How to paint a miniature's face

I want to point out that I am only a amateur wargamers and, as a lot of other lovers of our hobby, I like to share miniatures photos with my friends. Some persons asked me how to paint miniature’ faces so I thought to write this short article. I have to premise that without Aurelian Leclerc's expert guidance and his painting tricks I was not able to write these post … so many thanks to him. If you don't know his works here there is his Instagram link >> https://www.instagram.com/aurelianpaintingstudio/

In recent times I have painted miniatures related to the WW2 and the Franco-Indian Wars for some articles that appeared on the Italian magazine: “Dadi e Piombo” but to create a kind of guide I took some old Warhammer miniatures too.

Now a couple of pics to make you understand what we are talking about ... the miniature in the center is a historical figure who really existed: General Louis Joseph de Montcalm. Warlord Games 28mm miniature.

These are some British paratroopers from the English 6th Airborne Division near Hamminkeln during Operation Varsity. Warlord Games 28mm miniatures

These are some 20mm Canadians from Valiant

In all the three examples, the color combination I used is always the same: 

Vallejo Beige Red 70804; 

Vallejo Dark Fleshtone 72.044;

Vallejo White 72.002 (or any other white of any brand) 

I have tried to break down the various steps and create a series of images that can help.

First step: paint the base with a mixture of Beige Red (80%) and Dark Fleshton (20%) Second step: highlight the base with pure Beige Red. After paint some points (as the nose, cheeks and so on) with beige red adding a little quantity of white

Third step: after waiting for a Reikland Flesh wash to dry, to proceed with further highlights. Starting from the same points highlighted in the previous phase, paint again a new coat of Red Beige on them. After this action to highlight all the face points that you want to stand out with a mix of Red Beige plus White increasing the second color quantity in every passage. At this point you have not to surprise if the last step will be practically a white.

As you can see, it is possible to paint a miniature’s face with 3 colors and a wash.

The effects of this color scheme allows good results for a not professional wargamer. Finally, I want to offer you my preliminary study for a USCM miniature for Viet Nam theatre on which I am working on these days. Miniature in 20mm Italeri

I hope I was helpful.

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