3/19/11

By a whisker...

Question: I'm considering giving my hillbilly figure 5 o'clock shadow/whiskers. Any suggestions?
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From Mr. D: I use a brush with short still bristles (similar to a toothbrush) to apply dark paint with fine stipple effect for five o'clock shadow. I put a small dab of paint on a palate, dip only the ends of the bristles in the paint and then get rid of any excess paint by dabbing the brush (do not stroke the brush - just touch the ends of the bristles lightly against the surfaces in a repeated straight "down and up" movement ("jabbing" motion). A "dry brush" variation. Practice on a piece of cardboard. You want pepper sized dots - not streaks.

When fully repainting a head, I sometimes also darken the skin's flesh color over the area where the bristle effect will be applied. But I would not try this if adding "whiskers" to an existing figure that is not being repainted.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous3/19/2011

    Or the easy thing to do would be just dont shave him for a few days! :-)

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  2. Gary Koepke3/20/2011

    I use a stencil brush from an arts/crafts store instead of a toothbrush for this. Works very nicely and I find it's a bit easier on the original paint than a toothbrush although a soft toothbrush may work just as well.

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