How to Color a Phicen / TBLeague with Shoe Cream

Yes, indeed. This is most impressive. I am so looking forward to trying this in order to make some Star Wars aliens. Ive been wanting to attempt an Oola and Darth Talon for awhile now.

Wow, that is an incredibly detailed and helpful chart. Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to put that together!

So I ran a couple of tests... one with SAPHIR’s dark green on a Phicen M35, aiming for a Lou Ferrigno Hulk but the green did not take... After a second application, some areas showed shades of green but not nearly enough. I think it is best that we avoid blues and greens all together, even purples which I haven’t sufficiently tested but so far too difficult to achieve. I am sorry to disappoint anyone planning on trying for a blue green or purple. I’ve edited the STAR WARS color chart above to reflect my findings. I strongly advocate for natural skin tones with cream, but the hope for alien colors, RIP. I’m now switching to oil pastel to complete the Hulk green. My first full body oil pastel attempt... Pics to come!

Thanks for the honest assessment. It's totally ok, I think it's good to have a variety of methods to work with. It's already just so helpful that you've shown this way of tinting the tbleague skintone in a more realistic manner. The oil pastels don't lend them as well to such subtlety, whereas they been alright with the non-human/alien skintones in my limited experiments. I was mainly just wondering about the shoe cream in case it was an even better method for it.

Thanks for sharing the results of your new experiments. I'm sorry to see this method is not suitable for these, but there is plenty of need for different natural skin tones, so it remains a valuable and viable discovery.

Well, that’s a bit of a bummer. Thanks for the update just the same.

Thank you so much for sharing your findings! I appreciate your diligence and creativity and I celebrate your spirit!

Bummer indeed! I really hoped cream could have provided an additional option for alien skin tones... but once again, oil pastel wins the day on aliens! I got entirely carried away in my guess work over non-skin tones, but the Photoshop’d color chart will still serve as a practical guide to all colors on the red/orange/brown side of the shoe cream spectrum.  Thank you guys for your support in regards to skin tones! Hopefully if enough collectors give it a try, one day we’ll have a ranking of best to worst cream brands and colors from across the world, encouraging more to get coloring. I saw a two collectors on Facebook claiming their attempt had failed, though it was obvious they hadn’t followed instructions. I’ve posted my latest findings on my Instagram and Facebook in way of error prevention:
https://www.instagram.com/onesixthpractical/
https://www.facebook.com/onesixthpractical/

Hi Diana, thank you for the encouragement and for adding me on Instagram just today

By the way, I love your Geralt and barbarian characters. Feel free to showcase them on this forum too, if it is not too much trouble.

Can you post your latest findings here — I don’t do social media outside a couple forums like this.

Stryker2011, I’ve actually posted very little of my findings on social media. I have posted more information here than my own blog. In all credit to you ladies and gents, this forum is where its at. A place to be creative and be incentivised without a horrible troll in sight. I treasure it. GubernatorFan thank you! I appreciate you eying my work of mostly hobby.

So here’s my Lou Ferrigno Hulk body coloring an M35 using Staedtler Oil Pastel. I can’t find the name of the color... but looks emerald green, the bluest of the green, which only comes in color packs of 24, 36 or 48. It took me well over 3 hours till I was fully satisfied of the coverage. Laborious to a degree I did not except, but I’m so happy with the result! Emerald green looks far too blue but after a thorough dish soap wash, the yellowness of the TPE shows through and turns it into a duller bluish green as Lou Ferrigno appeared. With pastel, I encountered many of the issued you all were talking about on the ‘Painting seamless bodies’ topic. It could have ended badly if I didn’t stick to its advice... Although one thing I would change about the general advice is: to finish up with a dish soap wash to reduce saturation and even out the colors as opposed to just a paper towel pat down. I understand the concern... Before I tried Staedtler, I tried the cheapest of oil pastel from the local 100YEN store (dollar store same thing). Using dish soap on that, I saw much of the color wash away. Was a bad result. But with Staedtler, the pigmentation is so strong that a dish soap wash will only wash away the most concentrated areas of color, leaving the body looking superior in its even tone and as natural looking as a shoe cream result.
So convinced of this point in fact... I might just write a photo/tutorial to add my two cents.

Very nice results. Keep in mind that there are some oil pastels that are water soluble, and perhaps that was the problem with the first brand you used. Besides, serious effort in washing can remove some more basic oil pastel application. I don't think there was ever any advice not to wash (with water or both soap and water) the body after oil pastel application and then patting dry. The pat dry part is just good advice for handling the relatively delicate TPE flesh. Some washing is necessary to get rid of loose pastel particles, etc.

Excellent result. I’ve been so reluctant to try these oil pastel methods as these bodies are so damn expensive, but more and more people seem to have great results.

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent result. I’ve been so reluctant to try these oil pastel methods as these bodies are so damn expensive, but more and more people seem to have great results.

Strange, because the oil pastel method seems (to me) safer than some others.

That green turned out nicely.

And yes, I always tend to apply quite a heavy amount of oil pastel and then wash it off with dish soap. I haven't shared much of my own results here yet because I admittedly don't like to share pics of my figures until they are completely finished. Which for me takes forever.

How to turn Phicen M35 into CLASSIC HULK - posted to Instagram and Facebook page

For Phicen’s TPE material, saturated colors are best achieved using oil pastel. The ideal color match to classic Hulk is found in Staedtler’s packs of 25 or 48 or jumbo 24, which I recommend for its ample size. Using a regular size pastel, I nearly ran out before finish! If not Staedtler, choose a high quality brand that claims its waterproof or water resistant.

