Man my previous figure looked pretty nice in my minds eye, but this batch looks like they're part of the burn ward brigade , Does anyone else have a problem with consistency in figure painting? When I found a technique that worked for me I tried to act consistent with that but it's had mixed results.

I find it always the last one looked better, but the next one will be best.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,
Here's one for you. I was recently painting the flesh on 3 figures. Various subjects and scales (120mm full figure, 1/9th scale bust and 1/9th scale full figure). All were done using the same batch of paint, mixed to the skintone I wanted. The first 2 were looking good. The scale seemed to have an effect on them that they looked different shades but that was OK.
I did the hands on the 3rd one (the 1/9th full figure) and stopped to help my wife unload groceries. Came back to the figures about an hour later to do the last face. The skintone came out looking completely different! Much redder than the hands. Tried and tried to get it to match with no success. Ended up stripping the face and have to try it again. Hope I can get it to match the hands or I'll have to strip face and hands and repaint all at the same time.
Unbelievable but true! Here's a picture that shows it.
http://groups.msn.com/Armorama/mymountainman.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1939

I know what you mean,i am painting the Tamiya tanker,i painted his face five times,and gave up in disgust,it just was not as good as the last fig,a friend had a look,and said" what's the matter with it,looks good to me" i think sometimes you can try too hard,consistancy!Yaaaaaaaaa.
Arthur
Am Alba Mannich

LOL that happens a lot. One thing beware of AMS (Advanced Modelers Syndrome). It's been my experience that sometimes we see things that are not really relevant and it can be Disastrous to compare your figures. Treat each figure as an individual project and work towards your end. At the end of the day it sits on your shelf and you have to be happy with it. One thing I do though, I have sitting on my workbench the first figure I ever painted and if I'm going to do any comparing thats the one I compare to lol.

Cheers

Ray

Consistency is a terrible thing. I generally use humbrol undercoats and then fine oils on top. I have found that humidity, drying times and solvent content are the biggest variables. Not all paints and paint colours dry at the same rates. The space of 1/2 hour has a big effect at times. Personally, I like different colour reactions as it gives each figure a unique look.
The most unusual problem lately is that my Humbrol matt 63 is sometimes drying matte, and sometimes drying glossy. I think it is reacting to the undercoat, but still trying to figure it out. (Get it, FIGURE it out)

Hi JV44,

I generally paint the same way. We were having a figure painting session at my house the other night and the same thing Humbrol 63 same tin one face matt the other glossy. I've also beem experimenting with Model Master Acrylic Flesh tones as base coats with good results. There are 3 tones and I use different one for different figures.

Ray

I am fortunate in that I can model at work in my down time. I found out the hard way that I shouldn't paint at work. I used the same technique on some figures at work that I do at home, but I found that the flourecent lights make mixing colors impossible. The figures looked good when I finished them, but the next morning when I got into the sunlight on the way home, they looked like circus clowns!

Patrick