3 - Painting za Russkies: The Flesh

Step One for me is to paint in the whites of the eyes. This was done with a fine brush (obviously) and, depending on the face of the figure, either putting a small white dot on either side of the pupil area or by painting a small white line on either side of the pupil area. Either way works peachy. I am not worried about excess "whites of their eyes" or a bugged eye look as this will be blocked in later with some flesh colors.

At this point, the figures were very anxious to have their flesh applied, and there was much discussion among themselves as to what colors where going to be used.

Step Two is the first layer of flesh on the face and hands (and legs and arms, should they be visible). I like to use a reddish brown color here, some type of burnt sienna, red oxide brown, etc. I am using a Burnt Sienna color. I also use a small amount of Slow Dry by dipping the point of the brush into the inhibitor and mixing it with the paint on a palette (some plastic dish, bowl...something that will not absorb the paint).

This color is painted on trying to keep some of the black outlining provided by the primer at the edge of the flesh areas. Also, I blocked in the eyes at this time. I view this layer of paint as the "shadow layer", not the base coat. That will be next.

Step Three is the second layer of flesh. I consider this the base coat. This is either a mixture of the first color (reddish brown, etc.) and the highlight color (usually a normally labeled flesh color; you know the color...it really never looks like flesh) or a separate color. I chose the latter and am using Americana Shading Flesh. This layer is painted, again using the Slow Dry, and covers the majority of the flesh areas - being careful to leave a thin area of the first layer showing in a progression out from the black primer.

Make sense? Black Primer > Burnt Sienna > Shading Flesh > ....Highlight next! HooHoo!!

Step Four will be the highlighting of the flesh. (And there was much rejoicing. And they feasted on lambs and sloths. Or, as in the case with these Russians, chickens and vodka!) This was done with a light flesh color and is applied to the high spots of the flesh area (i.e., knuckles, nose, cheeks, chin, lips, possibly the eyebrows). Again, I use a small amount of Slow Dry. Several of the figures were given a "5 o’clock" shadow by using a dark bluish-black color thinned with Slow Dry. This was applied to the lower jaw area and the chin and upper lip areas.