Things I've learned painting scrolls:
- You get better by doing! At the beginning your work is not going to be a master piece. Accept this, embrace this, and keep doing it.
- Take pictures of your work. Look back at how your grown! It'll help!
My first scroll ever!
My most recent scroll a couple of years later:
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The Awkward Teenage Phase exists for scrolls. Usually somewhere between base painting and the first round of highlights or shadows. All scrolls go through this. Keep going. It'll grow out of it.
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Finish it! I suffer from PhD (Projects Half Done). Finishing a scroll is extremely satisfying and monumentally frustrating. I've had to enlist other scribes to dangle carrots in front of me.
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Work on two scrolls at a time. If one starts to vex you, switch to another. Repeat until you finish them.
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Sometimes you will hate a scroll. Absolutely hate it. Find another scribe and see if they'll finish it. I have a friend that loves the finishing details, but hates base painting. We occasionally trade off.
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Paint what you love. I love gaudy colors and bizarre combinations. Really gaudy colors.
- Play around with different styles until you find one you like. There's no right or wrong way to illuminate. There are just different styles and methods.
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If you love it, paint it. Do not be embarrassed by what you love. If you love painting chubby ponies, paint chubby ponies. If you like stern Russian icons, paint stern Russian icons.
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Learn the five F's of illumination: Foliage, flowers, feathers, fur, and faces. It's rare that a scroll doesn't have at least one of these elements.
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Make friends with other scribes and ask them about how they do certain things. Details are tricky and everyone knows a trick or two on handling them.
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Ten Foot Rule applies to scroll. Step away from your work every so often for perspective.
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Know when to step away. After a while you're just futzing with it. It's done! Sign it and hand it over! Move on to the next one.
So, that's my list. I'm still learning, evolving, and changing as an artist.