Anonymous
10/7/2025, 1:19:37 AM
No.23565351
>>23565321
it takes experience to plan and apply decals without going overboard but also keeping up visual interest - that itself is a skill. scale needs to be taken into account, as well as existing panel lines - too much going on and things start to look cluttered.
the picture you provided uses a good few decals but not enough that it looks like it crashed into a sticker factory. it's got relatively little surface details with lots of large flat surfaces, so there's space for the design to breathe.
for my advice, as a general rule, there are two types of marking on a mecha: instructions for the maintenance crew, and identification markings. the former will be text near hatches, engines, vents and exhausts so a mechanic doesn't blow himself up. these are purely text or text with arrows, think "DO NOT STEP" or "WARNING: EXHAUST". however, marking every single panel or vent with a decal would look ridiculous, so you have to pick and choose.
identification markings are much bigger and intended to be read from far away, so ideally you'd have only a couple on the front and back showing the faction and suit ID - that's it.
example: in my opinion pic related looks bad. decal placement is a bit too dense and while it's thoughtful where they would go, it's just too much. the real killer is that the kit has a lot of surface detail already, I'd say too much, so doing anything different than what's supplied in the box makes it look fucked up. this is something to be thoughtful of when doing your decals.
it takes experience to plan and apply decals without going overboard but also keeping up visual interest - that itself is a skill. scale needs to be taken into account, as well as existing panel lines - too much going on and things start to look cluttered.
the picture you provided uses a good few decals but not enough that it looks like it crashed into a sticker factory. it's got relatively little surface details with lots of large flat surfaces, so there's space for the design to breathe.
for my advice, as a general rule, there are two types of marking on a mecha: instructions for the maintenance crew, and identification markings. the former will be text near hatches, engines, vents and exhausts so a mechanic doesn't blow himself up. these are purely text or text with arrows, think "DO NOT STEP" or "WARNING: EXHAUST". however, marking every single panel or vent with a decal would look ridiculous, so you have to pick and choose.
identification markings are much bigger and intended to be read from far away, so ideally you'd have only a couple on the front and back showing the faction and suit ID - that's it.
example: in my opinion pic related looks bad. decal placement is a bit too dense and while it's thoughtful where they would go, it's just too much. the real killer is that the kit has a lot of surface detail already, I'd say too much, so doing anything different than what's supplied in the box makes it look fucked up. this is something to be thoughtful of when doing your decals.