High Five 2: My Top Five Prepping Tips

Introduction

Let’s just get this truth out there: Hardly anyone actually enjoys prepping. Honestly. You aren’t alone. Really, in all my thirty-plus years in this biz, I’ve met only three people who actually enjoyed it. Most people tolerate it, but many people just hate it. Because — yeah — it’s tedious, maddening, not much fun, and seems to be never-ending. It always seems there’s just one more thing to tweak! Argh!

Nevertheless, there’s this truth, too: With just a little bit of know-how, patience, and insight, you can prep your models with skill and savvy, too. And with some special tools and tricks, you can do it in less time and more effectively, two great things that go better together! Because the fact is near anyone can effectively prep their own models given the gumption and training. And knowing how is literally a survival skill out there now as those who prep professionally are few and far between, or are booked up for months already. And many painters will only accept pre-prepped models nowadays or charge more if they have to prep the model themselves. Plus, many painters won’t even accept the models from certain companies or artists unless they’re pre-prepped because they’re known to be ponderous in the clean-up department. So if you know how to prep your models well, you won’t only open up a lot more logistical possibilities, but you'll get your model "just so" to your liking, and even save yourself quite a bit of money to boot. Win win win!

To that end then, let’s talk about some of my best prepping advice and tips to augment your own skillset. Because if you’re struggling with prepping, chances are it’s not you — it’s the methods or tools you’re using. So let’s get to it!…

Tracing Seams

A handy trick taught to me by Ed Gonzales was to first take a pencil and trace all the seams and circle all the boogers on your model. And you don’t have to do it lightly as the primer will cover any pencil marks, no problem. Chances are, too, it'll all be sanded away anyway. But this will give you a game plan to tackle, a kind of guide to follow to help lend some structure to the process. For this, in particular, do your tracing in directional light because this will highlight the seams and goobers really clearly. And pay extra attention to complex areas like in complicated manes, tails, and positions because seams can hide in there as the moldmaker pulled their hair out was challenged by the difficulty casting the piece.

Just keep this in mind though: Don’t confuse goobers with the artist’s intended surface texture or hair tendrils. See, the thing is horses aren’t mirror smooth, like polished metal. Instead, they have fleshy surface textures and imperfections that lend character to their skin and hide like fascia details, wrinkles, crinkles, bug bites, capillaries, scars, and other hide eccentricities. Now some artists have a very specific artistic style that generates a mirror-smooth surface such as Maureen Love whereas others have a far more textured style such as Chris Hess, and then there’s everything in-between. So the point is, be mindful of the artist’s style or textural intentions before just sanding things away because you can very quickly obliterate essential qualities, even the integrity of the sculpture itself, if you don’t take great care here. It can be so hard sometimes though, can't it? So just do your best in good faith, that's all anyone can ask.

As you trace seams, note which seams may be offset and are in need of some epoxy putty to make them flush (I like to indicate them with an arrow pointing to them). Hey—it happens. Indeed, it’s either an error or, more commonly, the difficulty of the molding job could've just been insurmountable in that area. Either way, it’s just a fact of casting life at times. So to do this kind of fill, I recommend using Magic Sculpt two-part epoxy putty (I prefer the natural color). It mixes together in a 1:1 ratio, it’s very easy to mix together, and it blends out like a dream with some 91% rubbing alcohol and your fingers (wear gloves, even when mixing) or with a soft bristle filbert brush (usually in a size 3 to 5, your choice for the area). Just mix it throughly, and you can use the handle end of the paintbrush to shape it, if needed, or the sculpting tool of your choice then smooth with the brush and alcohol. Try to make it as blended and flush to the surface as possible too to minimize later sanding. However, you’ll want to apply this epoxy putty after you’ve given the seams an all-over sand to give the putty some surface “tooth” to stick to really well. In other words, do your fill as one of the last steps and blend into the body really well to minimize backend sanding. So on that note…

Sanding Wet

I highly recommend using wet/dry sandpaper with water to dampen down dust in your studio space. The mediation of dust is imperative to not only keep your creative spaces debris-free but it’s better for your longterm health. The last thing you want is to be inhaling all that particulate junk! So get a junker cereal bowl, fill it with water, and regularly dip your sandpaper in the water and sand away. (Pro tip: Wrap your sandpaper on a pencil for greater leverage if you need to.)

Now some people start with coarse sandpaper and move to medium grit then fine grit to finish. But the problem with this method is three-fold. First, it’s a lot of extra work for little payoff. Second, it creates deep scratches that can be quite difficult to erase even with further sanding. And third, it greatly risks sanding too deeply and altering the surface contours of the piece. What we want to do is remove the seams with the least amount of sanding possible, not just for our sanity and hands, but also for the sake of the sculpture itself. So what I tend to do is use a motor-tool to remove the worst offending areas (which we’ll get to in a bit) then use a medium grit (150-240 grit) to do the actual sanding to finish with fine grit (400 grit). With this approach, I avoid deep scratches that need sanding later and I better preserve the surface contours and textures.

I also recommend rinsing off your model periodically as you sand to get that drying gunk off so it won’t dry and fall on you, on your surfaces, or onto your studio floor. Remember to always mediate dust! Also, make it a habit to check your work in directional light to make sure you’re on target. Take breaks, too. It’s good for your hands and good for your sanity. (Pro tip: Keep your sandpaper moving! Don't focus too much on one portion or you risk distorting the surface contour with a dip, valley, or groove.)

