First attempt at figure building/painting.

Gavalaar1980

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Hi all,

Firstly I'm not a regular poster on here because I don't get the time due to a busy working and home life. On average I only get time to build 2 models a year!
This is my first ever figure build and paint job. It's a Tamiya 1/16 scale German ww2 machine gunner. I did the painting according to the instructions and didn't deviate with colours etc. I really enjoyed the build, it took about 2 months and was overall fairly satisfied with the end result. I'm planning on doing another figure next so would appreciate some pointers as to where I could possibly improve on painting etc?

Kind regards,

Gavin.20210828_151611.jpg20210828_151621.jpg20210828_151633.jpg20210828_151701.jpg20210828_151709.jpg20210828_151728.jpg20210828_151600.jpg
 

adt70hk

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Nicely done Gavin for your first attempt.

ATB

Andrew
 

Tim Marlow

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Nice clean job on him. Well done. The eyes have come out very well, especially for a first attempt.
As to pointers for the next one, I suppose it comes down to where do you want, or think you need, to improve? There are a great many ways to paint figures. In turn, these give a great many different results, all of which are valid. There are some excellent figure painters on here, and I’m sure they will all help you achieve your goals. I would concentrate on a couple of things you want to improve on and ask for help to achieve those aims….
 

Jim R

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.......and was overall fairly satisfied with the end result.
And so you should be. That's a neat, well painted figure. Especially well done for a first attempt.
I'm certainly no figure painter but I think the boots and the bottom of the coat could be dirtied up a bit. Just some earth coloured pigment or powdered chalk pastel on an old brush and rubbed onto the boots and coat bottom.
I look forward to your next figure.
Jim
 

Gavalaar1980

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Nice clean job on him. Well done. The eyes have come out very well, especially for a first attempt.
As to pointers for the next one, I suppose it comes down to where do you want, or think you need, to improve? There are a great many ways to paint figures. In turn, these give a great many different results, all of which are valid. There are some excellent figure painters on here, and I’m sure they will all help you achieve your goals. I would concentrate on a couple of things you want to improve on and ask for help to achieve those aims….
Thank you. Yeah that's right, I guess it boils down to how much extra detail you want to add. I was thinking about painting the tunic buttons but was apprehensive about making a mess of it so kinda went with 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it!'.
 

Gavalaar1980

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And so you should be. That's a neat, well painted figure. Especially well done for a first attempt.
I'm certainly no figure painter but I think the boots and the bottom of the coat could be dirtied up a bit. Just some earth coloured pigment or powdered chalk pastel on an old brush and rubbed onto the boots and coat bottom.
I look forward to your next figure.
Jim
Thanks Jim.

Yeah I thought about adding some realism, such as weathering. However, I sometimes think that if you keep adding detail you might make a mistake and I didn't want to potentially ruin a good job. Would need to practice weathering on a dummy model first. The key to modelling is not to rush the job plus I'm methodical by nature. Feedback appreciated. G
 

adt70hk

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Gavalaar1980

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Tim Marlow

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Painting the tunic buttons and other detail needn’t be too daunting Gav. Painting figures isn’t a one shot deal. If you go “over the lines” a bit you can always use another layer of the coat colour (or whatever the base colour is) to cut them back to size. As long as your paint layers are thin ( yours look fine, by the way) you won’t obscure detail.
 

Steve Brodie

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It all depends on how far you want to go with the figues, however one thing that can make a huge difference is in the eyes. Never use pure white for the eyeballs, use a very pale grey of off white, very pale skin tone. try and paint a thin dark line on the top of the eyeball and then a light pink line around the bottom eye lid, and in 1/16th scale try and add a pupil and then a highlight spot.

head-3.jpghead-2.jpghead-1.jpg
 

Gavalaar1980

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Painting the tunic buttons and other detail needn’t be too daunting Gav. Painting figures isn’t a one shot deal. If you go “over the lines” a bit you can always use another layer of the coat colour (or whatever the base colour is) to cut them back to size. As long as your paint layers are thin ( yours look fine, by the way) you won’t obscure detail.
Yeah, that's right, I did go over the lines once or twice and simply touched it up again with the relevant top coat colour. I must say it's addictive this figure building, the end result is most satisfying. I've already ordered my next project!

Thanks for the tips. G
 

Gavalaar1980

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It all depends on how far you want to go with the figues, however one thing that can make a huge difference is in the eyes. Never use pure white for the eyeballs, use a very pale grey of off white, very pale skin tone. try and paint a thin dark line on the top of the eyeball and then a light pink line around the bottom eye lid, and in 1/16th scale try and add a pupil and then a highlight spot.

View attachment 432642View attachment 432643View attachment 432645
What scale are the above samples? They are incredibly detailed. To get good eye detail some ultra small brushes would be needed? Regarding the pure white it's because I didn't deviate from Tamiyas paint scheme on the model box; I assume it's common practice to use aftermarket acrylics from other manufacturers to get a perfect desired colour? I guess that's the difference between a good painted figure and a really elaborate, stunning figure! Got another Tamiya 1/16 on order with a camouflage pattern next, which will be an interesting challenge...1/16 is my preferred scale.

Thanks for the advice. G
 
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Tim Marlow

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Hi mate
You don’t necessar need a small brush, a bigger brush (size one or so) with a very good point actually gives better control as the paint doesn’t dry quite so quickly in the bristles.
 

Steve Brodie

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they are different sizes
blondie is 1/9th, pilot is also 1/9th yuri is 1/10th. A small brush is actually a disadvantage at times, a size 1 or 0, the brush needs to be good quality thoug. With a small brush the paint may dry on the bristles before you get it near the figure (acrlyics) oils tend to be okay. your figure is very good for your first attempt. but if you want to get into figure painting you need different tones of flesh.

this 1/10th bust face has been painted in oils and has about 8/9 different flesh tones added plus some greens and blues into it as well. that's after it has been airbrushed with green and cream to see the shadows and highlights, but I have been doing this 'serioulsy'for about 18 months now.

Screenshot_20210831-204230_Flickr.jpg

it just takes practice, practice and practice.


anything else please just ask always happy to help where I can.
 

JR

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I'm certainly not a figure painter, but looking at your work think you should feel good about it. It's all down to practice, and learning from mistakes, or should I say learning from different ideas.
 

gothicgeek

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Excellent and tidy work for your first figure!
I'd advise going over to something like vallejo model colour or citadel paints next time as they are much nicer for brush painting.
As said it's the point of the brush that's important and not overloading it.
Figure painting is a steep learning curve but the effort pays back and you'll improve with each one!
Happy painting!
 
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