Now the sculpting is complete it’s time to get on with the painting. As the bust is a 1/6th scale my main objective here, especially with the face, is to try and aim for as much realism as possible. I love a challenge and this certainly looks like it’s going to give me a few!

This is going to be quite a long post so you may want to grab a cup of tea…

Before anything could begin the figure parts have been washed thoroughly in warm soapy water. I will work on the figure in sub assemblies to facilitate the painting. The parts have been given several coats of Tamiya light grey Surface Primer. There are many discussions as to whether this primer, albeit quite expensive, is any better than a standard automotive primer. I have used both many, many times and I have to say the surface finish of the Tamiya is far superior especially for larger pieces. The primer has been left to completely cure for at least twenty-four hours.

For the next stage I will be almost exclusively using an airbrush, or rather two airbrushes. The top airbrush is my solid all-rounder, a Neo made for Iwata. This is a superb airbrush, solidly constructed and very reliable, exhibiting all the qualities of a brush twice or three times the price. I use this brush for most of my general colour and varnish work. The lower airbrush is the Iwata Custom Micron. Expensive and a little temperamental I use this only for the finest detailing as this is the area in which it really excels.

I’ll begin with the face. I almost always start with the face as it can set the ‘mood’ for the rest of the model and sometimes even influence subsequent colour schemes. I’m going to treat this piece as a bit of an experiment in creating a realistic skin tone through the use of transparent layers of colour. For this I will use a number of different types of paint from Tamiya Color acrylics to Medea Com-Art airbrush colours.

Firstly the face is airbrushed with a base coat of Tamiya XF-2 Flat White 90% and XF-55 Deck Tan 10%. This is built up over several layers and will provide a good foundation for the subsequent work.

Next, using the Custom Micron, I airbrush a fine loose scribble of Com-Art Sunwashed Flesh across the face. This is quite a fine and slow process and although I intend a random effect the placement of the tones are quite deliberate.

Another loose scribble of colour is applied, this time with Com-Art Peach Flesh. I want to gradually build up a random broken tone over the surface.

Further tones are applied, this time with Com-Art Dull Tan Flesh. As the colours are getting progressively darker so a depth is being achieved.

Finally with a mix of Com-Art Sienna Brown and Red I spray in some blush tones to the lips, cheeks and nose. This collection of layered transparent colours will now provide the foundation of the flesh tone.

Taking my original mix of Tamiya XF-2 and XF-55 I overlay several very thin layers of the base coat across the face with the airbrush. Building up the layers very gradually and paying attention to areas of natural highlights, the brow, nose and the cheeks. I am working very slowly so as not to obscure the transparent tones beneath and let them show through.

Using a very dilute Citadel Ogryn Flesh Wash (or whatever they’re calling it this week) I airbrush some transparent tones to warm the face up a bit.

A second round of ‘blush’ is sprayed concentrating on the nose, cheeks and lips to reinforce the tones below the surface.

The airbrushing phase is finished. Now the face has some extremely subtle colouring with the various transparent layers providing a, hopefully, realistic looking skin tone. It’s now time to move onto the brushwork.

I am using Citadel Washes, Ogryn Flesh and Baal Red. These washes are excellent for building up transparent layers of colour especially when thinned further with distilled water.

Both the lips and the nose are receiving some attention with layers of colour being carefully applied to build up the strength of the tones. I am using various mixes of the Ogryn Flesh and Baal Red here.

The edges of the nostrils, the lips and the eye sockets have all been enhanced a little. I am taking care to keep the colouring as natural as possible.

In order to inject a little more realism and just because I’ve always wanted to give it a try, I am going to add some freckles to the face. Using a dilute mix of Ogryn Flesh I am applying the freckles with a sharpened piece of bamboo rather than a brush as it gives a more uniform shape to the freckle as a fine brush can sometimes leave a pointed mark.

Using some good reference images I have tried to keep the freckles as random as possible to enforce the element of realism.

The eyes were next. The eyeballs have been basecoated with the original mix of XF-2 and XF-55.

Using a watercolour pencil I have carefully sketched the position of the irises and pupils. I am using the watercolour pencil dry.

I have started to paint the irises in with VMC-907 Pale Grey Blue and VMC-904 Dark Blue Grey.

Further work on the iris with VMC-898 Dark Sea Blue.

Wanting to keep the face as natural as possible I am going to avoid any heavy cosmetics and keep any make-up subtle. For this I am going to use artists pastels as these can be controlled and blended very smoothly. I have prepared some of the pastels by rubbing them on a little fine abrasive paper to create a fine dust. The dusts can then be mixed together to achieve different shades. I have carefully selected this brand of pastel (Faber Castel) as some pastels can darken considerably once they have been varnished.

Using the small flat headed brush I have applied some pastel to the upper lid, blending it towards the brow, like applying real eye-shadow (apparently). I have also added a dark line to the top of the eyelid and dotted the pupil with VMC-862 Black Grey.

Here I have darkened the tone towards the eyelid.

Not trusting my brushwork I am adding some eyelashes to the lower eye with a watercolour pencil. I find using a pencil to draw on the lashes is a very controlled way of working.

Lashes complete.

The eyebrows have been added with a watercolour pencil. Always referring to photographs to maintain a sense of realism.

The entire face has been given a couple of coats of satin varnish to make the skin ‘glow’ a little and the eyes and lips have received a couple of coats of gloss varnish.

To finally check all the tones and details are working together I quickly block in a little outside colour to frame the face and see if I need to go back and reinforce any areas.

Phew…