Here's a technique I stumbled across a few days ago for quickly painting heads. The goal of this exercise is not so much to create a boot25 or Sixtydriver work of art but the enhance the existing paint scheme of a stock head sculpt. The nice thing is that this is so easy even those here who claim they are all thumbs with a paint brush should be able to get decent results with minimal practice. However, if you don't like getting paint on your hands you will likely not like this process it can be a little messy. Don't think of it as painting think of it a staining, like you'd stain wood.
To accomplish this you nee a nice dark red brown oil paint. I mixed English light red with van dyke brown to get the color for these pictures.

Paint all of the flesh areas with the red brown. Don't be concerned about even coverage.

Using a piece of facial tissue wipe the paint off. Use a downward motion and don't try to remove all of the paint just those areas that are the highest in relation to the entire face i.e. cheeks, nose, brow, chin , ears. If all of the paint has been wiped out of the recesses of the face start over. The final result should look something like the picture below.

Not in the above photo that there is a lot of paint built up in the corners of the eyes and round the nose.

Fold a tissue to a small firm point or chisel ( like in the photo above) and wipe out the excess paint in the deep recesses of the face. The excess paint will smear across the previously cleaned areas. If the highlights have been badly obscured wipe the off again. Remember a light touch is best for this. The face should then look like the photo below.

Notice at this point the eyes are still obscured. There are two solution to that. You can carefully wipe the eyes clean. After most of the paint has been wiped away you can fish the clean up the eyes with a #1 brush that is moist with thinner ( I prefer to use Turpinoid for my oil thinner). Or you can repaint he eyes.
Painting eyes is the best part and I think the most important part of face painting. In 1/6th scale it's also pretty easy. First thing to do is to paint the whites of the eyes. Oh at this point we have switched to acrylic paint.

Photo above shows the new whites of the eyes.
Next paint the iris. Being right handed I always paint the left side (my left) first because the nose is in the way and it's easier to keep the eyes properly aligned be doing the left side first. Photo below shows the new irises.

Next is the tough part the black work. Using a 10/0 liner I paint the edge of the upper eyelids (again left side first) and then the pupils.

Lastly the reflection dots need to be added. I know some people don't like the little white dots in the middle of the pupil, however I notice these reflections on real people all the time and I don't think a lifelike appearance can be created without them. Photo below is the finished head

Lastly notice the clock in the background of the photos. Total elapsed time from first photo to last is about 13 minutes. Better results can be achieved with a greater investment of time. Also be varying the color from very dark brown the a more reddish shade you can create wonderful effects, such as sunburn, fatigue ( by suggesting lots of dirt), or by running through the process twice one with a dark brown and once with a lighter shade more depth and greater emotion can be achieved.
To accomplish this you nee a nice dark red brown oil paint. I mixed English light red with van dyke brown to get the color for these pictures.

Paint all of the flesh areas with the red brown. Don't be concerned about even coverage.

Using a piece of facial tissue wipe the paint off. Use a downward motion and don't try to remove all of the paint just those areas that are the highest in relation to the entire face i.e. cheeks, nose, brow, chin , ears. If all of the paint has been wiped out of the recesses of the face start over. The final result should look something like the picture below.

Not in the above photo that there is a lot of paint built up in the corners of the eyes and round the nose.

Fold a tissue to a small firm point or chisel ( like in the photo above) and wipe out the excess paint in the deep recesses of the face. The excess paint will smear across the previously cleaned areas. If the highlights have been badly obscured wipe the off again. Remember a light touch is best for this. The face should then look like the photo below.

Notice at this point the eyes are still obscured. There are two solution to that. You can carefully wipe the eyes clean. After most of the paint has been wiped away you can fish the clean up the eyes with a #1 brush that is moist with thinner ( I prefer to use Turpinoid for my oil thinner). Or you can repaint he eyes.
Painting eyes is the best part and I think the most important part of face painting. In 1/6th scale it's also pretty easy. First thing to do is to paint the whites of the eyes. Oh at this point we have switched to acrylic paint.

Photo above shows the new whites of the eyes.
Next paint the iris. Being right handed I always paint the left side (my left) first because the nose is in the way and it's easier to keep the eyes properly aligned be doing the left side first. Photo below shows the new irises.

Next is the tough part the black work. Using a 10/0 liner I paint the edge of the upper eyelids (again left side first) and then the pupils.

Lastly the reflection dots need to be added. I know some people don't like the little white dots in the middle of the pupil, however I notice these reflections on real people all the time and I don't think a lifelike appearance can be created without them. Photo below is the finished head

Lastly notice the clock in the background of the photos. Total elapsed time from first photo to last is about 13 minutes. Better results can be achieved with a greater investment of time. Also be varying the color from very dark brown the a more reddish shade you can create wonderful effects, such as sunburn, fatigue ( by suggesting lots of dirt), or by running through the process twice one with a dark brown and once with a lighter shade more depth and greater emotion can be achieved.

