Painting faces...?

[Anfalas]

To all you wonderful painters out there, what are your favourite techniques when it comes to painting the faces of your minis? Could you give a newbie some advice on the subject?

[Zac]

You're probably down on replies because you only asked "wonderful painters". As a breed artists are self-deprecating and will shy away from describing themselves as anything better than "still learning".

As for how I paint faces, they're similar to other areas in that you want to get the lighter bits on the higher places and the darker bits on the lower areas. looking at high contrast images of peoples faces will give you a good idea of where to put the right paints, and a simple three colour recipe should work quite well: Dark, light and wash.

Hope this helps.

Zac

[Anfalas]

As for how I paint faces, they're similar to other areas in that you want to get the lighter bits on the higher places and the darker bits on the lower areas. looking at high contrast images of peoples faces will give you a good idea of where to put the right paints, and a simple three colour recipe should work quite well: Dark, light and wash.

Hey, thanks for that. I just really have trouble with faces - they always look funny when I paint them.

As for the 'wonderful painters' comment... I think everyone on here is amazing in their own right, to be perfectly honest. Especially when I compare their work to my own haha

[Mako]

Faces are a tricky one, definitely. Generally they're the focal point of a model, so you might want to push the highlights a little more than you do on the rest of the skin.

I've also found myself using more colours in them as time goes on, a hint of purple around the eyes, a very slight touch of red on the cheeks, a trace of yellow around the temples and back of the jaw, that kind of thing. Really a case of experimenting with very very thin glazes for that one, I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing with it!

The other thing to consider is the eyes - don't paint them white unless you want the wide eyed stare effect, I use VMC deck tan which is a slightly creamy pale blue grey colour, takes the edge off them.

Expression is the killer one to get going, but that's a fairly advanced thing needed a fair bit of practice and intuition. I struggle with that myself so can't offer much there really!

For a start, try finding a flesh tone you like and using a gentle wash to pick out the shadows (use a dark flesh colour, and add a tiny bit of blue to it would be my suggestion). Then you can go back and retouch the original colour, and highlight it up using a bonewhite kind of colour (bleached bone, whatever the heck GW are calling it these days), taking it one small step higher than the rest of the skin.

If you're feeling inclined, you can add in a dark brown/black stripe for each eye, then a pale grey one inside each of those, and a dot of black in the centre of each. A tiny bit of red in your flesh tone painted thinly on the bottom lip also helps, but don't try to do both lips or they'll look like they're wearing a ton of lipstick!

That's a fairly random mix of thoughts and stuff there, hopefully some of it makes sense!

[Cornelious1424]

Faces can be tricky because you are trying to shade/highlight a rather small surface area of the model, but it's also a very important area of the model. Here's a simple version of what I've learned:

1) Start with a dark flesh town and faint the full area of the face. For my flesh tones it's usually GW Dark Flesh (I don't know what the new one is called as I don't have it).

2) Using the next lightest flesh tone (usually GW Dwarf Flesh...or w/e they're calling it these days) I paint most of the area of the face accept the cracks, like the eyes and mouth. I leave the dark flesh showing, this starts to create the illusion that their is depth.

3) Taking the next lightest flesh tone (Elf Flesh, or the new GW equivilent) I paint tiny circles on the cheek, chin, nose and forehead. You don't want to cover too much of the Dwarf flesh, keep in mine you're trying to create depth.

4) Lastly, I take my Dwarf Flesh and mix in a bit of water to create a wash. Some people say it should be the consitency of "skim milk" so I guess I'll go with that lol. Once the paint and water are mixed, paint the face with the wash to blend the shades/highlights together. Be sure to wait for your final highlight to have dried before you take this step.

Hope this helps!!

---

Edit:

Dammit, suggesting painting tips after Mako ninja'd me =P.

Edited July 29, 2013 by Cornelious1424

[wolfoman117]

i have a pair of tricks:

1- buy a flesh paints set (like vallejo´s, it´s wonderfull)

2- mix the paint with a little of purple to kill the orange tones that almost flesh paints have. since a friend of mine told me that i´ve discovered a new world

[Lussuria]

I am also very eager to learn from experienced painters the finer details of painting a face. Does anyone have any photos to show what their technique looks like done?

And interesting comment about the purple. I may have to try this *grin*

[Cornelious1424]

My avatar is a picture of my painted Seamus, if that helps.

[Zac]

Sidir face by zachos2, on Flickr

Here is a close up on the face of my Sidir. The method I used on his flesh is in my project log here: link

[Mako]

I've just gone back through my stuff and realised that it's a long time since I did anything I'd call standard skin! The closest is Mr Graves (in my sig) and my part finished illuminated, who's here:

I use blue like wolfoman does purple, just enough to kill the excess orange. Especially in shading. For my base skin tone, I start with vallejo bronze fleshtone and add a little bonewhite and sometimes khaki. Generally I'll use dark fleshtone and night blue to shade, and bonewhite to highlight.

Hmm, I might actually do a writeup of how I do different skin tones sometime, it'll be good for me to actually define my methods, might be useful for others, and I'll get to try out some new tricks I've been thinking about!

[Zac]

I'm definitely gonna try adding blues to my skintones now. Can't wait to pick up some death marshalls and give it a whirl.

[Shadowopal]

My tip for eyes if you don't have a very steady hand is:

1) paint your show tone onto the face.

2) before painting any highlights, paint the eye vmc deck tan.

3) paint a brown circle in the center of your eye or grey or blue or green. Just not black. Leave a bit of the deck tan showing on the edges.

