Paint simple free hand patterns - personalise your miniature

I've been asked how I paint free hand pattens, and as i demonstrate in this video, its relatively simple. Painting simple free hand patterns is a great way to add some personal touches and character to cloth, armour, shields, vehicles. Give it a go!
52 Miniatures - My tabletop gaming journey - I am by no means a miniature painting expert, or a crafting wiz. On the contrary - these videos are a collection of my initial miniature experiences. Most of the time, what you see, is me trying something for the first time. I hope these videos might be of inspirational use. Oh, and a certain basic knowledge in irony might be required by the viewer.
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[@BaijoGosum]

Outline in pencil, genius! I need to give this a try. Great video, thanks!

[@52Miniatures]

Go for it Josh! It’s nice to try anyway. It’s never going to look like a stencil but it’s good practice at least :)

[@MentoliptusBanko]

That grey-scale image where you draw the colours for the pattern is very very helpful! Thanks!

[@52Miniatures]

My pleasure :)

[@Vanye111]

Oh, the tissue trick is brilliant. Thank you!

[@52Miniatures]

My pleasure Jason! It really helps the mind figure all the bendy angles out correctly.

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

I know it feels a little silly trying to explain something to a camera (been there!), but the explanation was great! Thank you! I have a big cloak on a sorcerer that looks horrifically boring right now, and I can't wait to use your tips to liven him up!

[@52Miniatures]

Lovely, and thank you 🙏

[@Stunnedape]

“Seeing this is my video, I’m going to explain how *I* did it. Badly.” 😂😂😂 Great video as usual 🙌🏼

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you!! 😁

[@RobSef6]

'A darker black... A Black-black.' 😂😂😂👍 No offence intended - quite to the contrary actually! - but your videos have some great one-liners too! A brilliant video once again, 52! Thanks! :-D

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Rob :) I always only use black black and white white. One step ahead of everyone else.

[@RobSef6]

@@52Miniatures Likewise... I tend to use Highlight White-white for - you guessed it! - highlights! 😜

[@janbiela8596]

First of all those are some beautifully painted minis! My process for free handing is similar, but I haven’t thought of using a pencil :D great idea. I have used green stuff to create templates though. That way you can paint a symbol in the exact same way for an entire army.

[@52Miniatures]

Thank you Jan. Pencils are great because it’s erasable :) making templates sounds like a great idea, like you said, when doing the same thing over and over - and the surface is similar on the model. Like on shields 🛡. I guess templates in something flexible would be nice as well for let’s say shoulder pads and other curved surfaces 🤔

[@janbiela8596]

@@52Miniatures I actually made a template for space marine shoulder pads ;) I will make soon a post about it on Instagram and let you know.

[@52Miniatures]

Awesome!

[@minipaintinjohn4490]

I quite enjoyed this. Gave me some new ideas.

[@52Miniatures]

Awesome, Jack. This was some time ago, I should remember do a bit more freehand. Time consuming but fun in the end.

[@MrMatthewPR]

You can take the pencilling one step further with coloured water-soluble pencils. This lets you test out the colour scheme for patterns before getting the brush involved. The pigments then blend with your paint meaning you can also blend with the pencils - much like a zenithal highlight.

[@52Miniatures]

Well thank you M, that's one of the smartest things I heard today. Thanks!

[@MrMatthewPR]

​@@52Miniatures Just remembered that it's best not to go too heavy with the pencil or it can affect the paint layer since the pencil colours have larger pigments than the paints. Think thin coats... But it's still good to get an idea of what you want and a wet brush can remove the excess if you think you've put on too much. Might be worth running a few tests.

[@MrMatthewPR]

And replying to my own reply as I've remembered something else you can use them for. Edge highlighting. You'd need to add a spray varnish afterwards, but running a coloured pencil over fine edges will give the sharpest lines you can get. Yes, you could use a very dry brush to do the same job but it's a quick and easy way of adding a final highlight to armour or weapons.

[@j453]

Oh yeah, also your dwarves look great👍

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks! 😁

[@Sanguivore]

Absolutely genius tutorial. Cheers!

[@52Miniatures]

Thanks Carmen

[@frankymontens]

wonderfull

[@Wijkert]

13:22 the freehand on the dwarf on the left looks better. I think because the contrast is higher and the lines are thinner.

[@52Miniatures]

Love those dwarfs :)

[@j453]

I've been considering getting some Age of Sigmar miniatures. I "want" some of the more chaosy guys. I like the Khorne stuff, and the slaves to darkness stuff. But I also kind of want a 2 playing starter set. I don't really care for the soul wars box, BUT it is the most recent (i think) starter set other than shadow and pain, which I'm also not to keen with. Anyway, should I just give up the idea of a 2pstarter and just get the force I like?

[@52Miniatures]

I'd say you would have to be pretty lucky to get one that will be exactly what you are after. For AoS you are probably almost always going to get Stormcast on one side. The first box I think was Stormcast vs. Khorn stuff...? Maybe check for that on ebay or something?

[@Wijkert]

Once again a great video! Really enjoying going back and watching older vid's. 7:45 It sounds like you are looking for the term "mid tone".

[@madmoc]

Dwarf one piece! Sounds hot!

[@52Miniatures]

Short shorts

[@Razyrazer]

Kind of a dumb silly question but asking for my brother who is bad at free handing. Can you erase the mistakes with an eraser? Or do you paint over it and wait for it to dry before continuing? Also do you varnish before using a pencil to free hand markings first? If so which matt or gloss?

[@52Miniatures]

Probably erasable? I've got to be honest that I did not put any deeper thought into it. I just kind of sketched out a pattern and then continued to paint. My best tip is to try and hope for the best. The more times we try, the more practice we get.

[@TitaniumKitty]

I dont know if youll ever see this after like 2 months, but if your talking about erasing the pencil markings, you might want to look at kneadable erasers. They work really well for getting at small bits since you can shape them into a tiny point or a wedge, and do alot less damage to things than normal erasers that need you to rub into the surface.

[@janandersson9411]

White stripes… for a seven nation army?