Hi Guys,

I recently tried on figure-painting with oil. I first apply a coat of Humbrol's matt black and when I applied the olive-drab oil it simply refused to cover the base colour properly thus created a see-thru effect. Worse still, it took forever to dry and I could't proceed any further with the painting. Have I chosen the wrong oil since it's not branded? I'm feeling hopeless as I thought it shouldn't be too tough to get things done.

That will not work, as you have discovered.

Matt black works fine as a primer/shade base for acrylic paints, but not oils. For acrylics the base should be pretty close to the color you want. If you want OD green, start with acrylic OD and then use oils to shade, highlight and shadows. There is a good feature on the site at:https://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/117

Or look under Features/Figures. That will give you an idea of how to proceed. He even has a part on OD green.

Hope that helps.

Rogered,

Check in regularly at the Armorama chatroom at MSN and you might meet some oilpainters there. They can give you some fast tips 'n tricks.

The article 2-2 gave you is also very helpful. As for me, I only do faces with oils. For uniforms I use Enamels and Acrylics though I have a little experiment here and there. Yesterday I did some gloves and boots with oils....perfect result. Just practice and experiment and.... be patient.

Oils are translucent and if you use primer that is darker than the color you want to apply... well, as 2-2 dragon said, it wont work.. There are some great tips on painting with oils on Missing Links: http://www.missing-lynx.com/ , just look on the articles section for Mark Bannerman's oil painting articles..

Armorama's own Mongo Mel also covered painting with oils and he does a great job... I don't know if those were the articles 2-2 pointed out, but look it up under Armorama Features..

Hope it helps,
Mario M.

The only part of the uniform that I ever use oils on is the boots. I paint them matt black then dry brush Burnt Sienna over them It gives them a great leather look. For US leather flight jackets I'll paint them Humbrol track color then dry brush with Burnt Sienna for the leather effect.

Hi Rogered.
Any good brand of artist oil's will need a good amount of time to dry. The bigger your area ......the more oil .... hence, longer dry time.This can go into day's and up to a week of waiting for the oil to dry & cure, but it matter's how much oil your using & the scale of your figure . ...............What I mean by cure is that the oil can feel dry on the surface, but underneath it is still moist and continuing to dry. It does dry eventually, but not as quick as your surface coat because it has no light and no air moving over it
- Experienced figure painter's who use only oil's are use to this kind of technique. That's why I only use oil's for skin tones, shading, drybrushing and washes. But art supply store'scarry additives that help speed drying time. Just ask one of the employees and their usually able to help you find what you need. One trick that does help is: Use an index card as your pallette. The paper will soak up the solvent's that are in the oil, and this will help the oil to dry a little faster You will literally see the solvent being drawn into the paper after a few minutes and you will notice that the oil itself is not as wet. This does help some ..... but it's no miracle cure either. The oil's still take time to dry.

- ralph

- ralph

I have used oils on my figures' skin for years, and never thought to do this. That is why I love this site.

Patrick

IT'S A GREAT PLACE FOR SURE !

- ralph

I use oils for everything except metallics on my figures.....I have used the card stock method to suck the oils out of your paint for years......never thought of it to quicken the drying time......just to help flatten the colours....it's the oils that gives them the sheen....because of this....I don't use the card stock when I'm painting flesh....leather and horses....because I want the sheen.....use your own judgement.
Oil colours dry differently depending on the colours....brown dries fast.....red takes a long time and so does white........so if you add a lot of white to brown it will take longer too. Over time you will discover what colours take longer and what colours dry faster....it all comes from experience.

Thanks guys! I will certainly try on the methods given. Happy New Year!