Face Painting Basics - Using Acrylics

Introduction

Hi All,
Face painting has probably been a tough area for most beginners as well as experienced painters alike. I still find it quite a challenge to get it right simply because every face just like in reality is different. Although I’m still learning and far from the level of figure painters here like Allan Yong I figured it may be useful to share with all of you what I have found out to-date as well as to hopefully provide the assistance requested by RX-78-2.

I will be breaking this article up to 4 Parts. These will be:

Part I Basecoat
Part II Highlights
Part III Shadows
Part IV Blending or Bringing it all together

We better get started before I cerita panjang again (as Silantra always says) or start a quote/poem.

Weapons of Choice

Although wonderful work can be achieved by using oils as seen from Alan (Floogen) and Patrick’s (Modelsinfinescale) work and enamels as seen in CP Tan’s work I like acrylics. Alan and Patrick has been trying to convert me to the “oil side of the force” ever since I started but I like acrylics for its quick drying qualities and easy clean-up. Sorry Alan and Patrick I remain true to acrylics for now.

So my weapons of choice are:

1. Acrylics
I used a lot of Tamiya but lately find myself switching to Vallejo as I find it gives a smoother finish.

2. Brushes.
Get good brushes. I’ve heard of excellent brushes like Kolinsky and Artpac but haven’t used them yet. I have an expensive sable brush but I hardly use it. Currently I just use nylon brushes from Faber Castell. Faber Castell brushes are fairly durable, retain their point relatively well with care and are reasonably priced. I would suggest you get # 000, 00 and/or 1 for face painting. Large brushes are required for body/uniform painting. The most useful brush is # 00 but # 000 is pretty hand for eyes and sharp face creases or lines.

3. Palette
I like the rectangular plastic ones that have 6 round wells and are small enough to fit on my table. Get what you’re comfortable with.

4. Patience
This will be your greatest weapon. Figure painting requires lots and lots of patience. In my short 3 years of going at this there were many times I almost gave up. I even tried oil once out of frustration but my Samurai figures came out looking like they had a severe case of acne! The key is to make as many mistakes as you can so you can learn and to read up if you’re like me with no sifu to consult.

Just keep going you’ll get there. After all a non-artist idiot like me managed to improve so will you.

The Face

Gentlemen and 1 Lady I give you Argrillion’s cute Russkie girlfriend, Anastasia Kolwzinski. Now before anybody calls me a sexist for exploiting women which I doubt since you ladies are all guys I chose Anastasia because of her exaggerated features. She has a body of a 1/16 figure but a head closer to 1/9 due to the slightly cartoonish nature of the model as can be seen from the boxart below.



I found it to be very true that the quality of the molding of the face has a bearing on how easy it is to paint it. When I painted my first resin head from Hornet last year, I found that even with my average skills the faces came out reasonably well. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Hornet heads to anyone.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying poorly defined faces will turn out bad. Good painting skills can make even poorly made faces look realistic but it requires more work and skills.

Priming

After the usual washing with detergent and water it is preferable though not absolutely necessary to prime the face. Priming just provides a better surface for the basecoat to adhere to. Here priming has been done by Argrillion with a smoother type of Mr. Surfacer if I’m not mistaken. I just use any acrylic paint that isn’t dark.

Note the Anastasia’s primed face below. I have purposely put her under an overhead light to show where eventually all the highlights, shadows and mid-tones will go. You will need to refer to this photo when we move to Parts II, III and IV. Overhead lighting is not the only way to do shadows and highlights but it is the simplest. Light falling at any other angle makes it more difficult for beginners to place the shadows and highs in the right places. Note where the shadows meet the highlights there is a mid-tone shadow and how the brightest highlight is at the top of her forehead.



Basecoat

Getting the right flesh tone is always a tough. Here is a very good reference site that was kindly provided by a member of Armorama and mentioned by Silantra here as well:

Various skintones?

