The System : Vol. 1, Figure Painting (Paperback)

by Francois Verlinden (Author) "The authors of this series, Francois Verlinden and Bob Letterman, have a combined experience of almost 80 years in building models..." (more)
Key Phrases: flat sable brush, base coated, hobby knife, Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna, French Artillery Green (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
100+ full color photographs

This is a very useful how-to book dealing specifically with the painting of miniature figures, or figurines. The tips and techniques communicated in these pages reflect the combined experience of the authors in the field of scale modeling of almost 80 years. Each of the authors, Francois Verlinden and Bob Letterman, is universally recognized in the industry as a living legend due to his high level of realism in painting. For the first time, these two have combined there talent into one publication in order to instruct others on how to improve their painting skills. This book is packed with amazing color photographs of both finished pieces, as well as works in progress, in order to guide the reader through each step in the creation of these masterpieces. Opening a window into a world seldom seen by the uninitiated, this book belongs in the collection of every scale modeler and artist.

Product Details

• Paperback: 48 pages
• Publisher: Verlinden Productions Inc (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930607334
• ISBN-13: 978-1930607330
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 7.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,407,293 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The way to go!, March 26, 2000

By	Federico Kereki (Miami, Florida United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a quite excellent book on figure painting. The emphasis is on 120mm scale figures (Verlinden, of course) but you can (I did!) apply the principles to other scales, such as 1/35 or 54mm.

Though you always must experiment on your own (or else you won't learn anything), the book is a great help for getting started, and I always have it nearby whenever I'm painting figures.

I guess that with this book and Sheperd Paine's (on the same topic) you won't need anything else.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars OK, but not technical enough, March 12, 2003

By	MDMike "mdmikemd" (United States) - See all my reviews

I have been model building for over 20 years, but only last year did I start painting figures. Most of my models had no figures or were done uninspired with acrylics. I finally decided to use oils and this book helped a lot with techniques for shading and highlighting. It's shortcoming was that they just said mix a base fleshtone, and add this color or that. I would really have liked ratios such as 4 parts raw umber, 1 part yellow ochre, etc. If it wasn't for my years of experience, I might have been been upset about this. Model building is a lot of trial and error and I had the patience to persevere, but a lot of paint was lost in these experiments. I can't say this is for someone with little experience but for model builders who can see a color and know what mix they need, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The System-What's the mix?, December 14, 2002

By A Customer

The book overall was good. The only flaw is when it tells the oils to use but it doesn't tell the mix for the first step. It shows the oils layed out and has them labeld but in the text it doesn't tell what all of them are. Some you can go by the color but for the first step it just says mixture A, but it doesn't say what mixture A is. It could have used a few more step by step photos in the beginning also.