Basics of Painting Figures with Oil Paints by: Craig Whitaker

Introduction

In the past, I’ve received quite a few emails and PM’s from members of Armorama asking me for help on getting started using oil paints. So, I thought I’d try writing an article that could try to answer some of the questions people have had. Please keep in mind that this is just what I do when I paint. There are a lot of people out there that do things differently and are much more accomplished painters than I can ever hope to be. This is just what works for me. As you progress, you’ll develop techniques that you find more comfortable and that work better for you. For this article I’m not going to list any of the color mixes I’ve used to paint with. I did write 2 articles in the past that deal with this. And both are still available for viewing here on Armorama. The first lists many of the mixes I’ve used for various colors The second deals specifically with mixes for painting flesh tones The only reason I was able to write those articles is that I write down every successful mix that I’ve used. I use 3”x5” index cards and list the main color, the figure I used it on and the

colors I used to achieve the end result. It’s been very helpful to me for reproducing a color on another figure years later. I highly recommend doing this, especially when just getting started. Some mixes become second nature after a while but some will just disappear with time. I haven’t added any pictures of completed figures for this article since they would be pretty much the same ones you would see in my other two articles. But if you want to see other pictures of my work, you can view them on my website. I hope that this article is of some use to those of you that have had a desire to try painting with oil paints.

Section 1: Common Complaints of Oil Paints

The three most common complaints people have when first using oil paints are the cost, the time it takes for them to dry and the presence of brushstrokes in the paint. Fortunately these problems have relatively simple solutions.

Cost

The cost of a tube of oil paints can run from a couple of dollars to unbelievable amounts. Much of the cost comes from the pigments used. On average, I pay less than $5.00 (US) per tube. Yes, that’s more than a bottle of your favorite model paint. But I’ve never had a tube of oil paint dry out on me when I opened it after a year of it sitting on my shelf. I’ve got tubes of oil paint that are more than 10 years old and are as good today as they were the day I bought them. And the amount of oil paint you use compared to acrylics or enamels in insignificant. The only colors I’ve ever had to replace were Burnt Sienna (for flesh tones) and Titanium White (lightens most any colors). So when I did, I bought the biggest tubes available. Lots more paint for not much more money. (See Figure 1) If you’re just starting out and aren’t sure if you think you’ll like oils, look for a starter set of paints. The tubes are smaller than the one available individually but they’ll still last a long time. And by buying the odd tube of paint here and there, you can build up a nice collection without having to re-mortgage the house.

Drying time

By their nature, oil paints take much longer than acrylics and enamels take to dry. The advantage to this is it gives you all the time you need to shadow, highlight and blend the paints on your figure. No more dry brushing lighter colors for highlighting or applying washes for shadowing. The result is a more natural looking transition of your colors. And once your paint job is complete, there is an easy way to speed the drying process. Basically, the application of heat to your figure will accelerate the drying process. There are several ways to do this effectively. The simplest one is to put your figure under a lamp. Another is to place your figure in an old crock-pot. My personal preference Is to use a drying box. This is simply a wood box that I made with a 60-watt light bulb in it for the heat source. I prefer this to the “figure under the lamp” method for two reasons. First, it traps the heat inside the box and the heat surrounds the figure. Second, it helps keep airborne dust away from the wet paint. (See Figure 2)

Brushstrokes

The solution to having brushstrokes showing in your paint is a two step process. First, you want to remember the golden rule for working with oils... Less Is Best! You want to apply as little paint as possible to cover your work. Oil paints tend to be much thicker than the hobby paints that most of you are used to working with and if applied too thick can hide the fine detail found on today’s resin figures. Most people immediately want to thin them down. My personal preference is to not thin them but rather to use them straight from the tube. This way, when I place the paint on the figure it stays where I want it rather than running down the front of the uniform. Another advantage to not thinning the paint is that is makes blending easier to do. And that’s maybe the best reason for using oil paints in the first place. More on that later. And, the thinner the coat of paint, the faster it will dry.

Stippling

Stippling” is a technique that can make your brushstrokes disappear. Stippling is best done using a clean dry brush. I usually use various sizes of “rounds” for this but sometimes a “flat” works better. As you progress, you’ll begin to learn which is best for different situations. You want one with fairly soft bristles as opposed to the stiffer ones you would use for blending. Hold the brush approximately perpendicular to the surface of the figure. Very gently “tap” the end of the brush against the surface of the figure. You’re not looking to push the paint around on the figure here unless you have applied too much paint in one area and need to redistribute it. Remember to periodically wipe your brush on your cleaning rag to remove the excess paint that you’re going to pick up while doing this. I find that I tend to stipple several times in the course of my painting. For me, it’s a must to do it right after I apply my base coat of paint. This helps tell me whether or not I’ve applied enough paint to cover the area I’m working on. I’ll usually do it again after applying my shadows and again after highlighting.

