In a thread over on the conversions board someone asked if I'd write a tutorial for how I paint faces. This is that tutorial.
This tutorial is suitable for any Human models, and gives the skin a fairly toned, pinkish hue. Instructions for how to get a lighter, more northern-European skin tone are at the bottom of this post.
For this tutorial you will need the following paints (or their closest equivalent from other manufacturers)
- Rhinox Hide (formerly Scorched Brown)
- Ratskin Flesh (formerly Dwarf Flesh)
- Kislev Flesh (formerly Elf Flesh) -- optional
- Ushabti Bone (formerly Bleached Bone) -- optional
- Abaddon Black (formerly Chaos Black) -- optional
- White Scar (formerly Skull White) -- optional
Step 1Paint the whole face with Rhinox Hide.
Step 2Paint most of the face with a 50/50 mix of Rhinox Hide and Ratskin Flesh. You want to leave the Rhinox Hide in the deepest recesses of the face (e.g. around the eyes, inside the mouth if it's open)
Step 3Do a coarse highlight with a 33/66 of Rhinox Hide and Ratskin Flesh. This is the first true highlighting stage; you want most of the colour around the muscles around the mouth, the jawline, the cheekbones, and forehead. The hollows of the cheeks and creases around the mouth/lips can be left alone at this stage.
Step 4Do a finer highlight with a 25/75 mix of Rhinox Hide and Ratskin Flesh.
Step 5Final highlight with pure Ratskin Flesh. Focus on the nose, the cheekbones, the lips, and the brow.
Step 6 - Mouth DetailsFor an open-mouthed model, clean up the inside of the mouth with pure Rhinox Hide. Paint a very thin line for the teeth along the top of the mouth using White Scar (if necessary). Fill in the area around the eyes with pure Rhinox Hide as well.
Step 7 - Whites of the EyesPaint a thin line for each eye using Ushabti Bone. This step did not photograph well on this model. My apologies.
Step 8 - Iris/PupilPaint a thin black line through the centre of the whites of each eye. The line should intersect the top and bottom of the eye area, and should be roughly as wide as it is tall.
For the Librarian model pictured I skipped this step, as I liked the blind-eyed look of stopping with the previous step. However, Nicodemus here will demonstrate the concept, using blue instead of black for the iris. Nicodemus also features a larger face than most models, so he also got the white reflection painted on his iris for extra fun.
Chaplain Cassius also got the full eye treatment, with some additional underlining using Rhinox Hide to accentuate the crazy-eyes look
Optional StepsFor a lighter skin tone, like Captain Artemis' above, start with a base of Ratskin Flesh, and work up the highlights by adding more and more Kislev Flesh to the mix. The second-last hightlight will be pure Kislev Flesh, followed by a mixture of Kislev Flesh and White Scar.
Captain Artemis, featuring the lighter skin tone variationFor darker, more Mediterranean skin tones, simply add less Ratskin Flesh to the mix, and do a final highlight with a mixture that's the colour you like.
For very dark skin tones, start from Abaddon Black and add more and more Rhinox Hide to the mix.