With all this in mind, the kind of sandpaper you use matters and on what material. On OFs, which can have a lot of deep seams and chattermarks, I remove the worse of them with a Dremel and a teardrop fine grit diamond bit (more on that later), going over the area lightly and not gouging into the surface to create a bigger problem. Just even things out more, that's all. If the seams and chattermarks are really bad though, I'll use a Dremel carving bit (#117 or #121) gripping it firmly so as not to create more chattermarks or gouges. (Use all precautions and PPE and manufacturer recommendations when using a motor-tool. I also suggest wearing a butcher's glove on the hand that's holding your model as you Dremel.) Then I suggest using wet/dry sandpaper in 150 grit in particularly difficult areas then grading up to 240 grit to continue. For resins, again I use a Dremel to remove difficult areas then I move to wet/dry sandpaper in 240 grit to continue. For customs you have to deal with epoxy which can be particularly stubborn to sand smooth, especially when you have to be mindful of the softer OF plastic, too, but you'll develop a feel for it with 150 grit as needed to continue with 240 grit. Then for finishing on any material or spot sanding, I recommend Super Assilex flexible sandpaper (I use Brown, Ocean, Sky, and Lemon most often, starting with Brown and often finishing with Ocean and then maybe Sky, if needed, and on mini scales, I may finish with Lemon). I love this stuff because you can use it wet/dry, it's flexible (so you can really fold it up), it comes with its own sanding pad if you wish to use it, it lasts a long time and holds its tooth, it has a shallow scratch pattern, and it comes in an assortment of good finishing grits that are color coded so I always grab the right one. It's also what I use if I have to sand after priming or on an already-painted horse (like to fix a boo boo) because of its shallow scratch pattern (like with Sky or Lemon, in particular).

One bit of caution with sanding: Be mindful of an intended fleshy texture, especially on resins. Things like veins, wrinkles, capillaries, bug bites, fascia details, hide details, moles, smooshing, ripples, crinkling, pock marking, etc. are all features of realism that need to be protected during the cleaning process. Indeed, many artists infuse all that delicate detail so don't mistake it for boo-boos that need to be sanded off. Also be mindful of delicate mane tendrils so don't misinterpret them as sprues that need removal. On OFs, particularly the vintage Chris Hess OFs, he inputted a distinctive artistic texture on his sculptures that you have to decide if you want to leave it or remove it. Personally, I'd leave it as part of the charm of his work. Anyway, the point is, don't sand all over the model, just the seams. That's to say, only sand exactly where you need to sand. Not only is there no need to sand all over, but it can actually destroy the artistic integrity of the sculpture. Just stick to the seams, sprues, and flashing, that's it, staying sensitive to texture as you go. Now, of course, if there are random gouges or other obvious errors, attend to those as well, just be sure that's what they are first.

Mini Files, Riflers, and Carbide Scrapers

Small metal files are super handy for gaining leverage for more “bite,” and they’re great for reaching some hard-to-get areas where the sandpaper fails. Just be careful using them to avoid gouges, slashes, scratches, or harsh edges. I find the pointed-round one to be the most useful, but play with them to find which one works best for you. 

Likewise, metal "diamond" rifler files can be super helpful, too, by acting as a kind of sandpaper but in a stiff shape that gives you leverage and precision. Just get them in “fine” grit and you can use them in hard-to-reach places with sandpaper. Oddly enough, I find myself using the "eyehole" one the most.

Similarly, carbide scrapers are really handy, too. You can get them from Rio Rondo or from Kelly Sealey (I have both, and both work really well, although Kelly’s has more shapes in the set which could be handier for you. However, I find myself most commonly using the blue one, green one, and purple one, so I guess it's personal preference most often). Just take great care with these for three main reasons. First, they’re sharp! Be careful with these as you can really stab or slice yourself if you aren’t careful! For that then, consider wearing a butcher's glove on your model-holding supportive hand when using them. Likewise, second, you can do a lot of damage to your model if you’re careless with them. Wield them with great control, and practice on a junker first to develop a feel for them. And third, hold them steady and only do a little bit a a time otherwise you risk “chattermarks” as the scraper “chatters” down the seam rather than removing it — a real bother to fix. Now all that said, they can be super helpful to get tricky areas, especially in manes and tails and between wrinkles and the details of the palmar foot. They can also be indispensable for prepping ventis, minis, and micros.

Lastly, wet/dry nail files are really nifty for sanding hooves on occasion. Just be careful not to remove an intended hoofwall texture when you use them. And you can get them in a finer grit if you want.

Motor-tools

A Dremel moto-tool (or similar gizmo) with diamond-tipped bits in various shapes (in fine grit) can be a real boon for prepping, making quick, easy work of some serious seamwork and flashing. Just be extra careful with this otherwise you can really damage your model by removing too much or creating chattermarks. So take care to only remove what you need and nothing more, and take away only a bit at a time, not all at once. Not all seams and flashing warrant Dremeling, either, only the worst ones, so think about what you can do with sandpaper instead. And I recommend using a Dremel with a Flex-shaft to dampen down vibration and fatigue. Also don't Dremel more than ten minutes at a time, then take a long break. You can develop carpal tunnel syndrome if your sessions are too long and intense. And, of course, use all PPE when Dremeling and mind all manufacturer precautions and use common sense (like tie back your hair). So yeah, do it outside with a respirator, safety glasses, smock or suit, de werks. You do not want this junk in your lungs, in your hair, in your eyes, on your clothes, or in your house, especially if we're dealing with debris from resins, epoxy, or ceramics.

Now a nifty smaller tool you can use is an engraving pen that comes with various engraving bits because you can use them as quickie goober or seam removers, especially in delicate manes and tails, between wrinkles, and other tight areas. Just use this outside to keep debris out of your studio areas and use PPE with this as well.

Lighting

Believe it or not, your lighting is really important when you prep, critical actually. Directional lighting is especially useful and preferred. So think about using a drafting lamp that you can angle and manipulate to really get a good view of what you’re doing using skewed light. In other words, even, overhead lighting isn’t so helpful in this department so find some way to skew that light to really highlight those bloopers and seams for you. You need to cast shadows!

Bonus Tips

After you’re completely done filing, sanding, fiddling, and futzing, scrub the entire model — whether OF, custom, and especially a resin — with a toothbrush and a paste made out of Ajax or Comet. All over. This will remove your hand oils, mold release, residue, sanding debris, and anything else that shouldn’t be there in preparation for priming plus it gives more of a "tooth" to the surface. Once thoroughly rinsed, set aside to air dry in a dust-free environment.

