3 Colours Up Tips: Painting Faces & Hair on a Space Marine
January 9, 2013 by elromanozo
For some website features, you will need a FREE account and for some others, you will need to join the Cult of Games.
Or if you have already joined the Cult of Games Log in now
What difference will having a FREE account make?
Setting up a Free account with OnTableTop unlocks a load of additional features and content (see below). You can then get involved with our Tabletop Gaming community, we are very helpful and keen to hear what you have to say. So Join Us Now!
Free Account Includes
- Creating your own project blogs.
- Rating and reviewing games using our innovative system.
- Commenting and ability to upvote.
- Posting in the forums.
- Unlocking of Achivments and collectin hobby xp
- Ability to add places like clubs and stores to our gaming database.
- Follow games, recommend games, use wishlist and mark what games you own.
- You will be able to add friends to your account.
What's the Cult of Games?
Once you have made a free account you can support the community by joing the Cult of Games. Joining the Cult allows you to use even more parts of the site and access to extra content. Check out some of the extra features below.
Cult of Games Membership Includes
- Reduced ads, for a better browsing experience (feature can be turned on or off in your profile).
- Access to The Cult of Games XLBS Sunday Show.
- Extra hobby videos about painting, terrain building etc.
- Exclusive interviews with the best game designers etc.
- Behind the scenes studio VLogs.
- Access to our live stream archives.
- Early access to our event tickets.
- Access to the CoG Greenroom.
- Access to the CoG Chamber of Commerce.
- Access the CoG Bazarr Trading Forum.
- Create and Edit Records for Games, Companies and Professionals.
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Every time I watch one of these I think what an odd painting position it must be to do that under the close cam (see, I know all the technical terms). You’re doing a grand job Romain.
I’m amazed at how well the details show on the video… When I did this, I thought for sure no one would see anything ! And yes, @quirkworthy, it’s a bit weird painting away from yourself…
BoW Romain
Weird, i never noticed the lack of ears until you mentioned it.
Thanks for the eye technique, looks so much better than white with a black dot.
well, it’s barely anything more than white with a black dot, really… it’s white with a dot of the eye color you need, only a tad darker. You can get fancy and do a black dot in the middle of the clearer dot, and a white dot on the side of the iris/pupil… but on the rank and file space marine, it’s a bit of a waste !
BoW Romain
these days i tend to just paint a light brown wash for the eyes…stops figs at 28mm getting a bit “starey”. even with 54mm white eyes sometimes look off. I can see for a leader etc maybe giving it a go.
Nice looking job Romain
Very cool, I might have to use this technique for painting my friends Deathwatch marines for our RP group – they deserve some special attention lol. Awesome video again Romain.
really nice video but I would like to see maybe some closeup photos to show the final result
is this finished fig posted in minirama?? if its not…you know what to do
So would I ! It’s up to the editing team…
BoW Romain
yet another great vid Romain just quick question what is your normal base coating method?
You’ll see that in another tutorial… I’ve explained it also in my previous “full” tutorials…
Basically, you prime your miniature black, then you spray some gray on top, not everywhere but just on the “lit” surfaces, and then you spray just a little bit of white for the top highlights. It does for you half of your shading work !
BoW Romain
thx for the info Romain
Every time Romain. You blow my mind.
@elromanozo Very instructive video. Thanks for the tips.
I usually shy away from painting faces because I hate trying to paint eyes. I’ll have to give it a go now after watching this. First things first, I need to get new 0 brush and stop drinking caffeine for a day.
Thank you everyone for your amazing compliments !
The eyes of a space marine are materialized by a small bump in the eye-socket… some of them have eyelids, most of them don’t. Just paint the whole thing white and put the dot in… you can always re-paint the eyelids later on if you think they need it… Just don’t put white in the creases, that’s hellish to correct !
BoW Romain
I would say the base is about the same as Talian Flesh.
