eBay Miniature Rescues is back with another tutorial, and this time he’s tackling how you can practice your freehand ideas on your miniatures!
eBay Miniature Rescues is a unique channel that shows you how to take beat up, damaged minis, and restore them to their fullest potential! It’s a relatively new channel on YouTube and it’s super fun to watch what Casey is able to do with some once hopeless miniatures. This week, he shows us how you can practice your “freehand” using custom stencils!
Suck At Freehand Details? Try This eBay Miniatures Rescue Tutorial
Essentially, Casey shows us how to make and use homemade stencils from online images to create a mock freehand design on a knight’s shoulder pads. Once you find the images you want, make sure you save them as a JPEG file for the program we will use.
After you’ve gathered up all of your stencil images, we move to a website called Stencilcreator.org. This website automatically creates stencils from the pictures you upload. With the stencils printed out from the site, you can simply use an Exacto knife or a Cricut Maker to cut them out! Then you’re ready to place it on half of the shoulder pad.
Begin painting with Citadel Contrast Flesh Tearers Red and airbrush it over the stencil. With a second stencil on the other half, airbrush over it with black, being careful not to spill on the already painted area.
Using Vallejo Metal Copper, fill in the trim around the pad. Follow that with a quick coat of varnish and you are ready to weather it.
First, coat the entire pad with AK Interactive Streaking Grime. Cover that with Mineral Spirits to remove the wash to the level that you want it to be. After it dries, grab some Citadel Nihilakh Oxide and apply it around the bolts and around spots on the trim. Come in with both white and a flesh tone to lighten up some of the stenciled areas you want to be a little brighter.
And with that, this project is done!
Watch the full video, and be sure to follow eBay Miniature Rescues on YouTube now!
What have you done to get better at freehanding details on your minis?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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About the Author: Andrew Schrank
Andrew Schrank
Job Title: Miniatures & Warhammer Hobby Staff Writer
Socials: Facebook
About Andrew Schrank: Over the past 15 years, Andrew has played all the games, including tabletop and video games, and immersed himself in the associated lore. Andrew joined the Spikey Bits team in 2018 and covers the Warhammer hobby and tournament scene, along with the latest in tabletop miniatures, each week.
Aspiring diplomat, Lord of Fluff, and Master of Ice Hammer, He loves Star Wars, Chaos Undivided, and Gundam. During his free time, he hunts Platinum trophies on PS5 and reads international news. On weekends, Andrew plays commander and cEDH games, often with unique strategies that push the limits.
He believes each day presents a new opportunity to grow and be challenged.