Section 2: Getting Started

Priming the Figure

After cleaning up my figure, I always apply a primer to it. I do this for several reasons. One, it helps to reveal any flaws, seams or air bubble holes on the figure that will need more work to correct. Second, it gives a uniform color for underneath the oil paint. Some oils are rather transparent and when you have various colors (the resin itself plus any materials you’ve used to patch holes or fill seams) on the figure, they can adversely affect the final appearance. Third and most importantly, the primer gives the oil paints something to stick to. Oils on top of unprimed resin, white metal or even polystyrene plastic tend to just slide around on the surface. I usually use white automotive primer on my figures. I prefer white to the gray primers available because it brightens the end result of the painting. I look for lacquer based primers because they seem to stick better to the figures. And I also get primer that’s labeled “sandable”. I admit that I don’t know what difference this makes but it was what I was told and it seems to work out okay so... (See Figure 3 & 3A) I normally don’t undercoat my oils but when I do, I’ll use a good acrylic model paint that approximately matches my final color. The oil paint doesn’t seem to cause any problems over the acrylic paint like it can over an enamel undercoat. I like using Andrea, Vallejo, Tamiya or any good quality acrylic paint. Once you get the figure primed, try not to handle it too much as you’ll get your body oils on the surface and this can cause problems when painting. The best thing is to pin your figure into a temporary base while painting.

Brushes and Paints

If you’re serious enough to want to try oil paints, then brushes are the next big investment to make. Kolinsky Red Sable are the best. That’s why they can cost so much. For doing the finest detail work, you can’t go wrong getting Winsor & Newton Series 7 brushes. Getting size 0, 00 & 000 will handle most all of your fine detail painting needs. I wouldn’t suggest getting anything bigger than these in this line of brushes. For larger brushes, look at their other lines of sable brushes. Even look at their synthetic brushes. That’s

what I use for much of my blending. Really, any brand of brush can be good for this work. As you progress, you’ll learn which brushes work best for you. (See Figures 4, 5 & 6) I also prefer Winsor & Newton oil paints. They have almost every color you could want, are readily available and generally are inexpensive. I like their consistency. They’re thicker than some other brands. They have a ”student” line and an “artist” line. Both are fine but if the color I want is available in the “artist” line and isn’t too expensive, that’s what I buy. I believe the difference is in the pigments used and how finely they’re ground.

Section 3: Mixing the Paint

Base Color

The first thing I do is to mix my base color. This is what that I intend to be the overall color that I want to see on the area I’m going to paint. Sometimes a color straight from the tube will work but usually I find myself mixing 2 or more different paints to get just the color I want (this is another great part of the fun of working with oil paints). Once I get the shade I’m looking for, I’ll then separate out some of this into a smaller mound for making my shadow mix. One thing I try to do when mixing my base color is to be sure to have at least a little bit of the colors I plan to use for my shadows and highlights mixed into the base. This can help to prevent any unpleasant surprises happening after I begin painting.

Shadow Color

Usually, making the shadow mix is just a matter of taking the base mix and adding in more of the color I’m planning to use for the shadows to darken it. I’ll also keep a small mount of just the added color for use in the deepest shadows.

Highlight Color

For making the highlight mix, I’ll take the color I plan on using and adding some of the base mix. I’ll also keep a small mount of just the brightest color for using on the highest highlights. (See figures 7 & 8)

Blending

The blending of oil paints is for me the best reason for using them. When I first painted figures, I used acrylic paints and would dry brush on my highlights and use washes for shadows. Sometimes this worked well, other times it didn’t. Who among us hasn’t has a wash travel to places we didn’t intend for it to go? Best of all, blending can give you a much more natural transition of the colors from dark to light. Here’s the process I go through for creating and applying my shadows and highlights on a figure.

