PAINTING THE FACE by John Perry To begin with, let us assess what we are trying to achieve here. While there are no doubt numerous talented figure modelers out there, the vast majority of you are NOT proficient or necessarily enthusiastic about the thought of painting a reasonable figure model. This is understandable and as such, this tutorial is NOT intended to produce an award winning, super realistic result. We will provide some references shortly at the bottom of this page for those of you who wish to further your skills in this field. For the others, this tutorial will provide you with the basic knowledge to produce a highly presentable pilot figure to enhance your aircraft.Why do we start the figure with the face? Well, there are a couple of good reasons. Firstly, the entire process of figure painting is "insideout" in it's steps. Begin with the face/flesh areas, move on to the layer of clothing nearest the skin next, followed by each subsequent layer until the final stage is the buttons/badges on the outermost garment. If this doesn't make sense now, it soon will. Trust me on this one!To paint the face in this demonstration we will be using using acrylic paints by Vallejo. The colors we will be using are Dark Red # 946, Mahogany Brown # 846, Flat Flesh # 955, Ivory # 918 and Black # 950 with a touch of Blue for the eyes. Applying a Base Coat to the Face We begin by dipping our brush into the water to moisten it. Touch the tip of the brush on a cloth or paper towel to remove access water - we want it moist not dripping! Dip the tip of the brush into Flat Flesh and apply to a new area on your palette. Now, with your brush, add small amounts of the Dark Red and Mahogany Brown to achieve a flesh color with a reddish brown tone. The resulting color can vary depending on your personal preferences.

The next step is to apply the color mix (after wetting your brush again) to the entire face and any other exposed flesh areas, hands or neck for example, on the figure. Make sure the paint is not to thick or thin - this will take some practice! If it is too thin (preferrable to too thick) just wait a while and add another thin coat.

Vallejo Flat Flesh # 955, # 946 Dark Red, Mahogany Brown # 846 with a clean white plastic pallette for mixing. With vallejo, as well as other water based acrylics, it is preferable to use distilled water rather than tap water. A 4L/1Gal jug lasts a long time!

Applying a Base Coat to the Eyes

Our next step is to base coat the eyes. Mix Flat Flesh with Ivory # 918 and apply it to the eye area, remembering to keep the paint thin. Never use a pure white - it will give a "pop-eyed" look that is not very realistic.

Basic flesh tone covers the face. Remember to paint the neck (if it is visible) and ensure that you extend the paint over the edge of adjoining items ie flying helmet, shirt collar. This will ensure that you don't leave any white "space" between the face and adjoining colours which are to follow.	The "whites" of the eyes added. No need to be perfect as the following steps will redefine the eye shape.

Painting the Iris Using a Navy blue or Mahogany brown carefully paint the iris in the eye space. Make sure you cover up 70% of the white area with the iris. Be careful that they are the same size and pointing in the same direction. For right handed people it is suggested to paint the left eye first, for left handers paint the right eye first. Refining the Eyes Using Mahogany Brown, and using your best brush, paint a VERY THIN line on the upper eye lid. Adding Shadows

Mix up Flat Flesh, Dark Red, and Mahogany Brown again, this time using very little of the Flesh. This will be our deep shadow color. Keep the mixture VERY thin (almost a wash) and apply it to the line underneath the eye bag, the inside of the nostrils, and the upper eye socket.

Iris added. I usually paint the left eye first so I can see the right eye when I have to paint it. I'm right handed, left handers would do the opposite. Thin brown line added above the eyes to define the upper eyelid.	On to shading. Critical areas to add depth to are under the chin and following the jaw line, between the lips, under the bottom lip, each side of the nose, the hollows of the cheeks, the deep part of the eye socket nearest the nose and the thin line extending from the nostrils down the cheek. I also outline the face against the flying helmet, shirt etc.

Defining the Eyes Apply Flat Flesh in a thin consistency to the upper eye bag and the top of the lower eye bag. Shading and HighlightsOnce again mix Dark Red, Mahogany Brown with just a bit of Flesh, keeping the mix dark. Dilute with enough water from your brush to create a very thin wash. Apply in VERY small amounts (you can always add more!) to the sides of the nose and underneath the chin. This thin wash will act almost like a stain. Repeat the process until the desired shade is reached. The next step is to add a Flesh and Dark Red mix in a thin wash to the cheek hollows and the temples. KEEP THE PAINT MIX THIN and slowly build the color stain or you will get blotchy, hard edged color transitions. Take your time.

Highlights should be applied using our three color mixture by adding just a small amount of Dark Red and Mahogany to Flesh. Apply a thin coat to the top of the cheeks, chin, top of the ears and nostrils and finally a line of Pure Flesh along side the crease that follows the cheek down to the lip.

Face "framed" in dark brown/black. This helps to visualize the final facial effect next to the surrounding items ie helmet, shirt, jacket etc. Now we have a "character" and can move on to painting the rest of the figure	Side view showing the "frame" carried all around the head. Once the uniform and headwear are completely painted, a few adjustments may be made to the facial tones. Artist discretion!

The Final Steps At this point study the colour transitions between areas on the face to make sure they are smooth and not harsh. Adjust the shading and highlights as needed to create a face with character and life. If your shading is too dramatic your figure will look cartoonish, if too subtle it will look one-dimensional and toy -like. If the figure you are depicting is to be a bit battle weary, you probably will want to add a five o'clock shadow. This can be added by mixing Flesh and Blue. Apply a wash of this mixture to the beard area and let dry before re-applying.

Hold your figure at arms length and see what a great job you've done!