I
have been painting female minis for about two years now and
have found a system that works pretty well for me. This is
a fair-skinned caucasion female (Arwen), though the colors
can be varied to create darker or lighter complections.
Prime
mini. I use a white paint and matte medium for primer
(the cult of almost white) ;). Brightens color overall
and the matte medium adds good tooth.
A
very thin coat of Vallejo Cork for darker undertones
and shadow. Pretty gruesome looking at this point --
Undead Arwen ;)
Begin
highlighting with a mix of V Cork and Reaper Caucasion
Flesh. Repeat once or twice. Hit cheeks, browline, nose,
jawline, below the nose. Arwen is 28 mm with pronounced
features, so two highlights worked well.
Add
Reaper Fair Maiden to the mix and continue up on high
points of face.
Eyebrows
are hinted in with a very dry brushing of Citadel Brown
Ink and eyes are based with the same. Try not to get
too much ink on the brush, enough to paint - not enough
to pool. Ink is helpful in that you don't so much have
to paint in the eye as allow a slight flow into the
space that is already there.
Eyes
are blocked in with white. Just a slight bit of paint
on the tip of an 18/0 or 10/0 miniature spotter. It
helps if the white has good fluidity, with a very small
amount of paint on the brush. Beware paint too dry..
it will be difficult to get the shape you want; and
paint too wet (or too much paint on the brush) as this
is a tiny space and easilly flooded wiping out the outline
or obscuring detail all together.
Pupils
are tapped in with a black 005 Micron pen. Aiming
at the underside of the upper eyelid and lightly tapping
in the color (lightly touching the pen to the paint
and ridge in the sculpt) helps to avoid the snake
eye slit look.
As she is about to take a swing at someone with her
sword, the pupils are placed center so that she's
focused on her target. You can add wonderful expression
to a mini by placing the pupils so that they are looking
to the left or right rather than dead on.
Big
shift here as all the following is the result of adding
one color to the mix.
Colored lips with an old Citadel color called Terracotta.
(I have no idea if the new version is the same color
- but most any brownish red could fill in.) Caucasion
Flesh is mixed in for the lower lip highlight and then
the whole mix is thinned way down and washed over the
cheeks for a delicate rose tint.
A
Second highlight of Fair Maiden/Blush mix is added to
the lower lip and the upper lips are brought up into
a more full and rounded lip line. Cheeks are rehighlighted
with a bit of Fair Maiden added to the blush mix and
then once again with a bit of white mixed in.
A
slight hint of eye shadow is added. To tie in with
the color of her dress I used a smokey blue grey,
Vallejo Luftwaffe Blue; mixed about 50/50 with Reaper
Caucasion Flesh.
Finally
a highlight of caucasion flesh is added directly over
the pupils to brighten and open the eye.
