"Bram Stoker's Dracula"     
Vlad w/razor
When this arrived in the mail I was so blown away by the sculpt and the casting quality.
Gabriel Marquez and Mark at Earthbound Studios get the highest marks here. I could
not wait to get started with this one. No seam lines to fix, justa quick wash and then its
primed.
So I never have to answer this email again(hopefully) the painting stands are ones that
I made. They are simple and cheap- kinda describes me- I went to my local Hobbylobby
and in the wood section they have some candlesticks, 2 for .99 cents. I drill a hole in
them, insert rod-'voila' a paint stand that is easy, cheap and nice to look at
I let the primer dry then gave the face and hand a coat of valejo pale flesh. Yes I have
an airbrush and its great, but I really like using a paintbrush and it's something that I
think some painters shy away from for some reason. consdering the time it takes to
prep your brush, -getting it out , thinning the paint, painting, then cleaning, you
sometimes don;t save any time or effort at all. Just my opinion. I learned how to paint
this way with a paintbrush ,and I'm just stubborn sometimes  I guess.
I always start with the eyes first.  I know they look a little rough here but you get the
idea. One thing that does not show up is the brown of the iris. Its not JUST black. the
red lid is also much paler pinkish in real life. Keep in mind how CLOSE you are in these
pics.
Ahh, painting flesh, one of the things that I really do enjoy in this hobby. trying to
emulate the stuff that covers us all. I learned how to paint literally by sitting next to some
great painters and watching them work and asking them questions about technique. I
also read everything I could about paint types and their properties. I basecoat in acrylic
after priming. Then I use a THIN layer of oil paint to cover the acrylic and shade and
highlight. I iwrk 'wet on wet', which means that I don;t wait for each layer to dry. Thats
the great advantage of oils, that slow drying times. you can blend so easily and
smoothly, just use your brush and- BIG TIP COMING- a SMALL amount of oil paint. I
have taught several people how I paint and the one problem that beginners seem to
have is using too much of the oils on their brush. You DO NOT load it up like acrylic. A
little goes a long way. you can add more later. Anyway I wortk the ares with several
colors, shading and highlighting. When I get to a point that I really like I hit the oils with a
coat of Testors Flat. I do not use a drying oven as many figure painters do. A few mist
coats then i let the hairdryer do its work. The nice thing about the Testors is that as a
laquer it will JUST 'fuzz' the edges and smooth out the paint even more. Within 10
minutes I can go back in and continue painting, building up layers. It's not really hard
and very cheap. I last bought a tube of oild paint about 20 years ago. Really. And with
alittle care I doubt that I will ever need to by anymore. Look at your pinkie fingernail.
That is all that you need on your palette to start with. And depending on teh color 80%
of THAT small amount, the minimum you can squeeze out of the tube will not be used.
With acrylic underneath them they have cood opacity, the acrylic gives them a good
'biting' surface to hold onto the kit and they do not react together at all. Give them a try.
They are not a be all end all. Some kits I use acrylics 99% of the paint job. It just
depends on the kist and what you are trying to represent. For me nothing beats it for
human skin....so there.....
The garish
tongue will
be brought
down some
Age spots.. again one of the great things about oils is their blending abilities. After I had
flat coated the skin and dryed it, I put a tiny drop of thin paint where i wanted the spot.
depending on how opaque it was I then dropped a little thiner on it to blend it or a dry
brush was gently stippled on top to blend. Sometimes both techniques, then a THIN
wash of my skin color on top, another flat coat, and done. Now I'm gonna go paint
somemore, this kit is toooo much fun.
The skin tone
changes
depending
on the angle
and the
lighting.
OK, the coat has been undercoated with Valejo flat red, the Grumbacher red oil paint
layered on thinly over that. For shading some Windsor newton bright red and a little
orange for highlights, and some raw sienna and aliarizon crimson laid in for shadow
areas. Not too much of either as with a kit this big you don't want to overdo the shading
on the clothes. The white stuff on the tongue is where I filled in the razor indentation.
This kit has been retooled and the razor and tongue no longer line up once the arm is
on. It will be just in front of his tongue
to be continued...