Painting Question

S

scotthm

Well-Known Member
I recently purchased one of Black Heart Enterprise's Bela Lugosi/Dracula wall-hangers as a Christmas gift for my brother. I hope to be able to get the painting finished before Christmas but we will see. I still have a long way to go and this is my first time trying a project like this so every session is an adventure.

My immediate question is how should I put just a hint of "five o'clock shadow" on Bela? My thoughts are either a light dusting of black chalk pastel, or a light overspray of transparent black acrylic paint. I really can't afford to mess up what I've already done so I need a method that's idiot proof, if possible. I've been using Liquitex acrylics and chalk pastels, with a few coats of Krylon Matte Finish thrown in for good measure.

Here's my progress so far:

lugosi-dracula_zpsa0c946e3.jpg

Also, I have no idea what I'm going to do when it comes time to paint the eyes (which I'm saving for last.) If anyone has any advice or a tutorial on painting eyes it would be GREATLY appreciated.
 
looks like you got a chore on your hands.
sadly there are no fool proof ways to paint....all you can do is try something till it works for you.
there are 1,000s of ways to do the 5 o'clock shadow but you won't know which one is the best until you try a few.
i like your idea of doing washes...but the first thing i thought was "i wonder why he doesn't go the other way around?!?" because your thinking of putting a wash over a base...but if it was me doing it i would have put a base of burnt umber or dark blueish green first and then did a transparent skin ton over it...then do washes over that to mix back into the regular skin tone. so we both would have done the opposite way of painting it....but that's just me.

i also found this picture which you can look at for the eyes.
P6240350.jpeg
 
ultraman said:
i like your idea of doing washes...but the first thing i thought was "i wonder why he doesn't go the other way around?!?"
Click to expand...
It's probably because I don't know what I'm doing. I like your suggestion and wish I'd thought of it before I started painting.

i also found this picture which you can look at for the eyes.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that image, it's fantastic. If I knew how to paint like that I'd be in good shape. :unsure

The more I think about it the more I think getting done by Christmas is not going to happen.

---------------
 
you still got this weekend...if nothing else is going on of course.
you could try your wash idea for the five o'clock shadow but do it really thinned out so you have more control of it not getting too dark too fast. it will just take more coats.

also the sculpt in my picture seems pretty dang close to yours except for the clothes...but i'm guessing the head is the same...if this is the case it looks like you could use some burnt sienna, mix with a little yellow and a little white then dry brush on the hair and eyebrows to bring out that highlight and the texture.

and in the eyes:
mix a light light blueish gray to put in the white of the eyes....then find a piece of red felt cloth....if you get some chunky super rough sand paper and drag it on the felt you get these little super thin red threads......now in the corner of the eye put some clear epoxy then take a pair of tweezers and put those red threads in and it makes it look just like real veins!! after your done painting in the pupils of the eyes and highlights gloss the whole eye over in that same epoxy and the eye will come to life keeping that wet look!
 
Thank you for the tip on the eyes. I hadn't even thought about how to get the look of veins in them, but I like your idea.

I've only got tomorrow evening and Saturday to work on it, because I'm heading out of town Sunday morning to visit family for the holidays. I've kind of given up on having it finished by then because I don't want to rush it and mess it up.

---------------
 
nice....you do awesome skin tones howlrunner! thanks for sharing!


Howlrunner said:
A wash for the 5 o'clock shadow will work fine. :) But make sure you do it VERY lightly as it's very, very easy to apply too much. Also, don't use black, use a blue/grey colour. I use Humbrol Steel Grey #87. You can see how it looks for the shadow on my paintups here (post #1): http://www.therpf.com/f62/terminato...-eyes-8-10-12-a-153929/?highlight=ash+paintup and here (post #15): http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=156669&p=2445576&viewfull=1#post2445576
Click to expand...
 
Howlrunner said:
A wash for the 5 o'clock shadow will work fine. :)
Click to expand...
So... that's what I did this evening. I made a wash using burnt umber, with a touch of blue and black. I followed that with a light overspray of transparent flesh tone.

My camera takes terrible pictures but here's what I have so far:

lugosi2_zpsa76aa47e.jpg

If I can get everything else but the eyes finished up tomorrow I'll be feeling pretty good.

I'm using Krylon Matte Finish to seal my work but for the final piece I'd like to have gloss and flat finishes on various parts too. Do you have any specific recommendations for those finishes? I think I'd like to have the option of either brushing or spraying the clear coats.

And again, thank you for the tip on using a wash because I think I was on the path to wrecking things.

---------------
 
OK, that last picture was taken at 2:00 AM when I was half asleep. After more work today this is what I have. I have more work to do on the clothing and of course I have to paint the eyes (which I'm really nervous about), but the work must stop until after Christmas.

lugosi2_zps1106bc8e.jpglugosi3_zps8c3996b4.jpg

Thank you ultraman and Howlrunner for your tips.

---------------
 
Laura28 said:
Hey guys, this is looking great, but was wondering if someone could explain what a "wash" is for me?!
it looks great!
Click to expand...

a wash is were you dilute a paint down to a super thin consistency some what like an ink or water color.
with acrylic paint you can dilute it down with water or with a gel medium.
when you paint it over an opaque paint it will let the color under it show through but slightly change the color depending on the color of wash you use.
 
Hello Scotth:
The paint job goes pretty well. I would recommend you make a little test, you can do it in a card board first to don´t destroy at all the paint job of Bela.
First apply the same base tone on the card board, when it will be dry use a very thinned down paint(oil colors, enamel, acrylics, alcohol acrylics inks, what ever), I prefer or acrylic inks thinned on alcohol, or acrylics thinned down with water. To make the shadow use black with a little bit of green, because the 5 o´clock shadow it is not completely grey. And using a thootbrush wet the brush and make a splatter effect rubbing your finger over the brush. You can get very subtle effects that way with tinny points
Hope this help,
Arturo
 
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, they were very helpful. I just about have this thing finished -- I still have to put another coat of black on the cape, paint the buttons, and epoxy over the eyes to make them shiny, but I'm pretty satisfied with the results. I hope my brother will like his (late) Christmas gift.

blugosi_zps37de454d.jpg

I just wish I had a better camera to photograph this with.

---------------
 
Here is a very old tip for when you epoxy the eyes, Put just the teeny tiniest drop of violet pigment into the epoxy and mix it in very well. It prevents the epoxy from clouding over or yellowing with time.
 
Thanks, that's exactly what I did. I watched a YouTube video after reading the tip upthread about using epoxy on the eyes and it was suggested there to use some purple/violet pigment. Here's a closeup of the eyes.

lugosi-eyes_zpsf8397931.jpg

And a view of the final product:

blugosi2_zps7ffc3d57.jpg

I gave this to my brother this evening and he loved it, which in the end is all that matters.

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