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Has anyone done this? How well does it work? Is it easy to correct mistakes?

Never used sharpie pens, but I use Sakura Pigma Micron pens for tiny details.

It's not really correctable without repainting what you just messed up, but it's not a huge problem if you're careful.

Anyway, I've used them for stuff like the writing on this:

kingleir wrote:
Has anyone done this? How well does it work? Is it easy to correct mistakes?

I've done this and for some reason felt ashamed afterwards. I use the precision point sharpies for purity seal squigglies and sometimes will use them for more elaborate banner designs. They do look different than using a black paint, as they tend to have a tinge of incandescent purple among the black when you beam some light onto it. As far as mistake correction, it's just as easy/difficult to cover up as normal black paint (in other words, try your best not to mess up, especially with brightly colored models).

It feels like cheating to me, lol, but it definitely comes in handy in times of desperation or if you need to quickly get models table-ready.

As JWMarines said, Sakura pens. The black is excellent for tiny details and if you are really into it, you can use it in every single crevice of the model giving it a kind of "Cell shaded" look. But be warned, it's not easy work and it's like normal paint, so that means you have to paint over the mistake, I don't think you can rub it off.

Unfortunately, the tiniest pens are still nowhere close to the brushstroke size of a small brush :(

Micron makes a brush pen as well. With the advantage being, the tip won't dry out.

I am not really sold on the benefit, as simply wetting your brush or adding drying retarder will also work.

I get purity scribbles, but I can't imagine highlighting with a pen.

personally i'd rather just use a brush. i dont like the look of using a pen. it loses uniformity and as im pretty OCD with it that just wont fly.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
personally i'd rather just use a brush. i dont like the look of using a pen. it loses uniformity and as im pretty OCD with it that just wont fly.

Yeah, this is pretty much it

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
personally i'd rather just use a brush. i dont like the look of using a pen. it loses uniformity and as im pretty OCD with it that just wont fly.

I'm not good enough yet. I always blacken up my purity seals and have to cover up. I'm practicing though!

Any pointers in purity squigglies using the standard brush/black paint?

 hybridmoments82 wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
personally i'd rather just use a brush. i dont like the look of using a pen. it loses uniformity and as im pretty OCD with it that just wont fly.

I'm not good enough yet. I always blacken up my purity seals and have to cover up. I'm practicing though!

Any pointers in purity squigglies using the standard brush/black paint?

Definitely use a brush with a decent belly and a very fine tip, then thin your paint to about 1:1 or 2:3 paint:water, so that it flows nicely. Then soak most of that paint up on a paper towel so that when you touch the brush tip to the seal to do the squiggly it doesn't flood it with watery black paint. Other than that you just need a light touch.

Talys wrote:
Unfortunately, the tiniest pens are still nowhere close to the brushstroke size of a small brush :(

I own the finest tipped pens that sakurs makes, they are in fact finer than any brush or airbrush I have ever seen.

Mostly y'all seem to be using them for black lining but sharpie produces dozens of colours. I have a gold one at home that i will use on one of my wip models and post an example here.

Id recommend against sharpies, the ink is semi-transparent, meaning that you can still see some of the underlying color, etc. if you do use sharpie make sure youre coloring over a solid color.

Micron pens are wonderful and sometimes sharpies are good. But, I wouldn't rely on them for anything more than purity seals.

Here is a picture of 2 terms, the one on the left has highlighting from a gold sharpie otherwise they have the same paints (head specifically)

Iv been using metallic paint pens for my metallic like gold and silver

The copper is nice for skaven stuff

Also got into using water color pencils to do highlights (ivory ish color for my yellow marines)

 hybridmoments82 wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
personally i'd rather just use a brush. i dont like the look of using a pen. it loses uniformity and as im pretty OCD with it that just wont fly.

I'm not good enough yet. I always blacken up my purity seals and have to cover up. I'm practicing though!

Any pointers in purity squigglies using the standard brush/black paint?

Yeah, dont use black. I use personally use dark reaper. Same for tattoos on skin. Black has too sharp of a contrast on that scale.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, invest in small brushes. I use a 2/0 for pretty much everything. But also sometimes as small as a 4/0. For purity seal text, i use pure paint, undiluted. Get a tiny amount on the tipx and literally kiss the seal to get tiny marks and dots. You'll find it gives a nice realistic effect

You can see it on my BA termie here

chaos0xomega wrote:

Talys wrote:
Unfortunately, the tiniest pens are still nowhere close to the brushstroke size of a small brush :(

I own the finest tipped pens that sakurs makes, they are in fact finer than any brush or airbrush I have ever seen.

I have the 0.05 Micron ones, as well as their brush tip. It is impossible, even when barely touching the surface, to draw a line as fine as what you can get on a Raphael 8404 6/0 brush. I first tried a Micron pen when I started painting and had trouble drawing eyes. For me, the brush still works much better.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 hybridmoments82 wrote:

Any pointers in purity squigglies using the standard brush/black paint?

There are several ways to make the black easier to paint from a fine brush. All of the problems come from the fact that acrylic fluid paints dry quickly, and there are practically no bristles on a ultrafine brush. Here are the solutions that I've tried:

1. Use a slower drying black. By far the simplest solution, start with P3 Thamar black, instead of Abbadon or VMC Black. It dries slower, so it's easier to draw those fine lines. Water it down just a little.

