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Miniatures Adventure => Medieval Adventures => Topic started by: Harry Faversham on October 10, 2021, 03:26:02 PM

Title: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 10, 2021, 03:26:02 PM
Anyone got any? I'm on with King Richard the Lionheart and am dreading having a go at the three lions. I once saw a 'how to' on fleur de Lys and wondered if any of our experten know of one on how to do a passable lion!?

:?
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 10, 2021, 04:42:53 PM
This is going to sound obvious so please brace yourself!

You need to be patient and really take your time.

Try to plan out what you want painting ans where with thin paint and a fine brush then just layer as you would normally do.

I (personally) don't think you can rush the job.

As an alternative you could hop over to Claymore Castings and buy some of the transfer sheets here:
https://claymorecastings.co.uk/new.claymorecastings.co.uk/product-category/flags-transfers-and-weapons/transfers-and-weapons/ (https://claymorecastings.co.uk/new.claymorecastings.co.uk/product-category/flags-transfers-and-weapons/transfers-and-weapons/)

Not barding but that is how I built up the colours in the attached image (below). The secret for me it to paint build up the highlights on the heraldic motif at the same time you do the cloth barding/garments.

Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: HappyChappy439 on October 10, 2021, 04:51:06 PM
Ooof, yeah, Lions for some reason give me the most trouble out of heraldic animals!

Definitely agree with Atheling here too, the key is mostly just time and patience

For Lions rampant I tend to use the 'wireframe' in the Complete Guide to Heraldry and then bulk out the details from there as-necessary (depending on the size) :
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry/Chapter_11#172

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig272.png/100px-Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig272.png)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig274.png/120px-Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig274.png)


For Lions passant like in Richard I's heraldry (or any later English heraldry really), I tend to do a squashed S shape as the base, and then add on the front legs, rear leg, tail and head to that:
(https://i.imgur.com/5GXlXjD.png)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: has.been on October 10, 2021, 05:37:32 PM
I would follow Happy's suggestion, for the 'wire frame' style,
then fill it out a bit with either a fine black permanent ink pen,
or a sharpened 2b pencil. Protect it with a spray of varnish.
next stage would be to pick out some detailing within the
black outline. This I would do with a gold gel pen, again protect
with a varnish sprayed on.

Another trick is to do a lovely (large) flag, held by an attendant
on the same base, which has  the design on it.
Then 'suggest' the design on barding etc. People look at the
larger image & the mind is fooled that the smaller image is
as good as the larger one. :D
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 10, 2021, 08:22:27 PM
Ooof, yeah, Lions for some reason give me the most trouble out of heraldic animals!

Definitely agree with Atheling here too, the key is mostly just time and patience

For Lions rampant I tend to use the 'wireframe' in the Complete Guide to Heraldry and then bulk out the details from there as-necessary (depending on the size) :
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry/Chapter_11#172

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1a/Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig272.png/100px-Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig272.png)

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig274.png/120px-Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry_Fig274.png)


For Lions passant like in Richard I's heraldry (or any later English heraldry really), I tend to do a squashed S shape as the base, and then add on the front legs, rear leg, tail and head to that:
(https://i.imgur.com/5GXlXjD.png)

Spot on. Plan out what you're going to paint with this paint (some people use fine tip artists drawing pens but I find a brush is easier (horses for courses) and build up the paint work. It will take a few attempts but every one you do will be better then the last if you apply a little patience- god! I sound like a school teacher! :)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 10, 2021, 09:48:52 PM
Thanks chaps, I'm going with this thingy, and a right thin brush!

(https://i.imgur.com/5GXlXjD.png)

 :)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Highlandbevan on October 12, 2021, 10:43:23 AM
Plan to mix complicated and easy heraldry on a single base. I tend to have 1 Knight with a lion or similar and one with a pattern of straight lines or crosses. Keeps the painting moving and me motivated.
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: MaleGriffin on October 12, 2021, 03:00:49 PM
Sorry to be a nit picker, but barding is armour and caparisoning is the decorated cloth covering. It's like the difference between armour and a surcoat or jupon.
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 12, 2021, 05:08:18 PM
Sorry to be a nit picker, but barding is armour and caparisoning is the decorated cloth covering. It's like the difference between armour and a surcoat or jupon.

