Ok i\'ve tried to do some freehand on my minis and I just can\'t get it to look good. The edges of my colours are never straight they always wave. How do you get crisp clean edges and is there anything else I should know. If some1 wrote an article on freehand basics it would be great cause I don\'t think there is one. Anyways any help would be great.
Freehand
- Thread starter Ithellios
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farseerlum
New member
there is no trick sorry.
there are many ways to do it as there are painters but no \"trick\"
it is many hours of practice with brush work and paint control. you have to know the limits of yourself and your paints.
your brush condition does become more important at this level.
practice on plasticard or something if you want to get better without mesing your models. you should look for normal painting articles to get you to speed. painting freehand means you have to make your own areas to highlight and shade. this is where you will have the most trouble as you are probably used to these areas being dictated by the mini.
as with all mini painting don\'t give into temptation and paint with thick paint. it might seem quicker but in the end it will look bad.
practice makes better!
there are many ways to do it as there are painters but no \"trick\"
it is many hours of practice with brush work and paint control. you have to know the limits of yourself and your paints.
your brush condition does become more important at this level.
practice on plasticard or something if you want to get better without mesing your models. you should look for normal painting articles to get you to speed. painting freehand means you have to make your own areas to highlight and shade. this is where you will have the most trouble as you are probably used to these areas being dictated by the mini.
as with all mini painting don\'t give into temptation and paint with thick paint. it might seem quicker but in the end it will look bad.
practice makes better!
Alternately, you could just practise on paper with your acrylics watered down more than usual. I\'ve done it a couple times to get the pattern in muscle memory so it\'s easier to do in the first try when it counts. Of course, my brush never cooperates on pewter like it does on paper, but hey I\'ve been using it for about a year and should\'ve bought a new one by now anyway 
DennisMech
New member
If you\'ve ever had any experience doing just normal painting, it basicly goes the same as that, except a lot smaller.
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Well, it could also be your paint spilling because your primer is too rough, in which case, I\'d say that you should brush the surface with a toothbrush (to smoothen it out a little) and paint a few coats to smoothen it even more (like, if you primed white, paint a few coats of white before starting). That should eliminate the problem.
Of course, if you just can\'t hold the brush straight, ignor what I said.
Of course, if you just can\'t hold the brush straight, ignor what I said.
practice, thin paint, small pointy brush...
Also what helps with avoiding the wishy-washy indistinct look is to paint the design in a darker colour first then do finer lines inside that so you have a little dark border. Even if you don\'t have border showing it still helps. Practice that one with wider borders first then try to make your lines thinner as you get the hang of it. Eg you could start with a simple wide line border for a robe to get used to the way of it.
Highlight it in line with what you\'re painting over, and also if it\'s big give it some of it\'s own highlighting too. I can\'t remember who said it, but it was someone on here who pointed that out. Eg big thing on a cloak: highlight the pattern so that it\'s lighter at the top, but also highlight it with the folds of the cloth. Makes it look more like part of what it\'s on.
oh, one more thing - make sure there\'s not too much paint in your brush, or you won\'t have any control over where it goes. You could wick out the excess by touching it to a damp paper towel - I tend to streak it over my thumb/thumbnail a couple of times to get it right. With a really tiny brush like a 000 you might find that the paint dries a bit in the tip before you\'re done, also messing with control. Happens to me all the time as I paint quite close to the lamp - just dip the tip in your water, in the paint again, wick excess out and go again. After a couple of times theres generally enough paint in the brush to keep going for a while. Erm - that\'s probably really bad for the brush but I do it anyway . I try and clean them fairly regularly with brush soap so maybe it\'s not too bad. It always gets up in the ferrule when I\'m blacklining or painting designs.
sorry if that\'s all a bit obvious, I\'m tired and rambling now... and it\'s only 10pm, I\'m so old :-/
cheers
Rachel (Still learning this freehand stuff)
Also what helps with avoiding the wishy-washy indistinct look is to paint the design in a darker colour first then do finer lines inside that so you have a little dark border. Even if you don\'t have border showing it still helps. Practice that one with wider borders first then try to make your lines thinner as you get the hang of it. Eg you could start with a simple wide line border for a robe to get used to the way of it.
