Painting Zulu skin colour

[forrester]

After many years of dithering,and reading Ian Knight books and trying to avoid temptation I'm finally going to make a start on Zulu War miniatures, and after much pondering I've gone for Newline Designs 20mm... partly for economy, and it's a scale I'm well used to from WW2, and I can also make use of Hat plastics.

However it'll be my first time painting non-white skin in any quantity, and I don't want to mess it up.

What do people suggest as a basic skintone, preferably Vallejo?

[Ogrob]

Not Vallejo I'm afraid but my go to is Scale 75s African Shadow, shaded with black and highlighted by mixing about 50/50 african shadow and any medium brown.

here are some examples of the skintone that method produces:

[Dags]

Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown base
add Vallejo Model Colour Scarlet for midtones
add VMC Beige Red to the mix for highlights

[Diablo Jon]

For my African natives I use Revell Aqua colour Leather brown, highlighted with Revell Aqua colour Brown and then a wash of Vallejo Sepia wash.

[Plynkes]

It might be worth noting that many South Africans are quite a bit lighter in skin colour than folks in other parts of Africa (and I don't mean the Afrikaners). But having said that, not all of them are, and I admit I tend to use the same formula for Zulus as for people from elsewhere in the continent.

I tend to start with Coat d'Arms 'Dark Flesh', used to be called 'Negro' but they changed that. That will be my base and the darkest part. Then I go to town with multiple (sometimes as many as four or five) lighter layers using other paints, but which paints has changed over the years. Lately I have been trying the Foundry African Flesh triad, but out of the bottle I find it too red, so I usually mix in some sort of beige to 'de=redden' it as I go.

[bc99]

This is a timely post as I consider painting many Sudanese warriors (Bija to start) for my Sudan campaign. Has anybody tried any “cheats” with the GW contrast paints?

I’m tempted to try that so I can work through the bulk of my army while painting more traditional methods for individuals, leaders, etc.

[Captain Blood]

My two pennyworth

Just two colours. The base is Citadel 'Rhinox Hide'. This is then mixed with gradually increasing amounts of Vallejo 'Dark Flesh' to build up the highlights, until the tips of fingers, toes, noses, ears etc, are almost pure 'Dark Flesh'. That's it!

The old Citadel 'Scorched Brown' was replaced by 'Rhinox Hide' - I actually preferred the original - a slightly warmer shade of dark brown. But Rhinox Hide does the job.

Black skin is not literally brown or black in tone - it's essentially pink, the same as ‘white’ skin. It's just a very much darker shade of pink. But the underlying pinkness of basic human skin tone is still there, and shows up as such on the extremities.

[Mike1879]

I use the Foundry African Flesh trio 126 ABC.
A as the base coat and B as the first highlight. But as Plynkes said C is to red so I mix B with Coat d’arms Beige Brown 529 about 50/50 and a final touch of pure Beige Brown on raised areas of the face, knee caps, elbows, toes, fingers.
I’ve tried many other methods but I like this one the best.

[bc99]

Rhinox hide is one of my favorite colors it’s getting a lot of use already as rifle wood, leather, and I’ve used it previously for skin. Great examples from everybody.

[Plynkes]

Am I right in thinking those are the Perry plastics, Richard? You've done a lovely job on them. Can't remember if I've seen yours before. If I have I must have forgotten. Happens.

They make me want to get some of my own. Even though I still do not like the shields. Whoever had the dumb idea that Zulus make their shields from shaggy yak hides?  The hair on that type of African shield is SO fine and smooth, representing it in the sculpt on a 28mm figure is just ludicrous to me - still want some, though, as yours look bloody great. Which makes me think I am making a big fuss about nothing, as usual. But when I saw the unpainted plastic the first time I rolled my eyes and wanted to break something.

[forrester]

Thank you, very helpful suggestions, and some great painting too.

[Harry Faversham]

Many years ago we did Rorke's Drift and I sniggered at weaseling my way out of painting the Redcoats. half naked Zulus, how hard can it be? Then I found out there were 700 of 'em!
The KISS Principle was adopted, black undercoat, dry brushed very dark black/brown just like them blokes in the film. White dry brush for all the dangly bits and feathers. Took a bit of time picking out out the loincloths, then made the spear-points and shields really pop...
fat lad, King of the Zulus, job was tozzing!

[Jack Jones]

Lovely brushwork here, chaps.

There’s a great guide to skin tones here:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/articles/1310-ethnic-skintones

For my Hadendowa I am using just two colours though … Vallejo German black brown base and chocolate brown + US tan earth in a 50/50 mix for highlights.

I am just about to finish my first batch of figures which are varnished with a soft sheen finish (W&N Galleria matt varnish isn’t so matt after all). I am going to varnish their clothing etc with Testors Dullcote (just about to open my last bottle) and leave the flesh and hair with the soft sheen … especially as their hair was heavily greased.

I’ll let you know how that goes.

Cheers
JJ

[john Hollyoak]

I see you wondered whether it could be done in Contrast paints. Guy Bowers from WSS magazine has done a blog post on this topic. He recommends Cygor Brown plus at least the same amount of Fyreslayer. I have only just received a pot of Fyreslayer so I haven't had chance to try it yet. Google 'painting Zulus with contrast' and it comes up very early. The results look interesting.
John

[Plynkes]

Hehe, I'm so behind the times I don't even know what Contrast paint is. 


I'll have to check that out.