Now to fill pinholes, small gouges, deep scratches, shallow off-set seams, and similar little oopsies, don’t use Superglue and baking soda. That degrades over time, particularly if exposed to UV light, i.e. sunlight, and it's difficult to sand smooth. Instead, use Liquitex Modeling Paste. To do that, take a small round brush, dab a bit of it onto the pinhole, and quickly whisk it away with your finger, flush with the surface. Do another pass or two if needed, like if the pinhole is large, say bigger than a pinhead. Let that dry completely, then you can sand it lightly with fine grit dry sandpaper, smooth and flush, if necessary (I recommend the sandpaper Super Assilex in Sky or Lemon). However, just do this as the very last step before priming. This stuff will soak up and slough off with water, so do all your washing before using this paste, then primer afterwards to seal it. To brush away dust before primering though, use a soft, big make-up brush (like for blush or face powder) and go outside and whisk away the sanding dust. Now if the pinholes are large, more like bubbles, say the size of a grain of couscous or bigger, fill with epoxy putty (I recommend Magic Sculpt) and blend as flush as you can then sand down carefully after it has cured thoroughly, if necessary.

Now for super tiny pinholes that are more like teensy pockmarks, which can happen in resin casting if the environmental conditions are a bit off, I use Liquid Green Stuff. Just carefully brush on a little bit with a soft round or filbert, rinse the brush, dry it on a towel, then carefully brush flush with the surface and voilá...teensy holes filled! It sinks right into the pockmark to fill it like magic! Let it dry completely, and do another pass, if needed, and you can carefully sand it smooth (if needed) with superfine sandpaper (I recommend Super Assilex in Lemon).

Now sure, it's going to take a bit of time and tedium to do all this...pinholes are just that girl. But the payoff is so worth it! This is because this technique is a lot less intrusive and far less destructive of artistic intent than covering the whole area with epoxy or removing the area to rebuild with epoxy. Absolutely, you can preserve surface textures and delicate details with ease with this process, things that are imperative to protect when prepping. Indeedy, I really lean into the Model Paste when I prep, using it not just for pin holes, but to fill slightly askew seams, scratches, gouges, divots, and other boo-boos quickly and easily, making my prep life far less headache-y. Now if things are bad enough they warrant epoxy fill for durability and body, I do that, of course, but for the most part, if I can use Modeling Paste instead, I'll opt for that more.

Now sometimes an OF or resin will come to you with compromised details or surface contours. There are various reasons for this, the most common being difficult moldmaking and resultant factory cleaning. Sometimes it’s just the nature of the beast. To restore these areas, you can use Magic Sculpt to resculpt them back in after you’ve finished sanding. The reason we do this after the overall sanding is because those areas will have more tooth from the sanding job plus you have a better shot at getting things flush when that area is already pretty much prepped. Honestly, doing all the sanding first then doing the fill afterwards often results in faster, easier, and better results because you can best preserve any fleshiness you sculpted in and you don't have to sand down any stubborn epoxy, saving you time and effort. You see, the trick to using epoxy clay is to work with its texture and cure time, with those brushes and rubbing alcohol, to make it as flush and smooth as possible to minimize, even almost eliminate, the need to sand later. So get it as perfect as you can while it's still smoothable rather than thinking, "I'll just sand it later." Make your life easier, smooth that epoxy clay as perfectly as you can while it's still smooshable. Then let it cure completely then hit it with some fine sandpaper, if necessary, paying special attention to the feathered edges so they're completely flush.

Now to restore things like veins, moles, chestnuts, and ergots, resculpting those in can be a bit tricky. Instead then, I recommend using "messo," a mix of Liquitex Modeling Paste (70ish%) and Liquitex Acrylic Gesso (30ish%) thinned with clean water to the consistency of melted ice cream. You can dab on chestnuts, moles, and ergots with a tiny round brush, or thin it to the consistency of milk, and draw a careful bead to recreate a vein, taking care to blend it into the existing vein still present on the model. You might have to do two passes, which is normal. You can also do this veining method to restore wrinkles or eyelids sometimes as well. Just be sure to practice quite a bit on a junker to get a feel for this method, use tiny rounds with great points and long bristles (to hold a good reservoir of messo), and rinse your brush out often (because this stuff dries pretty quickly and will gunk up if you don’t keep those bristles clean and replenished with fresh, free-flowing messo). So a goodly amount of prior practice is a boon here! But the good news is, if you don't like what you just did with it, simply wet it and wipe if off and start again. It all comes off with a bit of water and a light scrub.

Primer

The primer you use is critical! Indeed, I’ve seen more models complicated or flat-out ruined by the improper use of primer or use of the wrong primer than just about anything else. So first off, always use a sandable primer. Why? Because chances are you’ll find some areas that need a little extra work, and you have to get back in there and re-tweak them. That’s normal and expected, so be ready for it. You also want a primer that dries fast, like dry to the touch in about fifteen to twenty minutes and dry enough to re-sand in about thirty minutes. Waiting around for hours or even days just gets really old, really fast.

The primer should have a matte, “toothy” surface and never a slick or greasy one otherwise your paint just won’t stick well. It must also stick like bananas to the model itself whether plastic, epoxy,resin, or ceramic so your paintjob won’t slough or flake off either.

More still, the primer should be “tight” to preserve tiny details, and not gunk 'n' gum them or the overall sculpting up. To that end, on your first spray, only do one super light coat. What you’re doing here is looking for prepping areas that need more work rather than actually priming. Trust me — you’ll find them. Attend to those then re-rinse your model and let air dry once again. Once completely dry, give it another super light spray, let it dry and then recheck the prepping and adjust. Once you’re good to go (and ideally on the second pass), give it a light overall spray and let dry. No more than two light coats though (dried in-between for thirty minutes) otherwise you risk gunking up the works and obscuring minute details or worse, creating a gummy, tacky, greasy, grimy surface. Never saturate the surface with primer! Indeed, it’s always better to do two light coats than one thick one. You can press it to three light coats, but the thing is, always use the least amount of primer to do the job.

So once primed, set aside and let fully dry for thirty days. Yes — let it sit for thirty days. Don't touch or futz with it. It needs to fully process and de-gas, becoming “cold and hard” on the model without the contamination of our hand oils, body heat, grime, debris, or whatnot. Just put it on the shelf in a dust-free environment, and forget about it for thirty days. We also need this time to see if anything weird will happen because it’s best to address it in the primer stage rather than after you’ve painted it.

