Yellow is a dreaded color by many hobbyists. However, I feel like this is a color I do fairly well. On the Captain Marvel model there are two different tones of yellow that I will actually do. First, there is the blonde hair color that I want to have distinctly different than the the yellow bits around her costume. Both tones will start out much the same, but then I will deviate in shades of yellow for the hair vs costume bits.

Base Color

I am starting the base color of this model with Reaper Paints 09031 Tanned Leather which I extremely carefully painted onto the model to cover the appropriate parts. This is a good spot to ensure that you thin your paint with a bit of water so that you have just a bit more control.

Base colors are in place

I next mixed Liquitex Matte Medium with Reaper Paints 09244 Muddy Soil and a ton of water to make my own wash. I washed the costume pieces with this mix to deepen that color before we start to work highlighting this model.

A little dark wash has been applied on the costume bits

Next I need to put a wash on the hair. This I took Reaper Paints 29802 Brilliant Red and the Matte Medium and created another wash. Honestly, if you prefer to use colored washes here go for it, but I tend to make my own so I can have more color control and variation when I am using washes. I went with a red wash for the hair to give her hair a warm, almost fiery blonde look.

As a final bit, I decided on the costume to make the lines for the star and between the stripes on the costume even darker brown. To do this I took the Muddy Soil paint and thinned a bit with water carefully brushed it into the slight crease in the model for the strips. The star required a bit more work and I had to almost free hand draw the lines for the star back into the model.

Washed the hair and added deeper definition to the stripes and star on her chest

Highlighting

At this point, you can see a hint of yellow on the costume but it’s far to dark. My next layer of color was to go back over the costume bits with Tanned Leather. Next I mixed a 50/50 ratio of Tanned Leather and Reaper Paints 09032 Amber Gold. Then I went to a full Amber Gold on the costume bits.

Golden Yellow worked into the hair

I wanted to finish the costume bits before moving onto the hair so I next moved on to Reaper Paints 09033 Golden Blonde. I am starting to reduce the surface area slightly with this color so that some of the original tone is still showing through. As soon as this is done I had to take the time to do a little clean up with the Muddy Soil so that the depth would really show. Since Muddy Soil is so dark it’s almost like black lining, but I am not such a fan of using true black for something like this. Black is a bit colder and a model like this I am trying to have the reds and yellows feel warmer and this deep brown does the trick.

I continue to bring this color up by adding in Reaper Paints 09090 Misty Grey to the Golden Blonde. I am really narrowing down my touch points to more of the raised areas. I actually had to swap from the size 0 brush I use for about everything to my 4/0 brush at this point. Again, I transitioned this to a full Misty Grey at some really high touch points. Overall, the effect turned out pretty well if the detail in the star wasn’t quite there on the model.

Highlights finished. Now on to the hair

Hair

With the hair I wanted to make sure it was a warmer tone then the yellow on the costume. During the base coating I had all ready done a red wash of the area which actually looked pretty ok. So from here I wanted to just enhance what was there with some bright, warm tones of yellow to help ensure that the head and face are a focal point of the model.

To start with I mixed a 50/50 blend of Tanned Leather from the base tone and Reaper Paints 29808 Golden Yellow. As always, thinning this mix with water and I started on the model. This was applied pretty heavily on the raised areas, but I was careful to paint small lines of it that follows the way the hair sits on the model. This starts to create the illusion of hair on the model. Following this with the same method of moving on to pure Golden Yellow I continued to try to paint hair strands, but the focus area is starting to narrow. I would note that the focus area is more to the front of the head on this model and a little less on the back of the head for the highlighting stages from here on out.

Golden Yellow hair is starting to emerge

This could be a good stopping point for a lot of hobbyists, but I wanted to take the color up to a near white at the highest points. I think that brings the highlights on the hair in line with the rest of the model. So the next step was to transition in the next lighter tone of yellow. Reaper Paints 29809 Pale Saffron with a little water was applied to those hair strands more at the top of the head and front near the forehead to lighten that area further. From their I mixed the Pale Saffron paint with Misty Grey and started really refining just the lightest of highlights. Final little tips of highlights were applied with straight Misty Grey.

Wrapped up with all of the yellows. Model is nearly complete

Wrapping Up

I am getting close to wrapping this model up which is pretty exciting. I have just the basing to go. I am super pleased with the way the hair came out on this model. The costume bits are decent, but I wish there was just a bit more definition on the model around the chest star so that I had a bit more to work with as a painter. I am just not that good at doing the free hand bits and this could be a struggle point. However, the overall tone of the white gold strips on the costume with the warm tones in her hair give two very distinct looks to yellow with very much the same base tones and techniques. I hope you have been enjoying this series of posts on how to paint Captain Marvel. Even if you aren’t painting this model I have tried to focus on techniques and colors that are common to a number of different miniatures.

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