Happy New Year to everyone!!!!

I am a great fan and supporter of oil paints and to date have only used these for all my figure painting. However as of late (due to limited free time and faster drying times) I have started experimenting with acrylics (Vallejo) and feel that I am sort getting the hang of things. For certain, you can achieve certain things with acrylics (i.e. flat tones) which you may not be able to with oils and of course visa versa.

My one big problem is face painting . I have used Lifecolor's acrylic set but I consider the colors/shades limited. Please let me state at this point, in the most explicit terms, that this is a personal opinion and may be due to the limits of my abilities / inexperience and I mean no offense to Lifecolor.

I have just purchased the 10 color set of Vallejo and in the meantime I would be extremely grateful for any feedback in relation to paint mixes / shading / highlights or any online tutorials.

Many thanks in advance
Nicolas

Hi Nicolas,

just some feedback since I am not a real acryl painter.
I am also changing now and then to acrylics and must say I love the flat tones.

because you need to be patient in preparing the layers it's hard not to grab to oils again.

I am a bit devided to persist or not in changing to acrylics.

a nice link for faces:

http://zyclyon-tutorials.blogspot.com/2009/03/1_28.html

René

Could you give a little more detail Nicolas? It might be that you just need to use them slightly differently or merely tweak them to your taste - more red etc. Even though hobby paints come in a large range of ready-mixed colours doesn't mean that there isn't a lot of potential for mixing colours to suit.

Einion

An option is the Andrea acrylic flesh paint set. Very good colors and I use this regularly.

Jim Patrick

Everyone, thank you so much about the feedback!

I think my problem starts with not being able to achieve smooth transitions. I just use the paints neat, and then try to find a mid-tone and give the face an overall blend. I'll review the tutorials and work some more over the weekend before posting some pictures.

Mind the dilution of the paint Nicolas. You need very thin mixes. I have no experience with the life colour set, but the Andrea acrylics have to be thinned four- or five-fold after having applied the base coat.

And be careful to let every thin layer dry before you apply the next (about one minute), otherwise you get an ugly gloss....

Hope this is of some help.

Cheers,
Adrian

Indeed this is another issue I need to keep in mind. I must keep track of the paint proportions and the dilution ratio. Vallejo paints may be more suitable for this as you control the amount of paint (drop system) while with Lifecolor it's more difficult.

I guess it's down to practice.....

Yes, definitely need to think about dilution.

For basecoating/undercoating you can build this up to an opaque coat in multiple thin applications but I generally aim for a creamy consistency where you don't easily leave brushmarks while the paints still has good coverage. So 1-3 coats will be enough, depending on the colour and how opaque it naturally is.

Once you get to the layering, you generally use very thin mixes. In terms of dilution, don't go by formulas* but more water than paint almost always. For the best effect you usually use the paint dilute enough that it barely colours the surface, relying on additional layers to slowly build to the final colour. Then you switch to a darker or lighter shade and do the same again as you progress to the dark shadows or lightest highlights.

*Since paints brands vary in consistency, but also from batch to batch and colour to colour. Plus paints can thicken over time as they dry out, meaning a ratio of water that worked perfectly last time might not work nine months later. So learn to judge the consistency by eye/by how the paint performs.

Einion

First of all I wish to thank each and everyone of you for all your help in this!

I have just a very constructive two hours retouching the face on my latest figure project (BestSoldier's Mercenary) and I must say I am quite pleased with result. I sort of gathered all of your feedback together, studied the tutorials and then started working. The harsh lines between highlights and shadows are now gone and I think there is quite a smooth transition.

I tried taking some pictures but the lighting setup is not very good. I'm waiting for my portable photo booth and then I'll post some pics for your comments.

Once again many thanks to everyone and enjoy the weekend!