"I need help painting straight lines/stripes!" Topic

Because my hands shake, I'm having a difficult time painting straight lines on 15mm and 25mm figures. I always brace my hands and figures when painting no matter what I'm doing. I also talk a lot to myself, telling myself to 'hold steady' and so on.

These little mantras and maneuvers tend to work rather well when painting belts, eyes, and everything else. But I just cannot paint straight stripes or lines on pants, vests, coats, and other pieces of clothing! (I can't hold long lines steady enough.)

I also tried using some fine-tip pens, but I wound up making noticeably squiggly lines with them the same as my brushes.

Any suggestions from others who suffer the same problem?
I am really getting frustrated. My pirates, cowboys, and gangsters would appreciate some striped clothing. :-)

Can you do the lines in small sections at a time.
Say you have a cloak that needs a 2cm line, can you do it 5mm at a time?

Keep the paint thin. Darw the best you can and then let it dry and paint the colour around it, straigthing the line. If you have a red garmanet and wish to paint a black border or line through it. Do the black line the best you cana nd then paint the red over the wobble bits and then do the black again – eventually you will get a stright line – remember nothing in life is dead straight

Try painting away from you (instead of toward or down.) It works for me, sometimes…. ;)

You might have more success using a striping or scrolling brush. They are specifically designed for this kind of work. The extra long bristles will help isolate the brush travel from the hand wobbles.

Here's what I find helpful. Keep the paint on the tip of the brush and don't try to draw the line all at once by putting more pressure on the brush.

Put paint on brush and hold ready. Before you paint the line, draw a breath. Let half the breath out, and paint the line while holding the other half of the breath.

Try using a fine point permanent marker to do your stripes or to define your work areas…brace the pinky finger of your painting hand on something stable while you are at it. Works great for wode tattoos on 25mm Celts.

Try looking ahead of your brush stroke, tracing the path of the line with the eye…your hand should follow.

One other thing – use one of those lit magnifiers. They really do improve manual dexterity when working on small (miniature, even) items.

A good way for lines or tartans is to use two different paint mediums. For the base coat use an enamel/oil based paint and let it dry . Then use an acrylic/water based paint to do your lines. If you have to correct you can use water to clean without effecting the base coat. Great for squares as well.

Thanks, fellas. I'll try some of these suggestions.

Have you tried a sharp pencil line to follow? It is easier to then paint along it in several goes rather than trying to maintain a line in a single go.

One trick I learned years ago is to NOT paint the lines, per se. What I mean by that is to paint a rather wide line where the trouser stripe is to go, then simply paint the trousers up to it. The same with piping on collars, epaulets, etc. Paint the entire collar the color of the piping, then paint the larger middle section of the collar in it's base color, leaving the piping on the edges.

This also works well for shields with a central spine, such as Republican Roman and Celt. Paint the shield spine and boss, and then paint the rest of the shield. That way you are painting UP to the edge of the spine, rather than trying to paint a thin spine, etc.

Your hands shake? You aren't painting with both hands held in the air are you? Lower the figure to the desk. Rest both hands on the desk.

The secondary hand only needs enough pressure to hold the figure in place, and the side or heel of the hand can rest on the desk. If you still twitch enough to move the figure, get a clamp or handle or something onto its base that adds enough weight to hold the figure still.

The primary hand holds the brush in its fingers, like a pencil, but its heel rests on the desk as well. If the elevation isn't right, put a book or wood block under it to raise it up. You should be able to paint as straight a line as you can draw.

There are liner brushes which help with this a little, these have round pointed bristles 2-3 times the length of a standard brush. Seems like they'd make it harder but it turns out the long flexible bristle makes it pretty easy to lay down a smooth line by just by dragging the brush along its length, and more bristle = more surface area so they hold more paint.

Thinning the paint is a good idea too, so it flows off the brush easily.

And as everybody else pointed out, remember you can go back and retouch. Also every so often put the figure down on the table at double arms length -- most of the imperfections you are fretting over will disappear at that distance.

Now … I occasionally have a problem on days when I've had too much coffee, but a couple beers counteracts that. (Kidding mostly.)