Custom Figure Painting Tutorial by MIKED

 

If there is a trick to my technique of painting figures, this is it. Pastels are an artists drawing medium which is sort of like a stick of richly colored pigment that resembles a piece of chalk. They are most commonly found in stick form either round or squared, but can also be purchased jarred in a powdered form. They are available in an infinite variety of rich colors and can be found in most hobby, craft, or art stores. While this medium is most commonly used for drawing and painting, custom modelers have been using them for years to weather, age, or rust their subjects. The earth tone pastels used for this kind of effect are sometimes packaged and found at model train shops labeled as “weathering pastels”. The earth tones found in these kinds of boxed sets are an excellent variety for shading flesh, but you may want to purchase some other colors for the purposes of shading other portions of your figures like clothes, armor, boots, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the flesh tone on Herc I’ll be using a Burnt Sienna colored pastel that I have in powdered form almost exclusively with the exception of a little red that I have in stick form (the photo where I am scraping the red stick with a piece of glass llustrates how i turn stick for into powder in order to apply it) to warm up the lips, cheeks, and other hot spots on the body.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I start by dumping a bit of the powder on to a sheet of paper and loading up a brush… a very cheap brush, mind you… pastel dust eats brushes like hydrochloric acid. You definitely don’t want to use your best brushes to apply pastel dust. So… load up your cheapo brush with the Burnt Sienna (which is a deep reddish brown color) and begin rubbing the powder into the recesses of the face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As soon as you touch the brush to the figure powder is going to burst out all over the place. Don’t panic just rub the brush into the recessed areas (the eye sockets, ears, laugh lines) and under the cheek bones, etc. Simply blow the excess powder off, reload the brush and get back to it. Continue to build up the shading in the recesses until it seems like the powder isn’t sticking anymore then move on to the neck and body.