• LESSON 1 - Learning How To Learn
• LESSON 2 - Materials You'll Need To Practice
• LESSON 3 - Taking Care Of Your Pinstriping Brushes
• LESSON 4 - How To Hold A Pinstriping Brush
• LESSON 5 - Recognizing Good Swordsmanship

Recognizing Good Swordsmanship

First off, modern pinstriping can be categorized into three distinct disciplines, sword pinstriping, scroll pinstriping and long line pinstriping. While the focus of this article is aimed at traditional sword pinstriping, some topics discussed here may also be applied to scroll striping and long line striping.

The reason for limiting the scope of this article to sword striping is simple, the sole focus of my study so far has been centered on sword pinstriping.

as a side note: It essential for anyone wanting to make a profession out of pinstriping to have a firm grasp of not only these three disciplines, but also lettering, gold leafing, and mini graphics. I will be turning my attention to long line striping in the near future and I'll be sure to share all information I can gather with you when time comes.

In order to improve as a pinstriper it is important to know what qualities to look for not only in our own work but also in the work we study. Once we know what these characteristics are we can recognize problem areas in our technique and work towards improving.

For beginners, there are a only two criteria that you should look for when critiquing a piece of pinstriping, line weight consistency and the cleanliness of line connections. Line consistency and the cleanliness of the of the connections in a design indicate the comfort level of the pinstriping artist with his brush. If you are still struggling with line pulling lines with consistent widths or the your line connections are sloppy then the all focusing on mastering layout or color composition is pointless.

Line Weight Consistency

Good line consistency is a result of brush control and proper paint consistency. There is no short cut to gaining brush control, it will only come with lots and lots of practice. Getting your paint consistency right is tricky because there are many factors that will contribute to how 1-shot paint will flow. Not only will you find that the viscosity of 1-shot varies from color to color but even from can to can. Additionally, environmental conditions, like temperature and humidity, also effect paint consistency.

Proper paint consistency is tough, maybe impossible, for me to describe. The best description I've heard is that it should feel like something between melted ice cream and pancake syrup. I know that's not much to go on but you'll just have to experiment until you feel it come together. Getting the brush loaded properly is absolutely essential to getting you sword to perform as its designed.

Only after we have good line consistency can we turn our attention to more advanced aspects of good pinstripe design, like layout and color composition.