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Paint sets......

Discussion in 'General Figure Talk' started by Graham, Mar 6, 2021.

  1. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Just over 18 months ago I threw my toys out of the pram and stopped painting. This was quite literal, I had around a couple of dozen paint sets covering all sorts. Of them, at least six years were flesh paint sets. All of these sets went in the bin, some of which I now regret but that’s something I will have to live with.

    On my return to painting I had a few budget artists acrylics, a few tubes of W&N water soluble oils and the odd few Tamiya and Revel paints. I decided not to buy any more sets but I struggled painting flesh with acrylic which I prefer for speed. So I thought I would just get one flesh set. I bought one of the Vallejo sets which are no use to me, too orange. So I got the new AK 3rd gen flesh set. No good to me, far too purple. So, in line with ‘not buying any more sets’ I bought the Scale 75 Artist flesh set.

    Just had a tryout following the instructions on a flat already destined for the stripper bath and I was amazed. It would have been perfect had I been painting a flat bust of Coco The Clown but sadly, I wasn’t.

    While I appreciate there is no hope of me ever being a decent face painter, I have to admit that this Scale 75 set does have some promise as the colours may be suitable. Just need to get some black and white, possibly a red and a blue and maybe a brown...... ahhh, the Scale 75 ‘Basic Colours’ set sounds about right......... So much for never buying another paint set.......
    Henk, Airkid, NeilW and 6 others like this.
  2. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    Hi graham. Give some thought to painting faces in oils. A very few mainly cheap colours are all you need and they will last for ever.

    Keith
    Billy Dickinson and Graham like this.
  3. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Thanks Keith. Most of my figures faces are painted in oils, only a handful are acrylic but I actually prefer acrylic and if ever I crack the acrylic painting code, I would convert fully to it.
  4. Tecumsea PlanetFigure Supporter

    Country:
    England
    Sorry Graham l didn't realize from your post that you had used oils. I have used acrylic on some smaller 54mm figures but prefer oils for faces.

    Keith
    Graham likes this.
  5. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    No problem Keith, I didn’t make that clear (y)
  6. DaddyO A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Hi Graham
    Sorry to here about your throwing all the paint sets away and your subsequent struggles to find a suitable flesh colour. I also started with the Vallejo set and still use the colours for some skin tones and have recently started using a few of the S75 tubes (which I like).

    Without being too specific about colours I find most sets when used in their entirety give too much contrast for me so I generally pick one colour for a base and then mix in the lights and darks to suit my eye. F

    For most northern European skin I start with a pink/grey skin colour and for a darker skin I use Brown Sand as a base. I usually find that adding a touch of olive green or grey to the base colour gives a more natural tone (Tends to neutralise the orange/pink colour). I don't think I've ever used black or white when painting 'white' skin tones. I've found Vallejo light flesh is plenty light enough to top highlights and a dark brown mixed with the basic skin colour and black/red dark enough for deepest shadows.

    Once the basic skin with highlights/shadows is done leave it to dry for a day or so and then you can go back and add glazes which really bring the skin to life. You can't go too quickly with these. I use a drop of Vallejo glaze medium and the tiniest amount of colour (typically red/purple around the eyes, red for the central part of the face such as nose and cheeks and a blue or grey for the lower part of the face) If you can see the colour when you apply it then you've mixed too much paint with the medium. When you add these glazes the surface should look just wet and the colour will appear as it dries (I find that I usually need two or three coats to give the right effect)

    Depending on the scale of the figure I'll then add other colours to bring it to life. For the Lady of Bali I painted recently I also added glazes in the following - black red, purple, military uniform green, burnt umber, orange, a dark blue and sunny skin tome. For something like this where the face is central to the figure I've found it helpful to print a large photo of a face (or find one in a magazine) and look really closely at the colours present in the skin for reference.

    Anyway I've rambled a bit, but I hope that helps. When you crack it there's not too much that you can't do with acrylics so unless you want to use oils I'd say stick with it :)

    Cheers for now
    Paul
  7. fogie A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    That's the trouble with 'gestures':facepalm: .... we always regret them afterwards don't we?
    Might be time for a major rethink and reduce colour dependency by mixing your own
    tones from a limited palette - somewhere between 5 and 7 colours plus the two bog
    standard neutrals will actually get you anywhere you need to go. (Of course this might
    cause massive frustration and lead to another meltdown...so I suggest soft tubes rather
    than those hard glass bottles that can cause a lot of collateral damage when hurled with
    force out of a window) Keep paddling:).

    Mike
    Graham likes this.
  8. Babelfish A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    There are more paint sets than you can shake a stick at now, it's all gone a bit bonkers. There's even a set for "Human Eyes" (Scale 75 I think). Human Eyes!!!!!! Do me a favour :rolleyes: !!!!!

    I long ago reached the conclusion that I have way too many paints. Several dozen acrylic bottles (mainly Vallejo) and several dozen tubes of oils (various brands), of which I only ever use approximately one quarter. And some of those I only use occasionally. I just don't need so many. But nevertheless I hang onto them "just in case".

