PAINTING FIGURES' FACES

The problem is, figure painting is an artform in itself – so it’s hard to cross over between disciplines. However, using acrylics & following a few basic steps might help the AFV modeller who is willing to try.

Now, we are not saying this is the way to make award-winning figures – for that you need years of practice & the figure-painter’s skillset. Something we do not possess.

Also, as with all aspects of our hobby it is highly subjective & a question of personal style. We like to have figures that look dirty & tired – just look at period archive film to see what real soldiers look like after a few hours of battle.

So, if you are looking to paint realistic figures to go with your armour models, read on.

We took a French Tanker supplied as a gift to subscribers of our favourite model magazine, Steelmasters. We added a Hornet head with a homemade skullcap & scarf – sculpted in Duro. It was then base-coated in Tamiya grey.

When we paint figures we find that everything starts with the face. Beginning here imparts your figure with a life & character of its own before you even tackle the uniform & so on.

We like to use Vallejo acrylics – just remember to keep the paint diluted & not too thick. Also you can sometimes use their retarder or “Slow Dry” (Ref: 70.597). This doesn’t really aid mixing on the palette, or even on the face itself, but it just means you can repair any mistakes more easily with a wet brush before the acrylics dry.

We start by picking out the eyes. A loose coating of white where the eyes should be was followed by a dark brown line or dot roughly where the pupil should be.

Do not get too fixated on whether it all looks right at this stage. In this scale the eyes will end up pretty tiny & our goal is to paint around them until they are very small.

So pick a dark flesh colour – here, Vallejo Medium Flesh (Ref: 70.860) – and start to paint around the eyes. Carefully narrow them by painting around them.

When happy, seal with gloss varnish to protect them for the future paint stages. This means you can always wipe off any mistakes going forwards without damaging the eyes.

Next, create a lightened flesh mix using Flat Flesh (Ref: 70.955) & block out the rest of the face.