Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I'm having some issues with basic free-handing on my Rhinos. This is the first time I attempt free-handing and painting vehicles.

What I do is first do a rough sketch of what I'm free-handing with a mechanical pencil. Status quo. Nothing complicated either.

Then I paint the outlines of the sketch with the smallest brush I have in order to conserve the formation of the sketch. However, I have noticed that I don't have as steady of a hand that I thought I did. As a result, the proportions get a little skewed, which throws off the entire free-hand.

Here's what comes out (please note these Rhinos are still WIP):








Yes, this also means I really really don't like decals, and will only use them as a last resort.

So, tips anyone?

The top one looks good, give it another coat then touch it up with blue.

What brush size and type are you using?

Ifalna wrote:What brush size and type are you using?

I'm using a Reaper Pro Paint 5/0 size brush for the outlines.

EDIT: For the second arrow hatch, the penciling is reference for me to know where to paint the blue over to refine the arrow, it's NOT the original sketch.

For the arrows, I recommend masking tape. It should make it much easier. Can't help with the omega, though. Never tried that.

If you own a airbursh , Stencil a image out of card than cut out the image place it on the model airbursh it on. you can do the same with painting it on but it might bleed out the side i know there are ways to prevent that tho . Anyways hope that helps.

susejo239 wrote:For the arrows, I recommend masking tape. It should make it much easier. Can't help with the omega, though. Never tried that.

That makes a lot of sense. I should try that out, gotta find some tape laying around.

Wulfenone wrote:
If you own a airbursh , Stencil a image out of card than cut out the image place it on the model airbursh it on. you can do the same with painting it on but it might bleed out the side i know there are ways to prevent that tho . Anyways hope that helps.

Unfortunately no, I don't have an airbrush.

draw it on a scrap of paper cut it out with a craft knife then spraymount it then apply to your vehicle remeber to brush carefully at the edges so as to not get your bristles under the paper peel off leave to dry then give it a whipe down with some lighter fluid to remove the stickyness left behind by the spraymount

For painting the Arrow I recommend 1/8th to 1/4 taimyia tape or any other painters/hobby tape of that size. Make the out like of your arrow with the tape then like a coloring book paint the in side. This will give the arrow a much better look and also will require alot less touch up work. Also Water down your paint. it may take a few more coats but will look better in the long run.

As for your Ultramarine Logo, that take time. Get a rough Idea on what you would like and do the out line painting., Then with a detail brush sharpen up the out line. then to sharpen up your lines I would use the base color, in your case blue.

Scotch brand tape makes a blue painters tape with less adhesive. Use that if you are short on cash its like a buck or so a roll.

If you are computer savy I would recommend buying printable transfer sheets and scanning/photo shopping the omega sign to the size you need. Its a cheep way to get the look ya want.

vampyrehntrd wrote:For painting the Arrow I recommend 1/8th to 1/4 taimyia tape or any other painters/hobby tape of that size. Make the out like of your arrow with the tape then like a coloring book paint the in side. This will give the arrow a much better look and also will require alot less touch up work. Also Water down your paint. it may take a few more coats but will look better in the long run.

As for your Ultramarine Logo, that take time. Get a rough Idea on what you would like and do the out line painting., Then with a detail brush sharpen up the out line. then to sharpen up your lines I would use the base color, in your case blue.

Scotch brand tape makes a blue painters tape with less adhesive. Use that if you are short on cash its like a buck or so a roll.

If you are computer savy I would recommend buying printable transfer sheets and scanning/photo shopping the omega sign to the size you need. Its a cheep way to get the look ya want.

I am extremely tech savy; what kind of paper would I need to get? Would the transfers look as horrible as GW's (which is the main reason I'm not doing decals in the first place)?


EDIT: After looking around a little, it's way too expensive for something I'll barely use. Thanks for the suggestion though.

The stencils and tape should really help. Here's some tips for a steadier hand too: Rest your arm or the side of your hand on something (both the hand with the brush and the hand with the model). Make sure you haven't just had a drink or a coffee or a cigarette before sitting down to paint. When painting a straight line draw the brush towards your body. When painting a curve keep your hand on the outside of the curve and not the inside again painting towards your body. Nervousness will make your hands shakey too, giving them a shake in the air to release tension and a few deep breaths in and out helps for that. (Some of these ideas may sound funny, I admit, but they really do work).

There are four types of printable transfer paper.

Laser or Inkjet
White or clear base

If you use the clear base type, you have to understand that there is no white, so any colours your put into your design that have white in them will come out wrong. This is basically every colour except for plain black, and 100% cyan, magenta and yellow.

You can get around this by painting the area where the transfer will go, white.

If you buy the white base paper, you have to cut carefully around your design, or it will have white edges.

Since you want white symbols, I should buy the white base sheets, and make your designs with a black keyline. You will then be able to cut them out neatly with a sharp blade.

Like others have said, a stencil will help you to no end.

Atleast that way you will also get every marking the same as the previous one.

If for any reason a stencil wont work, use tape or a ruler to keep the edges crisp.

I know how you feel, my hands aren't particularly steady either. White is a tricky one to do, the main points is to use lots of thin layers to get a good, clean and consistent look. The other thing is patience. I know its not the but the same principles apply.



(Incase the image doesn't work-I'm not that computer savvy: http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/146812-.html?m=2 )

Use a watered down white so that it flows nicely (description is not my strong point) and just add another layer once dry until it becomes opaque. Because its watered down, if you make a mistake you can usually wipe away any mistakes that ran over the outline you drew, no harm done. I start my free-hand by building construction points, dots at key points to help me get straight lines, and then do dot-to-dot with a fine/detailed brush to get the image outline (again with the thinned paint). Then its a case of filling in the middle.

