Here are 5 easy methods to paint faces for beginners, check out this painting tutorial to get your miniatures on point!
Galharen has some amazing hobby content and if you need some sweet tips, you should follow him to get up on all your painting and conversion techniques!
This time around he paints up 5 different heads each with its own technique. It’s a pretty easy way to get a really cool effect without a ton of effort. Let’s get into the tutorial!
5 Methods to Paint Faces for Beginners: Galharen Painting Tutorial
Here are the 5 techniques we’ll be going over, and as you can see, there are plenty of options. So whether you just want something fast or something a little more in-depth, he has you covered!
Before we go further, here’s a list of the paints we’ll be using today:
Vallejo:
- Black
- White
- Red leather
- Dark red
- Salmon rose
- Flat flesh
- Dark grey
- Orange fluo
- Deep yellow
- Airbrush thinner from Vallejo
Citadel:
Method 1
He starts with the contrast paint from above and covers the entire face with it, focusing on the deepest areas. For the eyes, he does a black as the base coat and does a little white dot, then a black dot in the middle. He cleans up and highlights the face with Flat Flesh and just hits the most raised areas. That’s really it, a nice tabletop standard with basically no work.
Method 2
To start, he does a base layer with Flat Flesh and does two coats. Then, he goes back to the contrast paint but dilutes it with the airbrush thinner. He only focuses on the recesses this time to bring out the shadows. Once dry, he comes back and does a second layer. He paints the eyes exactly like before. He will go and hit the other details on the face, like the mustache with the dark grey. Then some final touches with the contrast where he wants it darker. This is a quick way to get a really clean-looking face.
Method 3
This time he actually starts with a black primer. Then he mixes red leather with the salmon rose and applies it all over as a base coat. Then he goes back and does the same contrast paint method from the above section. When dried, he adds more salmon rose to the previous mix and highlights the face, focusing on the most raised areas. Now he goes to pure salmon rose and hits another layer of highlights but much more selective.
Method 4
This time he uses the airbrush. He starts with the same basecoat as from above, but still with the brush. Now is the time for the airbrush, he does a zenithal highlight with the Flat Flesh, then, he covers it with a matt varnish. Now he is going to do an oil wash, he takes a dark brown oil paint and covers it with mineral spirits, and mixes it. He then covers the entire face with it and it will naturally go into the recesses. after that, he takes a cotton swab with more mineral spirits on it and washes off the paint from the places he wants to be more highlighted.
Method 5
This is a combined method from all the others. He does a basecoat on the whole face with Dark Grey and Red Leather. Then he loads the airbrush with the Salmon Rose and applies it from above, be sure to do two coats here. Next, he takes the contrast and dilutes it with the airbrush thinner and applies that to the recesses of the face. Then, he highlights it with the pure Salmon Rose. He finishes up by painting the cross on his forehead with the Orange Fluo.
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What’s your favorite way to paint faces for miniatures; was it similar to this painting tutorial?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
