This week, Squidamr shows us a ton of professional painting secrets on how to paint skin up and get it looking fantastic!
Squidmar’s channel is rapidly growing due to his great tutorials ranging from full-scale models to tips and even practical physics! This time around, he has a giant video with many tips. Since it’s so long, we will break this into three parts, with the first being focused on the skin.
Professional Painting Secrets: Squidmar How-to-Paint Skin Tutorial
He will be painting one area at a time because he needs the paint to be moist as he adds more colors over time. So, he’s not going to basecoat all the skin and then go to the next color; he’s going to do like a leg, then an arm, etc.
Step 1:
The first layer will be done with Doombull Brown, and this will be put in all the deepest areas or angles facing downward. For the other areas that are more raised, he will start with a little mix of Cadian Fleshtone. He’s using the wet palette for all of this, meaning the layers will be thin, and you need a few layers. Wet blending can be scary, but it’s not that hard. Just make sure you have a moist palette and your colors ready to go. You just need to be a little fast, but if you mess up, you can always go back and fix it.
Step 2:
Now you have a good base to work from; it’s time to start adding some highlights. For this, you’ll want to add the following four colors (and the first two paints)to your wet palette:
- AK Interactive: Pastel Peach
- AK Interactive: Medium Orange
- Vallejo: Light Flesh
- Vallejo: Sunny Skintone
To start, he mixes the Cadian Fleshtone with the Medium Orange. You have to think about the shapes here and the light source. So, wherever the brightest light would be hitting the model, that’s where you want it to be the brightest. He follows those shapes to blend in with the existing colors. Then, to continue highlighting, he adds a small part of Light Flesh into the mix and does a smaller highlight on top of the legs.
Step 3:
now, we’re going to work on the abs, and they are very interesting because they have so much shape and shading. He starts by highlighting them locally and then highlights the in-between of each ab; this really pulls the skin together. You really have to consider the light source here, as all the remaining highlights will be done only in areas where the light would hit. Doing a final highlight with more Light flesh and a tiny bit of Sunny Skintone. He then does the same pattern on the face.
Step 4:
Things are starting to look really good, but he’s not fully happy with it. He wants the skin to feel a little warmer like he had been out in the sun a lot. So he breaks out the Medium Orange. He thins this down to a proper glaze, meaning very, very thin. He then adds this to all the shadow areas and some of the mid-tones, leaving the highlights as they are.
Finished Model:
Next week we’ll take a look at the fur, but as you can see, when this is all painted up, the model looks amazing!
Be sure to watch the video below for all the tips!
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Squidmar Miniatures is a great place to learn all kinds of painting techniques! Be sure to subscribe to Squidmar Miniatures YouTube channel for more tutorials.
Did these tips help you get your painted miniature over the top?
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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!