Application of Shadows and Highlights

Usually it’s fairly obvious where the shadows and highlights go, like the in the undersides and on the tops of the folds in a uniform. Without being too obvious, start looking at the clothes on your spouse or co-workers. You can learn a lot about placement of shadows and

highlights by doing this. Something that can help the appearance is to add some shadows and highlights to areas that aren’t so obvious. Large flat areas that are sculpted fairly smooth can tend to look a little bland. Adding some subtle shadows and highlights in these areas can give them some character.

Painting for Average

“Painting for average” is the term I use to describe applying the base color I’m painting an area. I’ll paint the entire area I’m going to work on and then I’ll “stipple” it to ensure that I’ve applied the right amount of paint to get good coverage. (See Figures 9 & 10)

Applying Shadows

I like to paint my shadow before I do my highlights. I begin by painting in a streak of my shadow mix into the folds where the shadows will appear. Don’t add too much of the shadow color just yet. As you proceed, you can add more to get the contrast that you want. Once you’ve painted in the shadows, you need to blend them into the base color. To do this, I usually use a flat brush with slightly stiff bristles. Take the brush and begin gently stabbing at the surface, just in the areas of the folds. This will start to blend the shadow color with the base color. Be careful though, too much blending and the contrast can disappear. Something that helps the appearance of a figure is to add shadows around the seams of the uniform. Areas like where the pockets are sewn on and where the sleeve joins the body of the jacket. This is called outlining. Most of you are used to doing this using washes. To do this with oils, just paint a thin line of your shadow color in these areas. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Then using a good “flat” brush with fairly stiff bristles that still come to a good edge, gently “push” the shadow color into the seam area. This will put most of the shadow color into the deepest area of the seam and also will cause the base color to blend down meet to it. After finishing the shadows, stipple the paint. You shouldn’t see too many brushstrokes now but this will eliminate any that are there. But be careful here! You don’t want to blend away all that work you just did applying your shadows.(See Figures 11 & 12)

Applying Highlights

I like to paint my highlights last. Instead of dry brushing on the highlights after the paint is dry, try this instead. Begin by painting in dots of the highlight mix on the tops of the folds where the highlights would appear. Don’t add too much of the highlight color just yet. As you proceed, you can add more to get the contrast that you want. (See Figures 13 & 14) And just like you added more shadows to the areas like the pockets, you want to add more highlights to these same areas. Apply dots or even streaks of the highlight color to the raised edges that represent the top edge of the pocket at the seam and blend these into the base color, but not into the shadow color. This works anyplace where the cloth would be folded to make a seam. Another place to concentrate on is where the sleeves meet the jacket. The cloth on a real coat in this area bends around at the seam and catches more light.

After finishing, stipple again. Make sure that your brush is very clean now. You don’t want to contaminate the highlights with your shadow color. And again, don’t overdo it or your highlights will disappear on you. But if this happens, just go back and reapply them. (See Figures 15 & 16) When you’ve reached this point, it’s time to let the paint dry. But first, take the figure into another room or even outside to look at it under different lighting. This can show you places that you may need to go back and work on some more.

Secondary Shadows and Highlights

After the paint is thoroughly dry, it probably looks pretty good to you. But by going back and adding secondary shadows and highlights, it can really give the figure a lot more character. To do this, just use your same shadow and highlight colors and apply a “glaze” of paint to the appropriate areas. You don’t want to add too much paint in this step. Just place dots of paint on the figure and gently spread them out where they belong. This gives them a glaze of paint over the main coat and increases the effects of the shadows and highlights. (See Figures 17 & 17A for shadows and Figures 18, 18A & 18B for highlights)

Conclusion

Well, that’s about it. Just some of the basic techniques you can use to start working with oil paints. Like anything else in our hobby, it takes practice to achieve the results that you are happy with. Oil paints aren’t for everyone. I’ve seen figures at shows done in acrylics with effects that are just mind blowing. I’ve read the articles available on acrylic techniques and while I understand them, I know that they’re just not for me. I love my oils and can’t see changing in my future. I sincerely hope that those of you who are interested in working with oils have found this useful. Good luck, Craig

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Armorama.com :: Mixing Oil Paints by Craig Whitaker

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Introductions

Recently in the Figure Forum, Tin Can requested a list of color mixes that people use for painting with oil paints. When I responded with some of the mixes I have used, he suggested that I submit it to Armorama as an article. What I have done here is add photographs of the figures that have the listed color mix. This is only what worked for me. There are a lot of better painters out there with a lot of better ideas. The term “paint for average” means that I paint the entire area with this color mix. Then, while the paint is wet, I paint in the shadows and blend to suit. Then I paint the highlights and blend to suit. After the paint is dry, I sometimes go back and redo the shadows and highlights, using a very small amount of the same paints and get more of a “glazing” effect. I haven’t listed quantities or proportions for mixing because I don’t keep track of them. I just keep mixing until it looks right to me. Sometimes a mix will look fine on the palette paper, but look terrible on the figure. When this happens, I try to fix it on the figure by adding small dots of the needed color and blending it throughout. If that doesn’t work, I just wipe it off and start over. I hope you all enjoy it. - Craig Whitaker

Note: Unless noted, all paints are Winsor & Newton.

