Airbrushing question

[Draeth]

Hey, I'm a long time lurker from over at GruntvillE and since there are more airbrushing aficionados over here hopefully one of you could help me out.
I'm wanting to paint my current mod with a slightly dark/tan skin tone with touches of reds, browns, and black for shading. I've always heard to start with the darkest color first when airbrushing and work to the lighter colors, does that also apply to when the main color is going to be a light color? Or should I start with the skin tone in this case?

Here is what I'm going to try and paint. Any suggestions?
http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/1481/famine030407bv2.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=famine030407bv2.jpg)

[Crimson Sky]

Draeth! That is sick bro. Let me think a min and I'll get back to you.

[Crimson Sky]

OK here goes. Because skin tones contain several colors and is mottled, I would use a combination of techniques using airbrush and sponge. What the SPFX folks do for any skin tone, is produce several layers of colors and details. The more layers, the greater the depth of the end result and the more life-like. Caucasion skin has yellow, blue and brown tones.

Like you said, you'll want to start with the darker colors and work towards the lightest. Instead of going pure black, start with a very dark brown, blackish brown. Now it's much easier to manipulate acrylic paints, so I'm going to suggest using those here. You can either airbrush this dark base coat, or sponge it on using a sea sponge dipped in the paint.

Make yourself a nice BIG painter's pallet by covering a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil. Squeeze out small pools of brown, black, white, red, burnt umber, blue and yellow on one side. dip the sponge in brown, then black, and move your sponge to a clean area of the pallet and dab gently to mix the paint slightly. Then take that sponge and begin coverage of the case. Don't stretch it too thin, work on a small section at a time until its covered.

You can use other colors to create shadows and randomness. This initial layer will be covered 98% when we are done. It's not that critical. While this is drying, start mixing up a slightly lighter shade of the color we just put down.

Now you need to break out what's called Faux Glaze (http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=36). its a semi-clear acrylic paint that when mixed with your colors, creates realistic depth and texture. Same technique here, pour out your color and glaze, then dip the sponge in each. No need to mix at all, just apply directly to the case, dabbing it on in small sections. What the glaze does is allow the paint to "float" slightly in the within it.

Once you have a section painted, take some plastic wrap and crinkle it up to a ball. Then open it up and lay it on the section of paint you just applied, then lift it off. This will create a random pattern, lifting the paint off here and there, and its called rag or texture rolling. exactly what we want. Once the entire case is done up like that, its time to airbrush.

Again, mix up a lighter shade of paint than the one that was previously applied. Cut this color with a ratio of 70% Glaze, and 30% color. Mix this up, thin it out with some water until you think it will flow nicely through the airbrush (consistency of skim milk)and paint the entire case with a VERY light coat. It should be almost translucent, and you should se the previous textured layer. Once this dries, apply another light coat.

Now for the fun. If you want veins, now is the time to get a fine sable brush and start going to town. They should be a dark bluish purple, and inter-connected in some fashion. You should now apply a 3rd coat of the previously mixed paint, very light, possibly cut with some more glaze. You should be able to see the veins through the glaze coat when done.

The rest is easy, progressively mix lighter airbrush-ready paints with glaze to achieve the flesh-colored lightness you want, and the ammount of previous detail you want to expose. You can always go back and add veins, not to worry. We are layering, and thats the magic of it. You can keep layering and coloring until you get the look ya want. You can always go back and sponge some dark on.

The key to all this is the Faux Glaze semi-transparent acrylic paint.


Final coat should be an acrylic clear, either semi-gloss or flat, your choice.

[Draeth]

Wow, thanks Crimson! Due to the texture of the "skin" sponging probably won't be possible, but I'll still give it a try. The texture has raised sections from 1/8" to 1/4" high and will probably be hard to fully coat at first. I'll have to airbrush the base coat on but then I'll follow the rest of your walkthrough.
I bought up some of the Liquitex Basic MATT brand acrylic paints but I'll have to get some of that faux glaze.
Definitely a big help, thanks again!

[Crimson Sky]

No prob man, post some pics when ya can!