Mighty Mugg WIP: Part 2

So this far into customizing my mugg I have already modified the figure with sculpy clay, primed, and sanded it. That means I'm ready to start painting.

It's not often that I use acrylics, but thanks to having gone to college, they were something I did have to purchase for some of my classes. Which means I happen to have quite a few tubes laying around still. I'm currently working with Golden acrylic paints, and Utrecht brand acrylics but I think just about any kind of paint will do.

First I start off by taking a look at the color study I already have laid out. Once again, that means the image below:

Color Study

I mixed up a nice violet with Ultramarine blue and Cadmium red, adding in some white and black until I got to a color I was happy with for the skin. From there I split half the mixture and added some more blue and black to darken it up a bit more for the color I would then use for the leather parts of the figure. And to make sure that the mixtures wouldn't dry and become plasticy I added in some retarder (again I happened to have the Golden brand).

Now even though I have the retarder in the mix, I want to use thinner washes as I apply the paint, so I make sure my brush is saturated with water before tinkering with the paint, and I do a few tests of the mixture on some scrap watercolor paper.

Once I'm satisfied I begin to paint the figure. At this point I still have the toy broken into pieces to make it easier to paint, so make sure you know which pieces are what and which way they are going to be facing before you paint! 

Above are some of the pieces with a few coats of paint on them. Using a brush loaded with watery paint and slow strokes, I was able to mostly paint without leaving behind any traces of brush marks. I am using a synthetic brush for the painting (retired watercolor brushes that no longer hold their shape). Giving them a little swirl at a 45 degree angle in the paint helps to narrow the tip for places that need more finesse.

I want to mention that I didn't draw on any of the details prior to painting them on. Since I have my original mugg designs out, I am instead eyeballing where certain details are placed. I did run into a problem with the yellow paint mixture I used, which would not apply evenly. Therefore those areas are a little rougher than the rest. 

I've still got a bit of painting to do with this toy, so you'll have to stay tuned for another post. But here's a preview of the detail process to come (a little cleavage never hurts!).