From a distance and en-masse, the subtleties of the techniques elaborated here are lost and a meticulously painted and shaded 28mm face at 4 feet is little different to a 2 second Contrast job. Spray Wraithbone, slap on Contrast, call it a day.
I will be frank, if your aim is to paint a 200-model Imperial Guard army, then whether or not you’ve painstakingly dotted all the pupils or given them simulated stubble will matter not one whit. If you are a transhuman/magic space elf/extragalactic existential horror you can do pretty much whatever you want, but rest assured that we’ll be covering more fantastical races in future installments of How to Paint Everything. Note that in this article, we’re only covering regular, bog standard human skin, and any races that have similar skin, such as Aelves, Aeldari, Dwarves, Squats, Scrunts, and whatever else. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of human skin in a variety of different shades, including the principles behind color and different techniques for giving flesh to your tabletop warriors. People come in all shapes, sizes, and colors and the warriors of the Mortal Realms/41st millennium are no different.
