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Some thoughts on painting transparent Lego elements
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Norbert Black, April 2005
Prompted by the very generous credit Deborah Higdon-Leblond
recently gave me in the write-up of her wonderful Italian
Villa MOC,
<http://news.lugnet.com/announce/moc/?n=2704>
I thought I would share a few tips on doing custom painting
on transparent Lego elements. I'll use the aquarium
elements I created for Deborah's MOC as a practical example
as we go. Keep in mind that those 4x3x1 panels with their
painted fish and plants are far more complicated than most
projects, so don't get scared off! :)
1. Painting on the reverse side - why?
The central element in my technique for tranparent elements
is that I paint on the surface of the element that is
normally _away_ from the observer. Now, working "from the
back" like this is quite demanding, as I'll show below, so
why bother? The answer is that by leaving an unaltered
surface to face the viewer, I preserve the way that surface
reflects light. Without any visible ripples or
interruptions caused by paint, the whole customized element
looks far more smooth and professional.
"But," I hear you ask, "Lego does its printing on the
surface of transparent elements! Why can't you do the
same?" My answer is that Lego has the technology and
facilities to use enamel spray paints safely, and I don't.
Enamels, when sprayed on, dry to a tough, smooth and very
thin layer of pigment.
As I explained in greater detail in my Primer on making
custom Lego elements
<http://news.lugnet.com/build/minifigs/?n=1501>
all of my painting is done using acrylic paints. One
disadvantage of acrylics is that, when dry, the painted
pattern stands proud of the surrounding plastic. Put
crudely, any surface I paint is going to look a bit
lumpy... In most cases, I accept this, since:
A) better irregularies than lungs full of enamel fumes, and
B) the paint _has_ to go on top of the plastic to be seen!
With transparent elements, obviously, argument B no longer
applies. I can use my favoured acrylics on the back or
inside of a transparent element, and the surface will remain
completely smooth.
2. The importance of planning
The most important thing to understand about this sort of
work is that you do the detail work first and progress
backwards through large blocks of colour to any undercoats.
In practice, I've found that this means I need to know
exactly what I want my finished pattern to look like before
I start painting.
There's very little room for spontaneous work here, or for
correcting mistakes, so take the time to sketch out what you
want. A bit of time spent practising can save a lot of
frustration later on... In fact, I'd recommend creating the
whole of your pattern first on a bit of paper. For reason's
I'll go into shortly, the pattern should be painted to the
_same_size_ it will be on the transparent element.
The time you spend creating this mockup will not be wasted.
The exercise will help you plan the look of things, practice
drawing any tricky or awkward shapes and let you tinker with
colours and styles until you're satisfied. By the time
you're finished, you should know what coloured shapes are
involved, and in what order they must be applied. If
necessary (a good idea for complicated designs), you can
write this order out, step by step, to make sure you
understand every layer involved.
The word "layer" in the previous sentence is the key one -
once you've isolated what layers of pigment are involved in
your pattern, you can come up with a plan to follow when you
start brushing paint onto that transparent Lego element.
Again, if the plan is complicated, take the time to write
out the layers in order from the one closest to the viewer
to the one farthest away. Trust me, you don't want to
forget a step or get two of them out of order...
3. A practical example in planning
Let's turn back to those fishtank panels. My brief from
Deborah looked like this:
A) tropical fish that were realistic but not too detailed;
B) fish to be slightly big compared to "minifig scale";
C) there was to be a visible waterline;
D) there were to be painted plants as well as fish;
E) the panels had to look good from _either_ side.
<http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1179054>
These factors dictated what work was necessary. After
consultation, I decided that the fish would be painted in a
slightly cartoony and caricatured style - Lego-like, in
effect. Since this is the aesthetic I use on my custom
minifigs (see assorted examples in my Brickshelf gallery,
nhblack), I knew I could design something that would work,
and quickly sketched out a set of mockup drawings. You can
see those mockups here:
<http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1178973>
<http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=1178974>
The need for a waterline suggested the use of transparent
blue paint to represent the water. Masking off part of the
top of the panel (to keep part of it completely clear) would
create a waterline effect. We fixed upon a high water
level, about 2mm down from the tops of the Lego 4x3x1 trans-
clear panels Deborah had supplied as raw material.
