Yet Another TBLeague Body Pale Repaint Experiment: updated with Part II (2.0)

For Part II with Pale Repaint 2.0 see HERE.

Having recently repainted (substantially or very slightly) a number of heads to match the TBLeague bodies' male and female suntan skin tone, it occurred to me that I haven't done a body repaint in a long time. Instead of repainting the head to match a body, why not repaint a body to match a head? Also, while I have repainted bodies in darker and more vivid colors (for African skin tones, for Darth Maul, for Yondu, and for Gamora), I had never tried making them paler. Of course, the challenges of painting TPE would explain why this is not generally the way to go, but it is conceivable that one might not have a choice (i.e., a head has to be a certain color and the body's color needs to be changed). Moreover, of the two methods of repainting TPE that I am comfortable with, "real touch" markers were out, as I could not use them to make the skin tone paler. So oil pastel it was, and one can only blend colors so much with those, so some of this is up to luck and one would have to settle for a level of approximation. I used three different colors and blended them as best I could, using the usual technique already covered in the Painting Seamless Bodies Tutorial (here). In hand the results are pretty good. In the photos, depending on the light, less so but still probably passable; more work might improve it a bit more.





The next four photos compare the result with the same body, but unmodified, with a head repainted to match it -- in four different levels of light.









For Part II with Pale Repaint 2.0 see HERE.

WOW! Amazing result! I'm seeing some yellow patches, which I'm sure is due to the blending action. Is there no single pastel that just so happens to match this pale skin tone? In any case, great work!

That turned out better than I would have thought. It's frustrating that the oil pastels don't blend as well as they could sometimes (when it comes to multiple colours). Which colours did you use?

Great results GF! Should come in handy for all Witcher Fans out there

Diana wrote:WOW! Amazing result! I'm seeing some yellow patches, which I'm sure is due to the blending action. Is there no single pastel that just so happens to match this pale skin tone? In any case, great work!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. The "yellow" patches you see are the result of the last and least comprehensive layer -- I should have done more and blended it better, might still do that. Yes, generally there is no single pastel color what would work -- and if there is you might not be able to tell until after you start to experiment (due to the way it would appear applied on the -- in this case darker -- body).

skywalkersaga wrote:That turned out better than I would have thought. It's frustrating that the oil pastels don't blend as well as they could sometimes (when it comes to multiple colours). Which colours did you use?

Thank you very much. I agree completely, and that is why I have considered following gooboo's lead and trying the actual oil paint approach, but not there yet. Here is what I used:

I made a fairly comprehensive and even coverage with light orange, followed it up with a nearly as comprehensive and even coverage with salmon pink, and finally a less thorough application of yellow ochre (which is why some of it, parts that didn't blend enough, appear more visible as a few spots and streaks; got to work more on that one). By the way, I prefer Staedtler pastels, which seem to be a bit softer, but tried these out instead this time around. At some points I was heating up the pastel stick with a hair dryer before applying the color.

Valiarde wrote:Great results GF! Should come in handy for all Witcher Fans out there

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. I guess poor Henry won't be getting a tan, then?

Interesting result. I think I’ll stick to making the skin darker, and if I have to go lighter, I’ll opt for the head sculpt being repainted.  Not a bad result overall, though.

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting result. I think I’ll stick to making the skin darker, and if I have to go lighter, I’ll opt for the head sculpt being repainted.  Not a bad result overall, though.

Thank you very much, Mark. I agree, going darker is easier, and it opens up the possibility (depending on the precise color) of using "real touch" markers instead of oil pastel -- like I used for my most recent Darth Maul. Repainting the head sculpt works, as long as you already have a body that is the color you need.

Thanks for the explaining the colours you used. I also want to try to oil paint method, but I am admittedly reluctant to purchase oil paints at this point. They are too messy and take so long to dry. :/

skywalkersaga wrote:Thanks for the explaining the colours you used.  I also want to try to oil paint method, but I am admittedly reluctant to purchase oil paints at this point. They are too messy and take so long to dry. :/

You are very welcome. Yes, oil paints would be very messy. And they are not water soluble, so one has to use turpentine or something like it... much prefer oil pastel.

Nice job. He now looks broader like the m30 almost, which probably is an optical illusion created by the contrast change.

Ovy wrote:Nice job. He now looks broader like the m30 almost, which probably is an optical illusion created by the contrast change.

