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As a follow-up to my 'how to color/tan' videos, here are tips to avoid weak results from shoe cream dye. Apply the minimum amount of cream that can cover the entire body and restrain from adding extra during task. This may seem counter intuitive, but it will lead to stronger results. Toward the end of an application, cream will dry and form into sticky granular flakes across the body and your latex gloves. Flakes are in fact better able to stain TPE than cream while it is moist. Press them…

For Phicen’s TPE material, saturated colors are best achieved using oil pastel. The ideal color match to classic Hulk is found in Staedtler’s packs of 25 or 48 or jumbo 24, which I recommend for its ample size. Using a regular size pastel, I nearly ran out before finish! If not Staedtler, choose a high quality brand that claims its waterproof or water resistant.

For best results, stroke over the same patch of skin from different angles. Full coverage for a male body should take…

In shopping for shoe cream, product images are typically bright so you can see its color, but when an image is too dark, there is a Photoshop trick to help us see its hidden color. With a tweak, we can even generate a preview of how a cream might stain Phicen TPE. SAPHIR’s chart is the example. Photoshop - Image - Adjustments - Selective Color: set slider on Black to minus 100% on all colors except for Reds, Whites, Neutrals & Blacks. Reds: set Cyan to minus 100%, hit OK. Now open…

I’ve been asked over whether red cream should be used on top of brown or dark brown. This maybe in reaction to how Rit DyeMore’s brown does appear better when red dye is added to mix. This is not the case for shoe cream however. There is already a very high amount of red pigment added to most brown colored cream, especially with dark brown. If anything needs to be added, its typically…

Another valuable aspect of shoe cream dye is its verified permanence. In my 1:6 art, I’m all about longevity. I use mostly leathers, furs, glues and paints that are known to last for decades, and I regard Thermoplastics Elastomer bodies in this category of permanence. It is only appropriate that a color application should last as long as the TPE / steel body itself.

My first attempt at coloring a Phicen with shoe cream…