I'm making this old guy. Old guys have wrinkles. Lots of 'em. (I oughta know). It's always a bewildering head-scratcher when I paint in the folds of Magic-Sculpt that are supposed to look like wrinkles. I've read that vent figures are generally designed to look "right" from a distance of about 10 feet. But my arms aren't that long, so I have to guess (up close) how much (and how dark) the paint should be when painting wrinkles. Here's what I do.First I mix up a small batch of flesh-colored paint darkened with Raw Umber. Then I apply the color blend in the wrinkle grooves. Then I apply a very thin line of Raw Umber by itself over the blended color. My intent is to make it look somewhat shaded.
Then I stand back 10 feet and scratch my head in bewilderment some more.
Wrinkles should make their own highlights and lowlights, but if you want to point them up, you might try this:
ReplyDelete1. Mix up a highlight (white paint mixed with the original).
Paint this highlight color NOT in the wrinkle, but in a fairly fine line just barely ABOVE the wrinkle, touching into the wrinkle.
Then blend/feather it upward.
2. This step could be skipped if you like. It may be a bit too subtle. Try it and see what you think. With a light rosy color paint into the wrinkle and blend it upward, fading into the highlight.
3. Now paint your shadow/lowlight color into the wrinkle and, again, blend it upward, fading into the rosy color.
Experiment with this. It may be that the rosy color is too subtle for your specific purposes.
This is, in fact, a technique used in portrait painting as well as in stage makeup.
Now...
I commented on an earlier post of yours, but by the time I found it, you'd probably moved on.
But here's another useful tip, I think:
When sculpting wrinkles...
Lay a piece of Saran Wrap over the clay you plan to "wrinkle up."
Use your sculpting tool (or even a nicely sharpened pencil!) and draw the wrinkle over the Saran Wrap, and into the clay.
When you take off the Saran Wrap, the wrinkle looks more like a wrinkle and less like a line dug into clay!
-PDG