The video was really good I like the washes and the highlights made it come up so well I should try this exactly see how it comes out, I don’t think my faces are bad I just think it’s good to try everything.
Oh and another thing thats cool for marines is stubble, which I have found pretty easy by doing a 50/50 mix of the skin colour and that of the beard colour ussally I use a grey.
Well, the stubble tutorial is coming right up ! I swear, we have spies at the studio…
BoW Romain
Cool I look forward to it rather than doing my mugs job, here is to hoping my reeves hunter is not fond of shaving!
another great video and quite well timed as im painting an ultramarine from the black reach box.
how do you go about your basecoating? it looks like it gives great shadng to build upon.
See comments above… If you’re not satisfied with the explanation I wrote above, there’s a tutorial coming up…
BoW Romain
a stubble tutorial would be cool.
thanks for the faces.
also, would you recommend doing the face first? i tend to leave it until last and the miniature always feels dead before the face ties it all together
It really depends on your personal preference, @pangloss666… I like to paint my minis by layers, flesh first, then layers of clothes. It seems easier and more logical to me… Even though there are exceptions. And even then, I don’t usually work one part at a time : I do all basecoats first, then, very much according to the miniature and my own fancy, I alternate shadings and highlightings… This allows me to “see” the whole mini and harmonize the tones… But this is just MY way of doing things. I know lots of great painters (better than me, for… Read more »
I remember watching one of the GW Eavy Metal guys painting an Ultramarine character years ago. He sprayed it white and then painted the upper arm and shoulder pad to completion (and I mean proper high end job, none of your “tabletop” euphemism silliness) before touching anything else. Looked really odd to me, but he was comfy with it.
for what its worth i like starting with the face/flesh first…
I think its a painting outside in vs inside out thing?? sounds like a video to me 😉
Also not to sound patronising but your English is amazing Romain! You are more eloquent than myself and im a native speaker 🙂
Thank you, I try ! My accent isn’t the best, as I’ve picked up things from lots of countries, though. I am a professional translator (english and french), but not an interpreter.
BoW Romain
thankyou some nice tips
As always, excellent video! When I watch your painting tip videos I always get a sudden urge to paint… are you a witch?
As the poet says… I’m not a witch, I’m nothing you’ve heard ! But thank you…
BoW Romain
Hey Romain, Just wanted to personally thank you for these videos – they’ve really helped me improve my own painting – I used to be id say quite average and “ok”, but using your techniques has helped me improve and get better. Much appreciated!
Another great tutorial, Romain! Keep them coming…
2 things I’d like to hear your opinion on as it concerns this video. 1) You used a 0 brush, you say, though it looks quite like the 000 I’ve been using. Do you ever use smaller then a 0 when painting detail? and 2) Where do you stand on mixing mediums? Do you like them at all? P3? Vallejo? Just curious… 😉
Thanks @ironmonger, and thank you for your very interesting questions ! 1) The whole face was painted using only a 0 brush… A plastic face doesn’t need a finer brush, IMHO. But you can use any size you want if it feels more comfortable. As it happens, I sometimes use brush sizes such as 00, 000, 5/0 or even 10/0 if the details are extra small… but beyond 000 is overkill most of the time, and you can get to any small detail with a 000 brush, provided the point is fine enough. 2) Mixing medium is fine by me,… Read more »
Great video, looking forward to the basing one
Who is the fantastic person that selected dark angels for these tutorials I love the termie arms hehe, fantastic work Romain, wish I had a steady hand like that
Oddly enough, shakey hands aren’t an obstacle to painting great miniatures… But I appreciate the sentiment !
As for the Dark Angels, they were selected for this tutorial through a rigorous process patented by the BoW team, known as WWHOHITS (pronounced “who hits”), acronym for “What We Had On Hand In The Studio”…
BoW Romain
@elromanozo My main problem is keeping the brush steady enough to do the eyes justice I use a 000 brush but I can’t get the same effect as you, are there any tricks of the trade for cheating your way to good eye effects?
Great for Marbo.