Skin is translucent and “skin colour” is largely a combination of the colours present within the skin – the pigment melanin, red of blood and yellow of fat. The reason for this is because human skin is a complex, multilayered structure and derives its colour as a sum of its components, much of which is constantly in flux in life. Conversely, doing a subpar job on a miniature’s face has the potential to drag the rest of the paintjob down since it’s the one place everyone will focus on.Ĭredit: Robert “TheChirurgeon” Jones A Quick Science LessonĬontrary to what many pots of paint would have you believe, there is no single “skin tone”. In these instances, a well executed face acts as a fantastic focal point as the human eye will naturally gravitate towards it. Where skin painting skills really shine through when your miniature is going to be viewed at close range – in photographs, display cases, competitions or eBay. Though even for quicker jobs that need to be replicated at scale, there are some things to keep in mind about painting different skin tones, which can help if you want an easy way to add variety to a large army made of warriors from varied backgrounds. From a distance and en-masse, the subtleties of the techniques elaborated here are lost and a meticulously painted and shaded 28mm face at 4 feet is little different to a 2 second Contrast job. Spray Wraithbone, slap on Contrast, call it a day.

I will be frank, if your aim is to paint a 200-model Imperial Guard army, then whether or not you’ve painstakingly dotted all the pupils or given them simulated stubble will matter not one whit. If you are a transhuman/magic space elf/extragalactic existential horror you can do pretty much whatever you want, but rest assured that we’ll be covering more fantastical races in future installments of How to Paint Everything. Note that in this article, we’re only covering regular, bog standard human skin, and any races that have similar skin, such as Aelves, Aeldari, Dwarves, Squats, Scrunts, and whatever else. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of human skin in a variety of different shades, including the principles behind color and different techniques for giving flesh to your tabletop warriors.

Unable to find a paint that you used to use? Has something been discontinued? Want to find the equivalent paint in a different range? Here is the ultimate painting matrix, comparing the games workshop Citadel paints with every known equivalent.People come in all shapes, sizes, and colors and the warriors of the Mortal Realms/41st millennium are no different.

Vallejo paint citadel chart