How do you realistically paint a bust?

[Ramirez]

Hi,

a couple of weeks ago someone made me a bust of Ramirez from Highlander, using a life cast of Sean Connery.
I'm going to put it on a mannequin with the costume i'm having made and have a couple of questions for all the head people here.

How do you paint a realistic looking skintone and what kind of paints do you use? I'm used to painting with acrylics, but only on 1/6-1/9 scale heads.

One other thing, the hair is sculpted but someone suggested using a hairfall for his ponytail so it hangs better over his collar. I haven't found anything suitable yet, any advice?

 

[Ramirez]

pictures of my progress so far.

I painted it with Games Workshop Dwarf flesh as a base.
What do you guys do to get a natural looking skin tone?

 

[James Kenobi 1138]

What are you using for reference ? Do you have a good stack of 8X10 photos of Connery, both from Highlander as well as just Connery himself ?

 

[Ramirez]

What are you using for reference ? Do you have a good stack of 8X10 photos of Connery, both from Highlander as well as just Connery himself ?

I'm using pictures of Ramirez that i've found on the internet and watching the film.

So far i've done him in 1/9 and 1/6 scale but i haven't tackled anything this big before and i want it to look fairly decent.

 

[VashDstampede]

I used the method here to paint my first bust:
http://www.theeffectslab.com/skinpainting.htm

For faces, you will need to add a few more steps using washes, but you'll need to make that call as you go along.
Don't go too heavy on the purple mottle, unless you want him to look bruised.

 

[Ramirez]

Thanks for the link.

I've seen so many types of flesh coloured paint that i'm not sure which to use.

Any good DVD'S or books around?

 

[hollywoodhardware]

I suggest you insert glass eyes. There are only a few people who can paint eyes realistic.

The issue 5 of the MoveFX Mag has a really nice feature about painting a lifesize mask. While Jordu Schell paints a monster mask here, you learn a lot about using layers which can be applied to painting human flesh.

http://moviefxmag.com/issue5.html

Thomas

 

[Westies14]

I think your main obstacle is gonna be the fact that Connery himself didn't even have a realistic flesh tone in the film. :lol

 

[Eopie Herder]

I suggest you insert glass eyes. There are only a few people who can paint eyes realistic.

The issue 5 of the MoveFX Mag has a really nice feature about painting a lifesize mask. While Jordu Schell paints a monster mask here, you learn a lot about using layers which can be applied to painting human flesh.

http://moviefxmag.com/issue5.html

Thomas

That's cool, I forgot all about that mag. The guy doing the demo, Jordu Schell, I've had the opportunity to see him work for about two days, and he is incredible. And fast, he knocked out about six or seven full head sculpts in that time.

 

[Ramirez]

I suggest you insert glass eyes. There are only a few people who can paint eyes realistic.

The issue 5 of the MoveFX Mag has a really nice feature about painting a lifesize mask. While Jordu Schell paints a monster mask here, you learn a lot about using layers which can be applied to painting human flesh.

http://moviefxmag.com/issue5.html

Thomas

I'm not sure i'd be able to use glass eyes, it's a solid resin head.
Thanks for the link though.

I think your main obstacle is gonna be the fact that Connery himself didn't even have a realistic flesh tone in the film. :lol

True, that's why i used the GW Dwarf flesh colour as a base. It's actually darker in real life than in the pictures.