what is it with faces first?

[klute_in_the_valute]

Hmmm well,
If i dont do the eyes and mouth first then I\'ll have no one to talk to while I\'m painting the rest.

 

[U4-Welcome]

I do faces late in the painting process, because, um, I don\'t know, it just happens. I don\'t have any articular order of painting, I just do it as I see fit to minimize risk of applying paint over tediously blended areas >_<.

 

[finn17]

Welcome to the forums...

Originally posted by klute_in_the_valute
Hmmm well,
If i dont do the eyes and mouth first then I\'ll have no one to talk to while I\'m painting the rest.

I think you are going to fit right inlol

 

[wra1th]

i tend to paint the face when i\'m sick of the rest of the armour/robe/whatever the mini has on its body... might try painting face first... but i\'ll still leave the eyes last...

 

[Kamui K]

I used to paint faces and eyes last, but I end up messing up everything around them when I\'m done, so in the end, there\'s way too many touch ups to be done.

Besides, the eyes are the trickies thing to get and I too have to get it down before working on everything else. Then I shoot it with dullcoat to make sure it\'ll stay.

 

[GraveRobber]

It depends on the model and the detail.

For an example, most of the Inquisitor sized minis I tend to glue their head on a flying base and paint it up seperatly, I do this also with the 28mm sized minis who have a seperate head.

When painting solid models, I tend to leave the who head area last, I like to get most of the base colors on my minis first, then doing each part with shading etc.

 

[vincegamer]

My latest one I did eyes, then clothes, and skin will be last.
At least for base coat.
I do all of the mini in base coat then do the shading etc.

 

[Dragonsreach]

It\'s my 400th post so I though I\'d make it sensible for once!

I use to do the faces in any order, but now Skin first. Then clothes/armour. For some reason the character tends to build better as the layers go on to the clothing. I found that to be the case with the VIC#9 miniature I\'m working on. Very expressive face made me change my plan for the colour scheme. (But I\'m afraid you\'ll have to wait to see it.)

 

[awong]

I\'m from the old school...I learned figure painting using the Shep Paine guides that came with Monogram models
I start with the whites of the eyes. Then a stripe for the iris (forget the dot). Then an even thinner stripe for the pupil (this is for 54mm, forego the pupil if you\'re stability challenged like me).
Then I outline the eye with a darker skin color, upper lids first, then lower.
Then I paint skin basecoat up to the dark eye outline...making that as thick or thin as I like.
The steps are organized so that you can be a bit messy and still \"clean up\" with the next step.
Another hint I had read somewhere and use...paint the eye opposite your dominant hand first. Once you get that right, copying/symmetry on the easy side (don\'t have to work around a nose) should be simpler and more accurate.

 

[MaestroOfMayhem]

I paint in an inside-out manner, since the face is usually a deeper feature on the model, I usually paint it 1st. The reason I do this is because it gives me less chances to screw my self up.

 

[MDL]

I have a few mantras for stragetically painting...

... and one of them is:

\"inside to out\"

- meaning that it is easier to get inner detail in a model done first, than to go back and do it. I have others, but I won\'t bore you here with them.

Also: I use a \'reversible\' painting style... that is, I can go forwards... and backwards with painting and build ups. I screw up, I can back up 2-3 steps and redo a section. The problem with most painting techniques is that they don\'t tell you how to go backwards. Being able to do so is very handy, so doing faces at the end doesn\'t bother me that much.

But, this is a blessing and a curse. I can\'t tell you how many little sections I\'ll fix on a job again, and again and again, and... oh, the pain.

However, it is handy. If I get the chance, I\'ll do a little article on this. Very handy for building in appropriate shades AFTER you\'ve painted (which always, IMO look better than just trying to block them in... much more natural...).

Just some thoughts...

 

[G-nome]

Inside out is how I normally do it too. From skin to clothes armour and then belts straps etc on the very outer layers as it were. However I do faces last. Always. No ifs no buts. I have no good reason for this just habit, so after all these informed posts on face painting decided to try it. I should have done the eyes first as I havent tried that yet. That may be the next step.

Now theres 15 big hairy blokes with guns all looking at me funny. They may never get finished.

I think I will lie down now.......

 

[atacam]

Dont know why, but I have always done the face first. Think it inspires me to do the rest. A mini looks so much more finished with just the face done! Thats my excuse and I\'m sticking to it!

 

[Horak89]

i like doin the face first because i like to get it out of the way. the face is always th most frustrating part, so i just do it first.

 

[frenchkid]

well I usually the face first for all of the reasons that where mentioned above, plus the fact that I usually mess up the eyes, so I have to do them again,and again, and again...... aaaaaaah frustration !!!!!! But once I get them right I\'m motivated for the rest of the mini.

 

[airhead]

You said it.

Originally posted by frenchkid
...I usually mess up the eyes, so I have to do them again,and again, and again......

Why have to strip a whole mini just because I have 20 layers of paint on the eyes? Get the face, and the rest of the mini falls in place much easier (or so it seems to me.):innocent:

 

[lumpy]

This might be a novel idea... but, don\'t mess up the eyes?

Hehe, as if that\'d happen...

I\'m always a face last person, and probably always will be. It just seems risky to the part that everyone is drawn too first and then do some kind of horrible slip and give them a massive purple scar or something.

And for me, inside out doesn\'t mean inner to out, but quite literally from the center to the extremes. The chest, legs, arms, weapons, face, hair. I\'m working from the center - both in depth and vertically - to the outsides.

That and I get a little concerned when they\'re eyeballing me and holding weapons in a menacing fashion...:duh:

 

[Trevor]

I\'m a face last man.
If I can get soemthing looking good without the focal point of a detailed face, then the completion of the face really brings the whole thing together.

 

[Errex]

Sooo, just to see what was this with painting the faces first, I went and painted my current project\'s face completely.

End result?, well, it seems that looking at the full finished face for over a month has bored me out of my skull, so now it stands, about 3/4 of the mini done, and I can\'t seem to be able to gather enough interest to do the rest.:flame:

 

[Hammershield]

least accessible portion first

That\'s the only logical approach, innit? When all areas are equally accessible I paint skin and outwards just to keep things organized.