How do you go about painting details on customs?

[retrogradenova]

I have my super tiny paint brushes, and my retarder to slow the paint drying time.  Normally when I'm doing actual paintings I'd sketch everything out in pencil first. I imagine an accidental stray pencil line on a FBR could be very troublesome.

So I'm curious how does everyone go about painting the cutie marks or other intricate details on their customs? What do you do to get cutie marks even when painting them on both sides? Do you just eyeball it and wing it? I'd love to hear about everyone's tips and techniques.

[Thrice]

I draw out a concept sketch on paper first, very rough, then eyeball all the way.

[archidraca]

I wing it unless I'm going off of someone else's design. If it has to be mirrored I will take a picture of it so I can mirror it in Paint or some such and more reliably do the same on the other side. I cannot seem to make even the smallest paintbrushes work for me so I use the end of a needle or my Xacto knife to paint fine details. I just have to remember to wipe excess off of the tip between applications. 

[mlp4me]

I eye everything that I paint and hope I don't sneeze...

[aintnobuffalo]

I use Photshop to create and/ or mirror an image and then eye ball it, using it as a reference. I have tried sketching it on to the pony in fear of not being able to get it right, but really it ends up making more of a mess to cover or remove. If I'm doing it over a FBR, I coat it with a sealer first, and then have a bottle of the color diluted enough to use in an airbrush to cover mistakes or do touch ups if wiping a mistake away with water created an issue.

[kaoskat]

I just.....Paint them. I have no special process...

[Griffin]

I nearly always start with a pencil sketch (on the pony), I'm so much more confident with a pencil than a paintbrush! Erasing is a pain sometimes but it can be done. That's why I always do a concept sketch on paper first, then freehand it on the pony. For ponies without FBRs pencil isn't always an option; I've used gel pens and such too. In that case, however, you need to be fairly confident with your strokes - I'm not sure the pen marks come off even with acetone...

I generally try to avoid painting identical symbols on both sides but if I have to, I do a pencil sketch on paper and transfer it with transfer paper or kitchen parchment paper. 

[retrogradenova]

I generally try to avoid painting identical symbols on both sides but if I have to, I do a pencil sketch on paper and transfer it with transfer paper or kitchen parchment paper.

I was actually wondering if transfer/carbon paper was an option here. How in the world do you transfer with kitchen parchment paper? I actually have some of that around.

My current project is a G3 non-FBR (her base color was exactly what i needed) with TAF style symbols. This is my first time with fine brushes so I've been painting over the sketch i made when designing the placement of her symbols.  Basically I'm trying to get a feel for the type of lines the brushes make and finalize my color choices. I'm not really keen on winging it, I'm too much of a perfectionist.


 

[Griffin]

I generally try to avoid painting identical symbols on both sides but if I have to, I do a pencil sketch on paper and transfer it with transfer paper or kitchen parchment paper.

I was actually wondering if transfer/carbon paper was an option here. How in the world do you transfer with kitchen parchment paper? I actually have some of that around.

When I was little I used to trace stuff with parchment paper all the time. Wax paper might work, too. The process is easy, simply place the translucent parchment paper on top of you sketch or any other picture you wish to use and trace the lines with pencil. Flip the paper and place it on the surface of your choice, in this case the pony. Then trace again. This will, of course, produce a mirrored image so you may need to transfer the mirrored image on paper first, then flip again and place the sheet on the pony. You can reuse the sheet several times if needed. I also recommend trimming the sheet, it will be easier to adjust the position (important when doing identical DS & NDS symbols) and make sure the paper lies flat when you only have a little extra around the image. Hope it works for you!  

[Darkhorse]

I eye everything that I paint and hope I don't sneeze...

Yep ....

[Skeen]

I just wing it. 

[Tribble79]

Wing it here also

[Elfpony]

I also wing it.  Occasionally, I will sketch out an idea beforehand, but I rarely end up with exactly the same thing on the actual pony anyway.  I will use reference pictures, however, on my laptop or printed out, but just freehand the painting.

Elf