Yes , I need to improve my figures, seen lots of videos but there is nothing like a step by step book that you can go back over as you attempt to paint .
Any suggestions. Thanks .
Any suggestions. Thanks .
Figure painting books
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Isitme
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'Painting Miniatures' by Danilo Cartacci (in English)
'Painting Miniature Military Figures' by Mike Davidson ISBN: 0-88740-625-4
The only other item I can reccomend is a corset with strings and the book 'How to make yourself into a human yo-yo' by S. T. Rungup....
Hippity hop.
I have quite few books in my library John. What exactly are you looking for from the book and how far do you want to take this? Are you looking for general information, or a step by step for a certain type of figure? Do you want colour mixes for certain types of uniform? To be honest, a good place to start would be the Vince Ventruella hobby cheating series on YouTube. He is a good communicator, and demonstrates all his tips and tricks. The colour exploration series is particularly useful, as are the editions on thinning paint and brush control…..Even though his chosen subject is fantasy based, figure painting is figure painting. Any book by Bill Horan is worth the entry fee as well. The “painting war“ series are good, having very useful information on colour mixes based on the Vallejo range. I have quite a few others, as I say, so just shout out…
Thank you Mike , I shall look those two up, the third is on the band list I fear
Hi Tim , thanks for coming back .
More the step by step guide to how to paint, esp any book mentioning Vallejo and acrylics. Those that show the build up of thin coats , and how to do shading . Suppose any figure type is ok , as long as it's 1/35 . Mine would be of course military and a few civilians.ok I think on the uniform , it no so much what colour but the method .
I have only one book but it is, I think, very comprehensive as it also shows modeling techniques as well as SBS painting. Osprey Publishing's: Modelling Waffen SS Figures by Calvin Tan......sorry JR, no Rooskie books.
Hoppity Boppity Boo!!
Rick H.
Hoppity Boppity Boo!!
Rick H.
Good face painting SBS here John…you should be able to download and print it.
Painting Faces in Acrylics | planetFigure | Miniatures
Jaume Ortiz paints 70mm face with acrylics in this classic planetFigure article.
www.planetfigure.com
Another good SBS here. It’s a larger scale figure, but that shows the technique more clearly…..and he’s a Russky!
Painting with Acrylics by Fernando Ruiz | planetFigure | Miniatures
Fernando Ruiz paints Yury Serebryakov's Castle Miniatures 200mm Bolshevik Volunteer Bust in acrylics
www.planetfigure.com
Jack L
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Hi John,
I have “Crew School” by David Parker (who also wrote the “Super King” book. I have found it really useful, and not limited to painting either, step by step on how to improve and modify figures, as well as sculpting from scratch. If you want me to send you any examples of the pages, let me know and I will PM them.
Jack
I have “Crew School” by David Parker (who also wrote the “Super King” book. I have found it really useful, and not limited to painting either, step by step on how to improve and modify figures, as well as sculpting from scratch. If you want me to send you any examples of the pages, let me know and I will PM them.
Jack
As a primer on where to put paint and why that book is excellent. I don’t have it, but nearly wore out the Salisbury library copy ……. It doesn’t help for acrylic layer technique though
I use acrylics almost exclusively now, except for flesh on the 75mm scale figures I do. I still find the book handy for shading placing etc. It still gets perused on a regular basis, even after 20 years or so.
John.
John.
Jim R
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Hi John
Figure painting This may be useful. 
Jim
Shouldn't this thread be under "Other Interests and Hobbies" 
Figure painting
This may be useful. Jim
Shouldn't this thread be under "Other Interests and Hobbies"
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Hi Rick and thank you, noted.I have only one book but it is, I think, very comprehensive as it also shows modeling techniques as well as SBS painting. Osprey Publishing's: Modelling Waffen SS Figures by Calvin Tan......sorry JR, no Rooskie books.
Hoppity Boppity Boo!!
Rick H.
Thanks Tim, very helpful. Will do .
That's a stunning figure, very tempting as well .
Yes please Jack, I'd be grateful.