For best results, stroke over the same patch of skin from different angles. Full coverage for a male body should take around 2 hours. It took me 3 hours but I’m extremely fussy. Mixing color by layer is inadvisable in oil pastel. A secondary application will dilute parts of the first layer and cause unevenness. Also, its colors do not ‘mix’ in the way of paints.

Upon full coverage, prop up a hair dryer on table/chair and massage the body for a few minutes in its heated air. As how oil pastel gets soft in warm hands, that heat will spread the pastel more evenly across the body surface. Next, a thorough wash with dish soap. Just a few drops will remove excess color and lower the saturation for a nice even tone. Without this step, skin surface will look chalky and artificial. Last, brush on baby powder.

As for the recommended pants, even with the aid of baby powder, those particular pants are hard to fit on an M35, but I found the resulting tought and dynamic stretch lines to be worth the effort. Make sure to cut the pants before fitting and careful... jean fabric is thin!

For hands and feet, Tamiya Lacquer paint is essential. Phicen’s male body hands/feet of recent years are found to be Lacquer-coated. Acrylic and enamel paint cannot cure over it and will easily wipe off no matter how long left to dry. Only lacquer cures over lacquer.

To thicken the neck, cut a rubber/silicone tube to a 3cm piece (exact length of neck rod) and split it along its length so that it can be rapped onto the neck rod without resistance.

I am currently sculpting a 1/6 Classic Lou Ferrigno Hulk head of gritted teeth expression and will be crafting a batch of painted rooted heads in the coming months so stay tuned!

Wow, that's quite a detailed tutorial. It turned out beautifully!

Interesting tip about the laquer paint for the hands and feet. Do you mean that acrylic paint tends to chip or scratch off the tbleague hands and paint? Because I've used acrylics on the tbleague hands with decent results, but I suppose the paintjob will always be somewhat fragile and at risk of scratching or chipping.

Skywalkersaga, thank you very much My point about Lacquer may only be true for male Phicen figures manufactured/sold within the past 2 - 3 years, but it may apply to some newly manufactured older model females figures also, so I'm hesitant to make an absolute distinction.

There is a subtle color difference between the originally sold Phicen male hands/feet and the recently sold ones. As to how is apparent when you slice the surface of one of the new ones with a knife... There's a visible coat of paint which reacts terribly to acrylics and enamels paints (will not properly cure) but poses no such issue with Tamiya Lacquer paint. I hope the info is of use to those wanting to color hands and feet. I have no doubt that acrylics are fine for most female Phicen hands and feet, especially the newer ones which is PVC without lacquer coating.

Oh, I see, thank you for clarifying. That's really good to know.

My pleasure. I suspect Phicen had received a ton of complaints regarding the overly yellowish color of their original male hands and feet and attempted to correct it with a coat of paint as opposed to scrapping their existing patch. I went through quite the paint mess to find this out.

Another very detailed tutorial. And WOW! That turned out awesome.

Stryker2011, thank you Placing a tini wee brick atop the foundations that you guys here have kindly built. More color, more art, more 1/6!!

Very impressive result, looks just perfect, and complete save from the initial overly bluish application. Thank you for the tips, including the hairdryer massage. I have never encountered serious problems painting the TBLeague hands and feet with acrylics, apart from the inevitable danger that the paint could scratch or chip if mishandled. I do remember that the very first TBLeague male bodies (M30) were a weird greyish color. Perhaps leftover stock (the feet and hands are the same mold) got repainted. Also, and this is technically true for most "plastic" pieces that have been molded, it is always a good idea to wash them with soap (maybe degreasing dish soap) thoroughly before painting, to remove any oils and other agents used in production. The TBLeague TPE bodies themselves are a little oily (you can test that by resting them against paper or cardboard) especially when not fully powdered, and some oil might have transferred from them, too.

GubernatorFan, thank you very much I wish it was just an oily surface issue... but the male body hands/feet purchased within the last year or so are of a clearly different tone to my older male Phicens and its reaction to acrylic and enamel is of a chemical nature. I cleaned it prior with an alcohol and still, a tissue could wipe off the paint I had left to dry for 2 plus days. This indicates a chemical reaction.

I have altered my tutorial text in reference to male hands and feet only:
"For hands and feet, Tamiya Lacquer paint is essential. Phicen’s male body hands/feet of recent years are found to be Lacquer-coated. Acrylic and enamel paint cannot cure over it and will easily wipe off no matter how long left to dry. Only lacquer cures over lacquer."

That Hulk tutorial is awesome, as are all of your tutorials!
I am very much looking forward to your Lou head and will definitely be tempted to try this at home.

First though I'll try the shoe cream trick.

Thank you so much Diana, it means a lot The likeness on Lou is so far so good
Oh lovely! I hope we might see those results. Assist, please don't hesitate to ask.

One Sixth Practical wrote:To lighten a Phicen, a white cream may be worth a try... It might not be of strength for a Kratos, but may turn a sun-kissed male Phicen body to a pale anglo-aaxon for example.

Has anyone tried this? I've got a headsculpt that's lighter (and less pink) than the Jaiou light skin body I'm using it on.

Would love to get some references before diving in.

jlacivita wrote:

One Sixth Practical wrote:To lighten a Phicen, a white cream may be worth a try... It might not be of strength for a Kratos, but may turn a sun-kissed male Phicen body to a pale anglo-aaxon for example.

Has anyone tried this? I've got a headsculpt that's lighter (and less pink) than the Jaiou light skin body I'm using it on.

Would love to get some references before diving in.

I haven't tried it. From other experience and earlier discussion here, it seems likely that it might be difficult to make the body lighter this way. Oil pastel works well:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t4922-yet-another-tbleague-body-pale-repaint-experiment-updated-with-part-ii-2-0

Thanks!