Kayla's experiments with Phicen/TBLeague: coloring body, hands and feet

It's taken me over two years now, but through trial and error I've realised that Vallejo paints seem to work better in general when used as sparingly as possible and in multiple thin layers. They also work best when just slightly thinned with water. I used to think water was bad to use with them, and over the years I have tried both a medium that was supposed to keep them wet longer (but found it had more propensity to leave brush streaks), as well as an airbrush thinner (which dried quickly but also didn't work well on plastic as the alcohol in it had a tendency to remove the underlying layers of paint), and honestly nothing beats just water. (Though I use de-ionised water since the water in my taps leaves limescale marks.)

No idea what to do about the shine when using only brush-on paints. You could probably get rid of it by spraying Mr. Super Clear or some equivalent, but that stuff is toxic and I don't dare work with it even with a mask on.  

And regarding the paint scratching off.... eep. The only thing I can think of would be to use a primer first before applying the paint (though maybe you already did that).

ETA: Sorry to derail your thread, Kayla...

02. Phicen/TBLeague hands and feet coloring with acrylic paint


For the Phicen hands and feet I used Golden Liquids - a very fantastic (and unfortunately also expensive) acrylic paint that is very highly pigmented with very pure color pigments. For such small things I treated myself to a few colors in small 30 ml bottles. You don't need a lot for this.

First I cleaned the Phicen hands and feet very thoroughly with alcohol to remove any traces of skin fat (from previous handling). I also wore disposable gloves myself to avoid transferring new skin fat (although I have dry skin, but better safe than sorry).


I chose these colors for mixing my own 3 skin tones:




I started with one of the body color to approach me as exactly as possible and thereby experience how the color mixture reacts to the Suntan Phicen hands. It looked a little different than in the bowl, because the original color only showed through very slightly.

From the first mixed skin color, I poured color into 2 other small containers for the other 2 bodies, as it were as a base, and from there I continued mixing. (I had the 2 color mix containers upside down, that's why they look so full now. There's just a little bit of color in there. But that should be better sealed off air, I had read.)


Here are the 3 mixed and applied skin colors in the first intermediate result:





After drying, the acrylic paint still looked too shiny. So the Phicen hands and feet got a matting protective coating with Golden Matte Varnish. I hope that this will also increase the durability and that there will be no problems in the long run when using the hands (bending fingers) and feet (e.g. in tight shoes).





And here with attached hands and feet for the final color comparison:







It was a whole new experience for me and I am very happy with my result. Depending on the light source, I still see minimal deviations, but this is also the case with the original Suntan hands/feet, because they reflect the light differently than the body.

I was also "allowed" to test the strong adhesion of the acrylic paint: When I wanted to wash off an imprecise shade, immediately after applying it. And then I had to scrub really hard with a scratching sponge. So I'm going to assume that it will hold up well. However, I have not yet tested heavy use.

And if you want to know more, just ask ...

Those turned out excellent! Beautiful skin tones, and beautiful photography!

And yes, I forgot...I also clean them thoroughly with alcohol before painting, as well. It's always important to do that with plastic as it helps adhesion.

The results look amazing! and thanks for sharing, how close would you say you can match the body pigment to a specific headsculpt? and for a probable mistake, do you think you can lighten the pigment from a darker tone? also, can you mask certain body parts to create specific marks like tattoos with hard edges or blends?

Thank you very much for the acrylics painting information, Kayla. Gives us a lot to go on. And may I say, what a pristine, professional presentation!

Tabul wrote:The results look amazing! and thanks for sharing, how close would you say you can match the body pigment to a specific headsculpt? and for a probable mistake, do you think you can lighten the pigment from a darker tone? also, can you mask certain body parts to create specific marks like tattoos with hard edges or blends?

For two of my colored bodies I was able to achieve exact color matching with the respective headsculpt. (I could submit photos of the complete figures with heads.)

On the one hand, I'm a graphic designer and I have a very good feel for colors. And in addition, I was lucky that the two colors of the powder make-up that I had left here exactly matched the goals. (I only bought new colors later.)

