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  Something always asked of me regarding my approach to figure painting is “how do you paint the leather so realistically” My first answer is always “practise” and then “more practise“. What better a canvass to highlight my techniques than Latorre’s Models WW1 RAF Ace, with it various leathers depicted in the sculpting. This miniature is a great example of Raul’s sculpting talents, and as is usual of his company superbly cast in white metal. Because this article is on painting leather, its my intention to only go in to painting details on these area’s, and add colour mixes for other area’s such as the face/belt etc. My technique may seem very time consuming and laborious, but gets good results and is ultimately satisfying for me. And of course while things are drying you can always do other parts of the figure.

 Before I began the leather flying jacket, I had decided on a well worn leather look ( the idea came from an old episode of Auf Wiedeshen Pet of all things) on the coat and a softer, suede like leather for the flying boots and helmet. Because air war was such a new concept during WW1, new pilots had little knowledge of aerial combat and needed to improvise against the elements and cold. Pictures of the time show these improvised uniforms tended to be more practical than pretty. Because the uniform on the figure shows no military affiliations, I began to think along the lines of painting my version of Raul’s miniature as a veteran aviator. Visualising him years after the war had ended making his living as a commercial pilot in the 1920’s, but still holding on to his treasured flying jacket and helmet, (partly through sentiment partly through thrift) that had served him so well against the cold during the war. Thank God for artistic license again!

 I like my figures to stand out, and follow the overhead lighting style, trying to give them there own inner lighting. Utilising paint as a sculptural medium to add extra dimensions such as texture to the figure and, increasing its uniqueness. My palette is always kept simple and common, Sepia ( In fact I have many unused colours in my paint box including some quite expensive ones that are never used. I also inherited some ancient ones from when my Mum went through her ‘painting with Nancy stage’ in the 70’s. Some have some very politically incorrect names that she got from her father, family heirlooms never to be used. Unless that extra special figure comes along that is.) being used in many of my mixes which also helps to mute down the colours and give a uniform look to the finished figure. My current palette comprises these colours- Lamp Black, Titanium White, Naples Yellow, Venetian Red, Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Permanent Blue and of course Sepia. As a beginner to this hobby I use to have many problems avoiding the dreaded sheen that Oils are notorious for. Over the years experience has led me to use exclusively these reliably matt drying oil colours, always used in conjunction with a good quality thinner (Daler-Rowney), and always painted over a acrylic undercoat. Which seems to help soak up the oils, and I feel aids the matting process.

 When I am painting distressed leather I find it very important to get the undercoat right at the beginning, as it’s my aim to reveal it later on and utilise it in the weathering/distressing process. After priming the figure with Humbrol matt white (3 coats), I undercoated the Jacket with a mix of Andrea acrylics Yellow ochre and Yellow. This was a 20/80% mix, and was painted on to the figure in about 6 washes. Painting the undercoat on in washes will help to not obscure any of the delicate detail on this figure. Next I prepared a mix of Daler-Rowney oil paint( there are various manufacturers of this oil colour, but this one works the best for me) diluted with a little thinner, and then painted it on the leather areas. After an hour setting time, I began removing excess paint with a flat headed brush, employing a stippling motion. Please see the accompanying picture for the brush type. This reveals the undercoat beneath, leaving a dotty and crazed look to the paint surface, not unlike worn leather. A word of warning, stippling will ruin your brushes! So save your finest sables for less abrasive painting. I then began the shading using thinned Lamp black oil paint, mainly in the arm pit areas, around the belt, pocket and in the seams of the coat. Another break of 24 hours was taken then random dots and cuts of Ochre acrylic oil paint were painted all over the coat, and in places subjected to extreme wear, a higher concentration of painted dots and cuts were employed. This is most apparent on the seams of the coat and around areas such as the shoulders and elbows. As you can imagine painting scratches to scale on a 54mm figure can be difficult, and a first class lighting system is essential. I use the Actulite system in conjunction with three 5ft florescent lights, which I find more than adequately does the job. Randomly I will use a magnifying glass, if it looks good under one of these and all that lighting it will look good in the flesh.

  It is very important to keep your oil mixes darker for the lower part of the coat and lighter on the higher parts. If done correctly this all adds to the 3D effect of the overhead lighting technique. When all is painted in harmony (good contrast between highlights, mid-tones and shadows) it gives the figure its own inner lighting. Which I find very pleasing, and helps make the figure radiate out from the massed ranks of figures so commonly seen at shows such as Euro Militaire. Of course this is just my opinion and I know many artists have turned their minds against the overhead lighting technique. To each his own.

  The softer leather items such as the gloves, flying helmet and boots were painted using a more traditional method. Firstly acrylic Ochre was used as a basecoat, then a Sepia oil basecoat was added. After removing the excess oil paint I used Naples yellow wet on wet to highlight the gloves and boots until a warm grey/brown had (When dry I re-highlighted the boots to attain a more suede like leather, again using Naples Yellow) been achieved. Very little shading was done, what was painted is mostly around the underside of his gloves to help reinforce the 3D effect. A few seam lines were added when dry to add interest to these items.

 The white coloured leather belt employed the same techniques as the soft leather clothing, the only difference being instead of a Naples Yellow highlight, Titanium White was used.

  So that’s my approach to leather, nothing magical or complicated I hope?. As I said at the beginning its all practise, getting to know your medium/brushes and studying and emulating others work. Then gradually your personal style will emerge and people will start to emulate you. Slowly the standard rises as new masters excel , look at last years Euro for example. All the unplaced entry’s would have made Gold 10 years ago………. What standards will we have reached in another 10 years!

Face Mix

Undercoat (Acrylic) Yellow Ochre + Yellow

Basecoat (Oils) Equal amounts of Venetian Red + Cadmium Yellow + Ochre

First Highlight (Oils) Basecoat + Naples Yellow + Titanium White

First Shadow (Oils) Venetian Red

Second Highlight (Oils) First highlight + Titanium White

Second Shadow (Oils) Venetian Red + Lamp Black

Deepest Shadow (Oils) Lamp Black

  Overall I am quite pleased with the leather effect achieved on this figure and rate it highly amongst my collection, I would do things a bit different on the face though. Feeling that it’s a bit too pale.

  My liking of the figure was echoed at the 2003 Welling show where it attained a Gold and then more than reinforced when it achieved Gold at last years Euro Militaire. A truly stunning result for me indeed!

 This figure comes highly recommended by me, being an excellent study of a WW1 pilot.

  I have just completed Andrea’s Athos figure, and I hope to share this with you for my next article. Happy painting

First published in Millitary Modelling magazine