Altogether then, I recommend the Dupli-Color Sandable Primer in White, Rust, or Grey. Just keep in mind that the White isn’t opaque, but more transparent, so don’t spray the holy hannah out of your model to get it opaque otherwise you’ll gunk up all your details or create a gummy surface. Instead, spray it normally and it’ll be just fine to paint even with its more transparent quality. Let the paint basecoat take care of the opacity problem. However, all this said, be mindful of your ambient climate. It's been reported that high humidity can greatly alter the characteristics of even this primer's performance. It's also been shared that the different colors perform differently, so do a series of experiments on junkers to find the one that best works in your situation and climate. For instance, one person reported that the White and Grey became sticky whereas the Rust was fine in their hot and humid midwest climate. So on that note, it's smart to do a test spray on a junker before priming your actual piece to see how that particular can or color performs. There is such a thing as bad batches, old cans, and other variables that can cause a problem, and it's better to find that out on a junker first. Now if you do end up with a bad can, just throw it out, don't try to rescue it. Don't give yourself more headaches...you've already had enough of that prepping every little booger on your model!

And of course, do all your spraying outdoors in a debris-free and wind-free location. And if you can, allow your piece to initially dry outdoors until safe to touch, then you can bring it inside to fully dry. You really don't want to mess around with those primer fumes, especially if you have pets (especially birds).

Just keep in mind that primers are often the bane of our existence and it's going to take some research and experimentation to find the one that works well for you in your climate. Truly, what consistently works great for one person will consistently generate problems for another person, and it seems almost willy-nilly. For instance, many people have serious problems with Krylon and Rustoleum primers almost across the board, but you'll still find that one person they work for. It's kinda bananas. Or a lot of people love the Dupli-Color primer but every so often it'll go haywire on someone. And I know quite a few folks use Army Painter Colour Primer with great success, but I've had it take up to four days to dry to the touch on me (as tested on an OF junker). So as a reminder, here are those best practices again:

• Always use a sandable primer that's "tight," has a matte, toothy surface when dry, and sticks like crazy onto your model, whether OF, custom, ceramic, or resin.
• Always run some experiments on the material you wish you spray, in the climate you wish to spray, so you discover what works for your situation.
• Always shake that can really well before using it.
• Always consider the ambient temperature outside. Like on hot summer days, think about priming in the cooler mornings. On cold winter days, prime in the afternoon when it's warmest. However, winter days can be especially tricky, depending on where you live. In this case, definitely do some experiments first to see what you can do and when. Indeed, sometimes it's just too cold to prime.
• Always do a test spray on a piece of cardboard first before hitting your model to test the can's consistency, air pressure, and spray quality.
• Always do light coats (dried in-between for about thirty minutes) rather than one or two heavy coats; always use the least amount of primer to do the job.
• Always let it dry for thirty minutes before handling it and don't handle it too much with bare hands after you've sprayed it. As such, keep your hands clean to keep them free of body oils and grime that'll compromise the primed surface.
• Always allow your primer to dry, undisturbed, for thirty days before basecoating with paint (you can push it to two weeks if pressed...maybe one week, but that's being really crazy about it).
• Always hold that can no closer than six inches from the model and no farther than eight inches, and keep that can moving around; don't focus on a single area too long. The last thing you want is pooling, puddles, drips, pebbling, excess coverage, and other messes in your primer.
• Always make sure your model is fully clean of debris before priming. You definitely don't want to lock in dust, sanding debris, or other prepping relics that'll mar a smooth, detailed finish.
• Always use a fine wet/dry sandpaper with low toothmarks to sand your primer because primer scratches very easily. After you've done your primer sanding, toothbrush wash again (no Ajax) to get all debris off and let air dry.
• Always be methodical, careful, and attentive when priming. Take your time. Do the steps. Do the least necessary. And always err on the side of caution. Like if a can is acting weird in your test spray, don't use it. If the weather just isn't cooperating, don't spray. Trust me on this. Now if your model already feels sticky and tacky, set it aside for thirty days to see what it does. Sometimes it just needs time to process rather than stripping.

Final Bits of Advice

Understand that no model is perfectly prepped because what is "perfect"? Yes, it means that all seams, pinholes, and boogers are gone, but honestly that's easier said than done sometimes. Really, the difficulty of casting logistics and the angles with cleaning mean we just can't even reach certain areas well enough at times. So do your best and learn to accept certain imperfections as "good enough." Because the problem is this: If you keep chasing "perfection," you're going to keep spraying your model with primer hunting stuff down, and that introduces its own set of big problems. I once ran across someone who, in getting their model "perfect," applied twelve coats of primer and then wondered why it was so gummy and never dried, making it unpaintable. So always remember, you want to use the least amount of primer possible to get the job done. So make sure your piece is as close to insanely prepped as possible then before hitting it again with primer because the last place you want to be is in coat four and still have prep work to do. This is why directional lighting is so helpful because it can tell you where those problem areas are even before you've hit the piece with primer.

You really don't want your piece sandpaper-polished mirror-slick with a super duper fine grit like 800 and higher. You want some tooth to the surface for the primer to grip to so the paint itself can stick well. I've seen patches of paintjobs actually peel, slough, or flake off simply because either the piece was too finely polished with superfine sandpaper or the primer had too slick a surface (such as the Tamiya primer*) and the paint just couldn't stick to it. So my own rule of thumb is, if the sandpapered or the primed surface has a glossy, slick, shiny sheen to it, it's too polished. How do we fix this? Well, we can go back into our model with 400 grit and scuff-sand those areas before priming. Now if the primer itself is too slick, I'm told we can spray it with Dullcote to reinstill some tooth, but since I've never had to do this myself, I can't speak to it so much. (*I sometimes use the Tamiya on medallion production masters because of that slick, glass-like surface to provide a nice finish for the castings. However, I keep those coats light and no more than two coats.)

Overall though, you want your primer to be "hard" and "cold" before you handle it, fully de-gassed and settled down. This is why I ideally let my primer sit for thirty days, untouched. I want that shell hard and inert. But even still, handle a primed model with gloved hands if you intend to handle it a lot. You see, our hand oils and body heat can gum up the surface on occasion, making it grimy and sometimes even tacky. So really only handle your primed piece when you intend to basecoat it. In a very real sense, your piece is most vulnerable in its primed state because that surface is intended to have paint on top if it, not be left an as-is surface.

