Into The Woods part 2

STEP 2

I tend to work in distinct mid-tone/shading/ highlighting stages in only the most general way. It is a good way to get started but I usually just keep tweaking away at the paint job until I’m happy. I usually work on an area at a time for example the face, the shirt or the trouser. I will work each area up to a finished state before moving on to the next one. I almost always start with the face. It sets the whole tone and character of the model.
I don’t use an overall undercoat of any sort. That would just add another layer of paint to clog up the detail.
I have base coated the face in a dark flesh tone (a mix of dwarf flesh & scorched brown). Next I paint the eyes and this is the most fiddly/frustrating bit. I then start to build up the mid-tones and highlights to give some definition to the features. This usually involves lots of going back over and adjusting things to get a defined face.

 

 

STEP 3

I've further refined the face and built up finer sharper highlights. The final highlights really pull things together and help define the features. I work in lots of stages building up thin layers of diluted colour. The more stages the subtler the result. It is important to thin down the paint as acrylics can build up a rough grainy surface over successive layers and at such a small scale this gives a very crude appearance and clogs up the detail.
I have also blocked in the hair with scorched brown and then given it a wash of diluted black. I will probably highlight the hair later but I want to get an impression of the overall tonal/colour balance before I do that.