Advice On Paints For Latex Mask! I'm An Idiot!

[SavageIntellect]

OK, so at the risk of being chewed out by veteran members, i am starting this thread looking for advice on paint.  Let me start by saying that if i am posting in the wrong place or am in any way violating protocol, i apologize, as i am new member of the lair (i have been reading and following for almost a year).  

That being said, i must ask, what paint should i use?!?!  I recently completed my first clay sculpt of a predator, created the mold, and successfully pulled one latex mask.  Now, i have to paint it... (i have an airbrush.  Badger 200)

I have scoured not only this site but the internet in general for weeks and have found tons of mixed, conflicting, and downright confusing advice from every direction.  Some say latex paint, some say latex base mixed with ink, some say mixed with acrylic paint.  Some people tell me to mix acrylic with rd407 and dilute with water.  I have heard liquitex, i have heard prosaide, i have heard permawet... and though i know what most of these things are, i don't know what order they go in, or what exactly they are used for.

Anyway... I feel like I'm asking for a lot, and if there is a huntorial somewhere around here please let me know (i have been looking for some time), but is there any way that someone with a bit of experience can run me through how to paint my latex mask?  what i need, and what order to apply the products.  If so i would greatly appreciate it, and i think it would be a great addition to the lair for other noobs out there like me who don't want to screw up their first mask.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[paitan]

I used oil paint+art gum (rubber cement)+naphtha (zippo fluid) using the ratio of 20% oil, 30% rubber cement and 50% naphtha (to begin with). Mix them together until they turn to a sludge like consistency. This is enough if you want to apply it using brush or sponge. But if you want to use airbrush, you have to thin it some more with more naphtha until it's milk-like consistency. Once you've applied the base coat to the latex, it will become rather sticky, this is normal (i think) and from there on I used acrylic color to add tones and accents. I heard FW acrylic paints are the best to use but it's kinda hard for me to source out that brand in Malaysia so I just settled for tamiya acrylic and it worked fine by me. when you're done painting, seal everything with either liquitex or Perma-Wet or H2O covercoat varnish. Hope this helps..

 

[skunk]

There are lots of different ways to paint latex, for me, the simplest way is to wash your mask in tepid very slightly soapy water and give it a good scrub first to remove any residues or dust from the mould, then give the whole thing a few coats of white or grey base coat 50% liquid latex 50% acrylic ink ( best choice of colour for airbrush as it is already thin enough, no need for smelly chemicals) then give this a few days to cure before you go over with the colours, that way, if you screw up, the colour can be wiped of with a slightly damp cloth without removing the base coat.
Then for the colours, you only need to add a small amount of latex, just enough to make the ink flexible when dry to avoid cracking, I add around 5-10%.
Once you have finished your paintup, seal the whole thing with a few coats of permawet (liquitex is the equivelant for us in the uk/eu) which will both seal the colours and give it that slimey sheen, aswell as a little uv protection.
I hope this helps and good luck whichever method you choose to try out.

 

[KmikzeKen]

Welcome!  It seems there are 3 "most popular" choices for painting up latex.  As Paitan suggested, you can go the Paint+Rubber Cement route in which you would need naptha or something similar to really thin out the paint mix.  That method was and may still be the best as the rubber cement really grabs onto the latex.  DON'T FORGET your RESPIRATOR and proper ventilation for that method. 

Second method that a lot of people use (the one that I myself used for my whole suit so far) is the Pros-Aide and paint method.  You either brush on or spray pros-aide on your latex piece and once the pros-aide goes tacky, you spray on your paint.  The pros-aide keeps the paint stuck to the mask and also aides in preventing the paint from cracking.  You can apply pros-aide to the mask in between paint layers, and even mix the pros-aide with water into your paint and spray it through your airbrush (PAX method).  You'll just need to keep up with cleaning as the pros-aide can clog up the airbrush pretty fiercely.  For my mask I strictly brushed on my pros-aide and haven't had any major concerns with the paint at all.   Again, make sure you wear a respirator when painting.

As skunk stated, a third method is mixing the latex with your paints and spraying that mixture onto your piece.  I have not tested that method but there are some threads on here with a bit more detail regarding application.

As for what paints to use, I've used a mixture of FW Inks and Createx paints with much success.  I've found that the Createx transparents blend together really nicely and make for some nice transitions in color.  The FW Flesh Ink was extremely beneficial for basing out the skins tones as well as helping to keep the mouth of my mask from being too bright of a red. 

In the end, I found that there really was a lot of trial and error with my painting.  Since I was using Pros-AIde, the biggest tip I received was "if you screw up, don't sit there are spray more paint on to try to fix it.  simply add a bit more pros-aide to the affected area, and go from there". 

So for an order to follow to paint your mask (and any other latex pieces) try this:
1. prepare the mask (trim flashing/excess latex, wash latex, etc.)
2. apply your adhesive promoter if using one(pros-aide or the like)
3. Paint mask using whichever method you choose
4. Seal mask with perma-wet

This reply is sort of all over the place but hopefully it will help. 

 

[afedorniak]

hi all what I want to ask is what colours are used to do the crown area of the pred head?Are they raw and burnt sienna?

 

[SavageIntellect]

Thank you everyone for your reply's, they were all very helpful.  Now that i know how everything works, i think im gonna experiment a little bit with all of the methods on some practice latex i have laying around.  

One question for KmikzeKen though...

So, you said that the method you use is to brush on the Pros-aide then once it goes tacky to begin your paintup.  Does that mean you do all layers one after the other, or do you do a layer, let it dry then move on to the next.  You said that you only do the one layer of Pros-aide in the begining, but is there any wait time between layers of ink? Will the Pros-aide dry before i am finished?

 

[KmikzeKen]

So, you said that the method you use is to brush on the Pros-aide then once it goes tacky to begin your paintup.  Does that mean you do all layers one after the other, or do you do a layer, let it dry then move on to the next.  You said that you only do the one layer of Pros-aide in the begining, but is there any wait time between layers of ink? Will the Pros-aide dry before i am finished?

The initial application of pros-aide stays tacky for a decent amount of time, and the only thing you'll have to worry about is getting that base coat on nice and evenly.  You shouldn't have to feel rushed when applying that base coat.  As soon as your base coat is on, the paint you start spraying on will adhere to your base coat and you shouldn't need to apply any more pros-aide unless 1. you want to add more pros aide between paint layers to help all your paint really stick or 2. you need to cover up and redo an error.  I only used the initial application of pros-aide (and subsequent applications for my many mistakes).

I noticed that even with the base coat on, the mask still had some tackiness to it which worked to my benefit as the paint continued to stick without problems.  I also noticed that the inks and paint I sprayed on more or less dried really quickly, save for areas I purposefully applied a heavier paint application to.  I found that by the time I finished with one color, quickly cleaned the airbrush, mixed new paint and started applying it, all paint on the mask had more than enough time to dry.  And even with it being dry, I still saw some great color transitions as the fresh paint still managed to react to the dried paint. 

So long explanation short, you really do have the luxury of working at your own pace.  If you know what colors you're going to use you can definitely just motor through your paint job.  Although giving layers, especially detail layers, time to dry can really help lock down your paint and create a nice translucency without muddying up the skin or blending colors your don't want to be blended.

 

[SavageIntellect]

Thanks a lot man, I really appreciate it!

 

[Dropthehammer]

This is awesome. For someone still in the planning stages this one page and response is unbelievably helpful!