{"id":460,"date":"2007-12-28T20:42:33","date_gmt":"2007-12-29T01:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lathamstudios.com\/rebeccasblog\/blog\/articles-art-articles-informative-posts\/7-tips-for-artists-how-to-paint-miniature-art\/"},"modified":"2007-12-28T20:42:33","modified_gmt":"2007-12-29T01:42:33","slug":"7-tips-for-artists-how-to-paint-miniature-art","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/articles-art-articles-informative-posts\/7-tips-for-artists-how-to-paint-miniature-art\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Tips for Artists – How to Paint Miniature Art"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/o>\"\"Miniature painting as a style of painting is a very distinct art that is often compared to gems.  <\/span>As one of the most acclaimed early miniature artists of , Nicholas Hilliard, stated (c. 1600) “A thing apart from all other painting or drawing<\/font>”.<\/p>\n

 <\/o>A few tips for artists wanting to create their own jewel-like works in miniature:<\/p>\n

 <\/o>1. Start out right and be sure to use good materials to paint.  <\/span>Quality surfaces, paints, and tools are available from art supply companies as well as specialty miniature art supply shops.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o>2.  <\/span>Whatever surface you choose, a very smooth surface is choice.  <\/span>Ivorine or polymin are very popular for many painters, as is vellum or even porcelain.  <\/span>Some oil painters use hardboard, wood or copper as well, while watercolor artists may use <\/st1>bristol<\/st1> or illustration board.  <\/span>Surfaces like Belgian linen can be used, but will probably require a number of layers of gesso to fill in the linen surface texture.<\/p>\n

 <\/o>3.  <\/span>Brushes may be sable or synthetic, but must come to a fine point so fine details can be painted.  <\/span>You may find that you like a variety of different types for your paintings. <\/p>\n

 <\/o>4.  <\/span>The technique of miniature painting, as stated in early manuals for educating artists, shows that paintings are to be made using many delicate strokes on the surface.  <\/span>Artists create work that is very detailed and often use fine stipples and hatches, two classic miniature painting techniques.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o>Studying classic miniature paintings in museums and publications is very helpful to observe other artists handling of the brush and colors.  <\/span>Some artists paint their miniatures to be seen from a distance of a few feet, and others use strokes that are so soft that they need strong magnification to be seen at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/o>5.  <\/span>For beginning painters, it may be helpful to start by painting small format miniature pieces instead of larger sizes.  <\/span>The surface can be covered more quickly and errors can be spotted and corrected with more ease than painting a larger miniature.  <\/span>Hand held sized pieces are very popular as well.<\/o><\/p>\n

 <\/o>6. In planning your miniature, be sure to have a well thought out design and drawing before starting on your painting.  <\/span>Design and composition is very important in making good miniature art.  <\/span>Your miniature should draw your viewer into your painting.  <\/span>Most often this is done by creating interaction or a story behind what is featured in the painting. <\/p>\n

 <\/o>7. While you are working, try to keep your surface texture to a minimum.  <\/span>Palette knife work does not lend itself well to traditional miniature painting.  <\/span>Rarely very slight texture in miniature painting may be seen.  <\/span>However, most often fine miniatures are very smooth just like their early miniature counterparts in manuscripts.  <\/span>Keeping your surface smooth will be very helpful as you paint in your crisp details.  <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/o>Miniature painting has its roots in illuminated manuscripts, where miniature painters used their talents to tell the story of the written word it accompanied.  <\/span>Many of those illuminations were cut out of the books so that they could be carried.  <\/span>Other miniature works were painted larger to be displayed.<\/p>\n

It can take some patience and practice, but you are well on your way to painting beautiful miniature art as well as being a part of an art form that has been practiced since early writing.<\/o><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Miniature painting as a style of painting is a very distinct art that is often compared to gems.  As one of the most acclaimed early miniature artists of , Nicholas Hilliard, stated (c. 1600) “A thing apart from all other painting or drawing”.  A few tips for artists wanting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":456,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-460","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/460\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lathamstudios.com\/rebecca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}