Very true.

Though I think we all knew what Harry was getting at :)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 13, 2021, 12:44:07 PM
Mission = catastroffic disaster!!!

 :'(

Lion number one turned out like a Lowry painting cat, lion number two out like a Lowry painting dog, lion number three turned out like one of them ACW picket fence thingys.
Morale test went well into the minus side of the scale... so I've ordered some transfers!

:?
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 13, 2021, 12:46:28 PM
Oh.....

Paint over it and try again mate- these things do honestly get easier with practice- perhaps more importantly patience :)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 13, 2021, 12:53:10 PM
Can't do it for health reasons, if mi' blood pressure goes any higher, mi' melon'll explode!

:o
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 13, 2021, 12:56:35 PM
Can't do it for health reasons, if mi' blood pressure goes any higher, mi' melon'll explode!

:o

Pay someone?
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 13, 2021, 01:07:47 PM
Pay someone?

I just have, Fireforge Games... the price of failure.

 :-[
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Maniac on October 13, 2021, 06:09:03 PM
Outside of a thin brush, I use a thinner paint to outline, or I use a pencil.
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: jon_1066 on October 13, 2021, 06:36:37 PM
I just have, Fireforge Games... the price of failure.

 :-[

A wise choice.  It’s not enough to do one good lion.  You have to be able to repeat it consistently since it is repeated multiple times and they all need to look the same
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 18, 2021, 10:58:47 AM
King Harry the Lionfart, most gallant and noble Knight, in the Realm of the Oblong Table...

::)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 18, 2021, 11:17:30 AM
Sorted then  8)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 18, 2021, 11:22:46 AM
Yep sorted. King Harry will be leading his Knights of the Oblong Table, this Wednesday afternoon, on a raid to punish Ser Barrington-Bonehead for dastardlies committed!

:o
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 18, 2021, 11:24:51 AM
Did you make those terrain board Harry or buy?

If the latter I'd love to hear where you got them from please?
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 18, 2021, 11:42:37 AM
I bought them from the Bazaar, some years ago now. Bad news is the only thing I know for certain is the company (who's name I never learned) is no longer trading.The finish is a tad simple, for example the river is stunning bright gloss blue, giving a cartoony look which serves my tongue in cheek games perfectly. Kallistra's ready flocked hills blend in OK, making the finished look pleasingly cheap and cheerful.
But the peasta-di-resistonce is, they're reversible, to make a playing field for the Crudators!

(https://www.thewargameswebsite.com/wp-content/uploads/hm_bbpui/117982/dr7qlk6q6bvlijyk4qduviuoz4qoph55.jpg)

 :-*
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 18, 2021, 02:23:13 PM
Thanks Harry. At first I thought they were Total System Scenic but they look to be more 20-25mm thick as opposed to 50mm thick.

Are they made of of some kind of wood or are they polystyrene or extruded polystyrene (craftfoam)?
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Harry Faversham on October 18, 2021, 02:42:36 PM
Polystyrene, coated with a very durable and hard wearing flock. I've been trying for ages to find/remember the makers to try and glean some more from fleabay. One of their sets was a rocky coastline/beach, ideal for anything from Viking raids to D-Day.

:)
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Atheling on October 18, 2021, 02:45:07 PM
Polystyrene, coated with a very durable and hard wearing flock. I've been trying for ages to find/remember the makers to try and glean some more from fleabay. One of their sets was a rocky coastline/beach, ideal for anything from Viking raids to D-Day.

:)

Thanks again mate, my quest continues.

I would take a leap into making the terrain board myself but I've had a lot of work done on the house, which I have to leave for a few days because of (dare I say it) Covid; so at the moment it's just not practicable. :(
Title: Re: Tips and tricks for painting barding please...
Post by: Johnny Boy on October 19, 2021, 02:46:41 PM
Gentlemen, The Terrain looks to me like Purbeck Terrain. A gaming buddy of mine had a a lot of it back in the mid noughties. For polystyrene terrain it was pretty good and most layouts could be achieved with the exception of diagonal roads etc for obvious reasons. You could try fleabay  as a source as the company are long gone. Hope that helps.
JB