Copyright ©2002 - Text and Photos by Craig Whitaker. All Rights Reserved.

Dark Blue Grey (helmet) A: Undercoat with black (can be acrylic). B: Mix Payne's Grey with T. White to a dark blue/gray. Paint for average. C: Paint shadows with straight Payne's Grey. D: Add more T. White to mix “B” to a medium blue/grey. Highlight with this mix. German Field Grey A: Undercoat with your favorite Field Grey model paint (I used Andrea brand) B: Mix the following colors and paint for average: Mix Blue/Black, Winsor Blue & Cadmium Yellow to a medium dark blue green shade. Lighten with T. White to match undercoat. C: Shadow with Blue/Black. D: Highlight with T. White Note: Blue/Black is a paint from W&N, not a mix of 2 paints.

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Armorama.com :: Mixing Oil Paints by Craig Whitaker

About mongo_mel (Craig Whitaker) FROM: PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES

I've been building models since I was a kid back in the '60s. I did everything imaginable until the mid '80s when I decided to try and get serious about it. Like most of us, I credit the Shep Paine diorama sheets found in Monogram kits for my inspiration. When I made this decision, it was armor all ...

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Copyright ©2005 by Craig Whitaker. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Armorama. All rights reserved.

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Armorama.com :: Color Mixing with Oils: Part 2 by Craig Whitaker

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Color Mixing with Oils: Part 2 by: Craig Whitaker [ MONGO_MEL ] [ ALL BY THIS AUTHOR ]

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Color Mixing Chart Part 2: Flesh tones

This article is a collection of the various mixes I’ve used over the years for painting flesh tones on my figures. I can not take credit for coming up with any of these mixes. They are ones I’ve learned of through various articles, Shep Paine’s painting class and from several friends in the hobby. The most I’ve done is make some minor changes in quantities or color shades to suit my preference. I’ve had varying degrees of success with each mix. Each has good and bad points. I’ve listed them in the order that I used them, earliest to latest. The latest is my favorite so far. I’ve included pictures that show my results with each mix. Everything listed here represents something I tried on at least 1 figure. This is only what worked for me. There are lots of better painters out there with lots of better ideas.

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Armorama.com :: Color Mixing with Oils: Part 2 by Craig Whitaker

I hope that you find this article useful and enjoyable. Craig “Mongo Mel”

Note: Unless noted, all paints are Winsor & Newton. Also, The Gold Ochre listed should not be confused with either Gold Ochre Transparent or Yellow Ochre. The term “paint for average” means that I paint the entire area with this color mix. Then, while the paint is wet, I paint in the shadows and blend to suit. Then I paint the highlights and blend to suit. After the paint is dry, I usually go back and redo the shadows and highlights, using a very small amount of paint and get more of a “glazing” effect. I generally haven’t listed quantities or proportions for mixing because I don’t keep track of them. I just keep mixing until it looks right to me. Sometimes a mix will look fine on the palette paper, but look terrible on the figure. When this happens, I try to fix it on the figure by adding small dots of the needed color and blending it throughout. If that doesn’t work, I just wipe it off and start over.

Copyright ©2002 - Text and Photos by Craig Whitaker. All Rights Reserved.

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About mongo_mel (Craig Whitaker) FROM: PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES

I've been building models since I was a kid back in the '60s. I did everything imaginable until the mid '80s when I decided to try and get serious about it. Like most of us, I credit the Shep Paine diorama sheets found in Monogram kits for my inspiration. When I made this decision, it was armor all ...

READ MORE

Copyright ©2005 by Craig Whitaker. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of Armorama. All rights reserved.

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Armorama.com :: Color Mixing with Oils: Part 2 by Craig Whitaker

www.armorama.com | armorama.co.uk | www.kitmaker.net

Other Languages: Deutsch | Español | Français | Nederlands | Português | •••••• | Svenska | Türkçe

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