Hi John, keep seeing his name cropping up, even after all theses years.Thank you. Seen it on Amazon from £ 23 upward .
Yes Jim, how nice, I'll show it to Christine later and report back .Hi John
Figure painting
View attachment 438973
Jim
Shouldn't this thread be under "Other Interests and Hobbies"
OK, you asked for it John LOL……
This was the first real figure painters book I bought. I still think it is excellent, especially the sculpting section. The subjects are superbly painted, and are of a good variety. The paints used are exclusively Humbrols though, so unless you find it cheap, or want to delve into sculping, it’s probably not worth buying for what you want. It dates from 1994.
This is an early Osprey modelling title. It dates from 2006 and is OK. The face painting section is pretty good. Again though the paints are Humbrols with oils included. No acrylic layering here. I would think the techniques shown were getting old even when it was published.
This one was published in 2004, which is a bit strange. It predates the Panzer crewmen volume by two years, but is about fifteen further on in the series? Anyway, this one uses acrylics. It gives colour mixes for the patterns and models used, which is useful. It is a pretty standard text but does include good primers on camouflage patterns.
Going forward a decade here, published in 2013. This is probably what you are looking for…..well illustrated. Decent explanation, and colour call outs for all main WW2 combatants, including the French. The Russian section contains info on both summer and winter uniforms.
I‘lol split the posting and conclude in a new post….just in case the info becomes overwhelming….
This was the first real figure painters book I bought. I still think it is excellent, especially the sculpting section. The subjects are superbly painted, and are of a good variety. The paints used are exclusively Humbrols though, so unless you find it cheap, or want to delve into sculping, it’s probably not worth buying for what you want. It dates from 1994.
This is an early Osprey modelling title. It dates from 2006 and is OK. The face painting section is pretty good. Again though the paints are Humbrols with oils included. No acrylic layering here. I would think the techniques shown were getting old even when it was published.
This one was published in 2004, which is a bit strange. It predates the Panzer crewmen volume by two years, but is about fifteen further on in the series? Anyway, this one uses acrylics. It gives colour mixes for the patterns and models used, which is useful. It is a pretty standard text but does include good primers on camouflage patterns.
Going forward a decade here, published in 2013. This is probably what you are looking for…..well illustrated. Decent explanation, and colour call outs for all main WW2 combatants, including the French. The Russian section contains info on both summer and winter uniforms.
I‘lol split the posting and conclude in a new post….just in case the info becomes overwhelming….
Part two…..
This one dates from 2015 and is completely based on acrylics. It is a very good primer, despite the title. It works through all figure types, including horses, and works through most of the colour groups. I still refer to it for most figures. It has good basic recipes for hair and skin…..
Most of the techniques are still applicable to slightly larger figures, and there are a couple of bigger figures SBSd inside as well. Only thing is, the majority is based around historicals rather the WW2 stuff…..
These are a little different. The figures on the cover are 28mm, which shows the quality of the work. They are reference works with techniques included. The meat of the book is the painting notes for about twenty five miniatures of period within the title. They include full paint call outs in Vallejo colours. I only have these two but I think there are getting on for twenty in the series now, including the obvious Heer texts….I recommend them without prejudice. Very worth finding if they cover a subject you are interested in.
These are a little off the wall (I’m sure I have another but I can’t find it…). Great reference material for learning paint mixing (and about paint in general). They are obviously designed for oils, but acrylic and oils mix in the same way, and they are really cheap if you look around (I think the hints on mixing was free from the art shop).
Not sure why this is sideways? It’s fine in the viewer and was taken in portrait, not landscape? Anyway, it’s a reference work,not a “how to paint”, but is very useful and illustrates a point I want to make…..when painting figures, most people (me included a lot of the time) don’t use enough contrast. Look at the illustrations and see how the skin, clothing, and equipment is depicted! It helps that Troiani is a master painter and probably knows as much about his ACW period as anyone, but where and how to add highlights, and how dark to make the shadows, is superbly indicated in this sort of work. The paperback versions of this book are remarkably cheap for what they are!
