Illumination-related techniques
Avoid warping the paper
Water-soluble paint can create problems because paper that absorbs water
will warp. There are several ways to counteract this. The simplest is to
use rather thick paint that doesn't contain so much water, and to paint
only small areas at a time.
If you buy a pad of paper, it's generally glued on at least three of the
edges. Don't remove the paper, but keep it in the pad while you work. The
glue means that the paper is kept flat and will not warp as easily as a
single sheet.
If you are using a single paper, there is a special methods used by professional
artists who work with water colours. It's called "stretching"
and involves soaking the paper (before anything is written or painted on
it) and then letting it dry in a fixed position (fastened to a board with
a special type of tape). Paper that has been treated this way won't warp
as easily. This, however, is rather advanced and I trust you won't really
need to do it.
Paint in the right order
When I have drawn up the contours with a pencil, I fill them in with a 0.35
mm technical drawing pen. It's easier to paint fields with black, clearly
defined edges. When this is done, I erase all pencil lines. This can be
done at any time before you apply the gold. You shouldn't erase on gold
because that will dim the metal shine.
Have you ever admired a piece of velvet and wondered at its deep lustre?
The reason for its beauty is that as light falls on its folds, the fabric
reflects it in different shades, from very dark to very bright. You can
get the same effect in a painted picture by using several shades of the
same colour. Medieval illuminators never simply filled a field with paint.
They always used at least two, often three, shades of different brightness,
to give the image depth.
Paint the field with the basic (darkest) colour first, then shade part of
the field with a lighter kind, and finally give it shine with a thin line
of very light shade.