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PAINTING FACES

General Tips

Smoothness is achieved by several factors: a smooth primer coat, a good quality paint, thinning the paint sufficiently to flow, and preventing partly dried paint from getting into the fresh stuff. Don’t work from an open paint pot or jar, let each layer or coat dry thoroughly before applying more, and don’t keep working paint that has started to dry. Using a retarder/extender or a flow medium will increase your ‘open time.’

Don’t overthin the paint, but add fluids little by little, and test the result, to find a consistency that works for you. Avoid using a larger proportion of additives than suggested on the label, as this can compromise the durability and coverage of the paint. When all else fails, a few coats of brush-on matte sealer will often even out the surface and rectify a grainy look. (It can also be used, like matte medium or glaze medium, for mixing glazes.)

I like to use many thin layers to build up highlights on skin. Not only is this easier for me than wet-on-wet blending, but I think that it helps mimic the translucent nature of skin. Interesting effects can be achieved by painting in veins, spots, tattoos, and the like on your base coat or first highlight, then putting layers over them to ‘embed’ them in the flesh.

Keep in mind that skin doesn’t have to be painted as if it’s perfectly smooth. Try highlighting with long, thin strokes, parallel with muscles, to create the look of muscle fibres beneath the skin. Bulging veins can be painted in with a shadow color, and then highlighted along the top of the stroke. Wrinkles and creases can be suggested by shading and highlighting, even if they aren’t part of the sculpt.

Add a touch of black or brown to your flesh shadow color for a glaze to represent stubble or a five o’clock shadow. Ashen Brown also works well for this purpose.

Above all, don’t be afraid to experiment. Some of the effects I end up liking most are the result of simply playing around with different colors and consistencies. Have fun with your painting, and it will show.