A different approach to figures

My friends, here's a different take on painting figures. Before I talk about it, I may or may not repaint the jacket. At the very least, the breast pockets have to be repainted because they turned out atrociously bad! Also, shoes and belt are just base coated :) 

So here's the different approach: pre-shaded with black and white Mr. Surfacer and then post-shaded with Tamiya paints! Yup, Tamiya + Lacquer Thinner, just like on an armor model. And then? One brush stroke on every highlight and every shadow with Vallejo. I was worried about matching Vallejo with Tamiya, but you're working with such a "distorted" color on the extreme lights and shadows that exact color matches are pointless. 

This approach is so extremely efficient and the results are pretty nice. Honestly, the most time-consuming part is outlining details and seam lines. The fine sculpting on these Panzer Art figures doesn't help either, some of the seams are too small for even the smallest paintbrush! That's why I'm gonna ditch the outlining with acrylics and instead try oils! 

Here's another thing. The airbrushed look gives the clothing a very "soft" look. It's certainly different than a high-contrast result you'd achieve with brushes. On the other hand, I've had a comment under the last figure painting video pointing out how on one hand I paint tanks in a more or less realistic way and then put over-contrasted, artificial-looking figures next to it. I replied that it's because I'm still learning the techniques and at this stage, it's impossible to find a style that would suit me. And you know what? I feel very good about this "style". It kinda feels more natural. What do you think? Until this point, I believed a good-looking figure is what you see from professional miniature painters, but maybe a more simplistic look won't be so out of place next to a tank? 

PS: the almost black shadow you see in the deepest folds isn't caused by lamps, it's actually almost black paint! You can achieve some radical contrasts with the airbrush :)