Painting Sandals
Consider the basic sandal -- or even better, the Roman caliga (or hob nailed sandal which gave its name to one infamous Roman emperor). No matter how fine your brush or how steady your hand, painting convincing sandal straps on 15mm figures can be a real challenge. One approach is not to even try picking out the straps...after all the foot could be obscured by tall grass (i.e. flocking) or the staps might not be visible against similar colored leather (as on Gothic or Viking stapped boots) or because of the wool or other material stuffed underneath to keep the feet warm. But if you must have sandal straps that "pop," here is a collection of tips and suggested techniques for painting convincing sandals prompted by Donald Brown's posting to the DBA Mail List:
Chris Brantley: One approach is to put away your paint brush and pull out a permanent ink pen or marker in an appropriate color and draw on the straps with the finer point provided by the pen. Just be careful not to smear the ink when you handle or seal the figure. If you have a fine tipped brush, you could try painting straps by drawing the tip along the line of the raised strap. Or you can use a flat edged brush and draw it carefully across the raised strap, using a very light touch to avoid getting paint on the leg. Very careful dry-brushing will also call out the straps.
Crow: Try painting the foot brown, or whatever color the sandals are to be. If the straps are molded on, dot flesh color in between the straps. If not, paint the sandal color and dot on the flesh in a staggered pattern (one dot, then two dots, then one dot) this gives the impression of crossed straps. It works fast and looks good on 15 and 25mm.
Paul Hannah: As a meticulous painter, I find that there are few shortcuts to fine detail. In this case, there might be one: The flocking material I apply to the stands obscures most of my figures' feet. Therefore, I can get away with hinting just a ring around the ankle, a single line down the top of the foot, with maybe three quick short lines across the top of the foot. I trust the "grass" to hide the rest.
PunkRabbit: If you have molded sandals on the models, like most 25mm figs have, you can just drybrush the legs with your "ground" color to simulate road dust on the legs. At the same time it will pick out the detail of the sandals, which would also be covered with said road dust.
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Last Updated: Oct. 17, 2001
Comments, questions and additions welcome. Send them to Chris Brantley at brant@erols.com.