fast ?

Are oils more difficult to use for a beginner like me ?

The figurines I have are tamiya figurines. They are plastic figures not resin... I did not want to spend money on a resin figurine while I`m learning and really a novice in figure painting...

Well, i think oils are not the best choice for a beginner, i use Revell and Model Master enamels, they will be enuff for beginning.

Also, one of the previous advices you got is a good one, drill a small hole in the boots of your figure and than superglue a metal rod or a simple wooden toothpick.

Than you hold the rod/toothpick and you wont paint your own fingers

Like on this picture down



Cheers
Mirko

Thanks Mirko,

But you drill with what exactly ?

My drill is too big for this kind of thing...

What zou should do is buy this



its a nescafe mixer operated on batteries, than buy few microdrills and replace the metal rod in this shaker with a small drill, glue with superglue and weeeeeeeeeeeee you got your self a microdrill :-)

something like this one on my work table, it costed me (since i bought a mixer in chinese shop) arround 1.5 euros :-)



enjoy!
Mirko

I glue my figures to a small temporary base to paint them. Lately I have been using chunks of those annoying AOL cds I get in the mail every day. Usually a 1" by 1" piece will do me.
I also use a lot of the "cheap" craft acrylic paints that come in the 2 oz. bottles. Folkart and Plaid are 2 brands I use a lot of. They have a huge color range and cover well over a primer coat.

Link to Plaid craft paint color selection (12 pages):

http://www.plaidonline.com/productSearchResults.asp?keywords=0507_acry

HTH,

Shaun

I've never heard of these so I can't comment on them specifically, but I'm a believer in the right tool for the job. I'd avoid them if they're not fomulatted for this hobby.


Model Master is fine for painting. I don't think too much of their flesh tone set, but if you use burnt sienna and white, which they carry, you can blend some nice skin tones.



You really don't want to use those on figures, they skin over almost instantly and the under layer is still wet. When a fresh brush ouches the kin, it gets lifted and can't be corrected. PollyScale, as well as MOdel Master make good acryls that can be brushed on the small surfaces of figures.


This is all in the area of personal preference. There are painters here who use only humbrol enalmels for figures and get great results. I'm very happy with my current reliance on Avllejo/Andrea. Anders Heinz, currently on hiatus from a computer as well as painting does amazing work with acrylics. I saw some of his stuff in person at EorldExpo a couple weeks ago, as well as the guys who paint for Figure INernational. Their work is spectacualr in acrylics.



Probably. They do tale a very long time to dry which can be frustrating and have a tough learning curve.



The newer figures are not bad, but the old ones have very soft moldings which will be challenging to get a face right. For good economical plastic figures, try DML. They also have the advantae of separate heads (with generally good facial sculpting) which means you can do as suggested above and attach the head to a pin, toothpick or piece of wire.
Your LHS should have pin vice drill bits. I actually chuck one into my Black and Decker cordless hand drill, big, sertous kind and drill the hole at low speed.

Francois

You can take any of the different ideas here and try them out, they are all good.

Then upload photos of what you did and people will give you ideas on how to improve.

Best way might be jump in and starting painting so you can see what format you like best.

Good Luck
N E O

Hi Francois
Like yourself, I use tamiya paints for tanks, vehicles, etc. but only through the airbrush. I tried once to brush paint with them, and it was a disaster.
I use Humbrol enamels for all brush work, and sometimes add in a little oils to the mix to extend the drying time ... this allows blending of colours better.
I still prime the figures with tamiya and the airbrush, and then brush paint the rest with humbrols.

As AL has correctly advised, the best you can do is to try out the methods and see what works for you. Modellers who use only acrylics, or oils or enamels can all turn out amazing work ... there is no right or wrong ... just whats right for you.
below is some of my work and because of all my experimenting, I ended up with a system that use acrylics, enamels and oils, all on the same figure. Its what works for me, so I dont change.
Rommel in 1/16 scale. Primed with tamiya and brush painted with enamels only.

Florian Geyer figure from Dragon in 1/35 scale.
Both horse and figure are primed with tamiya. Figure is brush painted only in humbrol enamels, and horse is a mixture of oils and enamels.

US tanker by Legends in 1/35 scale. Againe primed with Tamiya and brush painted with oils and enamels mixed.

Thanks for all the good tips and advice.

I will do try another figurine and keep you posted with all the steps I took. That way you'll be able to tell me if I doing it right.

thanks again !

Recommended 100%.
You wont believe how much this will help. Posting at every stage will give you the possibility to get expert advice from a lot of great figure painters. Im always very grateful to all the guys who have advised and helped me over the last few years.

Hello,

I have been experimenting with painting soft plastics. Here are some works in progress, 1/32 Airfix Ghurkas, and new Heller 1/72 DAK:

Wash Painting

My technique also works on injection-molded, metal and resin figures.

What I am doing is painting via acrylic wash. Bear in mind that I made a single pass, no attempt to separately add highlights and shadows. These result from the make up of the wash.

The wash is acrylic (Polly Scale, Model Master Acryl, Pactra and craft paints, all I've tried successfully) highly diluted in thinned Future. Load up a brush and put it on the model. Gravity works, pulling the wash pigments off the raised areas, settling in the recesses. The Future acts as a wetting agent, helping to flow better.

All these figures were primed. I used Krylon's Fusion (formulated to bond to plastics) on the 1/32 while shooting the 1/72 DAK and UPC/Airfix Desert Rats with Floquil concrete. The Krylon drie glossy smooth. The paint wash flows over it better.

Anyway, this is a quick way to paint figures--instant highlights and shadows. It is also a good way to paint small figures without obscuring the deatil, as the wash is so thin.

I am also using it to shade/highlight figures I built way back when, before I was interested in shade/highlight.

I'll be adding photos to this album to show the finished works. Check back, though I intend to anounce new additions.