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I like the look of scrolls when the have writing on them and developed the following approach which gets a decent result. I'll assume a pale background with black writing but it also works in reverse. You can also stop at any stage!

1. add regular spaced horizontal lines in black to the scroll. It doesn't matter if they are lumpy but spacing needs to be regular to look convincing.

2. Break the lines into words using the base colour in vertical strokes. Vary how long each word is and try to get a random pattern rather than something which repeats.

3. Back to black, add ascenders and descenders such as in h g l p etc. randomly to each word. I try to get these on an angle so the script looks like it's calligraphy or in italics.

4. Tidy up with the base colour again if needed. If you are extra keen you can add (very) small dots over the words to suggest things like o. Then wash with a diluted brown, at least 50:50 to smooth everything out.

End result is something like on my WIP Malicant

Thanks, this is a life-saver. I've been trying to figure this out for ages.

That is really effective. Thanks for the tip, I'll have to try that out tonight

That is some super fine detail work. I’ve just reached the level of using a micron pen to scribble some word-esque looking lines.

What kind of brush do you use for that level of work?

I use a pure sable size 0 brush, when I started out I always went for the smallest brush I could get, typically 0000 but found a bigger brush holds a better point. I'm not that fussy about who makes it and tend to just pick the neatest I can find in the shop.

Btw your micron pen looks to be doing a pretty good job for you on the banner!

That's awesome!

I haven't tried this, but as an extension of your method, it should give you the look of block lettering if the ascenders and descenders were more precisely perpendicular.

I also wonder if you could get an illuminated manuscript look with block lettering and a larger, distinctly painted letter at the beginning of some lines.

Da Butcha wrote:
That's awesome!

I haven't tried this, but as an extension of your method, it should give you the look of block lettering if the ascenders and descenders were more precisely perpendicular.

I also wonder if you could get an illuminated manuscript look with block lettering and a larger, distinctly painted letter at the beginning of some lines.

You can indeed, but the slanted lines are good for covering stuff up! For more gothic script the illuminated first letter works well but I'd probably go for a broader horizontal line, break into words and then use the base colour to break up each word into pseudo letters by lines running vertical and horizontal part of the way through. The ascenders and descenders I couldn't get to look quite right in this context but it depends on what you are aiming for overall

That guy looks really great! Good job, man

This is an awesome way to paint script, I'll have to try it out on my next mini but I'll doubt I'll be able to achieve the same level. It looks like there's actually something written there, not just a bunch of scribbles which is the most I can normally do

I was trying to paint some script on ruins I'm making. I never thought so just do lines- I usually try to actually use letters which never works out right.

I love this. I don't know that I have the skill to pull it off like you did, but your tutorial is really easy to understand, so I'ma give it a shot.

Thanks a ton for posting! Yours looks really great

This is outstanding, I'll be trying this out tonight on a few different sized pieces. Can't wait to see how I manage

I wish my eyes could focus enough like they used to for me to do something like this :( I've learned so many new techniques that I can't use because my eyes just go all blurry (even with glasses that I've never had before) so most of my painting is guess work. "I guess I'm painting the right spot"

Add me to the list of people who's interested in trying this out. That looks great. I normally just kind of put squiggly lines on the script and it looks good but not nearly as good as what you do.

ExitPlan wrote:


1. add regular spaced horizontal lines in black to the scroll. It doesn't matter if they are lumpy but spacing needs to be regular to look convincing.

2. Break the lines into words using the base colour in vertical strokes. Vary how long each word is and try to get a random pattern rather than something which repeats.

3. Back to black, add ascenders and descenders such as in h g l p etc. randomly to each word. I try to get these on an angle so the script looks like it's calligraphy or in italics.

4. Tidy up with the base colour again if needed. If you are extra keen you can add (very) small dots over the words to suggest things like o. Then wash with a diluted brown, at least 50:50 to smooth everything out.

I am just starting a chaos cultist themed force and I am planning to put "litanies of hate" on many models.

My Dark Apostle was a test fig (see my avatar). I'm going to go back and try your "step 3." and see if it improves things (no doubt). I plan to add some blood splatter to mine too...

I think your step 3. is what i need to add to mine to make it more convincing, and I hadnt thought of it myself, so thanks.