Painting Tartan in 10mm...

[mike40k]

I would love to add a unit of Highlanders to my Sudan collection, but the thought of painting tartan in 10mm is terrifying.    Any easy ways to do it?

[Sandinista]

Look at a real picture of tartan scaled down to 10mm. Just basic red or green no stripes or checks

[clibinarium]

I painted some French and Indian war highanders and just did the tartan in green. Looked fine, probably because the red lines in it would be lost at any distance, since they don't contrast very much. Something like the red and white of socks needs to be painted im my view, because they are high contrast.

Crow T. Robot; I like your style!

[FierceKitty]

Of course you're right that tartan is invisible by the time a human figure looks that size, but it doesn't feel right, leaving it out. You could leave out most details by the same argument.

[Dazza]

Mike here are 2 AWI regiments I have with tartan, one in all green and one where the command unit has tartan





make your own mind up on the Tartan......................

Hope this helps you out..


link to my AWI thread...............( EYE CANDY )

[mike40k]

Thanks for the tips. Leaving it as just the main colour seems like a decent idea.

Dazza: Your AWI stuff is simply brilliant. Great work!

[nikharwood]

I think this is good advice - it's important to remember that at 10mm you're going for largely an impressionistic approach [unless you really want to make your eyeballs bleed!]

Of course, I'm bound to say that having just decided to progress my Jacobite project 

[Pawel Chrzanowski]

tartans are not so hard to paint . You need only a sharp eye

[Aart Brouwer]

tartans are not so hard to paint . You need only a sharp eye

Oh you just had to do that, didn't you Pawel? Go ahead, destroy our remaining bits of ego, our self-confidence, out sense of purpose in life...

 

Cheers,
Aart

[Pawel Chrzanowski]

Come on Aart don't give up.

This is not my last word

[nikharwood]

 

[Peeler]

  Now that is some painting!

[Zbigniew]

I painted some French and Indian war highanders and just did the tartan in green. Looked fine, probably because the red lines in it would be lost at any distance, since they don't contrast very much. Something like the red and white of socks needs to be painted im my view, because they are high contrast.

Crow T. Robot; I like your style!

Clibinarium, you are a far better painter than me but youm are probably wrong about red and green being of low contrast. These two colours are on exactly oppostite side of the spectrum and thus they are extremally contrast colours. It is the brightness of white that makes us believe it is more contrast to red. Arent really bright red and bright green more of a contrast?
Tell me if I am wrong, but this is what I have learned before.

Nevertheless, the best way to paint tartan in 10 mm scale is probably the thing that Pawel made. Bright green points on dark green - brilliant idea Pawel.

[ianrs54]

For military tartans I use a dark green with a yellow or orange/bright red strip. Dont even try to do the full sett.

ianS

[clibinarium]

Clibinarium, you are a far better painter than me but youm are probably wrong about red and green being of low contrast. These two colours are on exactly oppostite side of the spectrum and thus they are extremally contrast colours. It is the brightness of white that makes us believe it is more contrast to red. Arent really bright red and bright green more of a contrast?
Tell me if I am wrong, but this is what I have learned before.

Nevertheless, the best way to paint tartan in 10 mm scale is probably the thing that Pawel made. Bright green points on dark green - brilliant idea Pawel.

Its true that red and green find themselves at opposite sides of the colour wheel, but really what I mean is that in this specific case i.e. a red line though a predominantly green tartan, the red gets lost at a distance, especially if the green is of quite a dark hue. If the red and green were equally present then there probably would be a high degree of contrast. To see what I should paint I find the tartan on the net and then stand far away from the monitor. I then want to paint an impression of what I see, in this case I was happy that just green was enough!