Quick Note: I don't mention liquid mask in here for two reasons. 1) I don't generally like to use it and often find it more trouble than it's worth. 2) There are lots of brands and they actually perform remarkably differently, so a full video comparison review on those is coming sometime in the future.
'Regular' masking tape that can be found in 'pound shops' (dollar stores) is often of a lower quality and skimps on the glue. It's generally useless for normal masking as it just doesn't stick permanently, so maybe take a look and see if it's acceptable.
You hit this right on the button. The best video I have seen on masking. The how, when, why. You are the only guy I have watched that approached it from this angle. Good job!
Regarding cutting the tape in half you can use the dispenser itself, if you score a line down the middle of the shoe where the tape comes out, you can then pull a piece of tape onto that and just run your knife gently down that, you then have two halves without the need to cut it off and put it on the mat, cut out the middle man so to speak
Awesome tips! Unfortunately I saw this video after masking my Shatterpoint terrain, painting it, then removing my tape with some of the paint with it :(. PS: I did use silly putty, and camouflage putty and that didn’t pull off paint. Live and learn
Rewatching some older tutorials and instructions- thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom in this area. I always come away with more than i started ..... much appreciated
I made two mistakes, both of which come back to knock off silly putty I believe. First knock off silly putt seems to have a slightly different chemical formula than the real stuff has kind of a oily feel, it doesnt seem to leave that behind but it still concerns me. However the second problem is much more significant, im not sure if its the speed paint or the silly putty, but my knock off putty does indeed pull off patches of speed paint.
Silly putty is my favorite as well. Great stuff and I buy it in 5 lb. bricks. Love it. I also use blue painters tape next favorite. Use the neck out of it. Tamiya is also fantastic but not for figures. Plastic wrap is also well used in my hobby room. I also buy in a big roll at the office supply store...great stuff for really big areas. Great video Vince...Thanks for sharing...
One other quick suggestion that I don't think you touched on - a business card or something like that can be useful for when you want a quick hard-edged mask, and can be cut to different shapes for curves
Vince, love all your work and your efforts to teach us plebs how to paint well. Could we get some of the techniques you have used in previous hobby cheating videos demonstrated on some 40k or sci-fi type models? i find that the sci-fi types have a lot more hard lines and more open plains than fantasy. More robits? Thanks for all you do.
Mr masking Sol is a water soluble liquid mask. You can soak the parts in water for 15-20 min and blast it with a air compressor airgun. That's the best way to remove it from hard to reach places and is far better than trying to remove it with a toothpick.
Great video. I would mention that you can buy actual "masking putty", which does the same job as Silly Putty but costs 10 times as much money :P I am also eager to learn more about masking fluids. There are several different kinds, and I can't tell the difference. Some people also use straight liquid latex. I'd love to see a comparison of these products.
Yes, I left Masking Fluids out of this (mainly because I don't like them, but also because they deserve a whole video to themselves). I will likely pin an explanation of that so hopefully it explains to some folks.
Thank you for the Fallout Hobbies idea. I didn’t know they existed but they are exactly what I have been looking for. I needed the .... negative side (?) of a flame stencil and had been having difficulty finding something. Think these will work great.
Cheatin' request. How to paint 'brightly' . I see my paint schemes are quite dark and to get a better contrast but how to get that bright and clean look. Thank you.
Sure, I can add it to the list. Let me ask the following questions - 1) Are you washing as a near end step? 2) Are you painting over black? 3) Are you highlighting with some fairly bright colors in limited areas?
Dito I always end up with a dark paint job no matter how bright I start it with me though I think its just a visual problem I have I find for some reason to me at least the pure bright colours just don't look right and I just end up either toning them down or using a dark wash but I'm just weird that way I suppose 😁
@@VinceVenturella 1. Not washing at all 2. Painting over zenithal, white or grey 3. Not highlighting with pure white but making a hot spot from time to time. If you check giovannidilenaart on instagram and his last Van Saar post you will know what I mean.
Thanks for the video Vince, the silly putty tip is a good one! Is it any different than masking putty that some sell because I was about to buy some. One other thing that I've used is just a small piece of card for when you have a lot of straight edges that you don't want to go to the trouble of using tape for. Useful for panel modulation on tanks for example.
Well, masking tape is tough, but that being said. I would stick it to your underarm multiple times first to reduce the stickieness. Then I would say as long as the paint has cured for 30 minutes to an hour (based on your local humidity) you should be okay, but there is always some risk of pulling up paint. You can varnish first as well and let that cure for extra protection.
Well, I happen to have a video on painting hazard stripes on space marines in a few weeks. That being said, Tamiya tape is probably your friend still. That being said, you can also use a mechanical pencil to lightly sketch your straight lines and then paint them in. My best advice is make the shoulder pad yellow first with your gradient and then do the stripes in black, don't go the opposite direction.
Hey Vince, penny for your thoughts on this. Doing some chaos knights. Like, a 4k point army. It's a slow project, delayed further by GWS NOT SENDING ME MY DAMN KNIGHTS AFTER TWO MONTHS AFTER PAYING. Actually no store has chaos knight wardogs in the UK, so really just seems like there's a shortage. Even so. But anyway. I've got the armour panels down fine - putty for large areas, a thin masking tape for lines or hard edges, the armour is great. Maybe I'll get to show you one day. My issue is with the trim. I'm frankly sick of hand painting trim over an army. It is soul sucking, spine wrenching and possibly unfun. Silly putty doesn't seem to handle it well enough - it's complex trim, it's spiky and I can't get the silly putty flush with the edge without overlapping trim *and* not being concerned about it not being covered. I'd rather whinge and mutter about hand painting trim over butcher my lovely panels - especially when many already have extra work, with lines, stripes or whatnot. You mentioned in the comments that various liquid masks work differently with different results - do you think any are suitable for this task? I saw GSW and Vallejo both have one I could get relatively easily. And yes, I know this is overkill for one or two knights, but I have 8 wardogs and 4 big knights to go - and that's ignoring my brothers imperial knights, that I'll probably have to paint for him. Lot of time on trim I'd prefer to avoid.
