Can anyone please walk me through how to paint a checkered shirt please? I have the FeR Miniatures bust of the 5th New York and want to paint a checkered shirt on the bust. Certainly would appreciate any suggestions, tips, how to's, on pulling this off.

I painted my first FeR Miniatures bust earlier this year, 1st Va. Cavalryman and must admit the FeR bust are really well done, lots of detail, easy to paint up and a lot of fun! Still hope they will do a member of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles one day soon

Best of Everything, Terry Martin-Member of the Atlanta Military Figure Society of Atlanta, GA

Be very patient
Oke, first of all you paint the shirt without any checkers. Highlight and shade as normal.
With a very light and deluted color of the checker you gonna draw small lines, just a little smaller then you need. (then you can cover with the normal color the line's. And you go on and on so you have the whole shirt with checkers.
Then fill in and highlight and shade if you dare.
I'm allready happy when I painted straight lines
To keep the checkers equal I use on a old paintbrush with a piece of cardboard on it, to check the measures when i'm blocking in the checkers.

Marc

A question more than a comment: would one use similar technique to painting a plaid tartan?

You could also use thin strips of masking tape to get straight and equal spacings.
No need to mask the whole pattern. Already getting the main lines straight will be helful, filling in the rest freehand.

Adrian

My variation (pretty close copy ) of Marc's suggestion.

I would start by painting the primary color first, then highlights and shadows as if the shirt were going to be a solid color.

The amount of folds in the clothing is, obviously, a major part of the challenge. I would have to draw the lines in first, attempting to follow the folds as close as possible. Then fill in the squares. If I tried to do each square individually I'd never get everything lined up correctly, although that may be a personal problem.

I would paint the lines and squares in with the shadow color as the primary and then highlight with a medium and then light color. Using acrylics, which for me are easier to correct, I would make a best attempt first pass of the lines and squares with the shadow color, then go back and clean it up a bit, and then go back again until satisfied. Only then would I apply the highlights to the squares.

All that said, I have enough trouble just painting straight lines on a surface with folds, much less squares, but a challenge is a challenge, so go for it.

Cheers,
Ken

All good advice so far.

For what it's worth Terry I'll add that after painting the main shirt colour and shading/highlighting as usual I use a strip of paper with the width of checks/stripes marked on it in pencil. Holding it to the straight edge of the garment (or seam) put a tiny dot of paint to mark the width and then move around and spot another mark. It's then just a question of joining the dots to get a straight line. (Don't try and paint the line in one continuous go - that way disaster lies)
Do the same for the verticals to form a grid and then you can fill in the squares. Once that's done you'll need to highlight and shade each section in the same way as the background of the garment. You can also add a weave effect if the cloth is suitable.

Here's one I'm working on at the moment -

Cheers
Paul

Have you checked to see if there is a checkered paint set available??????? That is the easiest way.
Cheers
John

https://figurementors.com/insights-into-painting-a-flat-figure-by-award-winning-rick-taylor

But I repeat myself.

We’re in luck. I hear there’s one launching in a few weeks, on April 1st.

Jeff

Marc, Adrian, Ken, Nap and Paul...Really appreciate the tips and suggestions guys! I really feel prepared now to tackle the checkered shirt. Paul your post of the visual aid is very helpful! I appreciate you one and all for your time and sharing ideas with me!

John, Socko and Jeff, I wish there was an easy way to achieve the results. A member of our club here in Atlanta used to joke about there being a special brush available to paint tartans-Ned Ricks. Appreciate your humor fellows.

Thanks again everyone

Have a great Friday one and all, Terry Martin-Atlanta Military Figure Society of Atlanta, GA