Painting heads, what to use?

[sueworld]

I'm finally going to try my hand at painting a few custom head that I've purchased from folks on here and I was wondering how folks go about doing this.

One of my heads has been cast in a kind of grey fast cast plastic and so I imagine would need a pale base coat to start thing out on. Any idea what would be best for something this size?

So..

!) What kind of paint stays on these kind of heads the best? Acrylic? Oil based?

2)What do people seal the finished paint job with? I'm in the UK and so some of the wonderful materials that I read about on these boards just isn't available to me over here it seems.

What do UK customizers end up using?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sdabbs]

Right, being in the UK you should definitely buy Games workshop paints (these are the best (acrylic based) paints to use - even toy prototyping companies use them. Start off with just a plane white - add a little water and gently add the first coat. It's important that you keep the paint thin so it doesn't lump or obscure details in the sculpt. Wait for the first layer to dry and then add another coat - keep adding coats until completely white (you don't have to, but this is how I like to do it) and then use 'elf flesh' and mix with a little white as a base coat (also you can add to this a little red if necessary)

I use a can of 'purity seal' from games workshop to seal the deal.

 

[Greggo]

I completely agree with my pal Sean on this. In fact if you follow my blog I done a very quick paint Tutorial. https://greggocustoms.blogspot.com/2011/01/greggos-painting-tutorial.html
I use Gamesworkshop as Im also in the UK and they are great paints to use, I even repainted my Dr Who 5 inch Figure using these paints and this method.
Hope that helps?

 

[Tekkaman Blade]

Reaper Minatures paint is also very good.

 

[sueworld]

Thank you all so much. I haven't even considered Games Workshop. I think there's one in my area, so I'll have to go and get some of their paints.

I'm so used to using Liquidtex paints that I didn't consider anything else.

 

[sprig0701]

Definitely important to at least keep your brush moist. Don't let it get dry, and if you even think the paint is feeling "clumpy", clean your brush and re-moisten it. When painting I'll clean and moisten my brush after every couple of dabs in the paint to prevent it from clumping.

 

[Commtech]

Take a look a this also. Great tutorial: https://www.onesixthwarriors.com/fo...on/82967-tutorial-repainting-head-sculpt.html

 

[Mr. EcKo]

I just painted my 1st human flesh colored head , and i gutta say it came out Freaking awesome ,no joking at all , its almost perfect.

Here's what i did

LAYERS over layers

i used a dry brush technique and it worked beautiful

i started with lighter colors and slowly darkened them with tints and shadow colors

I used Model Masters Paint (acrylic)

For me - a wet brush is the enemy - it will leave globs and runs - looking like sheeeet

so try a dry brush approach , thats what i did and like i said it came out amazing and i'm very satisfied with it

 

[sueworld]

Thanks for all the tips guys, I really appreciate it. I hate to admit this, but I used to paint props for a living long ago and so painting items isn't a completely foreign land for me, but It's just that I've never had to paint such tiny items as these and I really want the paint to stick.

Also painting realistic skin tones was never my specialty.

This is more the kind of thing I used to do.

So resin heads are a relatively new area for me.

 

[beeshaw]

Wow. Great job on that frog sueworld! You'll be rocking out the head repaints in no time.

Do you have any more examples of your work??

 

[Greggo]

I have only just seen that fantastic paint job sue it's mind blowing, I have some more shots of that frog in our harry potter reference folder when we worked on the action figures, what else dis you paint from potter?

 

[Ven]

1. Invest in an air brush
2. use acrylics, if its casted in grey/white material.
3. use pastels, if casted in colored flesh.

 

[sueworld]

I have only just seen that fantastic paint job sue it's mind blowing, I have some more shots of that frog in our harry potter reference folder when we worked on the action figures, what else dis you paint from potter?

I only worked on the full size werewolf (that wasn't really used sadly) and worked/painted those snapping books that the students carried. I also helped paint the silicone bodies of the kids in the underwater sequence including all the webbed feet that Harry wore. I only worked on 'Goblet' and 'Azkaban'.

1. Invest in an air brush
2. use acrylics, if its casted in grey/white material.
3. use pastels, if casted in colored flesh.

Thanks for that. I already use an airbrush but I've never used pastels. How do you apply them?

 

[sueworld]

Wow. Great job on that frog sueworld! You'll be rocking out the head repaints in no time.

Do you have any more examples of your work??

I helped create these for Dr Who...

 

[Ven]

I only worked on the full size werewolf (that wasn't really used sadly) and worked/painted those snapping books that the students carried. I also helped paint the silicone bodies of the kids in the underwater sequence including all the webbed feet that Harry wore. I only worked on 'Goblet' and 'Azkaban'.



Thanks for that. I already use an airbrush but I've never used pastels. How do you apply them?

chop them up into powder, or write with them on a a piece of paper then use your bruse and try to catch as much as possible and apply them on the headsculpt. or thats how i do it atleast.

 

[sueworld]

My god that sounds fiddly. How do you manage to seal it afterwards?

 

[Cheungkinmen]

My god that sounds fiddly. How do you manage to seal it afterwards?

With any type of sealer in spray, works like a charm.

 

[Ven]

My god that sounds fiddly. How do you manage to seal it afterwards?

exactly like cheung said, or you can pour some acrylic matte into the airbrush and seal it like that too.


you'll get all sorts of cool shades like this

the human flesh has alot of browns reds, and believe it or not greens, near the eyes and corners.

 

[Mr Barlow]

Love those characters Sue , seen a couple of Hermivores pop up but I wasnt fast enough to get em..lol

 

[sueworld]

Can you recommend anything that we might have in the UK?