I just started on this 54mm figure from Pegaso. This is my first time working on a dragoon, so any help on getting the uniform and colors correct would be much appreciated. As I understand it the green color should be pretty dark. I know I've got a couple color options for the details. I'm tempted to go with yellow, something like the 20th Dragoons. Anyone know what shade of yellow to use? I was planning to go with sort of a lemon yellow, but perhaps a bit more faded looking. Would that be appropriate?

So far I've only finished the face. I'm planning to put together a step by step article on this figure, so I thought I'd share my process on the face. Here's what I've got so far and keep reading below for the SBS....



Painting the Face

There are a lot of different approaches to painting faces, here's my take on it. I'm working with acrylics, primarily Reaper Master Series and then a few of the GW glazes. The following numbers refer to each row of pictures in the image series below

1 - The face is base coated with Rosy Shadow
2 - I rough in the shadows with mostly Chestnut Brown (I like to use a reddish brown for the shadows) but then a bit of Mahogany Brown in the darker shadows around the eyes, in the nostrils, under the chin, and a bit in the left cheek (his head is slightly tilted so the left side will be darker). The main reason I do this is to get the shadows around the eyes finished before I go in there to do those fine details.
3 - Start on the eyes. I first lay down a reddish pink layer (Rosy Skin + Violet Red) and cover up most of it with an off white (Weathered Stone). Ideally a little of the pink will remain in the corners.
4 - Eye details. I went in with a dark blue (Ritterlich Blue) and tried to get the shape of the irises. Because his head is slightly turned to his right I also painted the eyes looking a bit to the right. Straight ahead would have been fine, but to the left would have looked awkward. I then went in with a light blue (Ashen Blue) and tried to lighten up the irises near the bottom half, while retaining the dark border. Then, as carefully as I can, I add a black dot for the pupils and a dot of pure white for the catch light. Pretty tricky to do at the 54mm scale, so if you left the eyes at the dark blue stage you'd probably be fine. But if you can get those extra details that's great. On a larger scale, like 75mm or 90mm, I'd really try to get those in there.
5 - Returning to the skin, I go back with various mixes of Chestnut Brown and Rosy Shadow to smooth out the shadows I'd roughed in.
6 - Now I add in the highlights, with blends of Rosy Shadow into Fair Skin, and then into Fair Highlight.
7 - Final Step: Details, Tweaks, and Glazes
There's a lot happening here. Based on the previous picture I thought the highlights needed a little more pop, so I went from Fair Highlight to Linen White on the tops of the cheeks, tip of the nose, and a touch on the chin. I use a mix of skin tones and red for the lips, then repeat steps 5 and 6 for the ears. I also add in the eye brows with a dark brown. The real magic comes with the glazes. I take some of the GW glazes: Bloodletter Red, Guilliman Blue, and a mix of the two for purple (although further thinned down with water). I add some red to the cheeks (pushing away from the highlights into the shadows), tip of the nose, and ear lobes. The blue goes on the lower part of the face to change the tone for a subtle stubble look. And the purple is used to deepen the shadows in the cheeks, under the chin and jaw, and a bit around the eyes. Lastly I go in a touch up a few of the highlights as needed.

This is the right colour

And here it is from the horses mouth Army Museum Paris Taken by me a couple of years back

54 mm !.....I couldn't get that good a result on a 120 mm .........will enjoy this SBS immensely

Great start!
Thanx for the SBS
As for the green and yellow...
Using Vallejo model colour...
Green-
Base- Park Green + Black + a touch of English Uniform
HL- Base + PG + Sunny Skintone
Shadow- Base + Black

Yellow-
Base- Matte Yellow + Burnt Cadmium Red
HL- Base + MY + Ice Yellow... adding more and more Ice Yellow until you get the faded look you're after
Shadow- Base + Burnt Cadmium Yellow

I've used the green for Chasseurs and it's pretty dark. The yellow mix I use for most medium yellow applications.

Hope this helps

Colin

Here is a another shot ,the first on the left is probably considered the right shade but I have seen darker than this on the real thing ,same shade just darker in hue , illustrations tend to show it lighter as it can look so dark you can't see highlights .

Ron

Excellent SBS, thanks Bailey!!

Xenofon

Really nice face there! Hard to believe it's only 54mm.

Jason

For 54mm that’s an astonishing bit of work.

Jeff

Fantastic information especially for a beginer like myself, the SBS is much appreciated.

Excellent SBS thanks Bailey

Here are Lucien Rousselot's colour chips for Fr uniform colours.

Colin

Same here, so jealous. Definitely following, and so much information posted by other members, this is the site to be on.

Barrie

That's great painting for 54mm.

Wow, didn't expect to wake up to that many responses! Thanks, everyone. And special thanks to Ron and crf for the great reference images.

One quick addendum to my step by step, turns out I took some more pictures at the final steps so I can break it down a bit more.

6 - Now I add in the highlights, with blends of Rosy Shadow into Fair Skin, and then into Fair Highlight.
7 - Details and Tweaks
Based on the previous picture I thought the highlights needed a little more pop, so I went from Fair Highlight to Linen White on the tops of the cheeks, tip of the nose, and a touch on the chin. I use a mix of skin tones and red for the lips, then repeat steps 5 and 6 for the ears. I also add in the eye brows with a dark brown.
8 - Glazing
The real magic comes with the glazes. I take some of the GW glazes: Bloodletter Red, Guilliman Blue, and a mix of the two for purple (although further thinned down with water). I add some red to the cheeks (pushing away from the highlights into the shadows), tip of the nose, and ear lobes. The blue goes on the lower part of the face to change the tone for a subtle stubble look. And the purple is used to deepen the shadows in the cheeks, under the chin and jaw, and a bit around the eyes. Lastly I go in a touch up a few of the highlights as needed.

Absolutely lovely SBS, Bailey! Thanks a lot for sharing! Fantastic reference material and technique!
Cheers,
Zeno

Thanks for the SBS
Cheers
John

Nice sbs, very nice fleshtones, thanks-
Scott