As for my basecoats, I apply them with acrylic paint with make-up sponges first and then hit the piece with an airbrush to get all the nooks n' crannies and to give an all-over even, opaque coating. Then again, I let that sit for thirty days to fully dry and become "hard," "cold," and inert. Yes, that means a full sixty days of dry-time before I even start painting but in all my thirty-plus years at this, I've found that this strategy really helps in the longevity and durability department. Indeed, Julie Froelich allowed her basecoats to dry for thirty days and her Vintage Customs are famous for their uncanny durability and inert nature. And we're talking thirty to forty years later in many cases! So when you can, give your materials time to process and settle before really digging into them. Remember that all these chemicals, layered on top of each other (and don't forget the underlying OF, custom, or resin), need time to process and go through their phases before being truly ready to do their job. 

On that note, I've heard of sticky problems when painting brand new OFs right out of the box, as if the OF itself needs time to settle down on its own. As such, I've heard of people letting them sit on a shelf, out of the box, for four to six months before diving in. All the more reason to allow the primer and basecoat to sit so you can discover any issues before you actually start painting!

Conclusion

Learning to properly prep your own models is a necessary skill nowadays in more ways than one. Besides, don’t you want it done to your liking? Then who better to do it than yourself? And yes, prepping is a bit of a chore, but it’s an incredibly important one because it sets the model up on its best foot forwards for its paintjob, and we all know how sophisticated, pricey, and hard-to-get a great paintjob can be. Yet the finished product is only as good as its prepping!

So take your time with this critical step and learn as many methods, tips, and tool use as you can so you can find the process that best works for you. Everyone has their own preferred way of doing this step and you’ll find yours, too. As such, also check out these how-to videos here here and here for more ideas. And go here and here and here and here for lots more prepping how-tos. And to prep pewter micros, go here. That's to say, there are many different ways to prep a model, so if what I've shared just doesn't work for you, research to find another way. There's lots of pathways to the same destination! To that end, it usually takes me a couple of full days to properly prep a 1:9 scale model, sometimes three days if extensive epoxy fill is involved or if parts are particularly intricate. Good prepping just takes time, patience, and diligence, but you can do it! 

Just always remember that good prepping is the first and most critical step to ensure that your piece will hold up over time with all that wear and tear. Proper prep is key to help ensure the longevity of the paintjob and the beauty of your piece for years go come. But it's also something you can learn to do, and do well and when you do, you'll have tackled one of the most finicky and laborious skillsets our art form has to offer. And that's definitely worth a huge high five! Good job! *Thwack!* Rock on! 

“Have no fear of perfection, you'll never reach it.”

— Salvador Dali

High Five 2: My Top Five Prepping Tips

High Five: My Top Five Painting Tips

Introduction

Sometimes all we need to jumpstart our own rethinking or exploration is to simply look at things from a different perspective. And a lot of these perspectives can come from other peoples’ methods, ideas, or tips on how they do everyday things, or in our case, how they paint realistic equine sculptures. Beginners, in particular, are really benefitted from this as many of the little things seasoned artists take for granted can be a complete game-changer for a newbie!

So in this spirit, let’s explore my five top tips for painting our pieces more effectively, easily, and realistically. These are things routine for me, but maybe for you, they could make all the difference to improve your game or switch your gears! One of the best things about lots of artists in a niche is that means there are many different brains working similar problems, and that spells one thing: Innovation! But that only works if we share what we've learned, which I happen to think is a smart thing to do in the long run. Why? Because when we share our processes with others, they make it their own and who knows what we'll learn in turn from them as they make advances or adaptations! It's a win win! Undeniably, when it comes to developing skillsets, knowledge is power, and so the more knowledge that's shared, the more shared power there is to go around!

Now these tips entail painting primarily in acrylic paint but a lot of these ideas could apply to other media like oils, pastels, or color pencils with a bit of tweaking. So take from these tips what you will and make them your own, and hopefully you’ll find them helpful! So let’s go!...

White Markings

Do you struggle with the opacity of your white markings? I think we all do to some extent, don't we? Uffdah. Smooth, even, flush, opaque white is just The Struggle of the Century for us it seems. Well, there are a couple of ways to make it easier!

First, consider the kind of white paint you use. Yes...it does make a difference, a big one! Different brands and consistencies just have different coverage abililties, and after trying quite a few, I've found two that work the best for me. For starters, the best one is Saint Titanium White by Stuart Semple, available from Culture Hustle. This white paint has a great fluid consistency and can be made opaque, even when thinned, in about three layers because it’s so highly pigmented. It's great stuff! (However, since it's made-to-order, it can take a long long while to get, so just keep that in mind.) Then for the second one, Golden Fluid Acrylics Titanium White has great opacity too and a very usable consistency, but, it does take more layers than the Saint white, about four to six on average. (But it's far easier and faster to get, so it makes a terrific alternative to the Culture Hustle White.) With both though, just thin a bit with clean water to about the consistency of ink or between 1% and 2% milk, and you're good to go! Just be sure to use a nice, soft, clean brush that holds a good tip and has a decent length of bristle to hold a good well of paint. I find that rounds work really well across the board, as do filberts in certain situations. Now there's a Goldilock's Zone to both consistency and to brushing technique, so be sure to practice on a junker before tackling your white markings on your actual model. But overall, those two are the strongest acrylic whites I've found so far and both glide on like a dream to boot.

Second, some artists add a bit of white gesso to their first couple of layers to beef up the opacity, then finish with a layer or two of pure paint. Gesso does change the consistency a little bit, so practice with it on a junker. In particular, it can create a pebbly, grainy finish if you aren't careful or futz with it too long, so play around with it first. Just don’t leave gesso as the final surface though because it attracts grime and discolors with time so end your session with at least one layer of actual paint on the top, ideally two layers. But once you learn how to use this technique well, it can help you achieve a nice opacity pretty quickly. For this then, I recommend Liquitex Acrylic Gesso in white. That said though, if you're using the Saint White or even the Golden White, gesso isn't really that necessary, so it's up to you to use this method or not when painting with those Whites.

