Nasty Nick Part 6: Coloured

Ooh, he wouldn't like that, our Nick, being described as 'coloured' but, if you're reading this, fear not my bargain-bin would-be Aryan, I refer merely to your puppet avatar being painted!

There are new, more convincingly-proportioned irises in the eyes, courtesy of my old mucker Al. The jawline, upper lips and jowls were painted with more artists' acrylics, the skin tone I used earlier was mixed with a little extra brown to darken it a tad and some blue to give it a grey cast, suggestive of a mild five-o-clock shadow. The cheeks and nose were lightly dusted with modelmakers' acrylics to give a rosy cast; this both breaks up the facial colours, and helps bring out the nose especially, which was prone before to disappearing against the the background of the rest of the face. You can see the importance of these steps if you scroll right to the bottom of this page, in a photo showing the cast head with it's base tinted skin juxtaposed with the final item.

This is not a realistic way of painting a face - anyone looking for hints and tips on painting realistically (for, say, prosthetic appliances) will be making a big mistake reading this blog! But, having studied the superlative Spitting Image, I realised that for these types of figures, a stylised look is what is needed. It's all about creating an effect rather than realism.

And so, for example, the insides of the nostrils and mouth were painted near-black, to accentuate their shadowed nature, a completely unrealistic technique, but one that's vital to help bring the figure to some kind of life. Finally, the eyebrows were dabbed on with sponge.

Indeed, lacking as I do an airbrush, all colours were applied with bits of sponge cut up and shaped for whatever type of painting I was doing at the time.

You can click on all pictures for biggitude...