Ok. Finally found the second page of this. Odd though I can't seem to edit my original post. Anyway...this is the method I use for painting flesh/faces when painting units. I usually go into more detail for single figures or dioramas. It was taught to me about 3 years ago by a member of my gaming group who is an amazing competition painter. A couple of notes- I usually use the Reaper Rosy Flesh Triad instead of the Tanned Flesh Triad, because the tan is a little too dark for me. But that's just my preference...this works great with the Tanned Flesh. And also, I don't really bother with the eyes anymore when I'm painting full units. I just can't notice the workl when the figures are on the game table.
Basecoat - Leather Brown (Vallejo) or Mahagony Brown (Reaper Master)
> > First Skin Color - Tanned Shadow (Reaper Master)
> > Second Skin Color - Tanned Skin (Reaper Master)
> > Third Skin Color - Tanned Highlight (Reaper Master)
> > Wash - GW Sepia (devlan mud could work too)
> > Glaze - Red Leather (Vallejo) or Redstone Highlight (Reaper Master)
> > Eye 1st Color - Walnut Brown or Liner Brown (both Reaper Master)
> > Eye 2nd Color - Off white, light grey, anything that is close to white but not quite white
> > Eye Pupil - back to the 1st eye color
> >
> > I know that looks a little intimidating but the process is pretty easy and there are a couple of places you can stop at if you are happy with the way it looks.
> >
> > Step 1 - Base coat all the flesh. At this point I thinning my paint at least 1:1 with water (or gunk in my case which is water+flow improver+drying retarder). It usually takes two coats to get the basecoat on. I prefer 2-3 thin coats as opposed to one straight from the bottle thicker coat. I use dark colors for this step since it will have an impact on the colors I use later on. Darker browns for a cooler look, the Mahagony Red (or any deep brownish red) if I want a warmer look to the skin. Leather Brown and Mahagony Red are just a suggestion.
> >
> > Step 2 - After the base coat had dried paint over it almost completely with the Tanned Shadow. Again I thin my paint down not as much as 1:1 maybe 2 or 3:1 (paint:water) . I'm going to stay out of the deeper recesses of the mini and leave those in the basecoat color.
> >
> > Step 3 - At this stage I paint the eyes, if I screw up I know I have more painting to do and can neaten them up as I go. I paint the entire eye with a very dark brown or black (Reaper Walnut Brown is my favorite for this). Second step is to take an off white (linen white, very light greys etc) and paint essentially a strip across the eye, you want to cover the dark color with the off white leaving only black around the edges. This gives the eyes separation from the face and makes them stand out. I have not thinned the white at this point. Next are the pupils. Typically I use what ever I used to paint the first step in the eye, but any darker color will work, blues are good, some greens will work and deeper browns. Instead of trying to paint a dot I sort of push the tip of the brush up into to eye, so you are not seeing a full circle. Part of it is interrupted by the eyelid (which is normal, look at the people around you and you will see that you really
> > don't see the entire pupil, part of it is hidden by the eyelid). None the eyes are done. NOTE: If the eyes are basicly slits, let the wash fill it in, not every miniature has an eye that you can really paint and men in the field tend to squint anyway and if the shako is down low over the face you aren't going to see the eyes anyway. So don't feel like you have to paint the eyes on everyone of your miniatures. Even just doing it for some of the guys in the front rank will make your stuff stand out.
> >
> > Step 4 - Wash all the skin with Sepia Wash this warms the skin a bit for a cooler skintone devlan mud will work. Just be careful you don't wash over the eyes. Although a quick dab with a dry brush should wick out any of the wash that gets into a bad spot
> >
> > You can stop now if you like.
> >
> > Step 5 - Using the Tanned Skin paint downwards across the skin. You are really painting the areas where more light is hitting, the cheek bones, the nose, the chin, the ears, the tops of the hands. Imagine the light coming straight down from the top of the figure to pick out these areas. Thin your paint 2-3:1
> >
> > Again this is a good place to stop if you like it.
> >
> > Step 6 - Using the Tanned Highlight hit the same areas but hit only the highest point. Again thin the paint 2-3:1
> >
> > Again you can stop here, but usually if you have gone this far the next step will bring it all together
> >
> > Step 7 - Glazing. One of the issues when you paint this many layers without a lot of intermediate steps is that it starts to look very blocky even chalky. So a glaze across the entire surface will help tie all the colors back together. A glaze has almost no paint in it so we are something on the order of 1:20 paint to water (so way thinner than a wash). If you put some on your brush and draw it across a piece of paper and if you can barely tell there is color on that line then you are about right. Apply the glaze across all the skin.
> >
> > Done!
> >
> > So this is one method, its the one I use most of the time. I do use a variation of this on my 15s but its really more appropriate for 25s and larger. There are other ways to do it and there is really not right or wrong as long as you get the effect you want and are happy in the end.
-Scott
