I Fail at Faces

[OwenCrute]

Okay, so my brother Alex of Imperial Fists fame gives me a few hundred points of Witch Hunters that he bought but never got beyond undercoating with for Christmas. At home, I have very few painting, converting or other facilities, but for this week I'm staying at his house- eating his food, playing with his baby, stealing his paint. These are the results.

Canoness (with pathetically painted face goodness!)

Seraphim (with exorcist-driver conversion Superior goodness!)

Dominions (with thankfully two-thirds helmet-wearers)

Repentia Test Model (with blotchy failure to Flesh Wash)

Ta-dah!

If you haven't been blinded by this, kindly leave some C+C!

[aNex88]

It's a good start on the faces. I remember when I started painting faces...dreaded it...avoided it as much as possible. But then I started getting better after practice. I try to stay away from the old range washes, just made it seem like all washed their faces in mud or something.

Currently, I'm starting with Scorched brown for a basecoat for flesh. Paint on bestial brown, leaving scorched brown in the recesses. Then I just add increasing amounts of bleached bone for each highlight layer. Albeit you can achieve the same effect by buying the "flesh" colours. I'm just doing this because I don't have any and don't wanna spend my money on them haha.

 

Other than that, I really like how you painted your power sword on the canoness. I can see you did some highlighting on the black for the canoness but what about your other sisters? Maybe it's just the camera. The red robes and corset sections could use some depth to it, maybe a wash of badab black or baal red?

[Sons of Horus]

this is kinda why i like helmeted marines more aside from the fact that they're probably more realistic as well.

[the thousandth whisper]

;) your cannoness looks like she's got skin coloured glasses on that looks weird, I base-coat tanned flesh then paint over dwarf flesh, then white mixed with dwarf flesh for highlights. Or progressing through all the fleshes somehow, i know how to do it when I'm at the painting table :)

[cathar the great]

Maybe this could help you:

 

Painting female faces

[Mal]

For my latest faces, I simple primed them white, applied 3 very thin coats of elf flesh, and a moderate wash of ogryn flesh, if necessary, carefully highlight with 50/50 elf flesh/skull white (also thinned), although in most cases the highlight should not be necessary.

I find this is a quick, easy and quite effective method of acheiving decent faces, for an example, this guy here was painted in this way (well except he has stubble).

[Emperor's Instrument]

I find the method quoted on page 30 of the GW 'How To Paint Space Marines' book gives a great result;

 

1. Black undercoat

2. Paint the skin Tanned Flesh

3. Layer on Dwarf Flesh, leaving the base colour showing in the recesses

4. Apply a final layer of Elf Flesh

5. Paint white lines on the eyes and teeth (in visible). Finally dot Chaos Black on the eyes for pupils.

 

Very straight forward and I feel the face on my BA Assault Squad Sgt looks pretty good.

[Badaab]

I think the big issue here is brush control. You should be more concerned with getting the paint applied neatly and evenly before you make the leap into more advanced techniques like glazing, washing, and highlighting.

Work on your brush control with simple base colors applied to areas over an undercoat to start, and when you feel a little more comfortable with that, perhaps try something a little more advanced.

A couple of years (!) ago I did a stage by stage tutorial for painting faces for this very site. I believe its still around... have a look through that if you'd like.

While the advice concerning the painting of faces from the more recent guides are a nice idea, I think they over simplify the process of painting an expressive and detailed face on a model. Have a look through some of the older painting guides by Mike McVey for a better idea. Or, failing that, I'd recommend looking at some of the tutorials from Mike's current stuff with Privateer Press. Their bi-monthy magazine, No Quarter, has some more advanced and detailed painting tutorials than White Dwarf has offered in recent years, and has really helped my painting, especially concerning things like battle damage, metallics weathering, and object source lighting.

Hope that helps a little.

-Joe

[Mal]

Ok, i've just taken a really close look at those pics.... one problem you will have with every technique you try right now is that your paints are too thick.

