Plastic Faces

[Jason Mettler]

For starters, I would try making a displacement map with the original face. Then I’d add a light and mess with the material options of the layer.
Seems to me there will be several ways to acheive what you want to do.

[Tudor “ted” jelescu]

Is it shiny plastic or matte finish? If you can re-shoot the face (or if you did not shoot it yet) then try to apply some heavy makeup – to make the skin tones uniform and give the face an un-natural look. If it’s shiny plastic you’re after, use some sun tanning lotion (a pretty oily one) to give it highlights. The light is also very important- try to match the same feeling that the plastic action figure has.
In AE- you can apply the Remove Grain filter to smooth out the skin.

Tudor “Ted” Jelescu
Senior VFX Artist