Painting Resin Heads |
Preparation: Start by carefully scraping off any mould lines. To fit the head to the body , see the other tips section. Wash carefully with a toothbrush and washing-up liquid, and leave to dry. This is to degrease the surface : you can use surgical spirit instead. Mount the head on something suitable to hold while painting it. I use a three- inch length of ½" dowel mounted in a block of wood, with a blob of office tack, but anything that holds the head secure will do.
Paints: I use Acrylics, but oils and enamels are also suitable if you prefer them. You will need a large brush for applying the skin tone, a medium brush for the hair, and a very fine brush for the eyes.
The basis of my recommended technique is to apply very thin washes of skin tone, which is thickened by using the
Matt Medium you see above.
Start by filling in the whites of the eyes with matt white :
Then choose the hair colour, paint the hair carefully, and then using the medium , make a very faint mix to fill in the beard.
Then I apply the first wash of skin tone , with Taupe as the main colour ( it's a neutral colour, neither too red not too yellow ), Move it around freely to avoid streaks , and keep brushing to create an even tone. This should dry in about ten minutes.
Now you can strengthen it with a second wash :
At this point you can add the shape of the iris in black. The positioning of this is crucial to the finished expression.
This is a subtle business, but bear it in mind , since it strongly affects the end result.
To finish the skin tone , I use some subtle accenting with carmine , for which I use the Vallejo Tansparent red, muted with a little raw Siena.
Now the difficult bit, the irises and pupils : for this there is no escaping the point that you need a brush with a very fine, controllable point , and a steady hand.
Finally , using gloss black , add the pupils. Refer to the eye sketches above to get the position right : for Normal expression , the black of the pupil should just touch the upper lid:
Apply the gloss black several times to build it into a little raised dome in the centre of the eye. There are many other techniques for painting heads : oils, pastels etc. It's up to you, but this is the procedure I use. There is no substitute for practice when it comes to painting : I highly recommend that , if you are a beginner, you practice on some unwanted vinyl heads before launching yourself on an expensive head.
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