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  1. #1

    Default Freehand? Cackhand more like.

    Evening all.

    So I've got three Knights to get painted at some point, and such large models seem to cry out for a bit of free hand doodling.

    Except, I'm somewhat cackhanded, and lack artistic confidence.

    The basics I understand - soft pencil, sketch out the design, paint it in, then tidy it up. But it's learning how to layer my paints, and how to build up more complex designs.

    Help me Bolsy-wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!
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  2. #2
    Battle-Brother
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    Default

    There's a lot you can do. I'm assuming the knights have some sort of cloth covering their armor or horse. You could start with just a basic two color pattern, split down the center. One color on each side with a dividing line in the center. For the horse I'd divide into quarters, so front left and back right are the same color. If you have some low tack masking tape (painters tape), you paint one side (shade, highlight, etc) and go slightly over the center. Then place the masking tape down the center and it will get you a nice crisp dividing line as you paint right up to the tape. Assuming you're painting by hand, no need to mask the enter thing, just right at the division. You can do a lot of basic geometric designs, stripes, checkerboard, etc. Look online, there's plenty of good reference material.

    If you want something representative like an animal, sword, axe, etc. then yes, I'd sketch something on the figure and use those lines as a guide. I always work on the design on paper first. Initially big and then I try drawing it down to scale before putting it on the figure. There's no need to draw in all the details, just the basic shape/outline. Smaller details like teeth, horns, claws, feathers, etc can just be done with the brush. If you're feeling ambitious you can layer on multiple designs. Start with a two color look and then add an eagle or lion head in the center with a third color (or opposite of the first two - like green on the white half and then white on the green half).

    I wrote up a tutorial on freehand designs a while back, here's a link to it. It's the same general idea but with more detail and step by step pictures to go along with the descriptions. Best of luck with the knights!
    [URL="http://powellminipainting.blogspot.com/p/freehand-designs.html"]powellminipainting.blogspot.com/p/freehand-designs.html[/URL]
    powellminipainting.blogspot.com

  3. #3
    Chapter-Master
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    Default

    Beautiful link! Best tips I can add off the top of my head is:

    1) Draw your design to scale on a piece of paper first. Sounds silly but it is a great reference when you're trying to add it to the figure.
    2) Thin those paints! I use vallejo thinner medium to keep the pigment strong.
    3) For the first pass use a colour in the same tone as the background... It makes clean up easier. For example if I want a black design on a yellow background I will make a first pass with thinned down yellowish brown. Like Averland sunset or whatever it's proper tm name is... This lets me visualize the design better and makes any cleanup easier as I'm going over something very close to the background colour rather than trying to cover black with yellow.
    4) Don't over caffeinate... too much sugar or caffeine either one can unsteady your nerves which is a disaster waiting to happen!

    Have fun! Hope to see some weird and wonderful designs in the future!
    My Truescale Insanity
    http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?48704-Truescale-Space-Wolves

  4. #4

    Default

    Imperial Knights, not Horsey Knights. That'll learn me to be specific!

    And any tips for someone to whom drawing comes as easily and naturally as something very difficult indeed?
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  5. #5
    Battle-Brother
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    Mar 2013
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    Default

    Ah, I see. I figured since you posted in the general modeling section, you meant medieval knight. Not that this is the wrong forum, after all asking about how to do freehand is a general modeling question.

    If you don't feel comfortable drawing, I'd try creating some stencils and masks to use on the figure. Those large smooth surfaces are good for this sort of thing. You can use masking tape to create some basic geometric patterns (stripes, checkerboards, etc). You can also print out more complicated designs (swords, heraldry symbols like lions, etc). Lay it on top of a large piece of painters tape or masking tape and carefully cut around the design, leaving an empty space where whatever it is used to be. Then place the mask on the knight and fill it in.

    I'm not the greatest expert on making stencils like this, it's not really what I do. But I'm sure you can find plenty of good tutorials online. People do it all the time for airbrushing figures so I'm sure there is plenty of info out there.
    powellminipainting.blogspot.com

  6. #6
    Brother-Captain
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    Default

    Break down the shapes as much as possible. A skull is hard to do. An oval with a rectangle and then using the base colour to paint two more ovals and a triangle on top is much more doable. And practice on paper first. Do you have any idea what sort of design you'd like? That might help narrow things down a bit.
    Kabal of Venomed Dreams

  7. #7

    Default

    Not really!

    I'm quite amazingly non-artistic in the general run of things, but I do believe in pushing myself as far as I can in all things!
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