It doesn’t matter which manufacturer’s paint you use, the reference can be used as a guide. For most Caucasian or orang putih faces especially that of soldiers which have been in the field I use a mix of Vallejo Brown Sand (60 %) and Flesh (40%) which gives the face a tanned look. The brown sand could probably be substituted with Flat earth (30%) and Flesh (70%) for Tamiya. Try out the mix and add more Brown sand or flesh depending on how tan you want your face.

Acrylics unlike oils have to be diluted. For me the main tricks to using acrylics are:

1. Getting the right shade
2. Dilution
3. Layering

Getting the right shade we have covered above. Dilutions for basecoats are usually in the ratio of 1:2 upto 1:5 (paint mix : water). Dilutions above 1:5 are not preferred as you will have to apply many coats and at 1:1 depending of the paint used, it tends to be too thick making it difficult to apply. A 1:3 mix should be okay. Layering we will cover in the other Part II & III.

Even with 1:3 mix you will get results as seen below after just 1 coat:



In the above photo 2 things are apparent. Firstly, acrylics generally require more than 1 coat because of the dilution. Secondly, the shade is too dark as I’ve used too much brown sand. I’m so used to painting weather beaten men faces that I absent mindedly assumed, despite reducing the brown sand that this shade would be okay for a cutie like Anastasia. Wrong.

So I added more flesh and a touch of white ending up with a ratio of 80% Flesh : 10% Brown sand : 10% White. After 3-4 coats later this is how she looks:



This is it for Part I. Hopefully I’ll get the other parts done soon but please do ask any questions as I may have been too brief or confusing on any of the above points. Ooops..forgot to mention that please do share with us your experiences with face painting as well as the more we share the more we learn (as corny that may sound).

Looking good so far, Vlad the Impaler!
Amazing how you can still get them to smile after you beheaded and skewered them.... :lol:

wow...nice step by step article...

now u really done a very good job to this club since your appointment as moderator here....

very good article...cant wait to have them finish

another tambahan to the tools,

since acrylics dry pretty fast, you may invest to a wet pallete....with it, you can simpan ur paint in the pallet and it wont dry for weeks....good for color mix...u dont have to remix later just to get the right color........
just my 2 cents la..this is not compulasory....but i have one and feel good about it

thx for the guidance....
more things to be learn for a young padawan like me... :P

No problemo Chan. Like I said I learn as well by sharing. Actually the man to thank is Kenny (Argrillion) for being crazy enough to let me work on his girlfriend's face. He doesn't know it yet but I'm going to mess up his girlfriend's face reaaaaaal bad. Going to give her purple and orange hair. :lol:

Thanks Sil to for his tambahan. As for your question Loo they're smiling because she knows I'll treat her well.......(hehheh).

I just got back to office today, and I see my girlfriend still look like my girlfriend. Well, I am confident that Beachbum is taking good care of her.

Till next week, happy painting. Remember always consult Lin.

Yeah I will consult her otherwise Anastasia will look like sun tanned California babe. BTW I forgot to ask you what color of hair is preferable. After all she is your girlfriend. If I don't get an answer I'll go with the purple with orange streak scheme. :rolleyes:

You may want to leave the hair first b'coz her pony tails are still with me. I need to modify them as they look too stiff.

u guys sounds like Dr Frankenstien, in the process of creating a HUMAN... :lol:

Correction Williams ... my girlfriend. Meet Dr Beachkenstien :lol:

(Begins with very, very evil laugh) You're going to regret leaving your girlfriend's head in my hands.

(shouting to the background)Igor! where's my saw, how can I work on her nose without my favorite ivory handle hacksaw.

Kenny after I'm done with her she won't want to come back to you anymore (more super evil laugh)

Please leave her face scar-free. And also no tattoo of Templar's Knight Order.

What's wrong with a simple Hell's Angels skull & bones tattoo. Its very fashionable nowadays for young women to have tattoos. Templar tattoo are okay but a bit old fashioned. How about a SAS "Who Dares Win" on the left cheek.

Hold on Anastasia I'm coming. No....its nobody at the door, just some shoe salesman.

