Enchanted Dreams Reborn Nursery : Reborn Painting Tutorial - Part IX

Yay! This little guy is coming to life more and more. Not much further to go and then we begin rooting his hair.
This tutorial covers a final warm up wash and the little nails.

I sometimes don't do a final warm up wash. I decided to do one with this little guy to bring out more depth to his skin tones. This wash seems to pull everything together - Blushing, mottling, etc.

Here we go:

I am using Burnt Umber paint.

Filled the paint brush with paint.

I added odorless thinner to make a very thin wash.

I am going to apply this wash to all the parts. Here I was showing a difference the wash makes. I have done just the foot up to the ankle. See the subtle difference. I will continue doing the whole limb. I brush the wash on with my brush and then take a cosmetic wedge and pounce the paint until well blended. Make sure to get really good in the creases. I use a clean brush to get into the creases. Blend and blend.

Here the leg on the right has been done with the Burnt Umber Wash. Big difference compared to the leg on the left.

Here all the limbs have been done and we are waiting for the flash to dry. The thinners to evaporate.

Here is the head make sure to get inside the nose for more added depth. Again blend and blend with your cosmetic wedge and brush. Waiting for the flash to evaporate and we will bake.

Limbs have been baked - 250 Degrees F for 7 minutes.

Head has been baked. Not sure about the shininess under the nose. Not there when you are looking at the sculpt. hmmmm.

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Now for the tiny fingernails and toenails. I do not do moons on the nails. If you look at real babies and young ones at that, they don't have moons. Some artists add the moons and some don't. No right or wrong way. I choose not to do the moons. :)

I am going to use Flesh 08 and Glazing Gel and a toothpick for this tutorial. I have in my set of paints a paint called Nail Tip White - In my opinion I find the Nail Tip White to be too white for little fingernails and toenails. Gives a very French Manicure look. Flesh 08 seems to give a more subtle transparent whitish look. As you will see in the pictures below.

Here I have taken quite a glob of my Glazing Gel and some of my Flesh 08

Mix the two together. No odorless thinners are used for this step. It is thick, but that is what you want.

I have taken my pointed toothpick and put a dollop of paint on the very end. Some people use a very fine liner brush for this. I am slowly learning to use a brush instead of toothpick.

Take the toothpick or fine liner brush and go along the very edge of the nail bed. Try to keep the paint uniformed and neaten up the edges with another toothpick. As you see here my cuticles need some cleaning up with a toothpick. Looks like the matte varnish didn't fully set. No problem I will take a pointed q-tip dipped into my thinner and carefully clean up the cuticles.

Toe nails

I did this with a brush. Getting better.

Now for this step I am not going to bake in the oven for just the nails. I am going to use a heat gun. Be careful this gun gets HOT! I hold my part at about three inches from the gun. Turn on the gun and slowly move the gun back and forth for about 2-3 minutes. Do not hold the gun in one area too long or you will melt the little toes or fingers. If you don't feel comfortable using a heat gun you can bake your parts for 7 minutes at 250 degrees F. I also find that when I do use the gun a shine does happen. That is alright, in the final step that shine will be taken care of.