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I'm looking at knocking out a few banners over the next few weeks, and wondered if the community could offer any advice on materials. I've tried using aluminium drinking cans in the past, and that worked.... moderately, but was finicky and i ended up with a LOT of cut fingers. How do you do yours? And how do you do your designs, do you print and then fill in, or is it totally freehand. Paint them and THEN attach them or paint WHEN attached.

Not really done this seriously before, so looking for any and all advice.

Cheers guys, thanks in advance for your comments.

I've heard using paper + green stuff on top is a way to go; you'd pencil in the picture then paint it freehand from there (which shouldn't be overly difficult).

I've also seen cloth ones done with paper mache mixes (1:1 flour to water, or you can use boiling water and I forget the ratio but 1:5 flour to water for that 'apparently' can get a better result) with things like gauze (I think it's like $5 for 100 of the things when I last went to the chemist) which can work quite well if you don't mind not being able to get much in the way of a picture on it.

Also a paper banner painted with somewhat watered down pva glue works too. That's how i used to make my lord of the rings banners of which 1 is still in tip top condition after more than 8 years. The paint job is as horrible as it used to be too

I sculpted a banner from green stuff, but it's not for the faint of heart... it was a right pain. Here's how though...

Roll out some GS on some plastic film (so it doesn't stick to the table) and trim it into a rectangle with a knife. This will be the flag/banner. Do the same again (but narrower in one direction) to make the part of the banner that goes on the pole. Wrap this piece around the pole and make sure it sticks and is of even thickness. Don't worry about being perfect at this stage- you can trim it later. When the flag has dried a bit (but still is flexible!), the hard bit is to attach it to the greenstuff around the pole and merge them together. Once that's done, you can twist and push the flag into a shape so it looks like it's billowing or hanging realistically (photos of real flags/banners or the GW sculpted banners help here! Try to give it some life!). At this point also press or sculpt large folds into the bit around the pole (again, use GW sculpts as reference- the flag has weight!). Now the basic shape is down, you can go nuts with the details as it dries over the next few days: cut bits off with clippers, drill holes in it, carve the edges into straight lines, tidy up the join at the pole, whatever. All through the process use Liquid Green stuff and/or clay shapers to give it a super smooth cloth finish- no fingerprints!

Styrene sheet is another option (even blister pack plastic can work). If it's thin enough, holding it at various angles over a heat source carefully, so as not to melt it, will cause it to wave and curl quite naturally, due to the differential heat expansion. More aggressive bends can me made by hand after softening the styrene in hot water. Attachment to the pole is easy, too, since you can use plastic cement to seamlessly join short sections of tube that slip over the pole, instead of needing to wrap and glue long tabs (which is still an option, of course).

This method would, however, make painting beforehand impractical. A design sketched on with fine-tipped marker (I recommend Sakura Pigma micron pens) beforehand (much easier when it's flat), though, shouldn't be affected (if you successfully avoided scorching it), so you needn't be able to wrap your head around the flow of the cloth to paint your design over complex curves. If using blister pack plastic or the like, you can even print intricate designs to scale and trace them through the plastic. After that, blocking in the design should be a snap, with further detailing left up to your skill and vision.

I've always just used an old shirt, cut to you're preferred banner shape, paint, then re-paint with watered down PVA and shape it, depending on your shirt material, it can look as fine as a nice canvas, or really rough cloth.

I draw my banners at 300% normal size, then scan and reduce them to fit. I then hand paint them and finish off with a gloss varnish. When you do them at larger than normal sizes you have to reduce the detail and thicken the lines, or it does not look great on the finished product. I then usually paint the original and frame it for the garage

Here's one I prepared earlier:

Wow, so many different ideas! I have a lot to consider... Thanks everyone, you've given me a lot of options to work through.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 M4cr0Dutch wrote:
I draw my banners at 300% normal size, then scan and reduce them to fit. I then hand paint them and finish off with a gloss varnish. When you do them at larger than normal sizes you have to reduce the detail and thicken the lines, or it does not look great on the finished product. I then usually paint the original and frame it for the garage

Here's one I prepared earlier:

Almost forgot

I'm gonna have to learn to freehand...

What do you print them onto and how do you attach them to the model?

I normally use printed banners, but before attaching them to the model I glue a layer of tinfoil to the inside of the banner. This allows me to fold the banner to more or less any shape, and it'll hold that position well. A quick blast of spray varnish helps keep it in good condition.
I once tried making a banner out of greenstuff, for an undead army. Never again.

you can also always use plasticard, if you heat it up you can reshape it and its really nice to work with

Get a few Projector sheets. I found them in the office supply store for around five cents.
They are thin enough to bend into position and using a lighter to heat them they hold their shape. I will try to post some pictures once I get a new camera.

 M4cr0Dutch wrote:
I draw my banners at 300% normal size, then scan and reduce them to fit. I then hand paint them and finish off with a gloss varnish. When you do them at larger than normal sizes you have to reduce the detail and thicken the lines, or it does not look great on the finished product. I then usually paint the original and frame it for the garage

Here's one I prepared earlier:

Awesome banner, I bet it gives some sort of invulnerable save?? yes?..

Here's a tutorial on how you can make banners out of cardstock: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2009/01/making-cardstock-banners-for-40k.html
Here's how to make them out of greenstuff: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2012/02/making-greenstuff-banners-with-surface.html

Hey Guys,
I totally cheat on my banners... I find old Magic the gathering cards and roll them on a pencil to break the flatness of the card and then cut the picture to size and use a black sharpie to fill the back of the card and black the edges. I then glue it to my banner and thats it!! Like I said, it is cheating but it works!!

In RC planes we use the good ole white glue and newsprint. it holds its shape very well, is very light and takes paint well.

You can even "mold" your banners against plastic ones this way if you wet the news print enough that it'll conform to the plastic version.

Make sure that you spray some oil or something on the plastic so the paper does not glue its self down.

I have also had good luck with T-shirts and superglue, but they do get a tad thick.

If you print them out on paper, use a thinner style of paper and white glue them down. then you won't need to paint anything.

Goblinzz: I just print it on good paper (100 gm?) and the varnish helps to stiffen it as well as brighten up the colours. The banner isn't very dynamic, i.e. it is not like a sculpted banner that can mirror the movement/pose of the mini. If the picture is good enough though, nobody really cares. Good luck with your free-hand skills; I find it really hard (hence the need to complete the banner at a larger size followed by reduction!)

Asuryan: The banner makes all Dark Angel players within 12' Fearless and immune to Codex Creep ;-)