Hi everyone. This is Lomi, and this week we're going to talk a bit about mixing and applying paint
to cover modifications. Some people use layers of chalk pastel, but paint always works better.
I've got some brushes for mixing, some paints and palettes.
I prefer to mix on a flat palette, but they're usually too big for me to hold comfortably.
An old CD will make a perfect mini-palette.
This one's one of the spacer disks at the top of a spool, and I like using it just because
it's kind of shiny and pretty. So when it comes to paint, you have two options.
You can mix from primaries--and yes, you need all three primary colors plus white for skin
tones--or you can mix from a flesh-colored paint.
The dolls I'm matching today have fair skin tones, but the same rules apply for darker resin. I have a
couple fair flesh-toned paints I keep on hand, but you can see the color in them tends to be pretty intense.
The Tamiya paint is a really strong yellow orange, and the Citadel paint has kind of a purple undertone.
Both of these colors are way too dark to use on a doll as they are, so no matter what,
you're always going to have to mix to match.
Every company's resin is different, and resin changes color as it ages.
Comparing the paints to Vahn, my SID Claude, we can judge how we need to tone the paint,
using basic knowledge of colors.
Since the Citadel paint is too purple, we'd need to offset the color by adding yellow,
plus lightening it with white.
The Tamiya paint has the exact opposite problem as far as color temperature.
This means adding red to introduce pink, white to make it a lot lighter, and just a bit of
blue to counteract how yellow-orange it is.
I'll mix a flesh tone from one of those later, but first, we'll talk about mixing from primaries.
You can use any brand of paint for this, even 50 cent craft acrylics.
The rules for mixing are the same. You'll need a bit of each color.
The same amount of red and yellow, but about half as much blue.
You'll also need a lot of white, which will let us move through a wide range of skin tones.
I almost always make my tones too pink on the first try, so I keep a little extra yellow on the side.
If you've taken any art classes, you probably know that mixing all three primaries in equal
amounts gives you what an art teacher calls a homemade black.
It's never perfectly black, but it can get pretty close.
Mixing in more red and yellow gives you a deep, rich brown, which is the best starting
point for any flesh tone, since the melanin in human skin is different shades of brown.
I like to add a lot of white right away to see what tones I need to adjust.
I see that, as usual, I had more red in my mix than anything else, so I add
more yellow, and then start working more white into the mix, adjusting the balance of red
and yellow as I go.
In just a few moments, this gives us a variety of skin tones both light and dark that would
be wonderful for painting, but they still won't match a doll.
Vahn's resin is really pale, so I keep mixing and testing, trying the paint a little lighter every time.
Testing your paint mix on paper is important because acrylic dries darker, and paper wicks
the moisture away to let it dry quick.
The color you get on paper can be pretty different from what you see on your palette.
This part is always trial and error, but it doesn't take much paint, so enjoy the practice.
Mixing paint can be a lot of fun.
Once I've made a variety of fair tones, I compare my doll to what I've got and see he's
right between two colors and just a little lighter, so I mix those two skin tones together
and add a bit more white.
This creates a mix that looks perfect to the naked eye, which is always more trustworthy than cameras.
The next step is thinning the paint.
The consistency we want, whether airbrushing or applying the paint by hand, should be similar
to the consistency of milk.
This creates a thin wash, which is key to getting good results.
If you put the paint on thick, your brush strokes will show.
Instead, build the color up through several layers.
You can apply the paint with a brush, dab it on with cotton swabs, or use my favorite,
which is a sponge applicator designed for eye shadow.
Dab it on a bit at a time, letting the paint dry between each layer.
If too much paint pools on the part, you can absorb the excess with a cotton swab.
It's also important to make sure your paint mix doesn't separate while you're working,
since the pigment settles fast.
Here he is with two layers of paint...
Three layers of paint...
This is four layers of paint and I think he'll need one more.
While he dries, we'll go ahead and mix paint for airbrushing the next doll, using our flesh-toned acrylic.
I'll work with Citadel since I'm indoors.
Since Tamiya paints are solvent-based, they have fumes, so I don't like to use them around
my family or pets.
We won't need very much of the colored paint, just a few drops.
Since this mix is for an older doll, we want something lighter and a little more yellow
than what we mixed before.
I mix just a tiny bit of flesh-toned paint into white, adding a little yellow to even
out the purple tone. This gives us a good color right away.
I have a lot of airbrushing to do on this doll, so I'll need to mix more.
For this doll, he'll need almost his entire face airbrushed.
You can see he has a good bit of discoloration from sanding, and there's epoxy clay additions
on his cheeks that need to be covered.
This clay is a pretty mild gray, so I'm going to airbrush directly over it.
If it were a darker or brighter color, I'd probably start by airbrushing white acrylic
over the modifications to act as a primer and provide a more even base.
I move my mixed paint to a jar and thin it for airbrushing.
I set my airbrush pressure to about 25 PSI and then begin spraying paint.
Since this is my doll and I know he will always be covered with airbrushing, I apply the paint
directly to the resin with no sealant underneath.
Staining isn't a concern here since the color matches the original resin perfectly, but
when painting someone else's doll, it's always a good idea to seal thoroughly first to be
sure anything you put on will also be easy to remove.
It only takes one or two passes of the airbrush for the sanding marks to cover.
The cheeks will take more time, and each layer needs time to dry.
I'll try to focus on one side of his face to make this go faster.
After the third layer on this side, the gray epoxy is fading fast.
On the fourth layer, there's just a shadow left.
On the fifth layer, it's hard to tell if I'm seeing epoxy or just shadows cast by the planes
of his face. I'll add a sixth layer, just to be sure.
Once all the layers of paint are on--six layers for Rune's cheeks and five layers for Vahn's
ears--all that's left is letting them thoroughly dry, since the paint will remain shiny and
damp for about 24 hours.
After they've had time to dry, Rune's cheeks look like a perfect match.
The only shadowing left to be seen is the shadows cast by the natural angles of his face.
On Vahn's ears, the paint is just slightly mottled where it has been dabbed on in many
layers, but it's not noticeable unless you know what you are looking for.
Once he is blushed for his faceup, the paint job I applied by hand will be completely invisible.
So there we are!
Two modified dolls who are color matched and ready to go.
All that's left to do is seal the paint and then start their faceups.
Thanks for watching this time! Bye.