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Freehand-along, week 1 - sketching out


Mako

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Ok folks, here's the thread for working on the first week of the painting thing. This week, it's all about getting your idea roughed out on the model, so you can get placement and shaping down.

My usual method is to use very dilute paint, and put faint thin lines down that are easily covered with neater heavier ones later. Not every detail, just the main lines/areas to help guide everything else. I also hear it can be done carefully with a pencil, though I haven't tried it myself.

Sunday/monday next week, we'll hopefully have a bunch of models with rough freehand placement on them, so the week after we can move on to getting it fully laid out and starting on the details. Remember to post up a finished pic of this weeks work (and a starting one if you haven't already, preferably), and ask at any point if you want people's thoughts and advice!

As a quick reference for people to see what others are up to, here's the photos we had uploaded from the planning thread (there 's a few names who haven't put pics up yet, but I'll update this post as ones appear):

Webmonkey

attachment.php?attachmentid=15601&d=1379887389

attachment.php?attachmentid=15603&d=1379887489

G3ck0__

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Lussuria

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Wings

FreehandWizardWIP_zps8e78107e.jpg

(Scroll detailing, possibly robe)

Steamhammer

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th_DodgyMockup_zpsdb55f594.jpg

Mister Monkey

attachment.php?attachmentid=15676&d=1380391459

attachment.php?attachmentid=15677&d=1380391546

LordZombie

(Convict gunslinger)

attachment.php?attachmentid=15701&d=1380422021

Mako

raspyskirtpre_zps4ded747c.jpg

diamond_quilting_zps6a525a9f.jpg

bowchikawowers

attachment.php?attachmentid=15717&d=1380504227

ttsgosadow

attachment.php?attachmentid=15730&d=1380555765attachment.php?attachmentid=15731&d=1380555944

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Attempt number 1. Just Trowing it out there...

The figure was just painted, no sealing with varnish.

Simplified the motive because the size is too small to get it done (by me anyway).

Still was not sure about the flower but I thought to have a go at it.

post-5209-13911931150203_thumb.png

Went for a diluted white for outlining with a fine detail brush (Army painters).

Dilution was 4:1 water to paint and the first thing a noticed was:

puddles of paint: it wasn't really possible to put a line down, the paint was always puddling up (cohesion of the water?)

Flowing wider then intented (too much paint on brush?)

The first streaks I removed with water and some paper towel.

So I went back and had as less paint as possible on the brush and a delition of 3:1

The result would be this.

post-5209-13911931150361_thumb.jpg

So do I need to restart and have it cleaner or is this normal for a first layer?

Any comment, tips, LOL's (I can take it ... ;-) )

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Soooo... my attempt at an outline went horribly wrong!

11_zpsc6ec225e.jpg

Absolutely for the life of me could not get the paint to go on smooth when it was that little! Haha I cannot even describe how much tinier this was than I had initially imagined.

Any have any help to share? Suggestions? Paper bags for me to cover my head with?

----

And @G3ck0: I think your initial lay down of the pattern is looking good!! I had the opposite problem to you in that I had so little amount of dry paint on my brush I was basically painting nothing for the first 15 minutes!

Edited by Lussuria
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This is my Mei. I am not to sure where I want freehand - on her shirt or on her pants. Think a blossom on her pants would be cool, but very standard. Maybe a stylised forest cat on her shirt? Would hate to rebase the white if that goes wrong, though....

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Stylised forest cat like this:

post-10906-13911931154011_thumb.jpg

post-10906-13911931153359_thumb.jpg

Edited by ttsgosadow
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Looking good guys!

I'd say if you're worried, you can retouch the background colour to thin or adjust things. I often do tweaks like that, going from sketch to backing colour and back again while I get it right.

I'll have a play tonight, see if there's anything I do that's odd when I sketch out, but I think it is just dilute a fair bit and use very little paint on a size 0 brush.

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if you use too much water, it will alter the surface tension values of the paint such that it puddles.

instead of water, thin with matte medium and maybe a small small amount of clean water. distilled water is best as it wont have any other stuff mixed in changing the surface tension.

I would also use a small brush with a tiny tiny bit of paint. I like to use so little i get one maybe 2 strokes and then rinse the brush and reapply paint to the brush.

on most freehand, you will have to go back in with the original under color to push back and thin the design lines. not hard on its own, but if you mixed your paints to do multiple steps of blending for highlights, the hard part can be remixing that so you can match the color when you go back in to trim up the design.

Edited by nagash13
forgot something
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Well that was a good tip Mako! Slapping both colors on the pallet and going back and forth to get it better.

Experimented a bit with filling up the complete flowwer and putting in the background color to achief the gaps instad of trying to paint the flower.

so I went back and forth a few times worried to screw up the background color but that was apparently not an issue.

Take two (for one flower) would look like this in extreme closeup:

post-5209-13911931154276_thumb.jpg

I have to say enlarging the pictures so much is'nt that good either, because while it actually starts looking better with the bare eye it look horrible in the picture.

post-5209-13911931154486_thumb.jpg

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Good to see that helped Gecko! Flower's looking good.

I normally use water to dilute for outlining, as I want the paint to flow off the brush and not risk having it leave ridges on the surface. It's more about having very little paint on the brush for me than it is about having thicker paint. Course, that just shows there's several ways to do everything *grin*

I'll be doing my sketch after food, I think.

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Not usually for sketching, it makes things a bit too flowy. Water usually does the trick for me. But give it a try, see how it works for you - it depends on your brush loading and the pressure you use with the tip, I suspect.

Can I tempt you to join us, Tombanjo? *grin*

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So, I still need to make the petals a bit more solid white. But here's a bit of a preview of the pattern that I think I'm gonna go with. I only have it on the one side of the chest. I know they're hard to see, but a few more coats of white and they should really start to pop.

Anyways,.. here ya go,..

post-8871-13911931156104_thumb.jpg

post-8871-13911931156864_thumb.jpg

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*bring bring* Oh Hello jaw! You're ready to be picked up? No worries.

That looks awesome Webmonkey!

My plan (when I get home from work is to re-go over my outline with the dark gold/yellow colour and then clean its edges with the blue. Hopefully an updated shot coming this evening.

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Don't get too concerned with getting the sketch perfect Luss, you'll quite possibly be neatening up the edges again later when you start filling and doing the highlights and shades!

That, and you'll make mine look terrible, lol

That is looking sweet there Web.

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Today's update. (hopefully some better pics this time). I think I'm happy with the pattern so far. I still need to do the lower half, but I have to let the upper half dry first so I don't smudge it with my fingers as I grip and turn the piece.

Or maybe I'm crazy,.. in which case,.. feel free to laugh at my vain attempt at freehanding *grin*

post-8871-13911931167623_thumb.jpg

post-8871-1391193116869_thumb.jpg

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Lol, its usually a rough design, I'd probably have been putting down faint lines for the branches, and dots where I'd be putting flowers. Going back and solidifying colour and adding things like petals is usually a secondary thing *grin*

Can't fault you on execution though, it's looking awesome!

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