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Hello all!
I am starting a Tau army and FINALLY decided to paint "Tron Tau," inspired mostly by this http://www.coolminiornot.com/275523. (still deciding between orange/red, blue/white, and green)
Then, I encountered a problem while testing my first one...man alone cannot paint a straight line (in a reasonable amount of time).
So, how do you guys make straight lines? Keep in mind: I am a beginning/below-average painter. Any solution should be reasonably easy to learn and/or cheap.
Thanks in advance!

I have used either masking tape or blue painters tape to good effect. Tear off what you need and if you are worried about affecting and existing paint job you "burnish" it a few times on a pant leg or something similar. Then lay it down where you want your lines. Make sure you rub it down to prevent bleeding. Once the paint is dry slowly remove the tape. If its a bumpy area I hear silly putty works real well to. I believe there are videos on youtube to walk you through the process. Let me know if it works for you.

Thank you, I'll try right now.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wow...that worked fairly well. Just curious, any other ways? I'm just worried a bit that it may not work ALL the time like on surfaces theat change directions and whatnot (FW's leg for example).
Also, any basing ideas? I don't know what would be best for the "Tron" look.

I find that oversizing the line then re-applying the base colour to tidy up the edges gets quite a good result.

 Flinty wrote:
I find that oversizing the line then re-applying the base colour to tidy up the edges gets quite a good result.

I have done that, on a my first tester (I'd show you a picture, but it looks better on the picture than it really is), but my hands shake just enough to make it difficult...I mean, it works and looks okay, but it just takes a longer than hoped for time and isn't as nice as I'd like.

My hands shake, its not always possible but I try to do as much on sprue as I can, its steady, at least one things not moving much.

At least that way its easier for me anyway

Yeah, I want to paint on sprue, and I'll try to be better, but the urge to use the model right away is really hard to resist...(I like to play more than paint)
I'll give it a try on the models that are supposed coming in the mail on Saturday.

If you have the funds you can get masking fluid.. Although you'll have to apply that in straight lines.. The concept of that is a little confusing to me ha

You can but try, it can help, some angles not ideal but good for base coats and starting details meaning you don,t have to worry about messing up that bit you just painted to hold it or such.

Good luck with your from tau, maybe even Rocking the showcase section :-)

Another easy way is to hit the thing with a gloss ish varnish

try your best to get the color in the lines

then use some iso proponal on a q tip and rub off the mess.

Though if you rub too much or hard it might take the varnish or worse base coat off with it. (so make sure your layers are cured)

Micron pen and a ruler.

 Badablack wrote:
Micron pen and a ruler.

Similar technique...

I will often use an eraser shield or other flexible metal tool. You can bend it around pretty sharp curves (just don't kink it...or it will never go flat again). Apply a little rubber cement to the back side to create a "gasket" to minimize bleed.

If it is something more complicated I will mask. Masking doesn't take that long once you get the hang of it - but often the shield is faster if I just need a simple straight edge between two colors for example.

Here are some tips that I used in tattooing (straight lines are pretty important) that might help you out as well:

Get something to put the mini on. Some people use cork, I use an oversized pill bottle. Being able to rest you wrist on that object will really help. More Stability in your arm=less shakes.

When you are stroking the brush down take a breath in before touching the mini and then exhale as you paint. On the flip side, if you are painting a line upwards inhale while you are pulling the brush up. Matching your breathing pattern with the way your lines are going really helps the motion of your body. Holding your breath just brings more stress to your body and could increase your jitters.

Don't smoke or drink a lot of caffeine before painting. Even though these things keep us up and painting into those late hours they really mess with your nervous system and cause you to shake more.

The last thing that helped me a ton in model painting was getting a longer haired brush. Your experience may vary but I find when I can line up the path of the bristles with the path of the brush I get a more accurately thick and straight line.

I hope some of these tips help you out. Using the tools to make a straight line template are great and I think using them as a platform to try and hone the ability to work without them takes you in a good direction as well.

 voxplayer wrote:
Here are some tips that I used in tattooing (straight lines are pretty important) that might help you out as well:

Get something to put the mini on. Some people use cork, I use an oversized pill bottle. Being able to rest you wrist on that object will really help. More Stability in your arm=less shakes.

