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I've read all of the citadel/gw guides to painting faces on models. I just can't seem to get it right. I use good brushes. I thin down my paints to avoid loss of detail. I blend. I wash. It just never looks right. The best result I've has thus far was a couple flesh tones with a Angrax Earthshade wash. I know that I'm doing something wrong but can't figure out what that is.

That being said, would anyone be so kind as to direct me to a guide or give me some tips. I'm sure someone has asked this before.


Thank You Kindly.

What level are you going for?

Ignoring drying times the following produces a good enough effect for very little effort or time so is good for large units:

Foundation flesh, drybrush bone, purple ink the eye sockets (and mouth if open, then paint teeth white). Wash the face brown, paint eyes white, blob earth brown on each eye for pupils (generally leave no white above or below the blob) then maybe a thin glaze of red on the eyes.

Perhaps you could post pics of your failed attempts so we can see where you might be going wrong?

Edit:

OH! and eye brows! Don't forget to freehand on some eyebrows, these make a massive difference!

Edit2: did some internet stalking and found some of your other stuff... gotta say I can't imagine you achieving results worse than the above technique would produce...

I'm not sure what level you mean. I think I'm going for....respectable? ..........As in hopefully better than a third grader with finger paints.

Here are two examples from my gallery. The picture isn't fantastic but it does show how....pale and dead my faces look.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/514054-BA%20Flesh%20Tearer%20Assault%20Sgt.html

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/478476-Blood%20Angels%20Banner%20Honor%20Guard.html

I would be extremely thankful for any advice to improve my work. Faces and power weapons are my big weak spots in painting skill.

Yea, I see what you are saying. If you look in the mirror, and are quite as rough as me, you will see the sockets are purple below the eyes, the cheeks and mouth tend to be redder, these are the colours you need to try bring to the model to make the face look less monochrome. Apparently adding a little blue/green to the temples works well too. You can add these colours to the base skin tone and paint it onto the areas in thin layers to help add colour to the face. Maybe give em a red nose too, but the trick is to be subtle!

Sadly the human eye/brain is really good at analysing faces compared to most stuff, which is probably the source of your problem, rather than a lack of ability to paint faces... basically you are no worse at painting faces than you are anything else, you are just better at scrutinizing them . Hopefully knowing this makes you feel a bit better .

I did a couple of edits to my first reply so check back in case you missed them.

The purple ink in the eye sockets does work really well; it mimics the natural darkness of the eyes and creates a good light/dark contrast between the socket/eyeball.

I like this face painting tutorial from Buypainted.

@Nareik:

Yes, I saw your edits. Thank you for the encouragement and ideas!
I don't feel that a pale face is always bad for marines as some have fleet based chapters that may not see real sun for years at a time. It just feels like a crutch I need to get past. I want to do DE some time soon but that won't be possible if I can't even nail normal skin tones.

@Yonan:

Thank you for the link. I don't have/use an air brush but plan to some day. That might prove useful in the future.

Highly recommend it if you're going to stay in the hobby. Not only does it speed up a lot of things and open up new painting options... it's a lot of fun to use : ) Can get a setup for ~$100-$150 that will see you sorted. But I'll stop preaching now ; p

Eh, it isn't preaching if I already know the good news and plan to invest within the next year or two.

I have serious power weapon glow envy......

Don't you think your pale face style might actually be pretty appropriate for Dark Eldar?

Yes, but I see a lot of DE models with blues or purples in their skin. I want to go more that route at some point.