Just remember this: It's better to do more passes with a thinner consistency than just a few with a thicker consistency, just like with primer. So be methodical and patient. Take your time. To that, you want to avoid three primary things: Brushstrokes, pooling, and border ridges. Brushstrokes happen when the consistency is too thick or if you've futzed with a drying area for too long. Pooling happens when the consistency is too thin and you've dabbed on too much paint onto the surface. (What's more, when the pool dries, it can leave a blister of texture that's a real bother to sand down to remove.) Really too-thin paint can also lead to "micro-pooling" when the paint just doesn't stick well to the surface and beads up on you. As for border ridges, they happen when there wasn't enough attention to thin, flush layers and an even coating of paint on the entire marking, producing a ridge of paint along the perimeter of the marking or pattern. So yes, doing nice white markings takes time, a lot of practice, hard won experience, and a goodly degree of "feel," but it's all learnable so practice practice practice on a junker! You can do it!

And lastly, consider muting your whites with a snidge of Burnt Umber or griege to give a more life-like off-white effect to the overall finish. Like rethink using white straight out of the bottle to instead tone it down a bit. It adds more realism plus it gives you "a place to go" with any highlighting you'd like to do on your white areas like on the face, in hair, and elsewhere. It can make for such a beautiful, living effect, often much more effectively than just straight white.

Flesh Tones

Concocting flesh colors for unpigmented skin is tricky, that’s for sure. But with a little bit of know-how, it’s not only doable, it’s adaptable. And that last bit is important because horse skin color varies between individuals from an orangey-tone to even a cotton-candy tone. In other words, there is no one tone that’s correct, it’s a spectrum. To that end then, amass some references to develop a library of options for either some variety or to find the tone(s) that most appeal to you.

Any which way, a down and dirty easy way to mix up a quick flesh tone is with Burnt Sienna and Titanium White. You can vary the ratio for shade or highlight colors, too. And you can add either Raw Sienna or Burnt Umber for some variety if you want.

Now to mix a from-scratch flesh tone, you’ll be mixing red, yellow, blue, and white, then simply playing with the ratios to get the tone you want. What you're essentially doing is first mixing a kind of brown with a complementary mix then adjusting it into flesh tones. Now one may wonder why go about it "the hard way" when you can bang out a serviceable flesh tone with just Burnt Sienna and Titanium White. But the benefit from doing it from scratch is you have a ton more versatility and adaptability to match anything your reference shows. Like if you lean into the yellow, you’ll get a more orangey tone or if you lean into the red, you’ll get the cotton-candy tone, then add some blue and you get a darker, more neutral flesh tone. You can't really do that with just Burnt Sienna and Titanium White. So play with mixing from scratch to practice targeting the hues from various references and you'll develop a super helpful skillset. And practice is important because a common error is to make flesh tones too red, too yellow, too orange, or too pigmented or not pigmented enough. There’s several sweet spots with flesh tones so play around with it all to find them. 

As for the colors themselves, I recommend going with a warm yellow (orange-leaning, like a non-cadmium Yellow Deep, Yellow Oxide, or Ochre), a cool red (purple-leaning and therefore blue-leaning, like Naphthol Crimson or a non-cadmium Red medium or deep), and a warmer blue (purple-leaning, therefore red-leaning, like French Ultramarine Blue), with good ol’ Titanium White as a tinting agent. And you can add Burnt Umber in the mix, too, to shift it duller and browner, or Burnt Sienna to shift it more rusty and blushed. But try different reds, yellows, whites, and blues for different results as each one adds its own spin, and maybe you’d like a different array more. For instance, substituting with a warm red like Pyrrole Red can render beautiful results, too, so don’t be afraid to experiment with colors. And sometimes, some flesh tones on horses are on the cool side, warranting a cooler array of hues to mix up. So pay attention, be adaptive, practice, and you got this! Oh, and consider shading and highlighting your fleshy areas such as on the face like around the eyes and muzzle. This can really heighten realism and a sense of touchable fleshiness.

Brushes 

The types of brushes you use for certain things really do count! Indeed, they alone can make or break your results. For instance, when painting markings, ticking, patterns, eyes, hooves, manes and tails and feathers, aim for rounds that have hyperfine, tiny perfect points but with long bristles and “big bellies” that’ll hold a goodly reservoir of paint so you don’t have to keep redipping every two seconds. This allows you to keep working or to continue an unbroken line, avoiding having to re-dip and restart, creating a messy, imprecise result. Filberts are also a good choice because their flat, rounded edge which can be very useful for blending colors and achieving a smooth surface. What’s more, make sure these brushes are soft soft soft to help dampen brush strokes and textures, especially so with markings and patterns of white. And take care of your brushes, cleaning them thoroughly after use so paint doesn’t creep into the ferrule to dry up there and spread apart the bristles, and allow the brush to dry laying on its side, not upright. Plus always store them handle-side down so their bristles aren’t bent or splayed.

I also like specific liner brushes used for nail art because they're long, superfine, and hold their tip really well. These are great for liner-painting manes, feathers, and tails, in particular, or even hoof details because you don't need to re-dip for a single swipe. And they come in all sorts of sizes for any job and have protective caps, which are super handy.

What's more, I like the Camlon series of hyperfine brushes for eyes and superfine detailing like ticking and whatnot. These are hard to get as they're from Japan and I can only find them available on eBay (they sell out often), but they are absolutely top of the line for this type of brush and work uncannily well for such fine little brushes. I've also tripled up on the 100/0 size Camlon brush as back ups. Just a note about these brushes: Don't soak the bristles with paint. Keep the paint on the tips only and clean religiously after use. This will prevent paint from seeping up into the ferrule and splitting apart the bristles to ruin the superfine tips. Also, don't use these brushes to actually mix your paints. Just use them to dip 'n' dab otherwise you'll ruin the tips. So take good care of these nifty little brushes and they'll last you a lifetime. And that goes for all of your fine painting brushes, actually. Instead, use a palette knife or a junker brush to mix up your colors on the palette then use your good brushes to dip 'n' dab to keep them pristine. For my junker mixing brush then, I use a beaten up old artificial bristle round in size 4, but I also use a size 6 for when I need a bigger pile of paint.

