HOW TO PRIME A CARD
I have gotten a handful of questions about where to begin when doing an extension, so I figured that I’d do up a little tutorial instead of just answering a few questions.
Of course, everyone has their own way, but I’m going to show you how I personally do it. This method is only for new frame cards, of course. For old frames or future frames there are obviously different processes, but if you understand this one you should be able to do those.
Remember, your toothpick is your best friend when keeping a clean look.
Let’s start, shall we?
- Okay! You’ll need a card. I chose a Russian Hypergenesis.
- This is pin striping tape. Normally people use it for doing pin stripes on cars when painting. Any small tape will work for this, but I personally like pin striping tape because it is flexible and it isn’t very sticky so it wont pull up paint or anything. If you don’t have it I’d suggest 3M Matte Finish Magic Tape.
- Apply the tape so it is at the top of the color line of the title box, remember to use the flat of your fingernail to press the tape all the way down or you could get seepage underneath. Get some priming colors ready and grab a flat brush. Carbon Black, Raw Umber, and Titanium White are my colors of choice.
- Paint it grey! When you do it make the first pass, then very lightly go back over it right away to flatten it out. Once flat, let it dry or shake it in the air for a few seconds. Now lightly put a second coat on. If you can still see just a little of the stuff underneath that’s fine, just make sure to fan it out like last time so it is flat. If you are worried or maybe used too much water, put a third coat on!
- Get some color ready to at least get the base background color on the top of the card.
- Mix it and apply. You can do this before or after you take the tape off, it probably won’t matter as the very slight ridge you get from the tape helps keep the color in place.
- Now, get your toothpick out and take the paint off from the upper corners of the title bar to the corner of the card. This greatly helps reduce the appearance of THE LINE, the raised line that appears when painting over taped off areas, when painting.
- Make a grey mix of the color you had and do the rest of the card. I don’t personally use tape for the rest because it is pretty easy to keep a straight line on the other parts of the card.
- This is what I would consider to be a full primed and ready card.
I really hope this can help some people out. Feel free to send me any questions if you are confused about something. I think I’ll do more tutorials in the future on how to paint certain things or get certain effects.