 

Try using a wet pallet, or even just taking a little paint from the pot to another plastic surface and mixing in a little bit of water, also don't load your brush up too much, 2/3rds up the brush is more than enough for anything your going to do, but for detail work like faces, I only ever use the very tips of my brushes.

[Captain Uriel]

I hate faces, so I sympathize. But I use as few faces as possible because for some reason, and this may just be me, but I'd certainly rather be shot in the helmet than straight up in the face. Keep up the good work, remmbber practice makes...well..better than before ( more emperor like).

[Free Spirit]

I tend to take 'good care' of the faces of special characters and such. If you want to do faces the easy way here's a handy recipe:

 

- cover everything with thin layers of dwarf flesh. 2 or 3 layers will do it if your paint is not too thin.

- apply a wash of sepia

- paint the higher features of the face (brow, forehead, chin, nose, cheekbones) with dwarf flesh again.

- (optional) mix dwarf flesh with elf flesh for the final higlight.

[Liltom]

Being a sucker for the vampire look on my BA, the only bare face I've painted is mephistons and I did it very pale. Skull white -> Badab black. Blood red for eyes. Done. See D.P for results :mellow:

[OwenCrute]

I really like how you painted your power sword on the canoness

 

Cheers. It's Ice Blue with a highlight of Skull White, then a thick coat of straight Asurmen Blue Wash over it. The wash gathers in the flat areas, because there aren't any recfesses, so you get a very nice contrast between still-almost-white and the deep blue.

 

I can see you did some highlighting on the black for the canoness but what about your other sisters?

 

They're highlighted. It's just the camera angle or something.

 

The red robes and corset sections could use some depth to it, maybe a wash of badab black or baal red?

 

I thought so too- it's a little bit washed out by the lamp, but the red cloth all has thinned-down-heavily Brown Ink over it.

 

this is kinda why i like helmeted marines more aside from the fact that they're probably more realistic as well.

 

Alas, all-helmeting is much harder with sisters, especially if you get them as a gift rather than buying them yourself!

 

your cannoness looks like she's got skin coloured glasses on that looks weird,

 

Yeah, I know, she looks like cheap clown with a jittery makeup artist.

 

Maybe this could help you:

 

Cheers, look like good results from that, but I'll have to buy some paints to do it.

 

I think the big issue here is brush control.

 

Agreed, but I try to fix up any mistakes, except on that Canoness' face, which by rights I need to do all over again. My mistake-fixing is assisted by the fact that my usual colour choices are very forgiving, unlike my brother's light colours for his Fists

 

Work on your brush control with simple base colors applied to areas over an undercoat to start, and when you feel a little more comfortable with that, perhaps try something a little more advanced.

 

If I concentrate, I'm fine with highlighting and washes- washes hardly need any brush control anyway- but faces are the one bit where I really trip up. Glazing I don't do, so yeah.

 

Ok, i've just taken a really close look at those pics.... one problem you will have with every technique you try right now is that your paints are too thick.

 

I do water them down, unless it's one of those colours that's already basically water ( Desert Yellow, I'm looking at you) or if I'm feeling lazy and it's over a large flattish surface where it isn't going to obscure detail.

 

Incidentally, everyone, my recipe for faces is based off of my brother's paint range- Snakebite leather, bronzed flesh, flesh wash (watered), bleached bone. He has none of the 'Flesh' colours, except for Bronzed.

[MithrilForge]

Owen....go tell your Bro to buy some Tallarn flesh(foundation paint) all you need is a basecoat of that ,maybe a dwarf flesh highlight,wash with ogryn flesh and final highlight of elf flesh makes for an easy but great looking face ;)

 

your paintings not bad so don't be too hard on yourself ...practice practice practice and you will have an army at the end of it too :P

 

cheers Mithril

 

p.s tell your bro im putting together an "Iron Warriors" army so when i eventually meet him at the game club he can have a real grudge match ;)

[Guest Gordofski]

Other than the hooker-makup cannoness, they look pretty good. Her sword in particular.

[OwenCrute]

Will do, Mithril, and I forgot that he has Tallarn flesh (he has all the Foundation paints), but it looked a little too pink to me whenever I considered it.