Hope some of this is helpful John. I also have the Carrtacci book mentioned earlier in PDF, but don’t find it that useful. It’s more “look what I can do” than “here’s how”. Nothing wrong with that, he’s a great painter….but possibly not what you are after.
This one dates from 2015 and is completely based on acrylics. It is a very good primer, despite the title. It works through all figure types, including horses, and works through most of the colour groups. I still refer to it for most figures. It has good basic recipes for hair and skin…..
Most of the techniques are still applicable to slightly larger figures, and there are a couple of bigger figures SBSd inside as well. Only thing is, the majority is based around historicals rather the WW2 stuff…..
These are a little different. The figures on the cover are 28mm, which shows the quality of the work. They are reference works with techniques included. The meat of the book is the painting notes for about twenty five miniatures of period within the title. They include full paint call outs in Vallejo colours. I only have these two but I think there are getting on for twenty in the series now, including the obvious Heer texts….I recommend them without prejudice. Very worth finding if they cover a subject you are interested in.
These are a little off the wall (I’m sure I have another but I can’t find it…). Great reference material for learning paint mixing (and about paint in general). They are obviously designed for oils, but acrylic and oils mix in the same way, and they are really cheap if you look around (I think the hints on mixing was free from the art shop).
Not sure why this is sideways? It’s fine in the viewer and was taken in portrait, not landscape? Anyway, it’s a reference work,not a “how to paint”, but is very useful and illustrates a point I want to make…..when painting figures, most people (me included a lot of the time) don’t use enough contrast. Look at the illustrations and see how the skin, clothing, and equipment is depicted! It helps that Troiani is a master painter and probably knows as much about his ACW period as anyone, but where and how to add highlights, and how dark to make the shadows, is superbly indicated in this sort of work. The paperback versions of this book are remarkably cheap for what they are!
Hope some of this is helpful John. I also have the Carrtacci book mentioned earlier in PDF, but don’t find it that useful. It’s more “look what I can do” than “here’s how”. Nothing wrong with that, he’s a great painter….but possibly not what you are after.
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That’s funny, a few minutes ago I was explaining the reasons for that on another forum
It was taken with your phone or tablet, I assume, which means that the camera software doesn’t actually rotate the image to be the right way up but just adds a tag into the image’s metadata to indicate by how much to rotate the picture so it’s the right way up (according to the phone’s accelerometer). Forum software, though, tends to strip out metadata for privacy reasons, and the “this way up” tag can disappear that way as well.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that with an iOS/iPad OS device, if you upload the photos at less than full size, it always ends up landscape — whereas if you upload rotated images at full size, they stay the right way up.
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They were reduced in size, so that’s the reason Jakko. All the pictures were taken the same way up using the same kit. It was just these two that needed compressing to fit in with the file size rules.
Well,Tim seems to have covered just about EVERYTHING there John!!
However,NOT the Osprey book which i was recommended a few years ago,and swear by it.......
Yes,i know it`s Fallschirmjager based,BUT,the tips/methods are applicable to all figures..... and SO clear with excellent narrative..... top stuff!!
HTHs,
Andy,(Love to Christine from us both too
).
However,NOT the Osprey book which i was recommended a few years ago,and swear by it.......
Yes,i know it`s Fallschirmjager based,BUT,the tips/methods are applicable to all figures..... and SO clear with excellent narrative..... top stuff!!
HTHs,
Andy,(Love to Christine from us both too
).
Wow and wow again, plenty to digest .There so much to learn and take in, but I'm determined to improve so thank you.
Hi Andy gave Christine the message and she sends hers backWell,Tim seems to have covered just about EVERYTHING there John!!
However,NOT the Osprey book which i was recommended a few years ago,and swear by it.......
View attachment 439030
Yes,i know it`s Fallschirmjager based,BUT,the tips/methods are applicable to all figures..... and SO clear with excellent narrative..... top stuff!!
HTHs,
Andy,(Love to Christine from us both too
. Watching TV and patiently waiting for me to finish the cooking !Thanks for the info , going to have a look at some of the publications from Osprey later.