Help with skin - Succubus Vandala

[dougaderly]

I've been working on this mini a bit, and have been frustrated trying to get the skin to pop out with the soft cartoony curves of the figure, so I was hoping for some suggestions from you folks? I've attached a picture here, I'll post a more detailed one once my wife gets home with her better camera. But from what you can see, I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!

View attachment 37412

 

[MAXXxxx]

what you are missing is some contrast on the face to show where the shadows / highlights are.

I'd highlight the cheecks, the forehead and the chin. And add shadows under the cheecks (more and more as you move towards the ears). You might need to darken the part under the eyebrows a bit too, but that depends on how you highlights.

I don't know what colors you use, but to show how much shading/highlighting you can do:
- base color: dwarven flesh
- shade to pure dark flesh in multiple steps
- highlight to pure elf/pale flesh in multiple steps.

and you can add a bit of a red wash (mixed with base skin color + VERY diluted) on the cheecks for a bit of a red.

last chibi figure I painted to show the skin (skin was painted basically with the recipe above, but with different, but similar, colors from other manufacturers):
View attachment 37413


and here you can see something similar:

(weird, image is shown much smaller than it is, open in a new tab/window to show original size)

the steps were:
- base P3 Midlund flesh
- shade with Devlan Mud wash (about the same as agrallax earthshade from gw, or exactly the same as ArmyPainter strong tone ink)
- clean up volumes with base color (Midlund flesh)
- Highlight with a 1:1 mix of midlund flesh and P3 Ryn flesh
- highlight with pure ryn flesh
(- not on all figures, but highlight with 1:1 ryn flesh and VMC Ivory)
(- where I felt shadows needed strengthening (mostly on larger open surfaces): some glazes with VGC-DarkFlesh)

edit:
ohh and 2 super resource for painting chibi figures:
- CMON's arcadia quest videos (4 total) ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxCCXvK7v_T5RTNBJL2bRetxas18mLktI )
- www.smogriders.com (scale75's site), here a lot of info is missing imho, but still a good resource.
- I'd like to say there is one from SPM, but... none that I know of

 

[Webmonkey]

As always,.. I highly recommend pastel powders for skin shading. It gives nice, smooth transitions and gradients, is easily controllable, and easily fixable if you make a mistake.

 

[infelix]

As always,.. I highly recommend pastel powders for skin shading. It gives nice, smooth transitions and gradients, is easily controllable, and easily fixable if you make a mistake.

That sounds like a interesting approach, do you have any advice for trying it out?

 

[MAXXxxx]

As always,.. I highly recommend pastel powders for skin shading. It gives nice, smooth transitions and gradients, is easily controllable, and easily fixable if you make a mistake.

I always forget this one, even though I do it more and more.


infelix:
- I think WM did a video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJvbut623o , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrYRArbYyc8
- also found this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-5_DRBlzKA
- and there is a good vid from MM on it (well the theme is anime figures, but a large section shows the approach)
- and tutorial from Kathryn: http://chestofcolors.com/how-to-paint-with-dry-pigments/

but pointers:
- you need 2 brushes, 1 small to put it where you want your shade, 1 large to blur it. (and to push it into the surface? I always use the small one for that too, even though I think I shouldn't), some pigments or pastels (cheap), water to clean up if you need to, varnish to seal the layers
- basically you take a pit of the dust, put it where you want your shadows (or highlights with light/white pigments), push it into the surface, then with the large brush push a bit more while it blurs the edges. The result is a really soft transition, that looks great in 54mm+ figures, still not 100% convinced on 28mm ones.
- seal the surface from time to time
- if you make a mistake, wet the surface with water and wipe off the color , wait until dry (blowdrier helps), retry.

btw I always call it: The ultimate drybrushing (you can't really get drier than this, and a lot of time it's as much controllable)

 

[infelix]

I always forget this one, even though I do it more and more.


infelix:
- I think WM did a video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjJvbut623o , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrYRArbYyc8
- also found this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-5_DRBlzKA
- and there is a good vid from MM on it (well the theme is anime figures, but a large section shows the approach)
- and tutorial from Kathryn: http://chestofcolors.com/how-to-paint-with-dry-pigments/

but pointers:
- you need 2 brushes, 1 small to put it where you want your shade, 1 large to blur it. (and to push it into the surface? I always use the small one for that too, even though I think I shouldn't), some pigments or pastels (cheap), water to clean up if you need to, varnish to seal the layers
- basically you take a pit of the dust, put it where you want your shadows (or highlights with light/white pigments), push it into the surface, then with the large brush push a bit more while it blurs the edges. The result is a really soft transition, that looks great in 54mm+ figures, still not 100% convinced on 28mm ones.
- seal the surface from time to time
- if you make a mistake, wet the surface with water and wipe off the color , wait until dry (blowdrier helps), retry.

btw I always call it: The ultimate drybrushing (you can't really get drier than this, and a lot of time it's as much controllable)

That's for the link and advice, I'll have to try it out sometime.

 

[Webmonkey]

Yeah,.. I did a bit of tutorial on this very subject. Maxx already gave the links though. I did a large anime kit in the tutorial, because A) it's what I do, and B) the larger model/surface area makes it easier for the viewer at home to see what's being done and why. If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up. Also, you could take a look at my thread (Webmonkey's Garage Kits), for a few pages worth of examples as to how the finished product will/should look when you're done.

 

[dougaderly]

Lots of great advice, haven't tried pastel powders yet, but sounds like something worth doing. I'll post updates as I work on it. Thank you everyone

 

[infelix]

Webmonkey: I'll definitely check out your thread, thank you!