Painting books and freehanding text, Chaos/Undead

Hey everyone!

Today I will teach you one of the ways to paint a miniature book, freehand text, add weathering and get a realistic feel to it.

1. Basecoat the pages with Ushabti Bone.

2. Apply some transfers. Find the ones that will blend into the theme of your book nicely. In this case it’s a Necromancer book, so I chose some ancient looking letters and a skull.

3. Start drawing horizontal lines. Add them using black paint mixed 1:2 with water. This consistency will allow you to get the paint easily off your brush. In this case I use a size 0 brush. Space them out nicely, so you have enough room to add the vertical lines in the next steps. I would say I usually leave 2 mm between the lines when I paint text on other surfaces, like the books, and then around 1 mm when I do purity seals. Seal the transfers in with matt varnish.

4. Start adding vertical lines. Use the same paint and consistency as in the previous step. Make sure to add the vertical lines in a tilted manner to imitate actual old writing. If you need a reference, have a look at some old books and get inspired!

5. Finish freehanding the text, using the technique from the last 2 steps.

6. Add Sepia Wash from Citadel on the entire surface. Here we start adding a worn, old, weathered look to the pages.

7. Use black (any brand) to outline all of the pages. This will create more contrast. The paint consistency is paint 1:1 with water.

8. Use watered down (paint 1:3 water) Ushabti Bone to highlight the pages. Add this as a glaze and go through the entire surface with 1-2 coats. Then do 2-3 more coats on the outer edges of the pages and on the curves of the pages. When you glaze over the transfers with this beige color, you make them look worn, like it’s been sitting on this page for ages (literally). This allows you to blend the transfers in and make them look natural.

9. Use AK Interactive Ivory to edge highlight all of the pages on the sides. This will increase the contrast and really sell the worn look of the book. You can also add a few dots here and there on the pages to add that old feeling to them.

And that’s all! I really hope you can use this soon! Please share your results with me. You can use the #MamikonsWizards hashtag on social media and tag me so I can see 😊

Keep producing the magic!

Cheers,

Mamikon