Goodluck with the painting and it would be good to see more pictures of your stuff.

SOM

If you want to freehand it, use masking tape on the arrows, as other's pointed out.

Now, on the Ultramarine's symbol, start with a big simple shape and work it from there.

I'll give you an example I just made using markers for graphical use.

A question about masking tape....
Can you just pick up any old masking tape and use that? Or do you need a special type that won't peel the paint off?

Depends how old the masking tape is. Sometimes when it's really old (from the times the Emperor walked among us) it get's extra sticky and will peel everything off.

A regular masking tape should do it, though. Take some, try it on your skin (avoid hairs xD) and feel how sticky it is... it's quite intuitive from there.

For masing tape, I strongly recommend Tamiya tape for anything that will actually go into contact with the model. Once you have an edge masked, you can then use regular decorators' tape and paper to mask the rest of the model off.

But for what the OP is doing, the pencil, ruler and hand method is pretty much the way I work. For the edge, you don't need a small brush, but you will do better with a good point. I use a size 1 W&N S7 for this sort of work.

Start with a light grey, thinned slightly. You want to be able to pull a line that doesn't spread out. You're NOT going for coverage in one stroke. Start your stroke on the inside of your pencil work, and move to the line. It's easier to do this than try to touch the brush down on the line and keep it there. Once you have the edge of the design done, start to fill it in. Again, in light grey, and work up to the line. Generally around 3 coats are needed to get a nice solid light grey.

Then you work your white on. This time thinned more, and pull towards the line. You'll find this highlights the edge of your design. You want very little actual paint mix on the brush - it should flow out under control with the stroke, not splosh out like a wash.

don't beat yourself up dude my freehand is about the same,i find using thin coats helps with symbols and i see the helpful people of dakka have already gave you(and me) a lot of useful advice.

Wow this is a lot of info to look at at once! Thanks a lot everyone. I'll look at each suggestion in depth and see what I'll decide to do, although I have a strange feeling that I'll have to resort to decals + Microsol/Microset for time conservation :(

Also, though it's frustrating to hear, painting and repainting over errors will solve a lot of sins. That, and sheer practice. Your first freehands are simply GOING to be worse than later ones will be.

Having said that, it is possible to paint over a varnished model. You might want to varnish the surface once you have the underlying paint job finished, and then paint the freehand over that. That way, you can wipe off paint (and even carefully strip stuff) without affecting the underlying paint job and having to start all over.

I can't paint to save my life. I think it has a lot to do with my lack of patience with the paint.
Have you ever considered making your own decals instead of free-handing? Here's an overview/guide of making decals: http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2007/07/tutorial-custom-decal-sheets.html

AresX8 wrote:Unfortunately no, I don't have an airbrush.

You can pick cheap versions up for about 40$ (they'll use a can of compressed air instead of an air compressor, so for large scale jobs it costs more, but for small stuff like the occasional stencil it should work fine).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, or given that what you really need is white, a generic can of acrylic spray paint.

YOu could also try using frog tape, its really good about not leaving a residue or pulling paint off when you remove it, i think it actually works better than blue painters tape

When free-hand mark painting, i'd say your bestest of best friend is a paper sketch.
- Use a ruler to measure the size of the piece you wanna add the mark to, and apply it to the paper - just to indicate how big the actual piece (piece = hatch/door/whatever).
- Again, use the ruler to get it symmetrical etc.
- When you're happy about the mark, use a knife to cut out the mark. (You can also cut it out around the edges, to more precisely use it as masking tape.)
- Paint/airbrush/whatever it...

AresX8 wrote:Wow this is a lot of info to look at at once! Thanks a lot everyone. I'll look at each suggestion in depth and see what I'll decide to do, although I have a strange feeling that I'll have to resort to decals + Microsol/Microset for time conservation :(

Trust me, if you're having trouble getting the paint to work, you'll have more trouble with a decal, especially if you're not practiced. And larger decals are exponentially harder to apply well than small ones.

Keep your paints more watered than normal when doing the outline... try holding your brush two-handed... Exhale and keep your lungs empty whilst making any movements (sniper trick ) And if you're having problems with straight edges... just hold a ruler on the model and paint with that blocking you from going over the outline.

Dude, that's really bad advice. Trying to paint against a ruler is gonna cause paint to run under it. Similarly, holding your brush two-handed just leaves you with nothing to hold the model with.

1) draw it lightly with a pencil first.
2) if you are going white, use deneb stone as an undercoat for the white since you're painting over a darker color (white is a very thin paint and the undercolor will show through)
3) paint white around it.
4) If it is still not the desired effect, use micron pens to outline the shape you are painting.

Suggestions (some stated above):

1) Work on your brush control. Be patient, use reasonably thinned paint, and don't rush. Once you get the edges blocked in properly, paint up the middle. You can then come back with your blue to clean up any slight mistakes.

2) Use masking tape. For the arrows, mask off the shape. For the Ultramarines symbol, put down a couple of pieces, draw your symbol in pencil, then use your hobby knife to cut the shape out. Remove the shape and bam, instant stencile.

3) For straight lines as in the arrow, you can use a piece of cardstock or a ruler to make a hard edge, then just paint against that. After that, just fill in the center.

4) If you're priming white, then mask off and follow item 2 for the symbol or arrow, and leave the center instead. Then all you have to do is pull the mask off when you're done painting the blue on in that area.