Hobby Hint
Give Your Figure a Bath by Jeff Junker
Trying
to re-create realistic skin tone is always a challenge. There are so many
subtle variations of flesh, none of which is available in a paint bottle. I've
seen pictures of figures of "white guys" who look like they're
members of the Zombie Brigade, and "black guys" who are the color of
charcoal. Those figures may have been painted with a pinkish-looking color
named "flesh" or a dark brown color named "dark skin tone",
but I've never seen anyone in real life whose skin looked anywhere close to
that.
Remember subtle?
Let me tell you about a method I use to mute colors. I prime the figure with a flat light gray. I like the light gray because it's easy to cover, particularly with the more difficult colors like white and yellow. I then give the skin areas a base coat in a shade that is close to the ethnic background of the subject. (In this example, it's the Verlinden resin 120mm Maya warrior.)
I
never use paint straight out of the bottle; I always blend multiple colors. For
the base coat of the Maya I used acrylic light skin tone mixed with brown, red,
and orange. After applying it, I found it to be to Caucasian. I re-mixed using
only the brown and orange. This got the figure (whose name happens to be Lord
Xathan) into the color range I wanted.
The face didn't look quite right - too dark - so I dunked him in water and scrubbed it with a toothbrush to try over again. After I dried the face, I noticed that raised detailed areas had some of the previous coats of paint exposed. It looked pretty good. So I had to make a decision that so many modelers are vexed with: Do I try to improve on an effect that is already eye-appealing? I decided that I'd leave the face as it was; the effect was similar to dry-brushing in reverse.
Now
came the fun part: giving the figure a bath. You know about using a wash to
bring out details in recessed areas. This is similar but instead of wiping away
excess paint you leave it on. This is not for the faint at heart, so if you
want to experiment, try it on something you haven't spent months working on.
I start with red paint. I put a couple of drops on my palette and thin it with water. I then brush water onto all of the skin surfaces. Taking the thinned red paint, I flow it over all of the skin. If it puddles, I brush it away. It usually takes about three applications, allowing enough time for each coat to dry. On Lord Xanthan, this part of the bath give his skin a healthy glow like blood coursing through his veins.
The next step is to repeat the above process using white paint. This gives definition to his muscles and accentuates areas that would have shadows from reflections from light. As with anything it takes practice. Luck also plays a part in it.
Photos by Phil Novak