Highlight it in line with what you\'re painting over, and also if it\'s big give it some of it\'s own highlighting too. I can\'t remember who said it, but it was someone on here who pointed that out. Eg big thing on a cloak: highlight the pattern so that it\'s lighter at the top, but also highlight it with the folds of the cloth. Makes it look more like part of what it\'s on.
oh, one more thing - make sure there\'s not too much paint in your brush, or you won\'t have any control over where it goes. You could wick out the excess by touching it to a damp paper towel - I tend to streak it over my thumb/thumbnail a couple of times to get it right. With a really tiny brush like a 000 you might find that the paint dries a bit in the tip before you\'re done, also messing with control. Happens to me all the time as I paint quite close to the lamp - just dip the tip in your water, in the paint again, wick excess out and go again. After a couple of times theres generally enough paint in the brush to keep going for a while. Erm - that\'s probably really bad for the brush but I do it anyway
. I try and clean them fairly regularly with brush soap so maybe it\'s not too bad. It always gets up in the ferrule when I\'m blacklining or painting designs.sorry if that\'s all a bit obvious, I\'m tired and rambling now... and it\'s only 10pm, I\'m so old :-/
cheers
Rachel (Still learning this freehand stuff)
abstracity
New member
Just practice...
As with anything, practice makes better.
What I do when I\'m painting a freehand thingy is first draw it on paper. when I draw it the first time I draw it much larger than it is going to be on the mini, I also draw it much more detailed than it will end up.
I do this for a couple reasons... First, I love to draw and in throwing all sorts of details on there I sometimes get a better idea than I started with. Second, If I find that I can\'t draw what I want to do big and on paper I know better than to attempt it much smaller and with a brush!! When this happens I just keep at it until I figure out how to make whatever I\'m drawing look good.
Next, I look at my big, detailed drawing and start thinking of ways to clean it up some and make it smaller while still keeping all the things I like about it. I\'m redrawing the design/picture throughout this process at the scale I need it.
When I\'ve finally got what I want I simply copy it onto the mini...c\'est finis!
All this may sound like a lot of work...but, generally, from concept to \"brush time\" the process takes me about an hour.
If anyone shows any interest (and tells me how to make a picture appear in my post!) I could probably throw a picture of one of my sketch papers up for everyone to see...
As with anything, practice makes better.
What I do when I\'m painting a freehand thingy is first draw it on paper. when I draw it the first time I draw it much larger than it is going to be on the mini, I also draw it much more detailed than it will end up.
I do this for a couple reasons... First, I love to draw and in throwing all sorts of details on there I sometimes get a better idea than I started with. Second, If I find that I can\'t draw what I want to do big and on paper I know better than to attempt it much smaller and with a brush!! When this happens I just keep at it until I figure out how to make whatever I\'m drawing look good.
Next, I look at my big, detailed drawing and start thinking of ways to clean it up some and make it smaller while still keeping all the things I like about it. I\'m redrawing the design/picture throughout this process at the scale I need it.
When I\'ve finally got what I want I simply copy it onto the mini...c\'est finis!
All this may sound like a lot of work...but, generally, from concept to \"brush time\" the process takes me about an hour.
If anyone shows any interest (and tells me how to make a picture appear in my post!) I could probably throw a picture of one of my sketch papers up for everyone to see...
Rachel
As to the freehand; try drawing it in with a fine sharp pencil then painting in the details & tidying up the end product.
Forget it your just a kid wait till you join us Coffin Dodgers (AKA thread Hijackers!)
As to the freehand; try drawing it in with a fine sharp pencil then painting in the details & tidying up the end product.
If there is a trick it might be this. Use the right brush. I do most of my freehand with a very sharp tipped 10-O brush. It\'s a liner not a pointer so the bristles are a little longer. But it\'s really only using the two longest bristles to to put on the paint. This works great for lines and filling in small detail. But I don\'t use it for doing swirls and curves. For that I use a cheaper brush with a fish hook tip. You know the ones, the older brush that the tip has bent over from use. I found that if you keep the tip on the back side of the stroke it works better than the fine tip. My fine tip had a tendancy to fan when going around tight bends like at the top of curves.
Well...
Practice is important.
Support both you elbows on a desk to keep your hands steady. OK, on a piece of foam on a desk is better.
Low-tack masking tape can be useful to get straight edges.
Tracing helps by getting the proportions right and allowing you to concentrate on applying the paint.
Similarly, but to a greater extent, with transfers.
Practice is important.
Support both you elbows on a desk to keep your hands steady. OK, on a piece of foam on a desk is better.
Low-tack masking tape can be useful to get straight edges.
Tracing helps by getting the proportions right and allowing you to concentrate on applying the paint.
Similarly, but to a greater extent, with transfers.
