polar fox
So I'm trying to emulate James wappel and mended brush studio by starting with a pre glaze all over the model and overbrushhing the highlights on to work wet on wet and layer with the paint. I started with a deep red brown and overbrushed a sunny skintone and now it looks like mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together. Was my Pre-glaze color incorrect?
hushed maple
your starting red feels too saturated imo
polar fox
your starting red feels too saturated imo
Should I add some green to it to make it more desaturated?
hushed maple
on the palette, yeah that would be my inclination
polar fox
on the palette, yeah that would be my inclination
In your opinion is there a better preglaze color I should use if I'm going for a sunny skintone?
hushed maple
less red, more orange
more red is going to give you a pinker tone
more yellow (moving to orange) will give you a sunnier tone
polar fox
more yellow (moving to orange) will give you a sunnier tone
So like an orangy brown or light rust color?
On a side note, orange is my favorite color.
sly plover
Idiot question: why oil instead of acrylics ? Is it because it dries less faster ?
sacred drift
I am following James Wappel aswell, but in this case I reckon its easier to just block in the colors and then go at it with your blending brush instead of preglazing it. You can probadly also do it both. What is your proces? Are you following his dry brush steps? It also seems the paint is quite thick. I made the same error when I started. Sometimes he uses his dropper bottles which are already thinned and sometimes he uses it straight out of the tube and thins it on his pallete. Vince has a great video on it aswell. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDWLDBw62A0
clear sail
I see nothing "wrong" with either skin tone, depends what color(s) you are going for I guess. The red one is definitely redder (ha!), and the second one very much less so.
For shadows, leaning into browns and oranges in the shadows will make it more "sunny" than a dark red for sure. As you continue to toss on lighter colors, it'll look better and better.
The pre-glaze color doesn't matter too terribly much, as you can always slap on a different dark in the shadows to change the tone on the fly. If you happen to nail the pre-glaze color exactly right, then it saves a little time, but it isn't the end of the world to change it up.
For most things, and skin especially, the dark and mid-tones really define the color.
clear sail
Idiot question: why oil instead of acrylics ? Is it because it dries less faster...
Drying time is a huge plus, of course. For me, I've found that I can get way better results in much less time, and with much less money, compared to acrylics. Anything in the blending realm is infinitely easier with oils, where you can do in 10 seconds what it would take hours to do in acrylics.
Also, lighter oil colors like whites and yellows are usually extremely opaque, unlike acrylics, which makes painting those colors a hell of a lot less of a nightmare.
On the money-front, a small tube of oil will probably last many years, if not the rest of your entire life, and that isn't hyperbole. You also don't need many colors, as the nature of oils is to blend, so you can slap on a dark and a light, then a few blending strokes you get all your other tones naturally for free.
And you can use teeny-tiny super cheap synthetic brushes just fine; no worrying about paint drying and all that.
And oil washes are the greatest thing since sliced bread.
I think oils are way more user-friendly, and require much less technical skill to use for the same result. When I used acrylics, everything I did was fighting against the medium. Everything we do in this hobby is to try to force acrylics to do what they don't want to do: Wet palettes, thick-bodied brushes with tiny tips, millions of layers, thinning, paint shakers, ball bearing bottles, buying tons of overpriced paint, flow improvers, drying retarders, ... , the list goes on.
Oils eliminate nearly all of that. It is so nice to work WITH a medium rather than against it.
At the end of the day, it is all personal preference. You can get amazing results with any medium, it just depends on the time investment required. I'd bet money there is someone out there doing amazing minis by fingerpainting with colored egg whites. But I'd rather not spend 20 hours painting a single pauldron, not when I got a backlog to get thru.
I like oils because it is super fast, easy, cheap, and I love playing with colors on the mini as I go.
sly plover
Wow thanks. I am so hyped to try now then
edgy oriole
I won't say that oils are cheap. Especially if buying in the Artist ranges.
Another point is the use of mineral/white spirit. Be sure to use odourless ones and be in a well ventilated place.
clear sail
The initial tube might be $3 to $60 or more, depending what you get, yes. But it will last essentially forever.
So potentially a higher initial price point (although there are ways around that), but in the long run way cheaper.
Additionally, they all double as washes, since you just make your own on the fly, so that makes it even more bang for the buck.
Many artist supply stores have sales all the time, so you can pick up half price or less tubes of oil paint. And you do not need very many, nor do you need the fancy expensive ones. They are fun, but not necessary, especially for beginners. I would recommend the Winton student oil sample pack. Comes with 10 colors, and you can usually find it for $10-20 on sale somewhere. I painted many dozens of minis with just that set. I still use colors from that set.
And yes, you want odorless paint thinner. Ventilation is also ideal, but with the tiny amounts used in this hobby, it is less of an issue. As long as you aren't sloshing it around in large quantities, you will be fine as long as you aren't sealed in a tiny room. If you are paranoid, crack open a window and/or set up a fan. Better safe than sorry.
polar fox
The initial tube might be $3 to $60 or more, depending what you get, yes. But i...
I just got a sale on some artist grade paints for 70% off. It has a Cyan, Magenta, yellow, titanium white, Ivory black and burnt sienna.
clear sail
70% off, very nice! Always deals to be had in oil land.
polar fox
I am following James Wappel aswell, but in this case I reckon its easier to just...
I had a similar question I was going to ask about this. Wet on wet vs wet by wet when it comes to oils. When I did my howling banshees with oils a year ago I did wet by wet and got some pretty decent results. However I'm finding wet on wet to be a bit tricky to pull off.
clear sail
What does wet by wet mean?
polar fox
When you blend 2 colors that are blocked in next to each other
clear sail
Oh, I see. Yeah, that can be more controllable. When you put wet oil paint on top of wet oil paint, you have to tweak the thinness/thickness to get it to stick. When you then try to blend that, it can result in unintended effects. Like the top layer just sliding off instead of blending in.
So you can add more, or tweak the thinness/thickness until it behaves how you want it to.
side-by-side, they are usually the same viscocity, and behave similarly
polar fox
I feel like sometimes when I overbush after the preglaze I sometimes push the paint down into the oil underneath it.
I think on my next go I'll try blocking in the colors
sacred drift
I had a similar question I was going to ask about this. Wet on wet vs wet by wet...
Its called thick over thin and thin over thick.
polar fox
I've also heard fat over lean
clear sail
Perhaps make the overbrushing a little thicker. That will tend to wipe away more of what is underneath, and replace it with the overbrushed color. Some still gets mixed in, but less. The brush will get "dirty" pretty quick, so need to wipe it away more often.
polar fox
Also this is sort of the skintone I want to try to replicate
I found an stl of her on cults 3d and I'd like to paint her up for my Grey Knight army.
edgy oriole
For skintones I strongly recommend buying this book:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Color-Mixing-Recipes-Portraits-Combinations/dp/1560109904/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OBT6JMAUELQS&keywords=500+recipe+for+skin+tones&qid=1693934598&sprefix=500+recipe+for+skintones%2Caps%2C82&sr=8-1
vocal acorn
On your second attempt there is a lot of texture? Do you know where that is coming from, like was this a misprint that you are practicing on?
polar fox
On your second attempt there is a lot of texture? Do you know where that is comi...
Yeah that and my paint was too thick.
