Scribal Basics 102

A beginner's guide to painting an SCA scroll

The following is a web-friendly version of a Power Point class that I have taught. What is missing is the discussion with the people in the class. 

Illumination:

• The act of putting paint on to paper is known, in the SCA as illumination.
• A Scroll does not have to have paint on it to be a scroll. If your calligraphy is good enough, no paint is required.
• If your calligraphy is terrible, or if you really like painting over writing, illumination is for you.

What kind of paints not to use:

• Oil based: they seep into the paper
• Acrylic based: they can crack and flake off of the paper
• Magic markers: they fade over time, don’t look right and can have a lingering smell.
• Crayons: they look like they were done with crayons. Might be nice enough for the ‘fridge, but not for court.
• Pastels and chalks: they smear and can rub off on everything.
• Colored pencils: they don’t give a ‘period’ look.
• Latex based: they can layer too thick and can crack and flake.

What paint should we use?

• Watercolors
• Gouache
• And, for advanced scribes, period pigments. Please sign up for Scribal Basics 401 for more information about period pigments. [I don't teach Scribal Basics 401. Nor do I know how to use period pigments. This was a bit of humor.]

What’s the difference?

• Watercolor and gouache are very similar to each other.
• Both are pigment particles suspended in a water soluble binder
• Both are available in tubes, but watercolors can also be found in pans and cakes.

Watercolor:

• Transparent. 
• Paint blends together.
• Difficult to get sharp lines of color.
• Made of fine pigment suspended in a clear binder, such as gum arabic.
• It is suggested that white areas should be left blank.

Gouache:

• Opaque.
• Paint can be layered.
• Easy to get sharp lines of color.
• Made of larger grains of pigment suspended in an opaque binder, such as zinc or titanium oxide. 
• Go ahead and use white gouache.

What should I use?

• In my experience gouache is easier to use and is the closest a store bought paint gets to period pigment.
• Watercolor, if used correctly, can produce lovely landscapes and trees.
• You can use a kid’s watercolor pallet from a dollar store, so if you wish to experiment….
• Try both and see which one you like better...

What colors do I need?

• You do not need every color under the sun.
• You should have all of the heraldic colors (red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white and black) plus brown and gold.
• I recommend a light and a dark shade of each color [of the ones I listed].
• A basic set from Reeves will run from $10 to $15.
• Kit contains: White, Lemon Yellow, Medium Yellow, Orange Yellow, Orange Red, Flesh Tint, Brilliant Red, Crimson, Magenta, Violet, Cobalt Blue, Blue Lake, Ultramarine, Prussian Blue, Mid Green, Leaf Green, Emerald, Dark Green, Yellow Ochre, Red Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Grey, Black.
• Additional colors can be purchased separately, as needed. 
• 90% of my gouache is from this kit.
• You do not need every color on the rack.
• Colors can be mixed to form other colors: Yellow and blue make green.
• It is nice to have a tube with the exact color you need, but you can squeeze a bit of two tubes into a small container to make that special color you need for your project.
• You can take advantage of gouache’s ability to layer to make a variety of shades.
• Using only thinly water-downed gouache, it is easy to make a range of shades just by putting one layer on top of another.
• Also, by varying the amount of water used, we can achieve even more shades

[My discussion of this slide is as follows: Each box is an example of a single color of gauche: Light red; dark red; light blue; ultramarine blue; light green, medium yellow. Each box was started with a single layer of pigment, with an additional layer added on, leaving the far left-hand alone. So, each box has six or seven layers with the right-hand side having more layers than the left-hand side. As each layer is added, the result is a darker hue.]

[My discussion of this slide is as follows: The red and yellow used in the background are the same pigments that I used for the figure and the leaves. The background received only a signal layer of red or yellow, but the figure received four layers. Same pigment, different hues.]

How much paint do I need?

• Not much. A little goes a long way.
• The less paint you use, the better it will look.
• Thicker layers of paint will take longer to dry and to cure. 
• If too thick, the paint could flake off.
• Too much water and the paper could warp.
• Start with thin layers: it is easier to add paint than to remove it.

[My discussion of these two slides is as follows: These two images show the difference between a lot of paint vs a little paint. Please see this blog post for more details.]

How to apply the paint

• The puddle method:
• Start with a brush wet with paint.
• Make a puddle on one side of the object and pull paint from the puddle towards the unpainted surface.
• Good for shading; start at the darkest edge and work towards the lightest.

[My discussion of these two slides is as follows: By using this method, it is easy to create shading. Start by placing the paint in the dark areas of the figure. Assume that the light source comes from the upper, left-hand corner.]

[By starting in the dark areas, and drawing the excess paint towards the light areas, one automatically creates a graduated hue. See here for more details.]

• The house painter’s method:
• Start with a brush wet with paint.
• Start painting on one edge and with each brush stroke, drop the brush on unpainted paper and brush into the painted surface.
• Good for solid, even coats

[My discussion of these two slides is as follows: I have found that this method limits the blotchness that can occur when applying paint to large areas of paper.]

How thin is thin?

[My discussion of these two slides is as follows: Most illuminators will tell you to water the gauche down to the consistency of melted ice cream. Which tends to confuse people. What kind of ice cream? Cheap ice cream or good Breyers or soft-serve custard? It makes a difference. My method is to water it down to the consistency of cool-aide. The looks of shock and dismay on the faces of the more experienced scribes in my first class is beyond description. This is different from the standard approach but I find that it works. I would rather make three or four coats and have it look really nice than to put one super heavy coat that could end up streaky or blotchy. This method works for me and I think that new scribes should try it and see if they like it.]

[Also, the thinner the coat, the quicker it will dry. On a good day, it will take about three to five minutes for a thin coat to dry completely and cure (if it is gauche). In my experience, it can take ten to fifteen minutes for a thick coat to dry. I like thick coats of gold gauche: I find that the thick, lumpy surface catches the light better and looks more like gold leaf, from a distance. For all other colors, thin coats. If it takes multiple layers, then it takes multiple layers. In my opinion, it will take less time to do more painting (with thin coats) than waiting for thick coats to dry.  I can paint all of the blue, with two or three layers and by the time I hydrate the red gauche, the blue is dry and won't blend with the red, as I apply it.]

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The point of this class was to introduce illumination to new scribes and to try to explain what to use and how to use it. I only focused on paint and painting because Ekat teaches a Scribal 101 where she talks about paper, brushes and other equipment. Half of the class was the information listed, above, and the other half was Q&A.