Thank you very much, Ovy. Good point, the paler body would create an optical illusion in appearance, especially when next to the original one.

Looks good, specially the first comparison photo where the lighting looks like it comes from the top.

Thanks so much for sharing all your experiments! Such a wealth of information!

Theboo-bomb wrote:Looks good, specially the first comparison photo where the lighting looks like it comes from the top.

Thank you very much!

Illusion wrote:Thanks so much for sharing all your experiments! Such a wealth of information!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked them.

I've blended the colors a bit more now, and, especially after applying the protective powder, it looks a little paler than the head. Although I wasn't necessarily trying to match this particular hear specifically, it is a reminder how difficult blending oil pastels on the TPE can be, especially when trying to obtain a specific color.

This looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Randam Hajile wrote:This looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.

Ahh, just Great ! And a new sort of Oil pastel . It works fantastic. Nice Skin tone for a viking character. I really like to try it on my figures. Thanks for showing

Ephiane wrote:Ahh, just Great ! And a new sort of Oil pastel . It works fantastic. Nice Skin tone for a viking character. I really like to try it on my figures. Thanks for showing

Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. Still working on the color tone, and your Staedtler pastels are softer and easier to use. If you can, use those. I overdid the first layer (too pale and too cold), but I suppose one can overdo in either extreme. You are the one that taught us this in the first place, so thank you.

Part II -- Yet Another Pale Repaint

I wasn't completely satisfied with Pale Repaint 1.0, so I went for Pale Repaint 2.0. This time, admittedly using a different head sculpt for reference (which matches the newer, lighter DAM heads), I just stuck to layers of salmon pink from the same pastel set as before. Here is the result, alongside comparisons to Pale Repaint 1.0 and to the original TBLeague male suntan (for M33, more specifically). I think the result is better, especially for that head. So, it is up to one to decide whether repainting the head to match the body or the body to match the head is the way to go. The difficulty of blending oil pastels might mean that repainting the body will be more practical if a single oil pastel color applied to the body provides a sufficiently close color match (similarly, with the Gundam real paint markers).

He looks great! Having another go at this was definitely worth it!

Yeah, what you did this time around seems to have worked a lot better is more convincing as a flesh tone. Thanks for sharing!

Gub job!

And Christiano lost his shirt again.

Yeah, this is the most disappointing thing about TBLeague bodies, I hate how "gray" the suntan looks and they need to expand the skin tone lineup. I've been curious to try this but am still worried the the oils will ruin any clothing I try to put on the bodies.

Diana wrote:He looks great! Having another go at this was definitely worth it!

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. I'm happier with this result, and applied an extra layer of salmon pink to version 1.0, to improve it (not shown, since these photos were for comparison between them).

skywalkersaga wrote:Yeah, what you did this time around seems to have worked a lot better is more convincing as a flesh tone. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you very much, I thought so too.

Ovy wrote:Gub job! And Christiano lost his shirt again.

Is that a thing, does he do that a lot? And thank you very much!

Kitsune1000 wrote:Yeah,  this is the most disappointing thing about TBLeague bodies,  I hate how "gray"  the suntan looks and they need to expand the skin tone lineup.   I've been curious to try this but am still worried the the oils will ruin any clothing I try to put on the bodies.

Have you seen the M30, their first male seamless body? That was quite gray by comparison. The later ones are more natural, although their "suntan" is actually quite dark, especially compared to their female suntan, which is quite pale (though obviously not quite as pale as their pale). They really ought to have more color options for both male and female figures. Do read through the various posts on the painting seamless bodies thread in the Tutorials section -- this and the gundam real paint markers are my favorite approaches, but they have limitations (limited blending potential, especially with the markers -- supposedly there are ways around it, but too complicated for me to try). Anyway, if you did your job rubbing in the oil pastels with the cosmetic sponge, and then washing off the excess (light wash with soap and water), and tested it (both to have no color transfer and checking if any spot on the body requires more oil pastel application), you ought to be fine. The "black" bodies I did when I was trying this first transferred color just a little bit to tight fitting elastic band areas of the boxing shorts (which is a very snug fit with a lot of friction involved), but it was partly because of my lack of patience in washing, applying oil pastel, and washing again. Patience is not one of my many virtues. Still, if you do it right, it should not be a problem.

Looks great to GTF! Really good coverage.