Tamiya Mosquito FB VI - 3/22 - Figure painting completed

[Bstarr3]

Thanks, guys! Last step is going to be their together a simple base for it all. Just lay down some celluclay over plywood and paint it up as a muddy grass airfield.

[BloorwestSiR]

Amazing paint job on your pilot. I can't believe that's your first try.

 

Carl

[Bstarr3]

Amazing paint job on your pilot. I can't believe that's your first try.

 

Carl

Thanks, Carl. I've done 1/48 figs before but this is my first time doing a really detailed face. I'm happy with how it came out.

[Troy Molitor]

I was looking all over for the pilot painting today.  I could have swore it was some Luftwaffe guy. lol. 

I'm currently working Lieutenant Ivan for my ICM Rata type 24 build.  If I may, can you let us know how you painted the eyes on the pilots figure you just completed?  The eyes look amazing.  Well done.   

 

Thanks for sharing any tips in this regard.

 

Kind regards 

 

Troy

[Bstarr3]

I was looking all over for the pilot painting today.  I could have swore it was some Luftwaffe guy. lol. 

I'm currently working Lieutenant Ivan for my ICM Rata type 24 build.  If I may, can you let us know how you painted the eyes on the pilots figure you just completed?  The eyes look amazing.  Well done.   

 

Thanks for sharing any tips in this regard.

 

Kind regards 

 

Troy

Thanks very much, Troy.  

 

I'll give a brief primer on my overall technique.  I was interested in trying oil paints, so I did some online research and used (mostly) a technique I found called "the Bannerman method".  I used MRP pale wood color as a primer coat.  Since MRP adheres so well, I get a primer count and a foundational color coat all at once.  Thin paint is key if you want to preserve all the details.  I then used two layers of washes, first a lighter brown, let it dry completely and leave most of the overflow, then a darker brown, applied very selectively to the darkest shadow areas, and cleaned up as necessary.  This is seen on my second round pics.  I then used Abeitulung flesh color to hit the highlights.  Just a light stripe across forehead, nose, cheekbones and jawline.  I left this to dry for a day, then gently blended it with a fine flat brush, just barely dampened with thinner. 

 

From here, I made a warmer skin tone by mixing the base flesh color about 70/30 with burnt siena. I basically built up in layers, getting the overall skin tone in most places, letting more of the shadow and highlight from the previous layers show through as indicated. I added a little more burnt siena to get shadow areas, and mixed a little white in with the base color for highlights, which were used sparingly.  I also used this color for the whites of the eyes.  I just painted a tiny line with this light color, and then used a tiny dot of pthalo blue on a toothpick for the irises.  A tip I picked up from multiple sources is not to try to do a straight ahead gaze, but instead to always have the eyes looking off to one side or another.  Straight ahead is very hard to get right, and always ends up cross-eyed or wall-eyed.  

 

I added some eyebrows using straight burnt siena, since I decided to make him a ginger, as well as a lock of hair sticking out from under his flight helmet, just to add some character. All I used with this was burnt siena, white, and flesh, along with various mixes of the three.  All was painted using a #0 brush.  A good quality 0 will hold a better point than a cheap 3-0. This paint had been sitting out for about a week, so it is quite dry but still workable.  I dabbed just enough thinner to make it a workable consistency.  If you look really up close under magnification, you can see some spots where the paint is kind of heavy.  Next time I'm going to try to acheive smoother results with a thinner, wetter paint.  

 

Sorry for the book! Hope my answers were helpful.  

[Troy Molitor]

Thank you for the great tutorial. Simply one of the best figure faces I've seen on LSP. The eye tip is also greatly appreciated. My Russian pilot I'm doing seem ps to have a lot of defects or imperfections to the resin casting. I might need to clean up the face again. I've having difficulty with a good primer base also. Thanks again for the wonderful advise here,

 

Troy.

[Bstarr3]

Troy,

Happy to help and thank you for the compliment! I'm very pleased with how he came out. Are you doing a WIP on your current project? I don't normally follow the modern jet threads but would love to see your progress with your pilot figure.

[Gazzas]

Holy smokes!  I feel like that guy is looking at me.

 

Tremendous!

 

Gaz

[TimHepplestone]

Thanks for the tut in figure painting. He looks great. I have a lovely resin pilot for a 1/32 Spit build. Last time I did a figure I was about 8 . He got blobs of humbrol flesh for a face and that was about it.

[Bstarr3]

Holy smokes! I feel like that guy is looking at me.

 

Tremendous!

 

Gaz

Cheers, Gaz. The funny thing is, as you walk across the room his eyes continue to follow you...

[Bstarr3]

Thanks for the tut in figure painting. He looks great. I have a lovely resin pilot for a 1/32 Spit build. Last time I did a figure I was about 8 . He got blobs of humbrol flesh for a face and that was about it.

Thanks Tim! Go for it with painting up your figure. I look forward to seeing it.My advice is don't be afraid to wow all the paint off and start over - this guy has had the faces before I was happy with it!