Highlighting AP Tanned flesh

[perponcherParticipant 20xp 2]

Hi

I’m tying to start painting again after never really starting with it :). I thought I’d start with practicing on two green army men. I’ve searched for a paint scheme and applied it. All Vallejo colours except for the flesh which is Army Painter Tanned flesh. The choice for the tanned flesh comes from a tutorial Warlord Games offers. In that tutorial they use AP TF as base coat, apply quickshade, then highlight again with AP TF and a final highlight with Vallejo basic fleshtone.

Yesterday I tried applying a highlight of Vallejo basic fleshtone after applying the quickshade. I tried it on the nose, ears   and knuckles but the contrast was just too big. Almost like a white nose on a dark background. I immediately went over it with AP TF to “save” what I already done. I noticed that there was little to no colour difference between the AP TF that had a coat of quickshade and the new layer I applied. I left one of the ears with the basic fleshtone layer to see the result and ask for advice.

I must say it looks better now its dry compared to when I was applying it.The cheecks had a layer of basic fleshtone which I.ve now covered again with TF. If you compare it with the back of the head you can see that there’s no difference. The ear still has the basic fleshtone.

Should I just try again with the basic skintone on the nose and knuckles and wait for it to dry, should I mix some white with the tanned flesh or something else?

I gave up applying any other highlights on the uniform.

Here are the two before I tried highlighting:

[maledrakhParticipant 11996xp 1]

That is a very good start. The colours are neatly placed where they are supposed to be, and not streaky or globby at all.

I would suggest you wait for the paint to fully dry before moving on. Many colours seem much brighter when still wet, also the interaction between what is beneath the latest coat and the fresh coat of usually not quite opaque paint does not show properly until dry.

Also, if you paint onto other paint that is still not dry, you will probably ruin the texture and get streaks and patches as the paint beneath is disturbed. Much like trying to lift a frying egg off the pan when the thin bits have started to go white but the rest is still runny. You inevitably get scrambled eggs. The same happens to semi-wet paint when disturbed,

Thin your paints a bit with water if you are not already doing so. Thin paint will make for nicer gradients but might need several coats to show properly, depending on what effect you are after.

 

 

[nighthaunter666 3309xp 1]

If you want a more subtle highlight, try mixing the fleshtone with some tanned flesh, so you have a halfway point between the two. use that on the raised areas quite liberally, then add more fleshtone to your mix to go lighter still, and apply that very sparingly on the top-most points.

Good choice using your army men to experiment, it means there’s no need to panic because you can try anything without losing anything precious.

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