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Hi all,

I've never been particularly good at free handing. For my IG army, I really want to create personalised shoulder insignia, showing rank and unit and whatnot. On top of that, I'm really wanting to do a lot of free hand banners, as the feel I'm going for with my army is all about their heritage and the like. So has anyone got any pointers? I've heard some people say that when it comes to writing, getting really small fine tip markers and using those rather than painting, but is that the best option? I'm curious to know what you all think.

When I've got some free time and have done some free handed shoulder pads and whatnot, I'll post some photos

Thanks

I run into the same problem with my knightworld guard. My solution was a combination sketching out a rough draft of what I wanted first, then doing the basic colors and then going in with micron pens.

Id say buy some mechanical pencils. This will allow you to draw designs for your banners over the primer. You can usualy pick up packs of 4 at the supermarket

I use the detail markers quite happily - Sakura Pigma micron pens are the usual recommendation (and would be mine, as well). As far as banners and the like are concerned, sketching them out in pencil is a valid tactic (I prefer a .5mm lead to the .7mm common in cheap plastic pencils). Canvas painters do it frequently, alternatively using carbon (or graphite, nowadays) paper to transfer a sketch on paper to the final canvas. On such a small area, though, I'd likely sketch directly on the primed model, after doing rough drafts on paper to tweak the design to my liking and get in some practice.

You can use the micron pens again, if you want a really bold design, to add hard outlines that mask wobbly brushwork and make the design pop. More subtle designs will require practicing traditional, 2D painting techniques... or some image manipulation skills and printable decal paper.

For freehanding, you want to keep your paint thin. That will prevent the brush 'sticking' and leaving drag marks.

Check out posts by this guy, amazing work and super helpful

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/604104.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/608172.page

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/30/602440.page (hrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnng)

Personally I draw what I want to freehand with a mechanical pencil first, unless I'm confident that I won't any mistakes, which happens if the design is simple and I'm feeling great that day.


Make sure that you don't have too much sugar and caffeine in your body, and you're not tired. All of those factors can make your hands shake like crazy and that's gonna make the task harder.


Paint consistency is also key: you want it to be thin enough so that it won't bulk up and have a texture, but you don't want it too thin that it would run all over the surface.


And be patient! I hate to tell you this but it's really all about practice and you can only really get good at it by doing it over and over again. There's no super secret about it.



Some examples of my work (and what not to do! On some parts, especially on the white flowers, the paint was just a bit thicker than what I would like.):