Painting

Before i start painting i need to do some paint test in photoshop, for my insperation i have looked first at nature looking at the skin colour of rhinos and the changes in colour around the lips, there is a pinking of the lips , also the way the colour changes on different areas of the body.
but the only problem with working out the skin colour of rhinos is that they are often covered in dried mud and this effects how their skin looks.

i have also looked at other animals such as chimpsanzies, urangutans, for the colourisation on the face and hands, lizards and illustrations and models of dinosaurs for insperation for colour of textured skin.

I also look at creature and characters from films such as Wink and many more from Hellboy 2,
the creature from starwars, lord of the rings, gremlins and many others

This colour mockup was done using photoshop,

above is another photoshop mockup of a colour scheme, i have done several more that range from darker to lighter i prefer the brown/yellow colour compared to the blue grey colour scheme.

Painting is an area i have less confidence compared to sculpting, i have done much more sculpting than painting and even less airbrushing. i have looked at several ways to go about painting, from flicking the paint on with a cut down paint brush to airbrushing small worms of colour.

i have chosen to try as many different methods of painting as i can so as find the techniques that i like the best obviously some techniques produce superior results than others.

i have researched FX artists such as Steve Wang who is famous for his highly skilled paint jobs, Jordu Schell and many more. Steve Wang in particular has very systematic way of painting, he first designs the paint scheme on paper or computer, he then write a colour break down of what colours to use and in what order, how the different colours wil react with each other. He then uses a techneque called under painting, he starts with a base coat then paints a selection of different tone over that creating a motling effect, he then paints the vains and such. then he paints coat of colour the same as the base coat to tie it altogether and depending how thick that layer is sprayed on he can adjust the translucentcy of the skin in different areas. most of this is done using and airbrush. the role of the painter is to enhance what is already there it is to show off to sculpture.

Steve Wang painting the Predator suite his painting style was copied so much it was known as Steve Wang paint job


other people dont use an airbrush as much and choose to stipple, sponge and flick paint on to create a mottling effect, i have used these techneque before when painting silicone.
this is my paint testing piece of sculpy where i try out colour test and different painting techneques.

after the tests its on to the final painting job, i first started with a base coat


after the base coat a dark coat of brown is sprayed into the shadowed areas.

i then added some highlighted areas. using light browns yellows and some flesh tones.

I then started adding a mottling effect by spraying little worm like patterns all over.


the first few colours were very brown and yellow so i tried to put some blue into it but it ended up being too blue.

i tried to add in some yellows. this is when it started to go all wrong.

this is when i desided to change tactics and start to flick paint on with a chopped down 1inch laming brush, i used yellows and browns to try and dull down the blue grey that was dominating the overall colour.
it was all looking too light and yellow so i darkened it up with browns and started to bring out some of the forms in sculpt.

there is still a lot to do and this run down is making it sound very simplistic and straight forward but there was lots hard work done to try and create the right colours and to paint it in such a way that it would enhance the sculpt and not be distracting in turms of colours but enough detailing and textureing to create interest in the viewing of it. i had problems with the colour looking a little green in certain light conditions and even though i had three lamps, one a daylight bulb and an over head light, it still wasn't bright enough. so when i brought the model out into the proper daylight the colours would look alot different then in the room i was painting in, creating a frustrating situation.

over all the painting has been a huge learning experience and if i had more time i would like to start over again, even though i am pleased with final result there are a few things that i am not happy with.