Koishii PYO painting tutorial v.1

So here is my attempt at something like a tutorial.
I am using the photos i took of tc_cat333’s commision for them. Some are not really good photos, so i will replace them later with ones from the next pyo.

This pyo is eyeless. I did not buy it that way, i took them out. pls be careful if you try to take eyes out of pyo’s, they do break.

So, step one is staining my pyo. I tend to use black and another color. in this case black and ultramarine blue. I’ll dip my brush in water, dip it in the paint, then brush it on. i get more water on my brush to thin and move the paint. I generally end up with my paint thinned to the consistency of water colors but i thin it mostly when the paint is on the pyo. this lets it stain darker in all the crevices but leave the top surface of the scales mostly white.

In order to do this, hold your pyo upside down. you want the waterd paint to run into the crevices and do it is small bits, letting the watered paint soak into the gypsom/dry for a few seconds before going onto the next spot.

Here is a photo of what it looks like after:

here is a better picture of a previouse dragon after the paint dried:

Now I add non-metalic color. Starting with two different blues on this one, this time i make sure the paint on my brush is thinned to a water color consistancy but i do not load my brush with water. this adds color but keeps the paint layer thin so that it does not fill in the details of the sculpt. This also stains the white parts with the color i want for the base.

more of the colors are going on. you can see the parts that still do not have color. main point: THIN PAINT

Now all my base colors are on! the wings are going to be white, so i left them..but you can see with the thin paint, it lets the darker paint show through but still gives color.

Here is a shot of my pallet with my pyo. you can see where i pulled paint and thinned it on the pallet before applying it to the pyo.

actualy the one i usualy use looks like this:
http://img404.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img2183mv3.jpg

so about thinning paint. you can do this a few ways. I dip my brush in water first, then into the paint and i wipe the bristles back and forth on a clean part of my pallet to take off extra paint. this thins only the amount of paint i intend to use at that moment. if it feels to dry, i dip the tip/corner of the bristles in the water. If it feels to wet, i touch the base of the bristles to my towel for a second. keep checking that you do not have too little or too much water in the bristles. you want the paint to flow some, but not run.

If it is too dry and the paint just applies to one spot, dip your brush in the water(not so it drips) and go over the spot. it will thin your paint on the pyo and let you spread it. if there is too much water when you apply it, dab it lightly with a kleen-x or your thumb.

ok, now I go to metallics. I DO THE SAME THING. this time i really make sure to thin it out with water. I want the metallic flakes spreed out so water is really useful. metal paint flakes tend to clump together when you use it in thin amounts and this can make patches of really sparkley spots..so make sure the paint works evenly into the bristles. So now thin metalic paint over the thin base paints. Again i started with blue. See my brush? THAT is how much paint i use at a time. REALLY thin.

If you the paint does not have enough water and you get a clump of metallic flakes, that is harder to fix.

Ok. all done with the metallics. this is where I am at so far. It does not look very different. in fact the difference is very slight, and i will be going over again with more thin layers of metallic paint before i get to the next steps in my process, but it does make a big difference in the end result.

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Part 2

So I got some more finished. before i get to that, something about water. When i dip my brush in the water i wipe the bristles aganst the edge of the bottle to take of excess water. Then i brush the bristles across my hand to see how much water there is in the bristles. The bristles should be moist but not leave excess water on my skin. if there is too much water i brush the bristles back and forth on my hand or on a towel then test it against my hand to make sure it is only moist. That is all the water I need.
some times i need a little more water for the metallics, but not much.
After that i dip the bristles in a little paint then wipe them back and forth on the pallete to thin the paint and load it into the bristles.
Here is a short(crumby) video of the PYO getting painted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK-KaW203Gg

ok, onward.

I went back over a few times with the metallics to build up the color. it’s not a lot but enough to show color with out covering up the dark spots completely:

I save the wings for almost last. I use some blue metalic paint to brush into the crevices and then i brushed pearl and some gold over it. water is importand here, if i had too much water, the pearl/gold would have ran and covered the blue.

just a shot of the pallete and brush while whiping my brush back and forth to show how little paint gets used at once. it does not seem like that little paint would do anything, but if you build it up slowly, it does:

So now I have been working on interference. pretty much i do the same thing, thin paint on the brush. the thing with interference is I don’t want it to get into/run into the crevices of the scales. so really make sure the bristles are only moist. it only needs a little water. I also brush over the top of the scales going with them, instead of brushing the paint into the scales. I may go over one spot 3-4 times with the paint before it is just the way I like it. The camera is realy cheap and showing the interference well, but here is a photo any wya:

Finished with the interference, now to darken the crevices of the scales. The first thing i use is a broad brush. I chose black and blue again, mixing them on the pallet just a little. I tend to use a little more water then before and again turn my pyo upside down so that gravity does the work. I’ll use the bristles to rub in the paintt, then let it sit there for a moment, then use my hand to wipe off any excess paint sitting on the scales:

Depending on the other scales, like on the tail, you might want to tilt your pyo a different direction. as long as the paint is directed into the scales.Here i started on the belly scales.:

once i get that finished, then i go back to some of the bigger scales that are on the side,chest,tail and i use a smaller flat brush. I go back to using the thin paint with little water and i line each scale, touching the tip of the bristling to the base of the scale. if extra paint gets on the scale i use my finger right away and lightly rub it up into the scale. my fingers are all black by the end of this:

After all that work here is what it looks like! not finished yet though, i need to go over again with the interference to brighten things up and paint those horns, then it will be finished.

Ok, so for finishing it up, I once again go over and add more interference where ever I think there needs to be more. this really livens the colors up. All the gold is now added too.
For the spines on the scales, I use interference instead of gold for them.
I put the eyes in and the gem for photos to see how the dragon will look as a whole before i spray the sealant:

you are very welcome!

for par of it i do. the wolves require a few different techniques though, like dry brush, because the fur texture will affect how the paint applies to the pyo.

when i get another wolf, i will add a tutorial for the wolves onto this one.