Oops Kenny, gotta go.

Zaidi, whats a wet palette?

sorry guys, i think blew the wind and the ship begin to drift off course...

scare other member will be surprise to read this topic evolve from a FACE PAINTING tutorial to some other chat... :lol:

Loo,

basically it is a rectangular thing...something like the normal tupperware ..come in 3 sizes - S, M and L..i got the S size for beginner....
it has a lid...and inside the palette there are 2 main components...the first is the sponge and second is the special acrylic paper....you have to do certain preparation to wet the paper and the sponge...place the sponge inside the pallete and the paper on top of the sponge....then wallaaaaa....
this arrangement will hold the paints for weeks... i recall it's only for acrylics..
the paper is heavy duty type, reusable, torn proof....but i got a spare pack of 30s...
Multifilla do sell them but again the price is ripp off....i think rm70/++ but i got from the net 3 times cheaper...

Part II

Welcome to Part II all Anastasia followers. I probably mentioned it but all comments are welcome as we are here to share and learn. I’m by no means an expert as I consider myself a novice especially when viewing some of the fantastic work by figure painters like Diego Ruina. So with that out of the way let’s see how we can mess up Argrillion’s girlfriend’s face. Oh yes…please allow me to apologize for going off topic in the discussion portion following Part I (old guy, bad habits).

Wookay wookay….Part II is on Highlights.

Layering

Before jumping into the pics, some boring theory. Acrylics unlike oils cannot be blended in the real sense. Instead acrylics rely on the application of multiple layers of diluted paint to give the illusion of both depth as well as blending.

Best way to describe layering would be to imagine an onion. Just like Shrek told donkey about ogres having many layers to their personality like onions, acrylic painting is about layers. Each successive layer painted on top becomes smaller and smaller than the layer underneath until the final layer being the brightest (for highlights) in terms of the shade occupies almost just a small dot, like the center of an onion. The same is true for shadows with the difference being the center or last layer color is the darkest shade.

Remember Photo of Anastasia under an overhead light from Part I. As you can see from that photo which I have reproduced below, the brightest point is at the uppermost top and center of Ana’s forehead. Thus highlights of the forehead will start somewhere in the middle of her forehead. Many layers of basecoat plus increasing additions of white will then be applied in smaller and smaller concentric half circle until it reaches the uppermost top. More later but that’s how layering is done.



A last word about layering. Many non-acrylic users find layering boring as applying repeated layers can be tedious. I do find that it can be boring at times but at other times it allows me to reach a Zen state. Nevertheless, layering when done right can be quite startling in its effect.

Dilution

The other critical aspect of using acrylics is dilution. Acrylics have to be diluted even for basecoats. What makes the layering described above work is due to the right selection of colors/shades as well as the dilution ratio. Most articles I’ve come across on using acrylics do not mention about dilution. Sometimes the authors just say mix with water until you get the consistency of milk. My question is from which animal and from where? You can’t blame these authors though coz a lot is by judgment through experience which would not be very useful advice for beginners. It took me a while and I’m still trying to get it right all the time. Very roughly as far as face painting is concerned most highlights and shadows involve a dilution rate of about 1:5 to 1:10 although I’ve used much higher.

The rule of thumb for me anyway is this, too diluted means you’ll have to add much, much more layers to see a color difference from the basecoat and from other highlights shades. Too thick or less diluted means you’ll have trouble blending and layering later. Remember you are trying to apply a layer that is almost like a semi-transparent glaze.

Let the Highlights Begin

Now with those boring but critical points done with we move on to the first highlights. I used to start with shadows but most authors suggest highlights first with the reason it’s easier to cover a lighter color with a darker one if mistakes are made. I’ve only recently done it this way.

The following 2 drawings should give you a rough idea of where the first shade or Highlight #1 should go followed by the next shade or Highlight #2. As mentioned above layering is used where after layering Highlight #1 the next highlight #2 is place in ever shrinking layers over Highlight #1.