Believe it or not, beaten up old stencil brushes can be your best friend when painting realistic horses! Like, they can be used as a randomizing tool to generate a more organic pattern for sabinos, roans, appaloosa mottling or splotching, and other such effects. Similarly, don’t overlook the tried and true use of a toothbrush to create speckling, roaning, or fleabites! Use both with watered down paint to create a randomized template to refine further with a fine brush and paint. But going about it this way will help to create more organic randomness for you, helping to prevent that dreaded artificial look of regimentation and formula. Truly, one of the worst enemies of painting realistic horses is regimentation, or a too uniform interpretation of dappling, ticking, fleabites, ragged patterns, roaning, mottling and other such organically randomized effects. Absolutely, one of the biggest tricks and challenges in paintwork is achieving that genetic, organic "luck of the draw" look to such things. But if you learn to use a ragged stencil brush and a toothbrush as a template, you can often achieve a more convincing, more "organically chaotic" result. What's more, a lot of painters, especially those who work in oil, use beaten up small brushes to paint dapples with great success, so don't be so quick to throw out that mashed up little brush! Instead, put it to work if you can.

Now going on a tangent for oil painting, make-up brushes are a real boon! Yes! Make-up brushes! In particular, the E.L.F. brushes are often the best choices because they're cheap (on average about $2-$4 per brush), easily found (like at CVS or the E.L.F website), a great texture, and they don't shed. Just a solid choice at a fraction of the price of an equivalent artist's brush. For instance, I like the E.L.F. Eye crease brush ($3) as a mop brush for buffing small scales or precision areas on big scales, being the perfect size, density, spring, and softness. And I like the E.L.F. Small smudge brush ($6) for dappling, hooves, dun factors, leg detailing, and facial painting in oils. It's also a great drybrushing brush for acrylics though, like for detailing, hooves, dun factoring, and dappling, etc. But yeah...don't overlook make-up brushes or nail art brushes for what we do! Often, they're the better choice and at much more affordable prices!

Pencils

A nifty medium for manes, tails, feathering, hooves, and dappling (of any kind) and even dun factors are color pencils. Yes! Colored pencils! They come in an array of hues and offer you a tremendous degree of control and subtlety that’s tricky to achieve with brushes and paint, which can look “painted on” if not carefully done. For instance, I like to airbrush or drybrush in my tonal changes or dapples, then spray with Dullcote and let dry. Then go in with color pencils to detail out the hair striations which produces a beautiful wispy effect, or detail or amplify dapples, and all without looking “painted on.” You can even lightly burnish the color pencils with a smudge stick like what you’d use for charcoal pencil to even out the grain a bit more. Then Dullcote again and you can layer paint on top to "set that back" even more. The only real trick to them is to use the right colors and, more importantly, to keep the pencil tips sharp for a nice line. Also, don’t press down too hard or you’ll tear your underlying paint layers. And you can even intermix them with brushwork, too, for some pretty complex effects, given you use Dullcote to give the surface some "tooth" again. As for the brand I prefer, I like Derwents over Prismacolor as the Derwents aren't so waxy, being more pigmented. But Prismacolors work okay if that's all you have. But also consider Faber-Castells and Holbeins and Caran d'Aches, depending on what you prefer, because these are better than Prismacolors, too.

Along those lines, pastel or chalk pencils work great, too, especially for dapples and facial shadings. Use that smudge stick or pointed Q-tips to soften them if you wish, too (the Q-tips often work better because they're softer). The only hitch to these is that they don’t come in too many colors, but if you use the white one, you can spray over it with Dullcote to fix it down, then tint it with overlying colored glazes for a very luminescent effect. As for that white one, I like the General's White Chalk #4414 pencil best. It's great for pale dapples and detailing (like on the face, legs, "ghost trails," etc.), and in manes and tails. Just be sure to Dullcote spray these types of pencils first before proceeding with further painting or glazing, or they'll just dissolve away or lift off.

Hooves

Hooves are some of the trickiest aspects of horsedom to render in paint. Why is that? Well, when you really break them down, they’re a complex blend of tones, details, and effects on a small area, but on a circular continuum around the hoof wall. They also have a "translucent" quality to them, a kind of luminescence that's important to capture. They can be stained with environmental relics, too, adding complicated details and effects into the mix. All this means we need to be extremely precise and detailed but also very sensitive to tone and impression at the same time, all the while "painting on the round." If we aren’t careful then, they can look sloppily done or, alternately, look too formulaic and artificial, like the horse lived in a “reality vacuum," or on the other hand, the different areas of our hoof won't seem cohesive together. So we need to hit that balance between “organic chaos," structure, and cohesiveness in order to capture the intricacies of the hoof wall "on the round." So what does that mean? A lot of futzing, that’s what! Ack! But it’s all doable with some insights and methods.

For one, follow your references religiously for the colorations, effects, details, and striping on your hooves. For example, striping only happens in certain conditions, not all willy nilly. Like ermine spots on the coronet can birth a stripe, but then again, appaloosas have their own tendencies in hoof striping we should be aware of, too. The point is, details like stripes aren’t random but follow some basic tendencies we should be sensitive to in our references. What's more, every hoof is different so really lean into your references and away from habit and formula. For another, the medium we use to paint hooves can make a big difference, based on our own preferences. For instance, some oil painters prefer to paint their details, like hooves, in acrylics while others prefer to continue with oils. The point is, if you’re really struggling with painting your hooves, it may not necessarily be the method you’re using, but the medium. So experiment to see what might work better for you because you can use oils, acrylics, pastels, color pencils, inks, and even conte crayon or charcoal pencils — or a mixed media approach with a bunch of them — to color your hooves. Indeed, with hooves it’s whatever works!

So to maybe help your own explorations along, here’s how I paint hooves nowadays for some hopefully helpful ideas. I most often use acrylic paint and color pencils, but sometimes I'll throw in other media as needed like oils, charcoal, or pastel pencils. I’ll use a pale hoof as the example but the same ideas can apply to dark hooves, too, as follows:

