Thanks for the help! I customized that goat (and more) from The VVitch!

[AgeOwns]

Black Philip
Here's Black Philip. I took skypurr's advice and just used a sharpie. It worked great. After an hour or so of drying, it was safe to handle.

Family photo
Here's the whole family. I typically hate painting, because I don't feel it'll come out as clean as the original playmobil deco. But for these photos to work, I decided I did need to paint them. On close inspection, you can see my brush strokes and screw ups, but for these photos, they work.

I'm working on a video. I'll post it here soon.
You can see more pics from The VVitch on MillionairePlayboy.com

[cheng]

interesting!
the gray and brown paints are not Sharpies are they?

[AgeOwns]

No, the gray and brown were acrylics from Michaels.  There was a special series that specifically mentioned all surfaces, such as plastic.
The white (bonnet on the little girl, and other accents) was regular  acrylic, and I do notice a difference.

I hate how sloppy it is up close. The black is much more solid without the "strokes" being as visible. However it works for this project. If I were displaying or selling these, I'd want to do a much better job.

[Birdie]

Oooh, I'm curious about the video!

[skypurr]

Love the figures, the colours are great
I'm pleased that the idea of using pens helped with the goat, it looks very good.

[Macruran]

WOW is that a smashing dio! Great job AgeOwns! Really visually appealing and consistent. Your description makes me want to see the movie too.

Did you feel the swaddled baby (in e.g. the newest Nativity) wasn't suitable for the baby in the trailer?

[GrahamB]

Those paint jobs look good! It is hard to get great results- I sometimes use a spray paint to avoid brush strokes, but it is hard not to over-spray and get runs. I found I had to use a plastic primer undercoat to get the paint to stick to ABS plastic.

Another alternative I have been playing with recently is to use digital photo-manipulation to change the colour of PM parts.That way, no PM parts are harmed in the filming process!

I am no adept, but having Photoshop Elements on my laptop (which I got a few years ago in a software bundle with a new camera, I think) I played around with the Quick Selection Tool and the Smart Brush Tool. Here are a few results. PS shows the photoshopped part (in case you can't tell!)

Before After
Before After
Before After
Before After

I think the white waistcoat is the best of the ones above.

And when short of a part, Photoshop can help too:
Which of the helmets is the original and which a PS copy?

[Macruran]

Left is the original.

[Junker Jörg]

Die Bergbauernfamilie schaut klasse aus - this "highland"-peasants family's looking great!

jj: