I would like to know when painting faces, is it wise to paint the eyes first then the fleshtones? Or do you do the fleshtones first then the eyes?

I paint the eyes 1st with acrylics this way you can do the whites as big as you want.....paint in the pupils without worrying about going outside the lines.....and then when that's dry.....I go in with my oils and shape the eye....now...if I screw up....I just use a clean brush with some fresh turps on it and clean it away and try again......the eye you painted earlier is still there because the turps don't disturb the acrylics.
hint: If you have trouble shaping 1 eye...ie....you get the 1st one right but the other just won't do what you want it to do....try turning the face upside down.

I paint the whites of the eyes and the eyebrows first - this allows me to shape the eyebrows after - this is on 1:35 scale models as they are so small the eyebrows are easy to mess up doing them last, I paint with acrylics so they dry fast and cannot be rubbed off easily.

I tend to paint eyes as one of the last steps in painting the face. The way I pain them is I fill the entire eyeball with whatever color I want my eyes to be and then paint the whites by appying tiny amounts of off-white paint on both sides of the pupil. This process takes some time to get used to but it produces decent results. Also by painting the eyes last I don't have to worry about ruining them while I paint the rest of the face.

Cheers

I paint predominantly in 1/48, so I use the tip of a needle for the eyebrows as the last thing I do to the face, same with the pupil. It there a better way to do either than the needle because it can be so tedious making dozens of little dots to form the brow?

Matt

I am just learning to combine acrylics with oils... and like it. The fact that I can paint a nice base coat with acrylics and then paint in details, shading, etc, with oils is great. I just realized I need to use acrylics for the whites of the eyes... no wonder my eyes were running!! I needed a reminder of this...

Along the same lines, I only air brush acrylics (old aircraft guy). I use mainly enamels for basecoats and oils for main coats. What brand of acrylics are you folks using for the faces/eyes? Are you all using Vallejo? Strait or diluted?

Andrew

I have never tried Vallejo, but I use some Apple Barrel Colors acrylics, I like them. I'll usually dillute them with water. What sets Vallejo apart from the others? It seems everyone prefers it over other brands, is there a particular reason?

Matt

The Vallejo, and the Andrea line of paints as well, have a very fine pigment base. However, the craft paints like Apple Barrel are being used with good effect by figure painters. The plus is, the formulation is nearly the same, the color range is just as diverse, and you can get two big bottle of craft paint for the price of one small Vallejo/Andrea bottle.

Thanks, I didn't know if maybe I was missing out on something, but only spending a lot of money. Are there cases when the Vallejo and Andrea lines' finer pigmentations would be of more use than Apple Barrel or Americana?

Matt

I would think as far as a dead matt finish, and perfect coverage are concerned. Furthermore, Vallejo (no longer the same as Andrea which has become produced by other means and is much less reliable) is Vinyl based, similar in composition to wood glue/white glue/capenters glue. This means that when applied to a primed surface thereis a skin like adhesion which helps to avoid flaking, peeling and other painter attrocities prevalent among other brands.

Jack Christmass (:-)

Thanks, I have noticed that the cheaper brands rub off as you handle them while painting other areas.

Matt

Hola!

Interesting thread! I pretty much use Apple Barrel etc (Craft Paints) for everything except for skins. They dry flatter (matter) then vallejos, dont have problems with rub off like previously mentioned and are far more cheaper. To be honest I can figure out why people use Vallejo and Andrea when there are a better and cheaper alternatives. I know its the "name brand" and "the thing to do", but that doesnt mean its better. All in all, its pretty much personal preference but why spend $2.50 for a bottle when you can get 3-5 bigger bottles at same price...beats me

My sentiments exactly! I always thought I was missing out on something, that doesn't seem to be the case. As for the paint rubbing off, it was a dilluted white on an un-primed figure, and it went through quite a bit on handling. It's not a regular occurence.

Matt