First attempt at painting...

[Dougie]

Great job Nomad
Carving and painting
Doug

[toycarver]

Nice job. Your picture shows me that you have very clean cuts as a carver too!

[urbansheepdog]

He looks good Nomad! I used to not really enjoy the painting bit, but I love it now and you'll pick up tips here and there as you go! I've started painting in some shadows now. Just add a darkening colour to the main colour and paint a little where the creases or folds are in material or shadows on the faces. It helps me to think of it as hilltops and valleys! Lighter on top and getting darker going down. Oh yeah another thing. If once you've painted the whole piece and it still looks too light or too pink or whatever, you can put a very watery wash coat of say Burnt Umber over the whole piece and it will sort of tint the whole thing. Bit like messing about with photos on Photoshop! Just experiment away and have fun! Happy painting

[jillsy]

Hey Nomad,

Very nice!

Here's another hint regarding painting the beard. When you apply the 2nd coat over the raw sienna (or whatever color you choose for the base):

1. After you dip the brush in the white, wipe off the excess. That way, when you apply the paint, it'll be more "dry", giving you more control. You can keep adding to it until you get the desired look.

2. When you actually paint, don't go up and down, but side to side. This will keep the white paint from going into the grooves.

3. When you're done, the base coat will be in all the cuts and grooves, while the white is on top, highlighting the beard. That's what'll give it more depth.

4. Not sure if others do this, but here's what I do when I'm done with this step. I spray it with a matte finish and let dry. Then, I go over once more with a bright white...very lightly, just hitting the top areas. This gives it even more highlights and now you've got 3 layers of colors all working together to make great depth.

5. Spray with a finish. I prefer a Satin finish polyurethane. It protects and the satin makes the colors *pop*.

[jillsy]

Oh, here's another tip I learned from a professional artist:

I used to just add red for the cheeks, and tried to water it down so they weren't so vibrant, but I never liked the way it looked. What he suggested is this: Mix red with the same flesh color you used to paint the face. Then, brush around the cheek bones. This will give him some rose in his cheeks, but look subtle and natural.

[Nomad]

Some great tips everyone! Thanks! This painting is about as complicated as the carving.

jilsy, I did mix a little red in with the fleshtone and hit the nose and cheeks but maybe I didn't put enough red in there.

I've read about alot of different ways to finish. Boiled linseed oil mixed with raw umber, Johnson paste wax, matte spray. Others? Heck, I have some Olympic Antique Oil Finish sitting here. I wonder if that would be good?

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Iowa Carver

Nomad, this is the look you will get. Just use a light wash and let it dry completely... half and hour or more or use a hair dryer. You just want it dry when you drybrush the white. The pic is of one of P.J. Driscoll's santas.

Corey

Corey, what does it mean to "drybrush"?

[Iowa Carver]

Nomad, dry brushing means taking a brush and dipping it into your paint. Then wipe all the paint off with a paper towel or onto a paper towel. it will just have paint residue left on it and then wipe the brush back and forth over the area to be painted and what it does is highlight the high areas of the carving. Wait for it to dry completely and can be appied again. But don't over do it and make sure the paint is dry inbetween coats. On the photo of the santa above where the white on the beard is... that was drybrushed.

Hope this helps!

corey

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Iowa Carver

Hope this helps!

corey

Absolutely! Perfect. Thanks!

[Mark N. Akers]

Nomad:
Great job on painting the carving,keep up the great job.