    Last year I bought a couple of sets of those Scale 75 Smooth Acrylics in tubes because everyone was raving about them, so I thought I'd give them a go to see what all the fuss was about. But they are still shrink-wrapped and untouched.

    - Steve
    Graham and DaddyO like this.
  9. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    That’s not rambling Paul, that is great information. Thank you. I do actually like the Scale 75 tube acrylics especially for the two female busts I am working on at the moment. Never got the hang of glazing but what you have said has switched on a few lights in my brain so I will set up a practice piece and try to get that right. Many thanks.
    DaddyO likes this.
  10. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Lol, yes tubes do less damage :ROFLMAO:. I actually got right into mixing colour but like my curry cooking, constancy is an issue. The number of times I have cooked a wonderful curry only to find I cannot remember what I put in it so cannot repeat it. The same with colour but I will indeed keep paddling(y)
  11. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Mmmm, the human eyes set did make me wonder where it will all end lol. Must admit, I quite like the Scale 75 tube acrylic as they give a great consistency in colour as they are not dependent on being shaken enough to get the colour right. Also, might not look it but you get a lot of paint for your money in those tubes and the matt finish is gorgeous.
    Martin64 and Babelfish like this.
  12. fogie A Fixture

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    Mixing colours from a short palette does requires a lot of care (coincidentally there is a tendency
    for the resultant mixture to take on the exact colour of a rather 'iffy' curry.:joyful:)
    Rock on.......eh?


    Mike
    Graham likes this.
  13. Nap Moderator

    Country:
    England
    Hi Graham

    To quote Steve

    "long ago reached the conclusion that I have way too many paints. Several dozen acrylic bottles (mainly Vallejo) and several dozen tubes of oils (various brands), of which I only ever use approximately one quarter. And some of those I only use occasionally. I just don't need so many. But nevertheless I hang onto them "just in case"."

    ....including a untouched Kimera set

    I mainly use tubes Scalecolour acrylics now ...but have a fine display of rather a lot of other makes .....

    To me there's always companies looking at potential sales of course ...that's their business to sell ......I am sure many items are bought on a whim !

    Anyway off to paint.....Mmmmm wonder which I will use today ??

    Happy benchtime

    Just enjoy what you paint that's the key to this HOBBY

    Nap
    Martin64 and Graham like this.
  14. Martin64 A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    Hi Graham,
    binning paints does not help but I guess that you know that;) . Today we are pampered with a broad choice of paint sets and like you I worked with the Scale75 paint set for a while. After testing colors from the palette of a buddy (PF Manfred65) I gave the Scale75 "Artistcolor"-range a try and also own some of the Kimera paints my buddy gave me as a present.
    End of story: I am used to mix my flesh tones and all before mentioned sets do the job - at least in my eyes. The Kimera colors and the "Artistcolor"-range have an oil-like consistency and need to be thinned down to a higher extend but are much more vivid due to their higher content of pigments.
    Nevertheless the advertisement of these paint sets is somewhat misleading - it is not about applying some shades out of the container that give a satisfying result close to the boxart samples of these sets but it is about mixing your palette and working in layers of thin shades.
    In short: buying the Cartacci-tones by Kimera does not necessarily lead to miniatures that look like Cartacci`s results - so the paints don`t buy experience...:( - otherwise I would buy the Bill Horan-Edition in a heartbeat:D .
    I attach quick shots of my current projects - the WWII soldier`s face painted with Scale75 and the WWI soldier`s face painted with Scale75 Artistcolors and Kimera red and white. IMHO no big differences but the working with Kimera and Artistcolor was a tad quicker and more smooth.
    IMG_20210307_125919362.jpg IMG_20210307_125656464.jpg IMG_20210307_130515310.jpg

    Keep painting and don`t bin the paints:)!
    Cheers, Martin
  15. custer760 Well-Known Member

    Lovely work Martin,is that WW1 German figure a head by Mike Good from Kirin??Looks very much so.
    Regards
    Pete
    Martin64 and Graham like this.
  16. brian A Fixture

    Country:
    Scotland
    They'll soon be bringing figures out with paint by numbers:ROFLMAO:
    housecarl, Nap, Graham and 2 others like this.
  17. Graham A Fixture

    Country:
    England
    Lol, I won’t be doing that again. Very nicely painted figures there Martin. Looks like the glazing is the key so that is my new target to learn.

    Amen to that Nap(y)

    :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
    Martin64 likes this.
  18. Martin64 A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    Hi Pete,
    well spotted, I exchanged the head of the excellent figure by John Smith Modellbau and took another one from the spare´s box. It is the Kirin German Stormtrooper sculpted by Brian Stewart - but it is likely that Mike Good supplied the head of this kit with the nicely done raised eyebrow and grim or grumpy sneer.
    Cheers, Martin
    custer760 and Nap like this.
  19. Martin64 A Fixture

    Country:
    Germany
    I think that this was already done- of course you had to buy the figure and the book.... and the paints;)
    euromodlismo8reviewbg_2.JPG
  20. housecarl Moderator

    Country:
    United-Kingdom
    I've probably got 150+ paints.
    I used to use about 12.
    Any one want to buy a bridge?
    Very, very, nice over the Goyt.:rolleyes:

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