Tricks of the Trade for Creating Spectacular Detail on Your Pieces

• Have a background color so you can fix mistakes easily
• Keep your brush slightly wet, but not dripping
• The fresher the paint, the easier it will be to work with. Use small amounts of paint, reloading your brush often

Lettering

• Use small strokes, you don’t have to paint the whole letter with one stroke
• Use a #2 pencil and then trace over your lines with the paint
• Don’t focus on the letters, just the lines.

Outlining

• Do all outlining last
• Focus on a small portion, don’t get ahead of yourself
• A scraper tool can be used to make lines cleaner
• Outline towards the outer edge of the object so you don’t make it appear smaller than you want it

Eyes

• Use the end of the paintbrush to make a perfect circle
• For more realistic eyes make sure to add a highlight. You can add a small dot of a lighter color or use a scraper tool to take out some of the darker color