Scale Aviator International Magazine Issue 3 | Page 57

MASTER CLASS in PILOT PAINTING

the side of lighter application for blond pilots and heavier application for
dark haired pilots.
- A word about gradients: The key to creating an intriguing portrait is to
have nice smooth gradients. For some reason, our eyes are drawn to a
smooth gradient rather than a constant color. Always apply your pigment
so that it is darker in the shadows and deeper areas then “feather” the
pigment out lighter as it moves into the lighter and/or higher areas. This accents the
features or “topography” of the figure and makes up for the figure being smaller. Since
the figure is smaller, it can�t have shadows as dark as its full-scale counter part.
Next, brush out the last color used before moving on to the next. Do NOT wash the
brush. A wet brush and pastel dust is not a good thing here! Just swipe the dry brush
back and forth on an old clean T-shirt until you don�t see anymore of the previous color.
This is a small area to do, so it will only take a second. Load the
make-up brush with Dark Rose pastel dust. Now dust that inside
between the lips. This will make the lips look more natural with a
dark reddish color there. Don�t go crazy, just barely change the
color to differentiate the lips.
Now load the brush with Burnt Siena. This is our mid-color tone,
and the “work-horse” of the pastel portrait colors. This will be
applied to areas around the nose, on the nose (a lot of people�s
noses are more red than the rest of their face), under and up to
cheekbones, under the eyes, under the jaw and around the neck.
Don�t forget the back of the neck! Just give a few brushes up and
down to give it some tonal change and that will do the job. You
should notice the pastel clinging to the texture left by the airbrush.
You should also see your pilot figure looking less anemic.
A touch of Orange pastel tends to give just a touch of life to the
figure. Areas to hit with orange are a touch at the temples, slight bit
on the cheekbones and upper side of the chin.
This is optional, but you can also apply a light yellow/orange or
Pumpkin color the upper cheekbone and area between the mouth
and chin. I don�t know why, but in photos some people seem to
have a little of this color there. Hey, it seems to work, and it adds a
more complex/richer skin tone to your pilot.
The last application is Red pastel. This stuff is powerful and if you
aren�t careful with it, your pilot could look like he is ready to audition
for Cirque du Soleil in Vegas! Just touch a pin head bit of pastel just
under the highest point of the cheek. Not a circle on the highest
cheek, that will make him ready for the circus, but just under and

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