3D Busts

So lately I have been getting into painting models.  These are the results of my current projects, which are busts of science fiction characters.  These are the finished products:

 These busts start out as models printed on the 3D Printers in the Makerspace at work.  It takes about 20 to 24 hours to print a full bust, which are 6-8 inches tall.

 The colour of the plastic changes, as you can see, Thanos' plastic being being black, and Batman's being the odd (for him) shade of white.

Fortunately these models came out of the printer without needing much cleanup, so I was able to jump straight to the paint stage.

All of the busts are painted with spray paint.  I started with laying down a layer of primer, then the appropriate colours for the character.   I wanted to go with a metallic look, so I primarily used metallic paint.

Once I had the base coat down, I masked off the model using the appropriately named masking tape.  I wanted to give the impression of a coloured metal, not a painted figure. However there isn't a shade of metallic paint in the shade I wanted (at least in the store I was in) so I lightly dusted the figures with normal colour paint, which allows the metallic finishes to still shine through.

This shot is pre-painted.

This is how it looked with the paint applied.

 Finally the magical reveal when the masking tape is removed.

The finished product.

The following shots are the finished model of Batman.  I used fleckstone paint for the base.

 I wanted an aged weathered look for the Stormtrooper helmet.

 Thanos was trickier to do. The armour is simple gold paint.  However the face was trickier.  When picking out the spray paint in the store, I tried to match his skin colour with images on my phone.  I (and my wife, who was helping with the colour choice) thought grape would be the closest fit.

Turns out grape coloured paint makes him look like, not shockingly, a grape.  To lessen the effect I dusted on some peach colour, and finally a light dusting of metallic paint to get a skin tone that more closely matches the character.