Customizing 101: How to detail paint your custom figure (part 1).

If you are new to this column, it is truly meant to be read from the beginning to the most recent.
Please start with the first installment, "What are Designer Toys?"
At this point, you're custom figure should be primed and base painted, so now we can start adding those detail elements that give it form. I'm going to keep mine simple, but the possibilities are endless.

Just like with the base coat of paint, these paints can be applied in a myriad of ways: Spray Paint, Airbrushing, Paint Pens, Brushed Paint, whatever. But, like before, just make sure that your paint is not an oil based one with an iodine number less than 130, as these are semi- and non-drying oil paints. And, as I previously mentioned, it's probably best to stick with acrylic based paints anywho…

Goals: Apply painted detailing to each element of the vinyl figure.
Estimated time to achieve all goals: 1+ hours.
Items needed for goals: Vinyl figure, box to spray into, spray stand of some sort, paints of your choice, varnish of your choice, masking tape, wax paper.

Please note: If using spray paint or airbrushing, always wear a respirator mask and do so in a well ventilated area.

	We start exactly where we left off last week, with pieces that have been base painted in whatever color will be the majority of the piece.
	Since the green on the body and arms represents clothing, I'm going to use a rather low-abrasion sandpaper to gently reveal more areas of the under painted color. This will give the impression of clothing folds a bit better.
	And there we go. The light green undercolor sneaks out just a bit more now and in more of a creased manner, which is exactly what I wanted. At this point, I'm quite happy with how the pieces look.
	Returning to my trusty spray box and stand, I'm going to use some spray varnish on the piece now. I want to conservatively coat the vinyl without being overly generous. Using varnish at this point will make it easier to remove masking layers without peeling up paint.
	I've decided that the only element that I'm going to paint on the body at this time is a belt. I'm going to mask off the belt outline in tape, but first I get some wax paper out. Instead of coving all the body in tape to mask it off, I'm just going to mask around the belt outline proper and affix wax paper to protect the rest of the figure.
	And here we go, affixing the masking tape and the wax paper in one go. Be extremely careful to make sure your masking tape lines are tight and exactly what you want, since they will be the edges of whatever you are painting.
	As you can clearly see, this is a case of "do as I say and not as I do," since my masking tape lines weren't overly consistent or tight. I was rushed to get it done and that's never a good place to be. But, as you can see, I've also added little crossbars of tape which form the belt loops.
	But we're actually going to start with the belt buckle, so I use some gold spray paint on his belly. I tried to be extremely light on the gold application, because I ideally wanted tiny specks of green underneath to show through… since metallic belt buckles tend to reflect surrounding clothing colors. Unfortunately, I went a bit heavy than I intended, but that's okay too.
	After the gold paint dries, I give a quick spray of varnish and let that dry. Then I add another crossbar of thicker tape that will define the actual belt buckle.
	A quick spray of brown paint for the belt itself and then let it dry.
	And you should have something akin to this after you carefully peel all the tape off.
	At this point, I'm done with the body. Well, almost done… remember the heart-shape we masked underneath everything? It's time to uncover it. Using an x-acto blade, you'll need to carefully cut the outline of the heart out; deep enough to cut the paint, not so deep that you cut the vinyl.
	And this is why I personally hate putting masks underneath everything. I know some people love it, but I don't like the risk myself… I wasn't quite thorough in cutting through the paint and some paint shifted in a quite ugly way when I peeled it. If I was making this to sell, then I'd have to start over at this point and time, since there is no way you can pass that off as professional. Since I'm trying merely to show a variety of common techniques, I'll continue forward (obviously); and, in fact, might 'correct' the problem with some sculpting before we're done.
	With the body done, I varnish up the arm and — after it dries — mask off the hand.
	Remove the mask when done. Then I varnish the finished arm and do the other one.
	At the end of the day, this is what we've got finished. Leaving only the head to be detail painted next.