Painting circles and rings

[levied troop]

Basically, how?

I’ve a lot of Italian heraldry to paint and they seem to like circles and rings.  What’s the best way to achieve this, especially on creased boarding or surcoats - I’m no Giotto 

[Plynkes]

The only thing I can think of is practice: Lots of practice.


Or decals.

[OSHIROmodels]

On flatter surfaces I use a circle template, drawing round it in pencil then colouring in afterwards.

I try and avoid too many creases 

[Daeothar]

I've long given up on the somewhat narrow view that everything on a miniature ought to be painted and found that decals are just another tool in the toolbox for a miniature painter.

Also; they're not as easy to pull off correctly as one would assume at first, and this alone makes the whole point of 'cheating' moot. When used right, it can create some truly stunning results, but it's nothing like 'just putting on a sticker'. Especially when taking into account using gloss varnish to place the decal on, using solving and setting liquids, sealing the decal and then painting over the edges of the decal to blend it in...

But if you're hell-bent on painting circles, here's what I did/do: paint an even sided cross first. Then connect the points, so you get a diamond. Then round out the sides of the square until you get a circle. Another way, slightly more difficult to pull off is the same cross, with end bars on each leg, which you then connect with a round line.

For rings, do the above, and once dry, fill out the center with the colour you painted over, starting from the center, slowly working outwards until the ring has the desired thickness.

But trust me on this: decals...

[levied troop]

Thanks chaps. So, practice or cheat? I know which one I prefer   

But I can’t find suitable decals at the moment.  I’m going to try a template (ie drinking straws, paint brush protectors, any plastic/paper tube) of suitable size, dip the end in paint and apply, then tidy up. Might work for flat shields but I doubt it’s going to work on the barding  . I might have to accept no heraldry, just colours.

[OSHIROmodels]

Could you cut out circles from thin paper and soak them in watered down pva and then have that follow the creases?

[Bugsda]

I’m no Giotto 

Even Giotto was no Giotto, apparently the story's apocryphal.

Paint your best circle then cut in with the field colour until it looks right.
After a few you'll be hitting it right first time.

It doesn't have to be perfect, once it's highlighted and varnished imperfections won't be that noticable.

[levied troop]

After a frustrating day failing with templates I think Plynkes and Bugsda are right - thanks gents. Freehand and practice it is.

But my god, my first attempts are really crap 

[Cat]

I've painted lots and lots of roundels and other circles by hand.
 
My technique is to start with a circle that's just a little bit too small; and usually a little bit non-Euclidean, although I try for as circular as possible on the first try.  Then push the paint outwards to make it larger and more circular.

Painting rings is just like painting roundels.  Paint the large circle first as a solid circle.  After that dries, then paint the next largest circle inside the first.  For a ring, the net circle is the same colour as the background field.
 
Creases and folds makes it a lot easier.  Just eyeball to see if it looks like a slightly folded and bent circle, or close enough for garment work!

[Cat]

Another handy painting tip for freehanding any details: you can lightly scrape away excess wet paint with the tip of an XActo knife without damaging underlying dry paint.