Speed Painted African Skin Tones

[Atheling]

I've got a lot of Beja that I need to paint. In order to have any chance of doing this within the next few years I needed to find a way in which I can skimp on my usual painting method and start churning them out.

I pretty much decided to go for a base coat, a wash and two highlights, one of which is applied very sparingly; this is a vast improvement in terms of speed when compared to my usual multi layering method! I think that in total there were not more than about four hours spent painting these up.

You can read about my desperation to get them painted, the method employed as well as seeing many more pics on my Just Add Water blog here:

http://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/speed-painted-african-flesh-with-beja.html

Here's a few tasters:







Cheers,
Darrell.

[Jonas]

Looks really good

[Atheling]

Thanks Jonas.

Do you think they would look OK en masse (they will be units of Beja)?

Darrell.

[marianas_gamer]

Look great, especially for speed painted.
Lon

[Belisarius]

I like them ,Darrell, red loincloths would give the ski tones a completely different aspect. The shields look very effective and complement the figures.

[Happy Wanderer]

Cracking stuff Darrell,

I particularly like the 'smooth' finish. Was that as a result of your varnish?

What do you use for a flat finish?


Lovely stuff...nice choice of figures to use also...which of your African armies do they plan on being used in ?

Cheers

Happy W

[Atheling]

I like them ,Darrell, red loincloths would give the ski tones a completely different aspect. The shields look very effective and complement the figures.

Yeah, I agree, but..... they are speed painting tests for painting Beja and their clothing was quite bland, being various shades of creams, 'whites' etc The shields were just dry brushed and were probably the quickest parts to paint.

I particularly like the 'smooth' finish. Was that as a result of your varnish?

That and matching the tones closely.

What do you use for a flat finish?

These were varnished using HMG Matt Varnish (now called FIC) which I don't normally use. It is very matte though. I normally use Windsor and Newton Professional Artists Matte Spray, which is more expensive but gives a much clearer and just as matte finish- it just costs more and as these were tests for painting skin tones quickly I scrimped on the varnish.

Lovely stuff...nice choice of figures to use also...which of your African armies do they plan on being used in ?

Mahdist forces of the 1880's; Beja

Cheers,
Darrell.

[Marine0846]

The figures look great.
Looks like you hit a happy medium,
quick painting and making them look good.

[Atheling]

The figures look great.
Looks like you hit a happy medium,
quick painting and making them look good.

Thanks Marine.

I just hope that it works as well on the finer detail on the Perry Beja sculpts 

Darrell.

[sepoy1857]

Look good Darrell!

[Atheling]

Look good Darrell!

Thanks.... here's a quickie of some I painted properly a while back.....





I should have some of the Speed Painted versions tomorrow (would be today but gotta wait for the varnish to dry!)

Darrell.

[ARKOUDAKI]

Darrell, these look a lot redder in tone and lighter than your previous ones....but the Beja were quite dark skin....so do you think these are a bit too light and reddish? It might just be the photo...

Regardless, did you use the same paint system that you mentioned above for the African tribesman???

Do tell all as I am counting on you getting this right so you can save me a lot of trial and error when it comes to do mine! 

[cram]

These look great, especially for speed painting!   I look forward to seeing the result on the Beja, I'm confident they will turn out just as good.

Regarding the reddish skin of the 'properly' painted Beja. From what I've discovered from internet searches, these people appear to vary quite a bit in skin colour, they seem to range from very dark to a mid tone. Some of the Beja I have seen in photo's have reddish skin exactly like those painted by Darrell.

I plan to paint my own Beja quite mixed in skin tone as in the photos I have seen. A mix of Very dark to mid tones, and some with reddish skin.

Thanks for sharing!
Marc.

[Atheling]

Darrell, these look a lot redder in tone and lighter than your previous ones....but the Beja were quite dark skin....so do you think these are a bit too light and reddish? It might just be the photo...

Regardless, did you use the same paint system that you mentioned above for the African tribesman???

Nope..... they were [painted using my normal layers technique Rob. The pic is more of a contrast with the first lot of Speed Painted mini's.

The red-ish skin tone if fine as the actual skin tones of the Beja tribes varied quite a lot.

Darrell.

[Atheling]

These look great, especially for speed painting!   I look forward to seeing the result on the Beja, I'm confident they will turn out just as good.

  You're not alone! 

I'm actually quite nervous about it as I'm usually very meticulous in my painting and it's been hard to loosen up and bang them out 

Managed to get a couple of hours in yesterday so I should have 12 completed mini's by the days end. Sans varnish but I'll post up a pic or two.

Darrell.