Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I prime black, then paint the face a dark skin tone. After that dries it's a flesh ink wash, with one or two shades of a lighter skin colored highlight, depending on the level of tan I want (for the Salamander/African look I drybrush the dark skin tone back over the wash).

How do you do it?

EDIT: Added a few examples of WIP Rune Priest and Grey Hunters to show the skin.

If it's just a small amount of skin like a face or a hand I base debhan stone, highlight skull white then give it a was or two of ogryn flesh

I don't have the patience or skill to do a proper paint job, so I simply lay down the base flesh color, shade with Agrax Earthshade, drybrush/highlight with the base color again, then highlight with white or a lighter flesh color. Fast and easy.

Right now:

Prime White
Layer with Kislev Flesh
Wash deep recesses with the Reikland Fleshshade

Seems to work and look decent. However, all my helmetless models now look like they have a tan (seeing how they go helmetless anyway, that kinda makes sense...)

I've taken to a 'cooler' skin tone with a blue-ish hue lately. This technique is also extremely quick to batch paint and looks pretty good en masse.

Step 1) Paint over the whole skin area - Codex Grey + Tallarn Flesh 1:1
Step 2) Wash the whole area, or stick to the recesses - Ogryn wash + Leviathan wash 1:1 (thin it out with water or a medium if its too strong)
Step 3) You can leave it at that for standard troops or if you want a bit more detail, highlight with step 1.

Here's an are a few examples

Added a few photos of my WIP models to show my method of painting skin.

Thanks to masterdoobie for the pics!

I used to have several steps, but just tried out a new technique that works really well and is fast.

Similar to Dominiquekee's method:

Prime white

Ceramcoat (craft paint) Fleshtone Base

1-2 coats of Reikland Fleshshade/Ogryn Flesh.

Done.

Then I like to dot a bit of Agrax Earthshade/Devlan Mud in the eyes and deep recesses around the mouth and make sure to do a lining of either/or of the washes around the hair line.

This gives a nicely shaded, fair skin tone that works great for my SW, especially the gingers.

Here's an example:



I plan to try a similar technique using Ceramcoat tan flesh base, with both washes to see what the result is. I'm looking to do a darker skin tone, with a bit of tan to make an Asian skin tone for a samurai. Maybe a mix of white with a bit of Snakebite would work as a base for that.