It was the need to paint fish that would look good from both
front and back (so that the panels could be used back-to-
back to make a see-through aquarium) that made for the most
work. In the end, it meant painting each fish _twice_ -
once to be seen from in front of the panels, and a second
time for viewing from the rear.
In the end, this was the layer plan I came up with:
A) transparent Lego panel element
B) fine black fish outlines, plus detailing (eyes, fins...)
C) fish detail/accent colours (different for each fish)
D) fish primary colour (again, different for each fish)
E) white undercoat to give brightness to layers C&D, F&G
F) primary fish colours
G) fishes' detail/accent colours
H) fine black outline, etc., around fishes
I) aquatic plants, partially overlapping some fish
J) pale transparent blue overall (except where masked)
K) clear polyurethane varnish overall (for protection)
Layers F, G and H were needed to allow viewing from reverse
side. Layer E (the undercoat) is also important. Most
acrylic paints, especially lighter colours, are translucent.
You can use this slight "see through" effect to your
advantage by adding a layer of opaque white
behind/underneath the other paints. This will shine through
the other layers, making them bright rather than slightly
muddy in tone. Note that the aquatic plants were not given
black outline (or multicoloured detail). This was done to
make them more of a background element - less eye-catching
than the fish.
4. Painting over a template
Back in section 2, when we discussed creating a preliminary
sketch of your design, I recommended that you make it to the
same size as your final product. Some of you may have
wondered why. The answer here is that the paper sketch can
be cut to the shape of your Lego element, and taped to the
outside. Flip things over, and you've got a guideline to
work from!
If you're painting something that's _not_ symmetrical (a
shop name on the inside of a Lego window element, for
instance), you'll need to make this guideline template a
mirror image of the finished design. Those of you with
access to computer scanners, printers and so forth will see
ways to do this easily. For those (like me) stuck without
the technology, a bit of tracing paper bought from an art
supplies store can be a very useful item!
When you start painting, you'll find that the thickness of
the Lego plastic will create some problems. Your brush will
have to paint about a millimetre "above" the sketch, and
this can make it tricky to exactly follow the original.
Don't worry too much about duplicating things exactly - the
guide is just that: a _guide_ to help you get your fish (or
whatever) roughly the right shape/size, and in roughly the
right place relative to one another.
Work slowly and carefully on your first layer of paint,
making sure you get all the details and shapes looking good.
Remember, you're not going to be able to go back and change
things later on... Once you've finished the first layer,
let it dry thoroughly, and then continue on, painting each
layer in sequence.
You should turn your element over every so often, and peel
back the paper template from the outer surface. This will
let you see how your work is progressing. This is when
you'll notice spots that still need work, or places you've
forgotten to paint. :) I try to check things "from the
front" as I complete each layer of paint. That way, I can
be sure I like how things look. Any corrections can be made
before the next layer is started. Furthermore, it's
encouraging to see the pattern growing.
Be careful about where you overlap layers. For instance, in
the case of my aquarium, I wanted each fish surrounded by a
fine black outline. That meant that _none_ of the other
colours associated with the fish could be painted outside
the black outline. Up to the edge was good - over was a
problem. Careful work was the order of the day!
Which, of course, leads us to the topic of what to do if you
run into trouble... :)
5. Correcting mistakes
When you get acrylic paint where you don't want it, all is
not lost. First, _don't_ try to wipe it away while it's
still liquid. You run the risk of damaging lower layers of
paint, and you're unlikely to get all of the pigment anyway.
Instead, be patient and let the misplaced paint dry for a
minute or so.
While the paint is drying, go and find a wooden toothpick or
bamboo skewer. Make sure what you get has a fine point -
trim it with a sharp modelling knife to create one, if
necessary. Once the misplaced paint is dry, take your new
tool and used it to peel away paint from the surface of the
lego. Don't worry about misplaced paint that sits on top of
an earlier layer of paint - it will be hidden by the earlier
work. Concentrated on removing paint that has strayed onto
places that should still be transparent and free of paint.
It's _there_ that your mistake will be noticeable.
Scrape away at the mistake a bit at a time. The wooden
point should not scratch the transparent Lego plastic, but
it will remove the still-soft paint. Work slowly, checking
your progress "from the front" every so often to make sure
you're getting all of the misplaced pigment. Be careful,
though, not to scrape away too much. If you accidentally
remove paint that's part of a lower layer, you'll have to
paint it back in.
