Azul Fed Bust

This painting project is extra special since I sculpted this bust for my patrons at Patreon
myself. I sculpted this in Nomad Sculpt with my iPad Pro. This was a fun sculpting project
and it only took me around five to six hours to finish. The main problem when sculpting for
printing, is the “supports” though. Good thing I have a great printing guy that fixed the file
for easier printing.

The painting itself was very straightforward. My favorite color to paint is green. So the main
idea here, is to paint something different. I wanted to paint blue skin and white armor. The
painting of the white armor was nostalgic in a way. I painted the white armor, similar to how
I paint gunpla. Washes and a bit of effects paints and washes were applied in multiple
layers to build up the painting of the white armor.

Zenithal Underpainting

I almost always start with a quick zenithal underpainting with most of my painting projects.
I use my airbrush or sometime even spray cans for my quick zenithal prime. Zenithal is
simply a simulation of light hitting the figure. So I start with a thorough painting of black
primer all over the miniature, then grey primer, and then I finish off with white primer.

The black primer should be painted all over the miniature. For highly detailed figures, an
airbrush is more effective. Since an airbrush can be painted on tight and deep crevices.
Depending on the figure, you may want to brush paint black on very tight areas. The grey
primer is then painted at an angle. Paint the grey primer around the side areas and mostly
from the top of the miniature. This will leave the undersides in black primer. The white
primer should be painted directly from the top. This angle will simulate a nice strong light
coming from the top of the figure.

After the quick zenithal underpainting and the initial chipping effects, I decided to paint the
leather parts of the bust black. This will allow me to be sloppy with the painting of the blue
skin and the white armor. Also the black paint is easy to retouch, before I paint in the actual
leather colors.
White Armor Painting

Painting the white armor was easy, yet is a little bit time consuming. Since we have a white (
zenithal ) underpainting already, it was just a matter of adding textures and shades to
create volume to the armor parts.

The photos on top, show the slow progression of the texturing and painting of the white
armor. When you are painting from “light to dark”, the idea is to start with lighter colored
washes and paints, and use these colors to “sketch” and map where you plan to build up
more shades and textures.

the first photo shows the application of grey wash. I stippled the grey wash with a no.2
brush and made sure the pattern looks random. The next step was to use a sponge and
applied some chipping effects. I used a light grey paint to keep the chipping subtle. This
subtle chipping effects represent shallow chipping. The next step was painting with a
medium grey. I painted scuffs and more chipping with a sponge with this color.

After these first three steps, you can now see how we are going to build up the shades and
textures of the white armor. Starting with light colors allowed us to be more relaxed and
free flowing, as it is hard to overdo painting with subtle colors.
After the initial three steps of the painting of the white armor, it is now just a matter of
adding darker shades and chipping effects. Darker grey washes or thinned down black grey
washes can be used in these next couple of steps. Darker chipping were applied using a
detail brush to add more randomness to the weathering. The last step, before painting the
red gem was stippling of blue wash to add color to the white armor.

The white armor is far from finish at this point, but I decided to move on to the painting of
the red gem. The red gem will show me how much color ( blue tint ) I want to add to the
white armor later, since the red color will visually “boost” the blue tint.

Red Gem Painting

The red gem painting was just basic layering and a few passes of glazes. I started with a
bright base color, to maximize the white underpainting. After the bright base color, I
proceeded to adding brighter highlights and shades to simulate volume and reflections at
the same time. I knew from the start of the painting, that I will layer some gloss varnish on
top of the gem. The gloss varnish or at least the idea of a glossy finish, allowed me to paint
the gem a little bit more rough than usual.

More Armor Weathering

After painting the red gem, I now have a good “marker” on how much warm colors or blue
tint I want to add to the white armor. Knowing that the skin will be blue, I knew I can add
more warm tones to the armor for more balance.

So I decided to apply rust effects with rust colored washes and rust effects paints. The
application of the rust colors were applied more on recesses and undersides of details to
make them less stark or less prominent. A stippling of sepia wash all over the bust, made
the armor look warmer and diluted the effect of the rust colors.

Some darker washes ( Agrax Shade ) were also applied as pin washes on some corners and
edges to add more contrast. The darker washes also helped define the armor shapes and
details.
After applying the rust effects and darker warm shades to the white armor, I then decided
to add some blood effects, to compliment the red gem and to add more “red”, to balance
out the bright blue skin later. The warmer armor should be a good base for the head and will
make the overall painting look better.

The last photo shows some stippling of olive green washes. The olive green washes tones
down the sepia washes and also the rust effects. This layer of color gave the white armor
painting more color depth and more contrast. Dark blue shades were also applied on the
undersides and lower areas of the armor. The dark blue washes gave even more depth and
contrast to the painting.
Blue Skin Painting
Painting skin is my favorite part of painting figures and miniatures. I think this is because I
have been painting mecha and Gundam for so many years, before shifting to miniature
painting. I did start painting my Lord of the Rings action figures way way back though.
Action figure painting is mostly improving the skin painting and weathering the weapons
and armors.

I started the blue skin painting with a medium blue color. This is to maximize the white
underpainting. The initial steps of the blue skin painting was to establish the volume of the
head with highlights and shades.

After establishing the volume of the head. I then added more textures and nuances to the
skin before adding more highlights and shades. I painted some veins with purple and bluish
violet colors and also painted some skin patterns on the top, and back side of the head. the
veins and the patterns helped me break the huge bare areas of the sculpt and simply made
the painting more interesting.

Once happy with the veins and patterns, I then continued to add more highlights and
shades to the blue skin painting. Key here is to add more highlights and shades after the
patterns and veins has been painted. The succeeding layering will blend or tone down the
patterns and veins and will make them look more realistic.
Finishing
The blue skin painting was fun and surprisingly fast. It only took me around four hours in
the painting of the skin, including the veins and skin patterns. The painting of the eyes was
very straightforward. I painted the eyes black, then ivory. I left a tin black outline as I paint
the ivory. I painted black pupils, then yellow on top. Again, leaving a thin black outline. Now
it was a matter of painting the details of the pupils. Gloss varnish was painted over the eyes
to finish it off.

After the painting of the eyes, I just need to paint the leather parts of the bust. The leather
parts were painted with red browns. The red browns gave a very nice separation between
the weathered armor parts and the very cool blue head. Key to the leather painting is to
create rough textures to add more contrast in between the different elements of the figure.

Once I was happy with the leather painting, it was a matter of looking at the overall painting
and decide which areas to refine and improve. Final highlights were added more on the top
left side of the bust, more dark blue shades on the recess areas and undersides, UV resin
over the gem, more fresh blood stippling and a few more rust effects paints in some areas.
Conclusion
Like I said in the intro, this painting project was extra special, since I sculpted this bust
myself. And since I sculpted this figure myself, I had to make the painting good. I must say,
that this bust painting is one of my better work, specially since I only spent a couple of
afternoons ( two days ) in the painting of this bust.

The painting of the white armor was mostly with washes. Easy but can be time consuming
due to the drying time. The layering of warm sepia colors and green and blue washes added
so much depth to the armor. Simple build up and simple technique and I am very happy
with the result.

The painting of the blue skin was extra fun due to the painting of the veins and the skin
patterns. Washes were also utilized to add depth, but majority of the time spent was
stippling towards the final blue skin highlights. A couple of passes of white glazes finished
off the skin painting.

After the painting of the blue skin and the armor, it was just basic layering for the other
parts. Finishing touches like gloss varnish on the gem, extra blood stains and more shades
on the skin recesses and undersides, finished the painting of this bust. Overall, as expected
a relatively quick, yet very fun project!