Cables/tubes Iron Maiden mural help

[speedbeagle74]

Hello. First post hoping for some ideas. I'm painting a mural on the side of a arcade Im building. The plan is to paint Eddie from the Somewhere in Time album cover. I have a lot of his arm and torso done but I've come upon something I'm having a hard time rendering.
Its the cables and tubes that are behind his ribcage and along his sides. Im not sure how to make them look like round tube shapes with out making a mess. At first i thought i could just brush some white lines and then use black to add little crescent shapes to give the illusion of roundness. Unfortunately they get quite small and it's just too much to freehand and i if i use a round corner of a french curve it goes past the boundries.
I hope ive described my problem clearly. I thought about making a template, but i cant make up my mind how best to do it.

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[Mr.Micron]

You have the template already printed out. Just hand cut the cables from the print outs and then use it to map in the biomech parts.

 

[erwin de pan]

You can also use fineline tape.
In model making they have tape of 2 or 3 mm wide.
I would mask off the lines and spray the background.
To avoid sharp lines, keep it light.
Remove the tape and finish the background freehand.
the overspray will make the lines of the tape
softer.
If they get too dark you can lighten them with an eraser. and erase the light side right away.
To get the blue glow in, you can spray a light mist with strongly diluted blue over it.
Don't think you'll see it on the darker background next to the lines.

 

[speedbeagle74]

I like the fine line tape idea. While i want it too resemble the original best it can, getting it exactly the same using the templates isn't that important to me.

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[2Diverse]

I don't have any additional advice to offer, sorry.

I want to say it certainly looks like you know how to use an airbrush. I hope you find an easy way for you to achieve the look you are going for. This is good so far. It looks like a tough project.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[SiRoxx]

Either fine line or cutting them from the template (same as the above suggestions) was going to be what I would suggest too.
To make them look rounded, pay close attention to the core highlights and the shadows in the reference and replicate those as best you can. They’re just like shading a cylinder, so possibly have a look at some other cylinder work and add that to the reference pile.

 

[speedbeagle74]

Well I certainly appreciate the sentiments. I started this last winter but it's hard for me to justify working on it when it's nice outside and I can do my many other hobbies. I live in Michigan so we get a lot of bad weather where I can airbrush. I've been into airbrushing since I was a teenager but never had good equipment. I finally procured a few Iwatas about 10 years ago. I've painted off and on when I can. I wish I could do pieces to sell, but I feel like my process is very clunky and I'm not proficient enough yet. Thankfully the internet is there to help.
Thanks for the compliment.

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[speedbeagle74]

First attempt. Just decided to go head first. I'm pleasantly surprised.

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[Mr.Micron]

If you can mask the outer exo-skeleton and then paint in the cables and wires you may find you can get better depth to the painting. But over all it looks good.

 

[Kingpin]

Looking good so far
I have loads of Eddie pics in My "to paint" file I do love a bit of Maiden

 

[JackEb]

the easiest ? way I've found to do things out of my comfort zone is to have a practise on paper rather than the piece itself,
dollar store large sketch books are great for trial runs. Sometimes actually doing it will guide you better on what will / won't work

 

[speedbeagle74]

update on what little progress ive made so far over the holidays

 

[speedbeagle74]

 

[JackEb]

Looking good so far, well done

 

[SiRoxx]

Looking good man!