Dave's Model Workshop: Video tutorial: How to paint 1/35 scale model figure faces

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Video tutorial: How to paint 1/35 scale model figure faces

Painting faces in 1/35 scale. A lot of armor modellers hate painting faces.

I know armor modellers who refuse to build dioramas or vignettes, purely because while they may be aces at painting and weathering a 60 ton tank, they cannot paint a tank crewman's face to save their life.

This is where my latest video tutorial comes in.

Last night I finished editing it. And it is a doozy - it came in at 20 minutes long. Now for some people that is waaaay too long for a Youtube video tutorial. So I also did a 60 second cheat sheet version.

I recorded these while painting the faces of the resin Soviet tankmen figures which arrived a couple of weeks ago.

In my video, I concentrate on working with my AK Interactive Flesh and Skin Tones acrylic paint set. I really do recommend this paint pack. I used to get average results with drybrushing of Humbrol enamel flesh tones, and I have also experimented with artists' oils, but I have always found mixing convincing skin tones a real challenge. When I first began using the AK Interactive set about six months ago, it was a revelation. The pre-mixed colours took so much of the frustration out of the equation. Now, if I do a bad job painting a face, it is purely down to my skill and I can no longer blame the paints!

I have included a link at the end of this post to where you can purchase this set at the lowest price on Amazon.

Below are some faces which I have painted with the set:

Painted 1/35 face of a Soviet officer

My German Afrika Korps tank commander.

DAK tank crew. The kneeling guy looks rather concerned.

I share some of my other secrets in my videos as well. So whether you dive in deep on the long masterclass version, or go for quick answers in the 60 second tutorial, I feel certain you will find something of use to help you improve your figure face painting.