[MithrilForge]

@owen...this is a face i painted in the scheme i suggested(i dont think its too pink <_< )

use the tallarn !!

cheers Mithril

[OwenCrute]

Hmm, it just looks like dusty pink n the bottle, I suppose Flesh Wash and the like would tint it, though... I'll give it a try whenever I'm at my brother's place next.

[Apocalyp$e]

Man I have a fail-proof method of doing faces... I start with a white basecoat, then paint on watered-down tanned flesh, then drushbrush the result with succeeedingly lighter fleshtones... even the first step to my method would give you a better product then what you're getting now. Then entire thing hinges on getting the watered-down tanned flesh mix right though, so you may have to try a couple of times to perfect it.

[OwenCrute]

Apocalyp$e: 2 problems.

 

Firstly, as I've said before, most fleshtones I don't have access to.

 

Secondly- how in the hell do you drybrush something as small a a Sister's face? I'd get it all over the hair, the gorget....

 

I might try the other ones first, but they almost all require some more fleshtone paints. Sigh.

[Zelyre]

I paint faces first, then hair, then armor.

I use very watered down brown/purple for an eyeshadow-esque glaze.

Lips and eyes get fixed by applying flesh over that color to "rescuplt" into the shape I want.

That's my cannoness. Her lips looked like your cannoness at one point in the painting process.

Though, on my SoB, I tend to avoid the heavier shading I'd use on marines. Their faces are very subtle, which sadly, on the table is meaningless, but when your troops cost $10 a piece and come in 3 poses, you do what you can to individualize them :)

Even if you don't have the fleshtones, you could mix paints or use a watered down glaze.

I have inks, I like to outline features like eyes and such with that as well.

I really dig that power sword, by the way.

[Apocalyp$e]

Secondly- how in the hell do you drybrush something as small a a Sister's face? I'd get it all over the hair, the gorget....

 

Aw, srry... missed the part about you not having access to fleshtones... that's rough, especially when you're trying to paint...well... flesh.

Anyhow, the drybrushing I do before completely finishing the piece, then i paint over all the mess. I do faces before I completely paint the rest of the model, and since i do marines, most faces come separate from the body, so I'll get about 30 of them at a time on a plank of wood with long 4" pins and set them up on those... kinda like a plank of 30 heads-on-pikes. Then i'll paint them all to completion in one go, keep 'em all in my in their own drawer so that they are instantly ready-to-go. I save pupils for VERY last, even on the pre-painted heads because I often need to customize which direction each head is looking depending on the stance of the model.

[Lone Scout]

Some of the faces in this thread are truely inspirational. My experiance with faces isn't so much colours or washes and the like, its getting the damn brush to go where I want it too. The harder I concentrate the more I shake, so much so I look like a grot trying to strangle a sleeping ork. I bought a magnifying glass/model holder thingy but that just made the brush tip look like a tree branch. I paint the entire eye (and sometimes the cheek too with a slip) black...then paint a white u to get the eye whites then touch up the cheek with elf flesh. Good luck and remember practice may not make you perfect and will proberbly drive you mad.

[OwenCrute]

I HAVE RETURNED!

With new painted models to boot.

My brother gave me some Inquisitorial Stormtroopers for my birthday, so I proceeded to paint them up at his house.

Whole squad:

Closeup of Sarge

Thoughts? Comments?

[Spagunk]

FYI, one way I have done faces in the past (because I'm a lazy sod) is the following:

 

White base coat

Ogryn Flesh wash

Highlight either with Elf Flesh or Elf Flesh/Brown mix (the actual mixture is based on how light or dark the wash turned out).

 

The thing about the Flesh wash is that you get mostly a reddish look which seems to go will with elf flesh for natural shading. But there is a lot of brush control that goes along with that.

 

Check it out:

 

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j165/spagunk/head2front.jpg

 

Mind the black patches under the eyes...I was trying to do the whole eyegrease/war paint thing but that didn't work too terribly well.