Velyra, Drelka, Laxie and More: A Collector's Guide to Painting Resin Pin-Up Fantasy Figures
Pin-up collector figures occupy a genuinely interesting space in the hobby. They're too large and detailed for a wargaming shelf, too sculptural to treat like a rank-and-file trooper, and they reward a level of patience and technique that most 28mm work simply doesn't demand. I've painted quite a few of them now, and every time I pick one up I'm reminded how different the process feels compared to my usual warbands.
So here's what I've learned, organised roughly in the order you'd actually approach a piece.
Start With a Zenithal Prime
At 1/6 scale you have a lot of real estate to cover, and zenithal priming earns its keep here more than almost anywhere else. I go black from below, grey from roughly 45 degrees, and a thin pass of white from directly above. This gives you a built-in value map before a single colour hits the figure, and on something with as much fabric, skin, and hair as a typical pin-up sculpt, that head start is genuinely valuable. I use Vallejo Surface Primer through an airbrush for the grey and white passes, keeping the coats thin so you don't lose any of the finer surface detail.
Skin First, Everything Else Second
Large areas of exposed skin are the defining challenge of this category. I always tackle skin before clothing or accessories, because colour-correcting a mismatched skintone once you've got bright cloth sitting next to it is a nightmare. I build up from a mid-tone base (Vallejo's Beige Red or Citadel's Cadian Fleshtone are both good starting points), wash carefully into recesses with a thinned Reikland Fleshshade, and then layer back up with multiple thin highlights rather than trying to blend in one pass. On larger figures the transitions are more visible, so smooth blending genuinely matters.
If you want to push things further, a glaze of Carroburg Crimson into deep recesses like knuckles, elbows, and the underside of the chin adds a warmth that reads as very natural. I use a wet palette throughout all of this, mostly because skin tones dry out fast and consistency across a session is hard otherwise.
Approach Fabric With a Plan
Fantasy pin-up figures tend to have at least one complex fabric element, whether that's silk, leather, lace, or a more stylised fantastical material. Before picking up a brush, decide what that fabric is made of. Silk wants extreme highlights and soft mid-tones. Leather stays darker and more restrained. Cotton is flatter. The technique you use should follow that logic rather than just chasing contrast for its own sake.
For a piece like the Cammy Combat figurine, the tight military-style outfit calls for a controlled highlight edge that implies stretch over muscle, while something with looser drapery gives you room to paint proper fold shadows using a deeper version of your base colour rather than a premixed shade straight from a pot.
Hair: The Part People Rush and Regret
Hair on 1/6 scale figures is where a lot of painters lose their nerve and just drybrush the whole thing. I understand the temptation, but layering directional highlights along the flow of the sculpted strands takes maybe an extra hour and the difference is enormous. Start dark, work in layers, and reserve your lightest highlight for the very tips and the highest raised sections. On figures like the Chun-Lee Classic where the hair is a major focal element of the whole design, this is not the step to cut short.
Eyes and Face: Slow Down
I paint eyes last on everything except pin-up collector pieces, where I do them early and return to them repeatedly. At this scale eyes are large enough to include actual colour in the iris, a defined pupil, a white sclera, and a subtle gloss varnish coat at the end to make them look wet. Take your time. A magnifier lamp or a head-mounted loupe makes this much less stressful.
Finishing and Display
A satin varnish overall, with gloss on eyes and any wet-look elements (lips, shiny boots, polished armour), and a matte pass on skin and cloth, gives a varied finish that reads as physically coherent rather than flat or plasticky. These figures deserve a decent base too, even if that's just a resin scenic disc with some texture paste and tufts. The Cammy Beach figure practically calls for a sandy ground effect, for example.
If you're collecting rather than immediately painting, store unpainted resin pieces away from direct sunlight. Resin yellows with UV exposure over time and that's a battle you'd rather avoid before you've even picked up a brush.
The full range of 1/6 scale pin-up figures available from Artifex Fabricatum is growing steadily. If you're new to the category, the Chun-Lee Sports variant is a solid starting point: dynamic pose, well-defined costume panels, and enough surface variety to practice multiple techniques on a single figure without it feeling overwhelming.
