Painting Human Faces

[GLD]

Now, as I shockingly failed my pledge, I owe the site a tutorial, so here we go with a face painting tutorial!!

 

You will need the following (all paints are GW):

A Face to paint (duh!)

White Primer

Dwarf Flesh

Bleached Bone

Boltgun Metal

Ogryn Flesh

Skull White

Chaos Black

Badab Black

Patience!!

 

Ok so on we go – we start with our face/head, and undercoat it white – REMEMBER – keep the paint thin, and don’t over load the brush with paint.

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/1.jpg

 

I then paint the metallic bits using Boltgun Metal:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/2.jpg

 

Following the Boltgun Metal, I wash it with Badab Black:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/3.jpg

 

Following this, I paint the whole of the face with Dwarf Flesh paint – make sure your paint is nice and thin and do two or three layers if you have too – you don’t want to obscure any detail!

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/4.jpg

 

Next up is a fairly liberal application of Ogryn Flesh, make sure all the recesses get hit as below:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/5.jpg

 

You’ll now have a rough guide as to where the darker areas are, which is useful for the next step. I cannot emphasise how important it is to use thin paint for the next few stages – it will really help get a great result – I must also point out that at this point I had to switch cameras, so apologies for the drop in photo quality! Using a thinned down coat of Dwarf Flesh, go back over the most prominent areas such as the brows, nose and skin folds as such:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/6.jpg

 

You can see the face coming together rather well already. The next step is to take a 2:1 mix of Dwarf Flesh:Bleached Bone – again very thin, and apply it sparingly to the most raised areas, as shown below:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/7.jpg

 

Now go for a mix of about 1:1 Dwarf Flesh and Bleached Bone – only add this to the most raised areas, as shown:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/8.jpg

 

The skin is now complete – time for the eyes. It is essential that you have a good point on your brush for all of this process, however never more so than with the eyes…to do this I dip the brush into the paint, and then on a separate part of my palette, I rotate the brush and drag it towards me – this takes off any excess paint and ensures that I do not load the brush too much. Use Skull White for the eyes, being very careful to only paint the eyes, not the face:

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/9.jpg

 

Once you have the eyes, time for the pupils – again be very careful!!

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v646/GLD1/99.jpg

 

And there you go – all complete – remember – keep the paint thin, don’t load the brush too much and away you go! You can go on from here to add stubble or facial tattoos as you see fit!

[Shaun Carlin]

Thats fantasic work and anyone that plays deathwing should take note here as their models are undercosted white (ideally)

[CaptainForge]

Thanks so much. I really needed this tutorial.

[Timboli]

nice tutorial, the skin looks really amazing! :lol:

 

i think i'll use it for my SW, thanks for this tut :P

[Brother Lorien]

I have a small alteration for this guide , to make the eyes easier on everyone:

 

Incase you undercoat the head white do the steps the same , with the only alteration that before you apply the skin color you paint in the pupils in the eyes and when painting the skin tone and all other steps you try to avoid the eyes and other white things on the face (like the teeth: paint the inside of the mouth black and retouch the teeth).

Incase you have trouble seeing the eyes in the eye socket , apply a bit of wattered down badab black to shade around the eyes.

 

CJ

[MrMcflaggerty]

Thanks heaps, I play SW so as you might have guessed this is really helpful for me :tu:

[Captain Apollo]

what about a black head?

[Onnotangu]

black faces are nomarlly scorched earth and some graveyard highlights. and a few sepia washes,

[GLD]

You can also use the above steps but before you add the eyes, use small amounts of devlan mud to cover the model. This will act as a glaze so to speak, and each coat will gradually darken the skin to a shade that you want. Make sure you is it sparingly however and build it up, as opposed to splashing it on.

[HJL]

Best tutorial ive found so far!

[Gop]

How would you go about it if you had to paint 100+ troop faces? I've been using dwarf flesh then devlan mud. It's not bad on R&F models.