need some freehand help

[darklord]

okay, im being adventurous and trying some (for me) complex freehand. what i need to know is wether i should shade and highlight the area i will be applying the freehand to? pretty much all the area will be overlayed with the freehand so i\'m unsure wether to \'ignore\' the ridges etc and just treat it as a \'flat \' piece of model so the only highlights and edging would be that of the freehand and not the piece underneath.
clear as mud i know!!
i\'m trying to put a load of skulls onto some armour, so will be quite busy

 

[Dragonsreach]

I\'d suggest highlighting the base area first as it will help you maintain the highlights of the freehand....and stay in keeping with the highlight schema of the overall figure.

Doesn\'t mean that you have to be compltly \"Over the Top\" on the highlighting as you want the freehand to be the most eyecatching.

 

[mattrock]

As of yet, I\'m pretty terrified of freehand work so I\'ll go with what DR said.:yes:

 

[Talonicus]

Hi Brett

I would agree with Mike.
Highlight first and then overpaint.

 

[darklord]

i thank you kind sirs

 

[demonherald]

don\'t do too many highlight layers though as this will just increase the chances of getting a rougher surface to paint on.. I generalyy paint up to a mid level of highlights Then after paintig the freehnad finish up the rest of the highlighting using the highlight the freehand colours as I go...

There\'s no harm having the highlights as a guide for where highlights on the freehand will go but the more stages you do the harder it will be to match up the colour to do the inevitable tidying up touches that are almost always needed...

 

[lizcam]

I can do a pretty mean tartan when I have a mind (be careful. I might pull it out in the Ebay group)

What I do is paint the background first (in this case the two main colors) and highlight that then I freehand the smaller stripes. Then after it\'s all done I do a light wash to enhance the shadows. Freehand can\'t be much different.