JediDefender.com Forums
Collecting => Customs => Customizing Tips and Tricks => Topic started by: Gregorbian on March 31, 2006, 05:06 PM
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How do you guys go about painting facial hair on a custom? I've been trying to paint the 5 o'clock shadow on a Jango Fett mini-bust that I'm working on, but it comes out looking like he has grey dirt on his face. I didn't think I needed to sculpt anything because it's just stubble (and the 12" hasbro version was just painted on), but I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. Should I try to add some flecks of black and light grey to give it more depth?
Sorry for the lack of pics, I'll try to take some this weekend. I figured I'd try to see if there were any techniques out there for painting facial hair.
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You might try masking off the bust, leaving the 5oclock shadow area exposed .
Then at a distance use a spray can or air brush to "mist on" the stubble
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Hmmm... I don't know Gregorbian. Maybe try a mix of black w/ a skin tone color, and paint it very thin where the facial hair would be.
:P
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what I do is add texture by filing ( a small file or sandpaper) the area that I want to add facial hair to. I apply paint to the textured area and wipe away the access paint. The paint seems to soak into the area evenly..
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Hmm... I dunno if this helps or not, but I did stubble on a (non-Star Wars) custom with apple barrel acrylic paint once, by dabbing on little spots with a toothpick and then scratching them off to little specks carefully. I used a pin to do some of the scratching and to apply a few tiny dots here and there also.
Of course, an obvious effect of this is that if you handle the figure's head much the stubble will "reduce" because the rest of it chips off too, but the stubble's stayed on the figure I did it on a good 2 years now.
These other methods might work a little better though, especially depending on the size of your figure. The figure I did this on was 1:6 scale (12"), so...
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Gday Gregorbian
To paint 5 o'clock shadow all you have to do is get an old old brush that youreally don't want anymore and cut most of teh bristles of it till you only have about 1/2cm left on it.
This is going to be your whisker brush for now on, now get the paint you want to use and lightly dip the brush into the paint and and wipe away any paint onto a piece of paper in a back and fourth motion till it looks like that there is no paint left .
With the brush ever so lightly go over the facial area with the brush till you start to see the paint coming off you might have to do this a few times till you get the desired affect doing it this way will let you choose how light or dark you want the facial hair.
this is what it should look like if you want a lighter facial hair.
(http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hemble/starwars/imp1.jpg)
(http://www.zipworld.com.au/~hemble/starwars/imp2.jpg)
Ron
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Thanks for the replies guys!
Hemble - that's a great tutorial, I think I'll give it a try. I've got lots of old brushes to sacrifice... ;)
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Never really did any stubble on this scale, but once for a 28 mm figure I used a mix of flesh and grayish green. I wonder how it'd look on a 1/18 scale figure...
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artist charcol. they come in little rectangular sticks. not sure of the brand. i think it's used in shading or something. but it's good to use for facial hair, carbon scoring, exhaust, etc. you can use a trimmed paint brush, or some sort of make up sponge. just watch your finger you'll leave prints on pretty much everything you touch.
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I never thought of the charcoal, if I seal it with Testors Dull Cote will that prevent it from smudging after I apply it to the head?
Incidentally, the facial hair is for a custom mini-bust that I'm making (Jango w/out helmet), but these techniques sound like they're good for both 1:18 and 1:6 scale customs.
Thanks for the replies!
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yes once it's been sealed it doesn't rub off. although just for future references i've used the light grey charcol on a dark green vehicle to simulate scratching and what not and when i went to seal it, poof it just like went away. i don't if it was that something wet against a light charcol, but all the time and effort down the drain.