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 I reckon the last time I painted an original headsculpt was the Rad resin kit prototype back around 1996 , which was also 1:6 scale . Nice to know , like riding a bike , it all comes back to you . Also nice to know that in the ensuing 11 years I'm a wee bit better at it thanks to practice . As I have undertaken this paint up , I should reveal that this is absolutely nothing like my initial concept for this headsculpt . Having posted the initial WIP pics at the Triad Toys website , my own as well as those of the notorious Delta Force Chung and CustomDawg's remarks as to the similarity of this headsculpt and the Star Wars character Asaji Ventress , made me rethink my paint approach to this sculpture .  A consideration should be made regarding colors used when you are executing a face paint . For the most part , action figures are typically fleshtone , however with this particular headsculpt I am deviating from that norm in favor of a more pallid tone to the skin . What does this mean when preparing your palette ? First , you need to realize that when the final sealant is applied , the colors are going to deepen and become much richer due to the properties of the fixatif . In order to preserve the graveyard pallor I am therefore painting this sculpture with a much more subdued palette than one would normally create for a headsculpt . The colors used are chosen to accentuate rather than define the headsculpt primarily due to the extreme expression in order to keep it looking soft and subtle rather than harsh and cartoony .  Faces with a great deal of character need to be handled in such a manner as to emphasize the end result . For a rugged male character you would most likely prefer a harsher contrast in your colors , but when dealing with a feminine figure you want to keep the contrasts subtle , pretty faces tend to be much simpler and more bland . To this end I have chosen a color palette that is very limited and subtle in order to keep the features soft .  Due to the harsh expression of this head sculpt , I don't want to overpaint the details . The reflection of light and shadow needs to be taken into the mix as you paint a sculpture with extreme features especially if that sculpture is a female . Once I finished the highlighting of the head with the airbrush , I went back in with the bristle brush to empahsize the forehead , cheeks and chin , blending the highlight color out with a wash along the edges . When it came to painting the eyes , I used a greyed out pink for the inner lids , actually much darker than the normal manner for painting eyes . The reason for this is due to my decision to give this gal " shark eyes " , the extreme contast of the black needs to be lessened against the pale skin tone and a darker pink rim does this . In conjunction with the vibrant wine red eyelashes I have planned for her , the eyes should be striking but not outrageous .  Anytime you create a custom figure there is a certain degree of compromise from your initial vision and the reality of the piece . This particular custom is that to the extreme , since it is slowly becoming the dichotomy of my initial view . This is really what I enjoy so much about the creative process , you start with a certain idea and then expand upon it . At this stage I know what I want to do , but really have no clue as to what the end result will actually be ; I'm just going with the flow and letting the whim of inspiration guide me .    It might be me only , but I'm getting a " Christina Ricci on a really , REALLY bad day " vibe from this sculpt now that she's gotten her wig . I decided to alter the facial tattoo , choosing to make it red as well as to alter the flow of the lines , more like a stylized bite mark or claw marks ; a bit more savage look . The tattoo was drawn on with a colored pencil , I may go back and deepen it with paint but to be honest I like the way it appears simply in a colored pencil form . I really am quite happy with this headsculpt , she's quite horrifying to look at and not my typical " glamour babe " , about as far from that as one might get . I find her beautiful , but more in the sense of the beauty we might see in a spider . Yeeecchhh ! * chuckle *   After Fatalus , I needed to Paint Cute . . .
This headsculpt is definitely much lighter in character than 'ol Darth Fatalus , and from the outset I knew that A : I wanted to add another redhead to my collection , B : I wanted to go for a Laura Leighton / Sidney Andrews type gal . Therefore I chose I would go so far as to give her freckles . There's a variety of ways to approach a paint up for a freckled face , depending on just what type of freckled face you want to address . Since I didn't need to worry about mass production I figured I'd go all out and shoot for a natural and relatively realistic freckle pattern . Prior to any paintwork I mixed up a dark burnt sienna color and started dabbing in the freckles , using watercolors . ( There's a reason for this , soon to be revealed ) . After the first pass of freckles were done , I then mixed up my base fleshtone and applied it with the airbrush . This had the effect of really knocking back the freckles to quite a subtle and almost unseen detail . After the base flesh color dried , I went back in and applied another layer to the freckle pattern , so now we have two different intensities to the freckle pattern . This is , of course , where the use of watercolors begins to kick in . Since watercolors are water soluble , when the moisture from the first pass of the airbrush hits the first layer of freckles they soften and bleed out ever so subtly ,thus when the second layer of freckles is applied you have freckles that are both hard edged and soft edged and blend in with the fleshtone quite naturally . Enhancing The Skin's Tone  Whereas most headsculpts that are mass produced have a basic single skin color since they are cast in plastic , when you are painting an original headsculpt you get to paint the head with as many subtle variations to the fleshtone as you want . There's really no need to go insane with your variations and I have found that two fleshtones are more than adequate to provide the headsculpt with adequate depth . With the second pass at the freckle pattern done I then used my primary base fleshtone to knock those back and deepen the overall color of the head's flesh color . Once dry , a third pass at freckles was dabbed on , and I'll add that when you add your successive freckle layers , you're not trying to place your brush exactly over the previous freckles , you are seeking only to follow the initial pattern and you want the freckles to overlap . With the third round of freckle dabbing complete , it's time now to add your secondary flehtone , depending on the darkness of your primary tone you can use either a lighter shade or a darker shade . On Fatalus I used a lighter shade , but with this head I used a darker shade . This darker tone was airbrushed along the temples and cheeks , across the bridge of the nose and under the chin . This tone is used to add some more color to the face as well as match it more closely to the body color .  Details