Once you've removed all of the mistake, I'd recommend you
stop work for the moment. Do something else before
returning to your custom work - it's hard to do good work
when you're exasperated or upset. Go find some bricks and
build something! :)
6. Transparency and translucency
All the normal sorts of acrylic paints that I use in my
normal custom work on Lego elements are useful when I work
on transparent part. There are two things to keep in mind
when using them, though: translucency and transparency.
As I mentioned above in section 3, the practical example,
some colours of acrylic paint are often slightly
translucent. When you're painting a transparent element
that will have light shining through from behind, it's worth
remembering this. If you don't want your work to look
slightly patchy and uneven, take the time to add an extra
coat of the translucent colours to even them out. If
necessary, add an opaque "undercoat" behind them. The extra
effort will make your finished result look more professional
and Lego-like.
Sometimes, you don't _want_ to stop light shining through
your paintwork. With my aquarium elements, for instance, I
had a layer of pale blue "water" that had to be transparent.
Another obvious place to use transparent colour would be a
in custom "stained glass" window element for a church or
Victorian shop.
It's easy enough to plan out which parts of your design
should be transparent. You may need a bit of extra care to
make sure you don't get paint from subsequent layers
covering up the transparent paint, but practice will make
perfect. The tricky thing is _finding_ transparent
acrylics. Some of the larger ranges of "craft acrylics"
that you can buy have a small selection of transparent
colours. You can mix these as necessary with each other to
get additional shades.
7. Creating and using acrylic glazes
My solution involves creating my own transparent "glazes" by
mixing artist's acrylic inks (not paints!) and good quality
clear acrylic floor wax. The inks come from an artist's
supply store. I bought a mixed set of 8 tiny bottles two
decades ago and I still have lots left of most of the
colours. The important thing here is to use transparent
inks, not opaque paints.
I buy the acrylic floor wax from the supermarket. Look for
brand names like Johnson's "Future" or "Kleer" depending on
where you are on the planet. If in doubt, buy the most
expensive brand of non-yellowing mop-on wax you can obtain.
Don't buy the cheap stuff - it soon gets a yellowish tint.
Stored properly, the good quality wax lasts for years and
years. You can use it on your floors, too... ;)
I make up my own transparent glazes because this lets me
control the density/colour of pigmentation in each. I can
create a new mixture for each project if necessary. A
couple of brushfulls of the floor wax on my palette, mixed
with a _tiny_ amount of ink (it's very strongly pigmented)
will give me enough for a small project. For larger
amounts, I mix up several cubic centimetres and store it in
a small airtight bottle.
Once you've created it, use a broad, soft brush (to avoid
visible brush marks) to apply the glaze. Flow a thin coat
onto the surface of your Lego element. The aim here is to
minimize brush strokes and get as even a coat of glaze as
possible. The best and most even results come from slowly
adding several very thin coats of weakly pigmented glaze
over a period of time.
_Never_ brush over glaze a second time until it has had a
chance to dry _rock_hard_. It will lift or streak, and
you'll wind up with an ugly mess. If in doubt, wait a whole
day (or two), since the acrylic wax will act as a solvent
earlier glaze layers unless they are completely cured.
I'd recommend you experiment with glazes first before you
use them on a custom-painted Lego element. A bit of
practice will save you unhappiness, and may save you from
having to completely redo a piece of work. Glazes are
tricky to master, but the gorgeous effects you can get with
them are well worth the trouble.
One final thought - sometimes a piece will look good with a
slightly mottled and irregular coat of glaze. The blue
glaze I used on the aquarium elements came out this way, and
Deborah loves the effect. I got lucky, I guess... :)
8. Conclusion
As usual with these technique-related postings of mine, I
hope I've encouraged some of you to have a try yourself.
There's no doubt that working with paint on transparent
elements demands more care and planning. I wouldn't
recommend a true novice start here - first get a bit of
practice first using acrylic paints on regular opaque Lego
elements. After that, a some experimentation and effort
with transparent pieces should be rewarded by some
spectacular results.
If anyone has additions or observations to make on this
topic, I'd be delighted to hear them. If you're moved to
try out these techniques, take a moment to share the
results, please!
All the best,
Norbert Black
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