How to make 28mm scale portrait paintings

[eldargal]

This is something I'm really keen on at the moment, making portraits for my Empire Nuln army primarily but also frescos for the walls of building and even icons for 40k Imperial buildings.

First you get a 28mm scale picture frame, you can make your own out of plasticard and greenstuff or whatever if you want, or just buy them. Dollhouse picture frames work perfectly. You will probably want to paint the frame.


Then you take a piece of art, resize it so it will fit in the picture frame (leave a small border to attach it to the frame, say 1mm on all sides).


Print out the image on a good quality colour printer preferably on whatever paper suits your purposes, I'm not sure what the name of the paper is I use but it gives the finished picture a satin gloss finish. Attach the painting to the frame. Be careful not to get any glue on the surface that will be visible. If you want to be fiddly and non-permanent you could use thin strips of tape to attach the portrait to the frame.

This is a picture I produced in paint, on account of not being able to photograph mine. But it illustrates the point.

I have around twenty or so pictures I've done like this for various buildings I've made. I also have an idea to adapt it to make stained glass windows by breaking the image up (there used to be a graphics editor program with a stained glass option to do it automatically). And printing it onto clear plastic then sticking it in the window of said structure. It will require a lot more work especially if I want big cathedral arches and whatnot.

The pictures frame comes from [URL="http://www.dollhouseminiatures.com/Accessories/frame1.htm"]here[/URL]. 3.90USD. I get mine from a local hobby store that has heaps of dollhouse accessories.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

You should buy a camera...

[eldargal]

But then people will want pictures of things and that takes effort.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

But hun, your models sound amazing, we want to see the famed armies of EldarGal.
*hug*

[White Tiger88]

But hun, your models sound amazing, we want to see the famed armies of EldarGal.
*hug*

There Invisible to everyone but her though!

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

They're*

[Gotthammer]

Step1: learn to paint really tiny stuff:



The wasp on the shin is about 2mm x 2mm across.


Step 2: Extrapolate:

[eldargal]

I spend enough time building and painting ridiculously intricate terrain pieces without freehand painting every portrait and stained glass window.

[Gotthammer]

Pfffft... soft

Mind you if I stopped I might finish something one of these days (but who am I kidding?).

[eldargal]

I do actually freehand things like wanted posters and posters advertising bards visting taverns and whatnot, but for these portraits I wanted things that would recognisably look like they were commissioned by teh greatest artists in the Empire, or great craftsmen of the Imperium or whatever. It's an easy and cheap way of tarting up your terrain.w