Painting tartan

[housecarl]

I'm painting a tartan, and was wondering if anyone advocates applying a wash of the base colour over everything to tie it all together. Due to there been a stark contrast between the base, and the vertical and horizontal bands.
Hope this makes sense, I would photograph it but my camera is unwell.
Cheers Carl.

 

[WPS]

Carl, you don't have to open a new thread for a question regarding the same subject (in this case Quang's Celt)for this only clutters this site with tiny fragments.
Most members interested in painting will read every new reply anyway and those interested in the subject will participate in answering any question.

To go to your question, it all depents on how dirty you want it to look.
A tartan or in your case an early form of it would be woven with clear colored wool.
The bands and the base would be seperate colors up to the point of crossing lines.
On those places the two lines of different color could be mixed into a new color, f.i. green and yellow make a light green/greenish yellow depending on the strongest color or the with of the line.
With the newer tartans (the weaving technique of today makes it possible to weave more different colors) could have more colors.
The pic. below is a sample of my own kilt (Whisky Tartan, dutch design)

Willem

 

[housecarl]

I will get the hang of posting, appologies for my incompetence. Once again thank you Willem for superb advice. I like your tartan by the way.

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Carl,
hey, you're learning, Willems rather gentle
(And keeping as much as your project together helps if you want to revisit and research, as well as see your progress as you go)

Pili Pili home site, Quang has an article on painting Tartan
http://www.pilipili-miniatures.com/pilipili_whatsnew.html

And the article itself
http://www.pilipili-miniatures.com/pages_global/pages TARTAN/TARTANS-UK.htm

Remember, that's one way of doing it, it should let you develop your own methods as you go. A good start point though

Willem,
you wear a kilt? you are full of surprises!

cheers

(from a guy who used to wear angry white pyjamas so he could be slung around the martial arts dojo)

 

[tonydawe]

Mmmm...whiskey tartan!

I've made a number of embarassing attempts at painting tartan mself Carl, and I still struggle with it.

What I've learned (through painful experience) is to be patient and methodical. If you have a "system" for painting tartan, stick to it. Quang's system is perfect for those of us who need to borrow from other more experienced painters.

You can help yourelf by selecting a relatively simple tartan pattern to paint, unlike Willem's pattern which would probably see me in the rubber room and a smashed figure on the floor of my hobby room.

 

[WPS]

Carl, it's as Tony says, there are more ways to get there. You just have to find your favorite way of blocking in those colors.

Tony, I only posted the picture of the Tartan to show how the colors behave when crossing.

For those who want to design a Tartan for painting here is a link to the Scottish Tartans Authority.
http://www.tartansauthority.com/web/site/home/home.asp
They have a database with all registered Tartan and a smal design studio.
http://www.houseoftartan.co.uk/interactive/designer/index.htm

Using this you'll see immidiately how the colors behave when crossing.

Willem

 

[quang]

Carl,

Your 'tartan' looks not so bad.

The problem is not 'too much contrast'. It's just that some of the colours are too bright and need to be toned down.

To do this, I advocate against giving an overall wash which would only serves to muddy up the whole setting. What I'd do is go over the existing lines with a toned-down colour and do it as many times you need to reach the desired effect. Using this method, you can keep better track of the contrast between the colours and at the same time, you're giving a slight fuzzy edge between the colours just like on the originals.

My advice to first-time tartan painters is 1 – to be methodical and 2 – keep it simple (not too many colours).

In the case of our Celt, it's NOT strictly speaking a tartan (relating to a family or a clan). It's just an example of traditional (primitive?) weaving using the natural dyes available in that period. There's no need for intricated and complex patterns.

HTH
Quang

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Quang,
that is good advice, just overpaint with a muted colour to reduce the contrast.... I'll add that to the list of "How to fix stuff"

Tony, time for to gently put the brush down, back away slowly and carefully from the bench......and reach for the Whiskey bottle. Remember, painting gremlins can sense fear!

And on the figure you are painting Tony, a simple design will carry over. Bout time for a WIP shot, isn't it?

Carl, its ok to do a test piece on some plastic sheet, just to get the hang of things. plus, when you walk away for a while, then review the test piece, you can see if you are getting the results you want. (Save that idea for your next figure)

Looking forward to your next work,

cheers

 

[housecarl]

Celtic tartan.

Thank you all for the pearls of wisdom, it is now finished I have tried to photograph, but the camera is not up to the job (little point and hope). But I have a friend in the game, so I'll ask him to do some shots. So watch this space, thanks to everyone for their invaluable advice.
Carl.

 

[Jamie Stokes]

Carl,
photography is another area we all need to learn if we are to share our work...

check out the following thread, hopefully it will spark some ideas....

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30029


Cheers