I don't know about the rest of you, but I find the toughest bill to paint is a ringneck drake. I use Lifetone paints and have the Breakthrough finishing book but am never happy with the bill. I also have trouble with "bleedthrough" of the underlying sailfish blue when I topcoat with my polyurethane.
I would love to get some feedback on alternative paint schemes and techniques. Thanks.
Briarwood
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I used to put a top coat on my bills and feet, but they were always glossy looking, even if I used like refracted frost with flattener. So, now, I don't use a top coat.
My commercial ringneck schedule is quite simple. I paint the entire bill white. Then, I use neutral grey (also called diver grey) and paint the grey area. Then, I paint the nail black and use a hand brush with white acrylic paint to paint around the nostrils. For competition work, I would do a little more blending on the grey/blue, but for commercial work, I don't worry about it.
Ivory and autumn yellow mix tip of beak to face, then make mix of autumn yellow, raw umber and pea green faded out from face toward tip of beak then flesh or mix white and blood red for nostril and wings of beak