WHAT’S THE BEST PAINT FOR FLESH?
QWhat colour do you recommend for the flesh tone on 4mm scale figures? I found a paint aimed at war gamers called ‘Barbarian Flesh’ but I’m not convinced that this is suitable for footplate crews! Chris Thomson, by e-mail
George says: When painting the flesh on figures of any scale, my preference is for Lifecolor acrylics. The Italian paint brand offers a range of flesh tones in individual jars. However, six of the best shades are collected together into a comprehensive ‘Flesh Paint’ pack. Humans come in all different colours and shades, yet this six-pack provides a wide palette of tones to cater for just about all hues. Furthermore, they can be inter-mixed to add lifelike shading and highlights, which is especially useful for 4mm and, particularly, 7mm scale (and larger) figures. The quality of the paints is high and, being acrylic, cleaning up and thinning is simply achieved with water. They dry quickly too. For best results, treat the figures to a light but even coat of white primer (preferably from an aerosol). When this is dry, I always start with the areas of skin, applying a neutral base layer. Depending on how pale or dark the figure’s skin is intended to be, this base layer can be adjusted either by choosing one of the six paint shades or inter-mixing a few until the required colour is achieved. Two coats may be needed and, once the surface is dry, darker shading can be
added around the nose, eyes, ears and under the chin – anywhere where natural shading will occur. Finally, using a lighter shade, highlights can be picked out, such as the cheek bones, nose, chin and forehead. With the flesh taken care of, we can then add the hair, eyebrows, beards and then turn our attention to the clothes. Availability: The Airbrush Company