And for the third colored body, I also colored a headsculpt (pale) with the powder make-up method to match the color of the body. The make-up stays on the headsculpts. So it is not washed off, but forms a semi-permanent layer, similar to that on human skin. If you are a little careful when touching it (and if your hands are as dry as possible), the make-up will hold up quite well. It cannot be washed off with water alone, only soap and water together.

I haven't yet documented a tutorial for headsculpts. If there is interest here, I can do that. I already have a few heads (and bodies) lying around that want a new skin color.


Unfortunately, lighter coloring does not work. Just a different shade with a similar level of lightness or darker.


I have not yet tried sharp boundaries like for tattoos. I could try that on a test body. But I suspect it will probably not work (well).

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you very much for the acrylics painting information, Kayla. Gives us a lot to go on. And may I say, what a pristine, professional presentation!

Thank you, I am pleased that you can benefit from my documentation - and so do many other users. Thank you for showing such great interest in my experiments.


In my 1: 6 hobby, photography is a primary element, which is why I make great efforts to get good photos, even with documentations.

You are very welcome. Both the experiments and their presentation are excellent and you deserve to be praised for them. And your willingness to share. And thanks for pointing out that lightening the skin tone does not really work with the powder method -- even if I'm a bit disappointed in that.

Nice additional info on the hands and feet. Very informative. I like the toothpicks in the roll of toilet paper to hold everything while drying — hilarious and ingenious.

thanks for the response, this is so promising . I will get some of the products you recommended to do so experiments, great work!

Yes, this is great , it's so nice to have an option of adding a little more 'life' into the tbleague skintones (especially that sickly grey 'suntan'). Thank you, Kayla, for being so generous in sharing your technique. :')

GubernatorFan wrote:Both the experiments and their presentation are excellent and you deserve to be praised for them. And your willingness to share.

I thank you very much - my pleasure!  

Stryker2011 wrote:I like the toothpicks in the roll of toilet paper to hold everything while drying — hilarious and ingenious.

Yes, it was a stopgap solution. Otherwise I like to use a leftover piece of Styrodur, but I didn't have anything on hand at the moment. So the toilet paper had to serve ...  


As I am working on this topic so intensely at the moment, I immediately feel like coloring a new body.  

I just wish Phicen/TBLeague would read the experiment   - and then finally produce a few more skin tones themselves. The world is not just made up of two skin colors. And the Suntan is too gray live. No problem on photos with Photoshop - but in my showcase I would have to look at the gray bodies without dyeing them.  

skywalkersaga wrote:Yes, this is great , it's so nice to have an option of adding a little more 'life' into the tbleague skintones (especially that sickly grey 'suntan').

Yes, exactly my opinion. We collectors / kitbashers agree!  

Tabul wrote:thanks for the response, this is so promising . I will get some of the products you recommended to do so experiments, great work!

With pleasure - good luck with your experiments!  

Has anyone here in the states found the Nude By Nature cosmetics anywhere? I haven’t had much luck, but then makeup really isn’t my forte when it comes to doing searches (Amazon seems to be a bust).

It's available on Amazon UK....

That's interesting. I wonder if it's because it comes out of Australia that the US Amazon doesn't seem to have it (or maybe I haven't dug deep enough).

I had a hard time finding any, too, Mark. There was very little, in fact. But since right now I was trying to lighten, not darken a body, I didn't look very far.

Well, I just ordered a couple of these cosmetics (the same colors Anya recommended above). So we'll see how it goes. If I can color a TBLeague to match the Endor Leia head I modified to make Slave Leia, I can finally get rid of that awkward-posing Jiaou Doll body for something a little more pleasing to the eye.

Stryker2011 wrote:Well, I just ordered a couple of these cosmetics (the same colors Anya recommended above). So we'll see how it goes. If I can color a TBLeague to match the Endor Leia head I modified to make Slave Leia, I can finally get rid of that awkward-posing Jiaou Doll body for something a little more pleasing to the eye.

