Painting Akanke by Mark Craggs aka Klute

As an introduction I would like to explain a few of the techniques I use for painting miniatures.

Firstly the technique that I have found myself using more and more is what I call glazing. The basic premise of glazing is to apply very thin layers of paint to gradually change the underlying colour to the one you are glazing with. For example if you glaze white over black the build up of layers will change from black through grey to white the more layers you put on.
I find this technique enables me to achieve smooth blends with no brushstrokes. It also comes in handy when applying subtle effects to figures like dirt, dust, rust, bruising etc.

The mixing ratio I use for glazing is as follows.
1 part paint.
1 part flow enhancer.
4 parts clean water.


When applying a glaze it is very important not to load your brush with too much paint. You do not want the paint to flow over the area like a wash would. Start by covering the whole area with the glaze like you would a normal layer of paint. The next layer should be slightly smaller toward the highlighted or raised part of the area you are doing. You will end up applying a lot more layers than you would doing normal shade/mid-tone/highlight painting but the final look will be a lot smoother.

Next I would like to stress that I hardly ever use paint neat. Only when I want to use the thickness to my advantage to get some texture to the paintjob will I do this.
Generally I will thin my paint down 1 part paint to 1 part water and nearly always with flow enhancer added to the mix. So unless I say otherwise assume I am using paint thinned to this level.
One of the best investments for me has been flow enhancer. Now a lot of people use things like floor wax and swear by it. I say why bother mixing the stuff up when you can get some ready made for the exact purpose. I use Winsor and Newton Acrylic Flow Enhancer. It might seem expensive at around £4 per bottle but it will last you ages and is worth every penny. What flow enhancer does is break the surface tension of the paint/water mix allowing washes and glazes to flow easier and smoother. It also helps the pigment stay even through the mix doing away with those horrible 'tide marks' you get with washes.

I use mostly Games Workshop paints and will refer to these specific colours in the tutorial. If you use a different brand then please try and match the relevant colour I am using to the ones you have.


Stage 1
Remove all the flash and mould lines from the miniature then wash it in warm soapy water using an old tooth brush to get rid of any mould release that still might be there. Attach the figure to it’s base then prime it black. I use GW chaos black spray. Short bursts across the miniature making sure you don’t fill in any detail. Once this has dried use black with a brush to touch up any areas the spray has missed.



Stage 2
Before I do the skin I do the eyes. Using skull white mixed with bleached bone to reduce the brightness gently draw the tip of the brush over the eyeball from the nose toward the ear. Do this for both eyes. Repeat this until a good solid layer is on the eye. Next use scorched brown to paint the iris/pupil area. After this use chaos black to touch up any areas around the eyes you may have touched.



Stage 3
Paint the skin scorched brown (remember this will be thinned 50/50 with water and a drop of flow enhancer). Apply as many layers as is needed to get a good solid cover. This is important as the glazing stages rely on a good base coat to be totally effective.



Stage 4
Using a glaze mix of bestial brown start applying the highlights. The first layer will cover the whole of the skin reducing in area with each layer applied. This forms the basis of the whole skin area. What you should end up with is the deepest recesses scorched brown and the highlights nearly bestial brown.



Stage 5
This stage will add some extra warmth and colour to the skin-tone you find naturally on people. Mix up a glaze from 50/50 bestial brown/terracotta. Apply this glaze from about the mid point between the shade and highlight finishing with the last glaze on the highest points.



Finishing touches
Now we want to finish off the areas that are a different colour to the skin. Paint the teeth and finger nails skull white. Don’t use flow enhancer for this as they are such small areas and you don’t want the paint to run into the mouth etc.
For the lips and nipples add a tiny touch of chaos black to some terracotta to get a deep purple colour. Use this as your basecoat and paint the lips and nipples. Let the paint flow around the raised nipple to form the areola. Careful though you don’t want them too big. For the highlight use terracotta.
To finish off the fingernails I wait until I finish the miniature and decide if I am applying any make up etc. I will over-paint the skull white on the fingernails to match the colour scheme of the rest. I haven’t applied make-up to this one so I have use terracotta on the nails so they look natural.
The next thing I will do is mix a glaze of scorched brown and carefully apply this between the fingers to deepen the shadows there. I also glaze lightly around the skin where it meets other areas like clothing to deepen the shading there. Sort of tweaking here and there until I am happy.
To finish up the rest of the skin all that is left is to tidy up around the areas you have painted. Use chaos black to carefully re-apply the black base of the other areas making them ready for painting.




Afterword

Well that’s the skin done and I hope you have found my advice helpful. Dark skin-tone like this is not easy to do and even harder to photograph well. With a bit of patience though you should be able to get some good results on these beautiful figures.






Thanks for following and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Mark.