I hate figures (no matter what scale)

[Guest]

I am a tad disappointed as I had spent five days playing with my little man to finally get him erect with a nice shiny helmet but, it turned out to be four and a half inches of disappointment...... actually, that does sound familiar.........

Just to let you know i genuinely very nearly sprayed coffee all over my screen and keyboard, thanks Graham

[Guest]

Don't know what you mean????????

Anyway, believe it or not Ian, the jacket and trousers were airbrushed in Tamiya Dark Grey and Field Grey (just realised that the helmet should have been Field grey not dark grey according to the illustration on the box (no instructions as such with these kits). However, it looked too good, if you know what I mean, and that is when it went wrong. I did use an oil based wash and tried to get 'shape' in the colour by using the dots of oil paint to fade the overall colour and wash. It is all my fault, I just over egged the pudding as far as the uniform goes. The main thing is getting the face right though. If the flesh is wrong, nothing will save it.

I know I say I am disappointed, and of course I am. However, I see it as a learning thing and that is why I am posting it as a failure. As can be seen above, it has already introduced some very constructive discussion on figure painting and I hope there is more to come.

Good news is, I have just bit the bullet and pulled it all to bits and I have it back to where I started with nothing damaged. So I will try out some Model Strip and try to get it back to plastic. Shame to lose the decals but hey ho, should have waited until I made sure it was OK.

[Guest]

Graham, dont let this hiccup put you off,with all modelling its a learning curve, mine is no better than what you did, maybe you just see something in Rommels face that you dont see in yours.

Im glad you didnt bin it, I have seen your builds on other models and damn it man the skills are there.

You only need 3 oils, white,burnt sienna and yellow ochre to mix for the base coat, then deeper additions of the oils to change tones.

Maybe a "1:16" face figure with oils"tutorial maybe of help, I have many 1:16 figures to do so have faces to do which I can start from scratch an do an indepth tutorial, if this would help I wold be more than happy to start one.

The git....AKA Ray.....lol

[Guest]

That's a brilliant first go (funny how the moulded figure never looks like the box art) and you should probably keep it as it is, that way you can see your progress when figure number two stands beside it. Now then, light, look at yourself in the mirror at different times of the day and see just how the ambient light changes your appearance. I for instance look best about 8pm at this time of the year......The available light changes the way we look enormously. With regard to Ian M's comments about weird colours, take a look at some old masters work and you'll soon see that they used bizarre colour mixes that we don't even notice!

[Guest]

Its so easy to over complicate face painting, good thing about oils is when you have your mix ready I dab a touch on the back of my hand, I find it gives me an idea if its to light or dark.Good points there Kelly, problem is I think I look my best in the mirror at 3 in the morning and with a belly full of Stella......I always find the Stella makes me look great...lol

[Guest]

I for instance look best about 8pm at this time of the year......The available light changes the way we look enormously. With regard to Ian M's comments about weird colours, take a look at some old masters work and you'll soon see that they used bizarre colour mixes that we don't even notice!

I know what you mean. I tend to look best at about 3am with the lights switched off.

Its funny you say that about the masters. Was it Monet whose work over time got more and more red as his eyes gradually started to let him down. He paints what he sees and didnt realise that his eyes, as they got weaker, saw more and more red (Or is it less and less of another colour)

[Guest]

Ray, who called you a git??? I will have them barred lol A tutorial would be very well received and not only by me. Figure painting is many peoples Achilles heel in modelling and although there has to be differences between 1:16 scale and 1:48 scale, I do believe that if the basic principles are understood, producing good figures with any model will help bring them alive.

Cheers Kelly, not good enough though I am afraid. I have coated the figure, after disassembling it, in Model Strip so I will be getting it back to bare plastic for another go. I still have the pictures to remind me how it was.

I have also started on the 1:10 scale Paratrooper that I have. Not as good a kit as Tamiya, a bit flashy here and there but it does have two heads and they a tad bigger and are differently shaped, than the 1:16 scale German Field Commander so I will get a bit more practice in on this as well.

As for looking in the mirror, I do agree with what you are saying. As an ex photographer, I do appreciate the way light can alter the appearance of anything and faces in particular. I have to admit though that I look best at midnight in a power cut............

[Guest]

^^some serious laughing going on here! I've just seen Ray's tutorial and will follow that next time I do a figure as I haven't done one for 15+ years......

Penny, following your Monet observations, I see more magenta (pinkish red) through my right eye and more yellow through my left, sadly I'm only a lowly graphic designer and not a master artist so I have to live with it!

[Guest]

This has got me thinking. I wonder how many of us actually have colour issues with your eyes? I know nothing about eye problems like this but of course, unless someone pointed it out to you, you wouldn't know would you. Add to that the fact that all our monitors are either uncalibrated or not calibrated the same so we see each others pictures in totally different shades than they do on their own monitors. Given that, we could paint them any colour and say that it looks right on my computer lol

[Guest]

This has got me thinking. I wonder how many of us actually have colour issues with your eyes? I know nothing about eye problems like this but of course, unless someone pointed it out to you, you wouldn't know would you. Add to that the fact that all our monitors are either uncalibrated or not calibrated the same so we see each others pictures in totally different shades than they do on their own monitors. Given that, we could paint them any colour and say that it looks right on my computer lol

That explains why everyone thinks my work is good

[Guest]

Ya not too big to get a slap Penny lol, your work is great....