Keep us posted.

Stryker2011 wrote:Well, I just ordered a couple of these cosmetics (the same colors Anya recommended above). So we'll see how it goes. If I can color a TBLeague to match the Endor Leia head I modified to make Slave Leia, I can finally get rid of that awkward-posing Jiaou Doll body for something a little more pleasing to the eye.

That sounds good, Stryker! I wish you lots of success and fun with your new project.

And I definitely look forward to photos ...  

3. Phicen/TBLeague body coloring - new body doesn't work


Today I had a failure to record, which I would like to share with you right away.

I recently got a newer pale body (with the stronger skin tone) want to dye dark brown - with Nude by Nature as before, in shade C8 Chocolate.

The body stood around for several weeks for the make-up color to soak in and today I washed it off. With horror - the body had turned orange! And stained too. And with further, thorough washing, more and more color came off, so the color was hardly absorbed into the material, despite the long time duration.

My other 3 bodies before had turned out so beautiful, silicone was colored directly, but this one behaved completely differently with the otherwise same treatment.

I can only guess that TBLeague has changed the material or possibly used a kind of protective layer recently, because even when applying the make-up, a very uneven coloring was visible and I had to apply it really thick. This was not the case at all with the bodies of the older type that I had colored before.

Just wanted to put that out there as a warning in case anyone else tries to color like this. And I bought my other 3 colored bodies a few years ago.

Too bad, I still had so many plans, but I will only use older bodies. And I might think twice beforehand whether I should recolor them or not...

Sorry to hear this, Kayla. That's so frustrating.

My own attempts to even just use oil pastels on the tbleague bodies have proven more tricky with the newer batches of their bodies, as well. I wonder if they've gone with cheaper/more fragile materials recently.

ETA: have you tried using just artist (soft/chalk) pastels or artist pigments? Wondering if the bodies are still ok with those.

That's interesting, Sky, that you had to have a similar experience. I'm sorry for that. And yes, very frustrating.

Yes, the newer material feels different too. And the fine airbrush shades are no longer there. Overall, the newer bodies look cheaper to produce than the older batches.

Very unfortunate considering the bodies are becoming more and more expensive for us to buy.

skywalkersaga wrote:
ETA: have you tried using just artist (soft/chalk) pastels or artist pigments? Wondering if the bodies are still ok with those.

No, I haven't tried that yet. But some other users have already done that. This could be discussed in more detail.

Oh man, that’s disheartening. I bought the two earlier foundations you recommended, but haven’t had the time to try this method. Now I’m worried.

I find myself regretting I didn't purchase more tbleague bodies several years ago. They are indeed becoming too expensive for me these days. And I still have so many projects I am hoping to do. Sometimes it seems like they will never happen, sigh.

Hopefully all is not lost on this colouring method. I'm definitely still curious to try the soft pastels and pigments, since being able to slightly tint a body to a more realistic colour would indeed be very useful.

Experiments don't always turn out as we hope, but if we didn't try, we'd get nowhere. I haven't tried this method yet, but so far oil pastel has worked fine for me even on what are relatively recent products (older models, but probably new batches that would have the present material used). By the way, the body is not (despite the advertisements) silicone but TPE. It may seem obvious, but I hope you washed it very thoroughly before beginning the coloring process.

When do you think did the 'new material/batch' start? With a certain year/model?

I decently toned one of those new bodies recently with regular pastels and it worked fine.

Another older one I experimented on with chalk pastels and pigments turned orange too after I wiped it.

Many thanks for your comments. So I don't feel so alone with the problem.

I won't give up coloring just yet. I still have some older Phicen Bodies in reserve (fortunately with lower previous prices).

And yes, I wash the bodies very, very thoroughly before coloring. I might also try recoloring the failure body. The body has now been thoroughly washed several times. Coloring can't get any worse.

I think the new material starts last year when the pale bodies got the bolder shade. (Here with me it is the comparison of old and new S16.)