As seen in this close up , there's a great deal of variation in the freckle pattern , this is the combination of layers working in combination with one another . Even though only one freckle color is used , with the application of the two different skin tones with the airbrush you get a variety of contrasts within the freckle pattern that makes it quite realistic looking . I have used a dark brown colored pencil to add the guides for her eyebrow paints as well as to accentuate the shadows of her eyelids , and the shadows of her nostrils .   Adding the eyes , lashes , lips and brows is the part of facepainting that I truly abhor . . . mainly because it is at this stage where you can truly ruin a face paint . One small slip up and its back to the drawing board . That is one of the primary reasons I've begun stockpiling face paint images , so I have material to study and ( hopefully ) learn from . It still astounds me the level of detail some artists are able to achieve with their eye work and lash work , which for me is perhaps the hardest thing to do . Taking advantage of the medium , namely sculpey with a primer of gesso I cheated bigtime on this face paint ; but then , maybe cheat is too harsh a term . I certainly was able to let the surface work with me , utilizing colored pencils to great extent for the fact that the gessoed surface accepts them so readily and really allows certain textural benefits . Drawing with the pencil does give me a great deal more control than were I to go at it solely with a brush , and colored pencil does provide certain end effects that just aren't possible on vinyl , or at the least , don't have the same end effect . I used both a sepia and a burnt sienna colored pencil for her brows , which I then accentuated with a few choice brushstrokes with sepia watercolor . I did her eyelashes in sepia with the brush , but switched back to colored pencils for the lower eye lash line , and again only accentuated slightly with brush .  I used both acrylics , watercolors, colored pencils and enamels on this face paint . The eyes were done in acrylics , and black gloss enamel was used for the pupils . The eyelashes and eyebrows were a composite of colored pencil and watercolor , used for the transparency of the medium that allowed me to build up the colors slowly and with a more liquid flow . That's important when you're as much of a club handed painter as I am . The lips were painted entirely in acrylics . All that is left to do on this face now is to give it a final seal with fixatif and apply transparent gloss to the eyes and lips .  There are about as many protective finishes in the craft and hobby stores as there are stars in the sky , so how do you choose the right one ? The easiest method is to read the instructions on the back of the sealant , where the manufacturer will list those surfaces suitable for the intended sealant . Is cost a factor in the quality of the product ? To a certain degree the answer is yes , but there are quite a few " name brands " that may differ in price line yet not in the contents and it is for that reason alone that I pay more heed to the directions for use and application rather than going for a specific brand . I also tend to favor those finishing sealants that have the broadest range of application , it's just more economical . For the finishing protective sealant for " freckles " I used a standard artist fixatif for colored pencils , charcoals and pastels with a matte finish . Testors Dullcote could also have been used but for the simple fact that the fixatif I used has a very slight satin finish , and that soft sheen helps to give the flesh a more reflective and realistic appearance . For the eyes and lips I used Liquitex Gloss varnish which is as good an acrylic varnish as any and has a fast dry time . The headsculpt at this point is finished and all that is left to do is consider any additional styling or cutting of the wigging and attaching it to the head via either double sided foam tape or glue .  This headsculpt is from Mattel's Barbie as Batgirl figure , a headsculpt that possesses that trademarked Barbie vaccuousness to a wonderful degree . I really had never considered using it , aside from a face painting practice dummy . However , I have seen some incredible transformations from simple paint ops , so I figured to test my skills , I would attempt to repaint it and somehow make it less goofy appearing .  Mattel headsculpts , especially concerning the Barbie headsculpt , are so stylized , there is really no way to repaint it without it still possessing that ephemeral " emptiness " that Barbie has when it comes to what might possibly be on her mind . In an attempt to modify that aspect to the sculpture , I went at the head with a dremel to aid in diminishing her huge eyes and to soften the " fly me " smile that was on her face .  I pretty much was painting this on the fly , with no real direction other than to see whether or not I could make this headsculpt a viable one to integrate with my CG collection . I think that with a specific character design to shoot for , I could very likely repaint this head so that I could use it as an actual custom without it bearing that hideous Barbie " duh " factor .  I did another repaint on the ol' Barbie Batgirl head , just to approach it from a subtly different way , this time using the top of her original eyes as the eyelids , I also went in and gave her her teeth , but only a small line of light colored paint so they weren't so big .  I much prefer the eye shape on her right side moreso than her left side . Her lips are slightly overpainted making them a bit fuller but I downplayed the curvature a bit so her smile is a bit more enigmatic . I don't really like the brows at all . I am fairly pleased with how her lashes turned out , not nearly as clumpy as my usual lash work .  While not a success as a final piece , I still consider this new paint up a success just in the application and results as far as the level of delicacy compared to other face ups I've done . 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