4) clean up your eye shape by painting your base color as an upper and lower eyelid. Your real eyeballs don't stare wide open all the time. So neither should your model's eyelid set the mood of the character. If you go to wide with them. All your models will be squinting. So use thin lines and make the upper lid slightly wider.

That's all I got. If eye are still tricky....paint glasses on all your models .

[Anfalas]

Cheers for the tip, Cornelious1424. I had a go following your technique and the result wasn't too bad, if I'm fair on myself. My main issue was creating a wash to finish it off though. I'm terrible at it apparently!

And Mako, I had the same problem with your technique. I guess I need to practice making washes instead of using my ready-made GW washes and glazes!

By the by, your Illuminated looks amazing, Mako! D:

---------- Post added at 02:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 AM ----------

That's all I got. If eye are still tricky....paint glasses on all your models .

I like that one.

[dgraz]

My tip for eyes if you don't have a very steady hand is:

1) paint your show tone onto the face.

2) before painting any highlights, paint the eye vmc deck tan.

3) paint a brown circle in the center of your eye or grey or blue or green. Just not black. Leave a bit of the deck tan showing on the edges.

4) clean up your eye shape by painting your base color as an upper and lower eyelid. Your real eyeballs don't stare wide open all the time. So neither should your model's eyelid set the mood of the character. If you go to wide with them. All your models will be squinting. So use thin lines and make the upper lid slightly wider.

That's all I got. If eye are still tricky....paint glasses on all your models .

That's basically what I would say. Paint your dark base color first, then do the eyes....you can fix the eye shape with your next layer of flesh tone.....very difficult to get the eyes the right shape if you do them last.

[Lussuria]

I'm sorry - I'm finding the eye colouring guide a little bit hard to follow. I understand the concept for within the eye itself but not for the overall lid shading/colours.

Is this kind of the concept?

Was this kind of it? Paint all dark -> Then add white (and inside eye details) -> Then paint lighter skin tone around the eye to give the lids a darker ..er..edge? Sorry! Hehe, not sure if I'm way off base - I'm still too scared to attempt painting proper eyes on anything yet *grin*

[zFiend]

Great info here, thanks everyone, I also stumble with the faces. Can't wait to try these out.

[dgraz]

Was this kind of it? Paint all dark -> Then add white (and inside eye details) -> Then paint lighter skin tone around the eye to give the lids a darker ..er..edge?

Sort of. After you do the eye color (not pure white...too bright...eyes are a little off-white) and any iris/pupil if you're going that far...for table-top quality I will normally just do a black vertical line, I go back in with my base color and touch up the shape. After that, step up to a lighter color for the top of the eyebrow, the nose, and the cheek. Then I usually hit it with at least one more highlight at the highest points...the brow, the tip of the nose, and the cheek bone.

The brow will normally cast a shadow under itself and the eye. So lots of people are fine stopping there....and it looks great for table-top quality. If you want to get more courageous with the eyelid itself, that takes a bit more knowledge and technique. You need to understand how light and shadow works....so you can apply the proper shadow and highlight on the lids....the curvature of it, the shape of the lid, and how it sits in the head will all be factors.

---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 PM ----------

A cursory google search yielded this....which is pretty good for beginners.

http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/12

[Lussuria]

Sort of. After you do the eye color (not pure white...too bright...eyes are a little off-white) and any iris/pupil if you're going that far...for table-top quality I will normally just do a black vertical line, I go back in with my base color and touch up the shape. After that, step up to a lighter color for the top of the eyebrow, the nose, and the cheek. Then I usually hit it with at least one more highlight at the highest points...the brow, the tip of the nose, and the cheek bone.

---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:07 PM ----------

A cursory google search yielded this....which is pretty good for beginners.

http://www.reapermini.com/Thecraft/12

Thanks so so very much! Very much cleared up how the process flows in my head. Can't wait to give this a go! Might find a mini with big easily accessible eyes to practice on *grin*

[wolfoman117]

maybe this could help (the photo sucks but it´s the best i can do with my actual camera

[harbinger]

Great conversation you started Anfalas as faces can be real pita especially eyes. Grateful for the hint few you threw out.. I always used white...

[Anfalas]

Great conversation you started Anfalas as faces can be real pita especially eyes. Grateful for the hint few you threw out.. I always used white...

Haha, thanks! I was in the same boat, really. That, or my miniatures' faces came out grainy, flooded or just damn creepy looking (thanks to my lack of skill with expression)!

Good to know that there are others benefiting from this.

[Wings]

The most useful article I think I've seen on painting faces is this one: http://studiomcvey.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/seraphine-face-tutorial.html

I sadly can't paint faces like that, but it's nice to dream.

[Lussuria]

The most useful article I think I've seen on painting faces is this one: http://studiomcvey.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/seraphine-face-tutorial.html

I sadly can't paint faces like that, but it's nice to dream.

Wish I could paint dark skin like that!! Uuugh, attempting my first dark skin tone today painting Marcus.

Results = Solidly awful. Might have to post him up and see if anyone has a way to fix him....

[Anfalas]

Wish I could paint dark skin like that!! Uuugh, attempting my first dark skin tone today painting Marcus.

Results = Solidly awful. Might have to post him up and see if anyone has a way to fix him....

It's for this reason that I'm putting off painting my Rasputina D:

[pixelante]

Here is a good guide I use alot, it works better on heroic scale faces though than the tiny faces you get on Wyrd plastics. Painting Faces.

Here is a Games Workshop Masterclass.

What it boils down to is that you start with a base colour, add a darker wash and then highlight twice.