For highlights I usually use about 3 shades. For Ana’s face I’ve diluted each shade with an increasing percentage of white. As can be seen from the photo below I’ve taken a bit of the basecoat mixture (on the most left well) and added very approximately 20 % white (centre well). Dilute the mix accordingly to very roughly 1:8 (paint mix : water). This is my 1st shade.



Before applying to the face always off load the excess paint on your brush over some absorbent material like tissue. We are trying to apply thin layers or glaze and excess paint will only puddle resulting in a poor fading effect.



This will be applied in at least 10-15 layers as the outermost rings of the ‘onion’. The first highlight always require many layers as you can notice the 1st. highlight shade does not vary much from the basecoat. Remember to target the highlights area indicated by the overhead light only. Leave about 1 minute or less between layers for the paint to dry which in the case of acrylics is really fast. For me that’s another reason why I like acrylics, the faster drying time allows me to work on the face much sooner than oils. Oil painters will disagree of course.



Next is Highlight #2. More white is added. It’s important to remember that white is not always used alone coz in a tanned face adding just more flesh together with a bit of white will give sufficient contrast. Here because Ana is so fair I have to rely on white to get sufficient contrast vs the basecoat.


Highlight #2 is applied in layers of smaller and smaller areas over Highlight #1. Remember the onion. About 5-8 layers should do it. As you can see below Ana’s face is showing more contrast now from the basecoat. Don’t worry if the edges appear a bit patchy and too contrasting. We will ‘blend’ the edges later with a mid shade color.


Do not forget the neck as well. Although Ana’s neck is a bit short here but you can see I’ve put highlights at 2 spots on her neck for one side. This marks the skin raised by her neck muscles.



The last shade will be almost pure white but we will put in the final Highlight #3 after we have done the shadows as its just personal preference on my part. Next to the dark force or shadows.

Please feel free to ask away at this point before we jump into Part III on Shadows.

thanks for the nice article old friend...hehe...u got plenty of time i see...
is that syntetic or sable brush?? looks like syntetic to me
no further question at this moment but i'm sure to throw some during the IKANO roadshow....be prepare!!!

You are too kind my Gundam-Armor-Figure-Warship friend. The brush is a nylon #00 brush from Faber Castell. Haven't tried the expensive natural brushes yet-lah as I waste so much money on figures. :) Currently I can still spare some time to write but later tak tau.

Anastasia will probably not make it to IKANO as I've only just started work on her shadows.

too bad i wont be able to touch Arg's girlfriend...hehehe
btw, i thought that u have some expensive sable collection...i think u posted in armorama that u got them...

tauke, just bring la this chick to IKANO...i will be taking my 1/16 SS to accompany her..

thx for the step by step with long talking tutorial!!! (i didn't finish reading yet while typing this!!! :P )
My figure for tamiyacon will definitely follow your guide....

btw, i'm goin to pass u the Guyver vinly figure at Ikano!!!

You're very welcome Chan. Sorry for the long explanation. Can't go on without the theory coz its important to know how acrylics work which is a bit more complicated than oil. Don't worry the shadows in Pt. III will be shorter since I have covered the boring theory in this part.

Managed to stumble onto this thread in my aimless wanderings.

Just one question - where are episodes III and IV? :huh:

Thx.

Poor Arg's Anatasia has been sitting in my WIP drawer for a loooong time and my loooong modelling slump hasn't helped either.

I have written Part III and taken some of the pics but have yet to work on Pt. IV. Right after my slump last month I've started back on poor Ana. My apologies for the delay. Also didn't think anyone would be following up as it tends to be a bit quiet in this neck of the forum. :)

Will try to continue my long winded Part III and IV hopefully by the first half of this year, this century. :rolleyes:

CK, no need for apologies. These writeups are done on your own time and effort so no pressure, mate. Finish it when it's finished.

And thanks for sharing.

looks like someone uncovered Anastasia's bones again.
This poor Romanov just cannot rest in peace. Since some persuasive bloke has poisoned our dear socialist comrade, its robots from now on baby!....