Here is the face base coated, it took approximately 7 or 8 layers to get a smooth surface. It is vital that the base coat covers everything and is solid and smooth or you will have problems later on.



The first highlight is applied over a general area and covers all of the highlight areas.



Second highlight is applied, covering less facial areas, and is getting more concentrated towards the light source.



I forgot to take pictures of the third light but here are the highlights so far blended together. I try to blen periodically this saves a lot of work later on. Look at the Painting a Bust Part II thread for more info on the blending technique used.

The fourth highlight applied



Here is is after blending



The Fifth Highlight

The fifth highlight blended



Time for some shadows

First shadow applied



And second shadow

And here is the more or less finished face. Still needs some tweaking but that will be done later.

The mix I used (all Vallejos) was:

Base: 814 Cadm. Umber Red + 929 Light Brown + 955 Flat Flesh + 837 Sand Light

Highlights: add 955 to base mix until reached

High Highlights: add 837 to highlight mix until 837 is reached

Shadows: Base + more 814

Dark Shadows: First shadow with more 814 + tad of black

Ok Got it Changed to the series of 3's!

Hello Anders . Thats a wonderfull example of SBS "tutorial". I think that as long as u make it like "picture followed by the text describing the work that took place in this stage " is ok . Now if u wanna post these in sets of three - four or ten no problem. Just keep em coming the nice way u do like now .

Thanks a lot for helpin that way my friend

Anders,EXCELLENT SBS,my friend !! Thanks for posting.Personally,sets of 3 for each stage will make viewing that much easier. Just my 2 cents worth.Cheers !
Kenneth :lol:

Thanks guys

I'll get the sets put together and uploaded

Yo Anders! THanks for the SBS. Between you and Tim Flagstad, you may just turn me back to the "Dark Side of the Force" once again .............. naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah :lol:

C'mon Pete, the force is strong in you... and i'm your father! :lol:

BTW, GREAT sbs Anders!

Anders, Great job on the sbs, it's neat to see it all come together. The only comment I have is one that a lot of "how to paint in acrylics" articles lack, and that is how much do you dilute the paint? Knowing what colors and their mixes are great but I feel that leaving out how much to dilute the paint is a key ingredient that articles are missing. Jaume's article talks about the paint sometimes being just tinted water for example. Without out knowing how watered down the paint is I can see why folks have problems with acrylics. Just a thought. Thanks again.~Gary

Daniel, being Pete's father is not something I would admit to-matter of fact I don't think anyone has admitted to it to date DOH! :lol: :lol:

Anders, that is FANTASTIC both in terms of paintwork and the SBS. Having tried acrylics many times and failed miserably the area i have most trouble with is the blending. I don't like tosee solid lines and in yours I don't see any, but when I try I either get "demarcation lines" or a mess.

Can you describe how you blend?

Gary, I have to agree with you on that one. The single biggest obstacle in my path before I learned "how to" paint with acrylics was the dillution rate. What finally put me over the edge was Mario Fuentes' article on using acrylics. You probably already have the link and the issues so I wont bother. If you don't, say so and I'll provide the link. I went by Mario's article then finally settled on something that works for me in 54mm. Keep in mind though, I do change my dillution rate depending which color I use (opaque v.s. less opaque) or for what I want to paint.
Generally speaking, my highlights get on average a dillution rate of 1:3 (drops of paint to DISTILLED water). For shadows, again on average, it normally runs about 1:5. I control the water by emptying a bottle of flat white (I rarely use this color) and filling it with distilled water. This allows me to get a pretty consistent paint to water drop. Anders, sorry, I didn't mean to hijack your thread. Your painting is obviously better than mine (and I'm interested in what yours is on average) so tell us what you use as a basic rule of thumb as far as your dillution rate goes.

Jim Patrick

By the way, the flesh tones on your bust is EXCELLENT!

Hey Guys!

I talked a little about the dillution rates and how I blend the colors HERE.


No problems Jimbo your input is always welcomed!

I can't say what dilution rates I use excactly because what I do is just dip the brush in water and swoosh it around in the paint mix a few times until it looksa about right.
But for the first coat I would use something like 1 part paint to 2-3 parts water. The second layer 4 parts water to 1 part paint, and third layer 5-6 parts water per part of paint. For highlights I will probably dilute at a rate of 3-4 parts water to 1 part paint, it kind of depends on how opaque I want the highlight to be. Like if you look at the bust in this thread, the fourth highlight is really stark, so the dilution rate on that was probably 3 water to 1 part paint and painted on a couple three layers. If I paint a strong hihglight like this, I thin the paint down more and more for each layer to prevent the paint from building up. The shadows I dilute even more then the highlights, it is basically a controlled wash, just thick enough that it won't just run all over the place, but thin enough just to tint the area I am painting, if it needs more it is easy to just paint another layer ontop of the first one.

When painting these large scale busts (this one is 1/8th scale) you need to dilute the paints much more as you have larger areas to cover and they need to be pretty smooth. Also, the thinner the paints are the easier they are to blend and smoother they get.

The dilution rates of the 'midtones' are like water with a speck of paint in it, just enough to tint the color, and I will apply this until it looks good. The key is to make the layers dissapear.

Read the other post (HERE) to see a little more explination and a couple graphics about how I layer and how they are blended.

Anders-

Nice SBS and thanks for taking the time to do it. I echo Lou's comments about acylic painting.

BTW, your photography really enhances the SBS. Your photogrpahy skill has improved along with your painting (darn you anyway... :lol: )

Keith

Andera,

If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me what Vallejo colors you use for the basic flesh tones, highlights, and shadows. I'm going to give acrylics a go on a 120 mm figure. Any help you could give would be most appreciated.



Ken

Hey Ken!


The mix I used (all Vallejos) was:

Base: 814 Cadm. Umber Red + 929 Light Brown + 955 Flat Flesh + 837 Sand Light

Highlights: add 955 to base mix until reached

High Highlights: add 837 to highlight mix until 837 is reached as finaly highlight

Shadows: Base + more 814

Dark Shadows: First shadow with more 814 + tad of black

Hey Anders, very nice step by step,very interesting.

Roc.

Gorgeous work Anders! Thanks for the SBS. I now may have the courage to paint a bust with acrylics.

Thank you Anders for your reply. No more superlatives I can add that have not been said by other members. Super job.

Ken