The Journal

Painting a Face, Step by Step

July 02, 2026 · Ludus Bellum

The face is the first place anyone looks at a finished figure, and the place most painters fear. It should not be. A face is just a small exercise in base coat, shadow and highlight — the same skills as everywhere else, at a smaller scale. Work thin, work patient, and follow the stages.

1. Base coat

Over primer, lay down a mid-tone skin colour — not the lightest flesh you own, but the middle of the range. Two thin coats until coverage is even. At this stage the face looks flat and doll-like. That is correct.

Step 1 of 5, base coat: face diagram with an even mid-tone base — two thin coats, flat is correct

2. Shade the recesses

Mix your skin tone with a touch of brown (and a hint of red keeps it looking alive rather than muddy), thin it well, and work it into the eye sockets, under the brow, beside the nose, under the lower lip and chin, and into the hairline. A pre-made flesh wash over the whole face does a serviceable version of this in one step — let it settle in the recesses and wick any pooling off the cheeks with a damp brush.

Step 2 of 5, shade the recesses: face diagram marking eye sockets, sides of the nose, under lip and chin, and hairline

3. Rebuild the raised surfaces

Return with the original base tone on the parts of the face that catch light: forehead, cheekbones, bridge of the nose, upper lip, chin. This tidies the wash stage and restores the mid-tone.

Step 3 of 5, rebuild the raised surfaces: face diagram marking forehead, cheekbones, nose bridge, upper lip and chin

4. Highlight

Add a light flesh tone (or a touch of ivory/light beige) to your base and hit the highest points only — brow ridge, top of the cheekbones, tip of the nose, chin. At tabletop scale, exaggerate slightly; contrast reads as realism from two feet away.

Step 4 of 5, highlight: face diagram with small light marks on the brow ridge, cheekbones, nose tip and chin

5. Eyes — or the honest shortcut

For painted eyes: a thin dark line across the socket, two small off-white blocks, then a tiny dark dot in each, placed looking the same direction. Steady your hands against each other and correct mistakes with skin tone rather than starting over. The honest shortcut at gaming scale: a soft dark wash in the socket and no painted eyeball at all. Shadowed sockets read better than wonky eyes, and many award-level painters do exactly this on rank-and-file figures.

Finish with anything that makes the face specific — stubble as a thin grey-brown glaze on the jaw, a scar, weathered cheeks with a faint red glaze. Then stop. A face needs fewer strokes than you think.

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