When you are stroking the brush down take a breath in before touching the mini and then exhale as you paint. On the flip side, if you are painting a line upwards inhale while you are pulling the brush up. Matching your breathing pattern with the way your lines are going really helps the motion of your body. Holding your breath just brings more stress to your body and could increase your jitters.
Makes sense

Don't smoke or drink a lot of caffeine before painting. Even though these things keep us up and painting into those late hours they really mess with your nervous system and cause you to shake more.
Not a problem at all

The last thing that helped me a ton in model painting was getting a longer haired brush. Your experience may vary but I find when I can line up the path of the bristles with the path of the brush I get a more accurately thick and straight line.
Hmm, good idea. I have a few I could try
I hope some of these tips help you out. Using the tools to make a straight line template are great and I think using them as a platform to try and hone the ability to work without them takes you in a good direction as well.

Thank you, I think these will help.

 Desubot wrote:
Another easy way is to hit the thing with a gloss ish varnish

try your best to get the color in the lines

then use some iso proponal on a q tip and rub off the mess.

Though if you rub too much or hard it might take the varnish or worse base coat off with it. (so make sure your layers are cured)

I'll have to try this tomorrow. Thank you.

Would you guys happen to know of any luminescent paint that would work, I just realized that that would be really cool if the glow lasted forever.

Also, how would you do the bases? I was thinking ruins, but are there any better ideas? I know I don't want the grid-that's too Tron. Thanks for all the help you've given me!

If your guys have a flat based paint on them painting your "glowing" lines with a high gloss type paint should give you the effect you want. As for bases there are videos on youtube on how to do a necron home world base.. You could do that saying that they are fighting on a necron world and that is there camouflage pattern,

A lot of non GW companies make florescent paints.

Vallejo and i believe tamaya has them.

You could go nuts and make your own with dayglow pigments as well.

A recent White Dwarf had another method of doing glowing runes (at least when you had recesses in the model), paint the recesses white and then go over them with an appropriately-colored glaze. A thinned wash would work about as well.

If you are painting the recesses, there are a number of extremely bright artists inks on the market. Paint the recess white, then just load up a brush with ink and place it in the recess - the ink should wick off quite well. By varying colours along the recess while the ink is still wet will give you nice blends (ie red to orange to yellow).

This can still work for non-recesses but does require more control.

Im not sure what recess is...is it the indents in armor? If so, thats all im painting i think (and gun). I tried painting white scar then Guelmans(?) Blue. It looks okay, just not Neony enough.

BTW, would this work? http://www.blacklight.com/items/WF161IND
Or Vallejo Paint Game Color Fluo Green?

You could try Artist Gouche for lining. Check out this article from BoLS...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/hobby-lining-tanks-with-gouache.html

 The Shadow Lord wrote:
Im not sure what recess is...is it the indents in armor? If so, thats all im painting i think (and gun). I tried painting white scar then Guelmans(?) Blue. It looks okay, just not Neony enough.

BTW, would this work? http://www.blacklight.com/items/WF161IND
Or Vallejo Paint Game Color Fluo Green?

Recesses are the indents in the armour. That neon paint only shows up under a UV light. Try some artists neon inks like these: http://www.hblythco.com/fw-ink-neon-set-6-colours/dp/30556 (first link on goggle - you can get similar inks for less elsewhere)

Painted over white they should be pretty bright if you water them down slightly. The Vallejo paint would also work.

 SilverMK2 wrote:

 The Shadow Lord wrote:
Im not sure what recess is...is it the indents in armor? If so, thats all im painting i think (and gun). I tried painting white scar then Guelmans(?) Blue. It looks okay, just not Neony enough.

BTW, would this work? http://www.blacklight.com/items/WF161IND
Or Vallejo Paint Game Color Fluo Green?

Recesses are the indents in the armour. That neon paint only shows up under a UV light. Try some artists neon inks like these: http://www.hblythco.com/fw-ink-neon-set-6-colours/dp/30556 (first link on goggle - you can get similar inks for less elsewhere)

Painted over white they should be pretty bright if you water them down slightly. The Vallejo paint would also work.

Hm, thats a bit pricey...but you did say Vallejo Fluo Green will work. If so, thats great! I found some for a nice and desirable price!

averykess wrote:
You could try Artist Gouche for lining. Check out this article from BoLS...

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/hobby-lining-tanks-with-gouache.html

Im sorry, i didnt see this the first time, this looks perfect! I'll have to grab some and try it out.

I'm going on a trip tomorrow until Sunday, so thanks for all the help and I'll get back with results (there a few things I want to try from this thread.)

I'll be trying something similar on my rescued Tau soon.

There isn't recesses on all parts so restricting it to the rifles.


I'll share how it turns out.


And I agree with the tip of putting the unit on a stand and using breathing techniques. It's how the Star Wars concept artists justify making "pew-pew" sounds when drawing. Although this may also explain some of the terribly childish designs since the prequels started...

It's apparently an old Asian technique, where exactly I can't remember.