• First: With a brush and paint, paint the whole hoof its main color, in this case a yellowish light tan color. Let that dry. (Lean into your references as "shell" colors vary.)
• Second: With a brush and paint, paint on the tonal shifts and gradations, around the whole hoof. These are the big ideas of color blocking on the hoof wall. For instance, with a polished clean show hoof I may make the hoof around the coronet lighter and darker around the rim whereas on a pasture hoof, I may do the opposite. So look for color gradations, patches, and other effects on your references and paint them in now, sticking to the big ideas.
• Third: With a brush and paint, add in detail like striations, hoof rings, and other more specific discolorations. Be mindful of organic randomness and what your references are telling you. Also be very sensitive to the tones you’re using because they can really convey “hoofwall” all by themselves. However, avoid things like rusty-colored streaks or reddish splotches as this indicates bruising inside the foot.
• Fourth: Start to add in stripes (if present), varying their tones, intensities, widths and striations, leaning into your references. You can start to do this by watering down blacks, browns, greys, and charcoals and striping them on, keeping them straight and parallel to the dorsal aspect of the hoofwall and the angle of the heel at all times. Remember, striping runs inside the hoof tubules, so any deviation away from that parallel origination indicates a major problem with the hoof tubules of the wall. Let all that dry.
• Fifth: Go back over the stripes to “set them back” into the paintwork so they look embedded rather than “painted on.” That’s to say striping has a “bruised,” embedded look to them, not a “floating on top” appearance. So we can “set them back” by adjusting their tones. For example, a duller, more pastel charcoal looks more embedded than a straight, clean black. Does that make sense? We can also add details into them like striations that can make them look more organic and “grown” rather than painted-on. Make more adjustments as you see fit, then let it all dry and spray with Dullcote to add “tooth” back into the surface.
• Sixth: Now I take color pencils and add more subtle and soft striations and detailing to really take it home. I can burnish the color pencils with a smudger, too, to smooth out their pigment sometimes. I may also use pastel pencils for softer, smudgier effects on occasion.
• Seventh: Then I’ll lightly spray again with Dullcote, and make more adjustments with paint or pencils, doing lots of back ’n’ forth to achieve the embedded, detailed, and organic “grown” look I want until I’m satisfied. (No wonder why painting hooves takes so long!) When done, I’ll simply seal them when I do the final all-over finishing spray with Dullcote.
• Eighth: Depending on the type of grooming involved, I may leave as-is (if pasture rough) or gloss with Liquitex Gloss Varnish (if show groomed). And voilá—finito! It only took ten bajillion hours! 
• Note: Don’t forget the chalky, pale periople under the coronet! And don’t overlook green staining from the grass or manure either, or how dirt stains stick to the waxy hoofwall. So pay close attention to your references and be mindful of environmental and situational context with your colorations and detailing.

All this said though, the types of brushes you use to paint hooves can be critical. Again, I like to use rounds of various sizes (sizes 0-4) with good points and long bristles with “big bellies” to really hold a good well of paint so I don’t have to stop and re-dip. But small filberts (in sizes 2-4) are immensely handy, too, for applying the overall color and also for swatches of coloration and blending them together. Also handy is that E.L.F. Small smudge brush which can afford you a lot of smudging ability with a lot of control.

Also think about painting technique. Like besides brushing the paints on, also consider drybrushing and wet-on-wet techniques to flesh out your effects and details. You can even use an airbrush on occasion if you can really control it well enough.

Bonus Tip: Reference Images

Of course using references is important to what we do, indeed, it’s fundamental! But even more, knowing how to manipulate our references in a photo editing program can make them even more accurate and powerful for you. For starters, knowing how to correct their color, lighting, and saturation is key for preparing them for use as a painting reference (Recommended reading: Color Conniptions: Learning How To See Color Accurately). That’s to say we just can’t use a reference right out of the gate. We need to check it to make sure the color is accurate, the lighting is optimum, and the saturation levels are correct before we jump in. 

What’s more, we should know how to grayscale our references to reduce such things as dappling patterns, white patterns, and spotted patterns down to more simplistic terms which can really help us interpret the patterns more accurately on our model. 

But perhaps most powerful of all, learning how to invert the darks and lights on our references can yield extremely helpful insights into white patterns and spotting patterns, and especially of dappling patterns no matter how complicated. Truly, inverting a dappling reference can be a key insight into getting the pattern more correct on our piece.

Conclusion

So there ya go, my top five tips (plus one!) for painting realistic equine sculptures! Think about playing around with some or all of them to augment your own skillset to maybe bump your painting up a notch or two! Or maybe all they do is get you thinking in a new way about your own painting methods, and off you go in new directions! And that can be tremendously important to do from time to time.

Because the gist of all this is to stay open to new ideas and methods, always. We all have our own ways of doing things — our own habits, formulas, biases, comfort zones, and conventions that tell us when our work looks correct and done. But the thing is, all this can be misinformed right under our noses if we aren’t careful to pick them apart and reconsider them from time to time with new ideas and techniques, even new media. So we should stay a learner and never get too comfortable with our own ways of doing things otherwise we risk creative plateaus and artistic traps like dated work and skews. Likewise, if we’re painting things with the same formulas repeatedly — when life is all about diversity, variety, options, and “organic chaos” — we risk a homogenized portfolio that can become boring and increasingly irrelevant. We don’t want that! So consider taking some classes and workshops, reading techniques articles and watching some how-to videos, and generally rattling our own cage every so often to keep our work evolving, fresh, and current. Really, no matter how long we've been at this, there's always room to grow!

And for three dollops of unsolicited best advice, I would suggest, first, chasing after your inspirations without becoming a slave to them and, second, knowing exactly who matters most in your creative journey, and third, turning your intimidations into inspirations with a little shift in your perspective. Armed with this trifecta, you're well on your way to sustained momentum in both your creativity and enjoyment no matter what potholes you encounter. Because — yes — we all have to deal with our own various potholes in our creative adventures and it's how we navigate them that can often spell the difference between our steadfast enthusiasm or our bitter disillusionment, so give it a good ponder. You owe it to yourself and your art to seat your paradigm squarely on those notions that foster your artistry best! Never forget that in all space and time, your art is wholly unique, and wholly unique just to you. You are the one and only conduit for it to come into the world, so do yourself a favor: Always remember just how special and precious your Voice truly is so joyously use it!

Wrap it all up then and this kind of approach can keep our painting exploratory and experimental, helping to keep our efforts exciting and our portfolio interesting. But most of all, we’ll probably find a new satisfaction in our efforts when we approach our painting with fresh curiosity rather than routine. Without a doubt, learning something new — and happily surprising ourselves int he process — is a great feeling, an addictive feeling, and that can feed on itself to spin our paintwork into enticing new realms of realism and artistry! And that’s definitely worth a big high five! *slap* Go, you!

Painting is easy when you don't know how, but very difficult when you do.

―  Edgar Degas

High Five: My Top Five Painting Tips