Wednesday 30 July 2014

Tartan Paint?

Introduction

The "Black Watch" Tartan

Earlier today, I read the latest update from fellow blogger Clint: Another "Paint Monkey" Day .  One of the things he mentioned was his trepidation at attempting to paint tartan.  Since I was due to write an article of my own today, I thought that I'd share my experiences of attempting to represent such patterns on 28mm models.

What is "Tartan"?

At its simplest, "tartan" is the name for a pattern of coloured horizontal and vertical stripes.  It's commonly associated with Scotland and especially with Highland clothing such as kilts, though the patterns can occur on almost anything (taxis, rugs, tins of shortbread...).  North Americans often call tartan "plaid", though in fact that's really the name of a particular type of Scottish cloak rather than the pattern on the cloth.

There's a considerable amount of folklore around Scottish tartans (such as "4 colours for commoners, 5 for lords and 6 for royalty"), but the reality is that most of this is a modern invention.  Whilst patterned cloths have been used in Scotland and elsewhere for a very long time, the modern notion of tartan and the association of each pattern with a particular clan probably only dates back a couple of hundred years or so.

As I expect that a large number of my readers will be wargamers, tartan is important mainly when it is part of a military uniform.  Typically (but not always) that will be for a Scottish regiment, probably some time between the Napoleonic wars and the end of the Victorian/colonial period.

Painting Tartan

Some of my Dark Age Scots, wearing imaginary "tartan" patterned tunics or plaids
There are several problems with trying to paint a full tartan on a 28mm model.  The pattern will be very fine and would require an immensely steady hand and fine brush, plus a large number of different colours (in tartan cloth, the shade changes where a horizontal and a vertical stripe of the same colour meet).  This would try the patience of a saint and in any case the effect would probably not be visible.

Instead, I have a simple 4-stage recipe that gives an approximation of tartan.  It's good enough for me, anyhow; see what you think...

Step 1

Block fill the area with the predominant colour of the pattern.  For the Black Watch tartan that is illustrated above, that's a dark blue shade.

Step 2

Paint horizontal and vertical lines of the pattern's secondary colour.  These shouldn't be the finest lines you can manage (those are reserved for step 4!), but the tartan will look more realistic if they are reasonably narrow.

Step 3

Paint the intersections of the lines with a different shade of the same colour.  Depending on the tartan, this might be lighter (as shown here), or it might be darker.  If you can paint these intersections as squares then so much the better, though roundish blobs will still work.

Step 4

Paint lines of a highlight colour both horizontally and vertically in the gaps between the earlier, slightly broader lines.  Note that for my "not Black Watch" tartan I have omitted the red highlight altogether and have only shown a single white line instead of a double one.  It's all about giving the impression of the pattern rather than being a perfect reproduction!

Conclusion

Another "tartan" with quite a coarse pattern.  I'm not as good at fine lines as I might wish!
All the normal rules of painting miniatures still apply when attempting tartan, of course.  A thin wash is good for adding some shadows, for example.  Obviously you can attempt a much more complex scheme than my recipe if you feel capable of it, but the 4-step method works for me.

There's just one thing that I can't help you with.  Painting tartan, or indeed any pattern, is straightforward when done onto a flat surface.  However you'll just have to figure out how to cope with the folds and creases in the model's costume for yourself!


20 comments:

  1. I hope Clint is helped by this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Looks like there's plenty of advice out there. There are many different ways that this subject could be approached; my version is just one of them...

      Delete
  2. Nice tutorial the finest lines are the trickiest bit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're right, of course. The finer the lines you can paint, the better the end result. I see the same when other people paint pinstripes and the like: I just cannot come close to lines as narrow as I'd like :-( .

      Delete
  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, Bob. Obviously this is just my own perspective on the subject; it's easy to find other advice as well.

      Delete
  4. Very good tutorial C6, but given my at best average painting skill, tartan is one of the things I'll be avoiding painting

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Joe, the end result does indeed depend on how fine a line you can paint. I'm not really happy with my own efforts in this regard.

      Delete
  5. Tartan is difficult to paint. Good job!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As has been said by others, it really comes down to how fine a line you can paint. The patterns are relatively simple :-) !

      Delete
  6. Thank you Colgar. I just need to clear my painting table and get on with it now. Cheers Mate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it seems that you're not short of advice! I hope this helped, though.

      Delete
  7. A great tutorial and the results speak fro themselves - wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think I'd go as far as "wonderful" in describing my own efforts ("adequate" might work better :-) ), but thanks anyway, Michael!

      Delete
  8. Mighty Kyle is hoping I will paint him a six point Norse Gael war band for the SAGA event in Canterbury this November. Not sure I'm up to painting patterned cloth though and certainly not full on tartan. I might try one or two just to give the war band some flavour, but it may be designed to be viewed from a distance - if you see what I mean...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've taken 2 short cuts for my own Dark Age Scots. Firstly, only 1 garment on each warrior has any pattern; the other pieces of clothing are plain. Of course, this can vary by status, so that the richer figures have more patterns and brighter colours, whilst the poorer ones have little or no patterned cloth. Secondly, full-blown modern tartans are arguably not appropriate for the Dark Ages anyway, so I've simplified some of the patterns even beyond the recipe in this blog article!

      Delete
  9. A very good tutorial on a subject most painters would wish to avoid. I'm fortunate in that tartan rarely crops up in the figures I collect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, it's something that most painters should attempt at least once, if only so they can say that they've done it :-) !

      Delete
  10. I got not tartan to paint in my foreseeable future, but still thanks for the tutorial. I will surely come across a blanket that could be painted using this tutorial, just for the sake of it.

    I do think your Scots came out great, though. The thin lines might be hard to paint, but they make all the difference.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not everything is tartan, of course :-) ! However it's good to be able to paint it when necessary.

      Delete