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Painting Splinter Pattern

the pattern

I took this image into Photoshop to define this image as a pattern, this then allowed me to "paint" with this pattern. I created a new image and filled it with the splinter, doesn't really matter about the scale as long as it is not too small. Once printed, I and ended up with something like this:

If you wish to download the pattern, click on the link

Now, strictly speaking, this is not 100% accurate because the actual cloth was printed from rollers so the "tile" would obviously have been a long skinny rectangle instead of a square. I am however, working with no budget so this is as good as it is going to get. Remember, that we are now working with the army pattern and is not the same as the FJ smock above, although very similar.

Take this picture as an example. It is simply a case of picking a recognisable aspect of the pattern, here outlined in red, and finding this on your sheet.

All that remains is to mask the shape of the jacket, sleeve, leg, whatever to the right scale with some post-it notes and you have an "exact" (I use the term looseley !) pattern to copy. Like this.

Once you have the scale of the pattern, you can replicate any shape of cloth from this one sheet - just like a tailor. Please note that the shape I have masked is to show you the method, it is not masked to scale! This is invaluable for filling the gaps in your reference pictures. Obviously you can do this with any camo pattern, they all have a repeat somewhere, it is just a question of finding it ! The beauty of this is that you can replicate a complete uniform with very little reference of the original.

This figure was painted with this method - Look at the left arm.