2. Use a drying retarder or flow improver. Reaper master series drying retarder, or Liquitex flo-aid (or any other brand equivalents, like Golden flow improver, Liquitex slo-dry, Vallejo retarder, etc.) will make your life a lot easier. Don't use a gel retarder, because it makes the painting really fine part harder. The gel retarders are better suited for wet blending.

3. Use an acrylic ink. Liquitex and Daler Rowney make acrylic ink, which work really well. Do practice on a sprue, because *ink* behaves differently than paint. It is a lot more runny, so making sure you have the correct (minimum) amount on a brush, or it will make a royal mess. There are other artists' inks too, but the acrylic ones seem to work the best with the brushes that we already have for miniatures. Plus, they don't dry immediately, but the dry time isn't horrible.

For eyes and very fine details, I use #1. For freehand lettering, I use #3.

I am not a big fan of #2, because if you put too little retarder/flow improver, it does nothing, and if you put too much, it can reduce opacity, and usually that is not desired. Plus, I have to mix big puddle of it, of which I will use a fraction of a fraction of a drop.

Talys wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:

Talys wrote:
Unfortunately, the tiniest pens are still nowhere close to the brushstroke size of a small brush :(

I own the finest tipped pens that sakurs makes, they are in fact finer than any brush or airbrush I have ever seen.

I have the 0.05 Micron ones, as well as their brush tip. It is impossible, even when barely touching the surface, to draw a line as fine as what you can get on a Raphael 8404 6/0 brush. I first tried a Micron pen when I started painting and had trouble drawing eyes. For me, the brush still works much better.

Im not sure what you're referring to... Theres the Micron 05 which has a .45 mm tip, and then there is the Micron 005 which has a .2mm tip. Kolinsky hair has a tip diameter of about 10 micrometers usually, most brushes form a tip of 5 hair-widths (a note on sizing, the 6/0 refers to brush diameter at the base/ferrule, the tip on a 6/0 is, at least theoretically, the same size as the tip on a size 6 brush), so you're looking a tip there which is about .05 mm, which is in fact finer, but requires a hell of a lot more control to achieve a consistent width and a straight line than the pen (and in 99/100 cases you will never actually achieve a line that fine owing to the paint increasing the width of the tip as it flows down the brush as well as the tendency of the brush hairs to separate on the stroke). In any case Ive yet to encounter the application where i need something finer than the micron pen, but thats just me.

In the same kind of size, but usable with other paints and inks, you have Rotrings.

The good ones I had I lent to Aliaume Chapelle who never gave them back to me, but you can find those things online:

http://www.rotring.com/en/technical-pens/50-isograph-pen-4006856151008.html#/nib_size-0_1_mm

0.1mm and it was designed to run inks through it, so you can just find any ink you like, and it has cleaning kits available as well.


And you can go further as well...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Staedtler-pigment-fineliner-technical-drawing/dp/B00AHW3YBS

http://www.jetpens.com/Marvy-Le-Pen-Technical-Drawing-Pen-0.03-mm-Black/pd/9815


Which I guess also exist with other colors or could be tweaked to accept another ink.

I've used micron pens for stuff like the 'writing' in books:



and tattoos like the heart on this lady:



Have used them for other tatts but don't have any good pictures handy.

ugh.. people who refer to tattoos as 'tatts' ^^ just dont

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
ugh.. people who refer to tattoos as 'tatts' ^^ just dont

Why? I and a slew of others I know with them do so regularly.

Yup same here, proud of my tatts, though I generally refer to it as 'ink'.

Also need find on those pens though they are definitely on the pricey side for those Isograhs. The Staedtlers and Marvys look like a steal though

There's a huge difference though, the Rotrings are not one-time use, they're professional tools you use twenty years.

http://kyleonfire.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/i-hate-when-people-call-them-tats/ ink is even worse. Tattoos.

nm

My word, people! I hate it when people call records "vinyls", but that has ZERO to do with detailing with markers...

I use this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/kuretake-brush-pen/

The ink is water-based, fairly translucent, and has AMAZING control. paint the details, let it dry really good, and then paint a light coat of matte medium over it if you get nervous.

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:


I use this: http://www.dickblick.com/products/kuretake-brush-pen/

The ink is water-based, fairly translucent, and has AMAZING control. paint the details, let it dry really good, and then paint a light coat of matte medium over it if you get nervous.

Can you get other than black ink?

Does use on metal/plastic/resin cause the tip to go bad (I assume they designed the pen for writing on paper)?

What size do you use (seems they may come in more than one)?

 JWMarines wrote:


Definitely use a brush with a decent belly and a very fine tip, then thin your paint to about 1:1 or 2:3 paint:water, so that it flows nicely. Then soak most of that paint up on a paper towel so that when you touch the brush tip to the seal to do the squiggly it doesn't flood it with watery black paint. Other than that you just need a light touch.

As basic of guidance as this may be, it was stupendously helpful (still need some practice, but wow, never thought I'd be able to pull this off just by reading a post!):