So I generally find liquid mask pretty awful to use, but that being said, for plates like that, it can be absolutely appropriate for big knight panels. A good liquid mask is the vallejo one that comes in the short flat bottle, but something like Tamiya or Mr. Hobby is really the gold standard for this. It makes it so the trim is not near as bad.
@@VinceVenturella Hey Vince, it's your favourite (well...) idiot again. With liquid masking, do I need to varnish first? I just tried it on a spare piece of plastic - mask went on okay, struggled to get a grip on it to remove it, when I finally did it was taking up the glaze, paint and primer with it. This is why we test things, i guess :) Or was the Mr Hobby 133 (blue masking liquid) the wrong one? It says water based, can be cut, peeled and whatnot.
@@benstaffordson7163 It's generally a good idea to varnish first yes, I don't generally like liquid mask, as it can pretty easily pull paint. I would give it a try again with the varnish (let the varnish cure for sure) and see how it goes. Nothing wrong with your choice of liquid mask.
@@VinceVenturella Ah, sweet. I varnished it after that comment just as an assumption - the satin/ultramatte arrived with the liquid mask, which is fortuitous :) Can definitely see the issues with our fragile paint layers, but if I get it working over a dozen knights.. anyway. Thank you again as always, you legend
So the key with something like candy coat paints is first to let them cure completely before you try to put the tape over. Then you next step is to take something like this tamiya tape (which I definitely recommend). They key is to take the tape and stick it to the back of your arm or your palm, then peel it, then repeat. This will reduce the tackiness of the tape, but it will still stick and be less likely to bring up other paint.
Very informative Vince. Do you ever cut a little hole in the finger of a used glove and insert a weapon, limb or other protrusion though it so to mask what's then left inside the glove?
i use that scotch tape and i mainly build 1/24 scale trucks and when i go to do a 2 tone paint job 9/10 i dont get a scraight ege so would it just be how i put the making tape on
@@j.h.customsireland So there will always be some bleed. BUt you can minimize it with a good tape like Tamiya tape and then also be careful how thin your paint is, the more thin and watery, the more likely it will bleed.
Have you had any success using minimal adhesive masking tapes? My hope was to us low stick masking tape to create custom stencils/patterns that I could airbrush over (for large vehicle surfaces). Now, I am a bit concerned that I may pull up some of my base coat. Any tips/thoughts are greatly appreciated!
I have never tried, but you can absolutely do what you are talking about. I have cut them before using regular masking or painters tape that I then stuck to my arm a few times to erode stickienss and that worked.
I would generally avoid it, it's a little too strong and can remove paint. It can work if you are very careful and remove a lot of the stickiness, but it's always a risk.
Update: I disagree on your remark about stencils. they can be used on any shaped surface. I admit though, that it needs a bit of preparation. Also, they should be used accordingly to the size of the area, that's going to be painted. - - - I don't see masking fluid, e.g. from Tamiya, Humbrol, or any other brand. Why is that?
I need to put a pinned comment on this and should have mentioned it in the video, but I wanted to do liquid masks separately as they are all very different in performance and deserve more of a head to head. In general, I don't like them much and don't like to use them, but I will give them a full separate review.
@@naphaneal Anybody who has used Humbrol masking fluid will believe all masking fluid is awful ;) I found Vallejo liquid mask along with the silicone tipped brushes makes liquid masks almost tolerable to use, but it's still the last resort for me. Stuff like Parafilm and silicone (Centreline) tape can pay you mask some awkward areas without resorting to liquid mask
Yeah, in general, I don't love liquid masks, I'll cover them at some point, but honestly, they aren't worth messing with. Putty is so easy to apply and shape and MUCH, MUCH easier to remove
@@VinceVenturella ah well, decided to get some, I'm making a batch of tokens for OPR's grimdark future and am having trouble finding a masking solution that is practical for masking off that kind of thing
Why does Tamiya tape not pull the paint off like ordinary masking tape, doe it have the same stickiness as ordinary masking tape on the underside ? ah I see your trick, you remove the stickiness through use. It's still risky.
Just thought I'd mention a couple of things. Give Parafilm a try I bought a two metre strip of it last year and still have a lot of it left, it's. It perfect for everything but it does some things unbelievably well, a Moggys Miniatures video introduced me to it. th-cam.com/video/o_wF3Jd-UHQ/w-d-xo.html For masking tape the way you pull it off makes a difference to how likely it is to pull paint up. Peel the edge up and fold it so it has a really sharp bend in it (if you can have the not sticky side folded right back onto the still stuck down section) then gently pull it back, the sharper angle makes it less likely to pull paint up. You sort of unroll the tape rather than pull it up (learnt this from masking over wallpapered walls.)
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Quick Note: I don't mention liquid mask in here for two reasons.
1) I don't generally like to use it and often find it more trouble than it's worth.
2) There are lots of brands and they actually perform remarkably differently, so a full video comparison review on those is coming sometime in the future.
I was going to ask about that! I like it for sub assemblies but I've only used Vallejo thus far. Would LOVE a comparison vid!
'Regular' masking tape that can be found in 'pound shops' (dollar stores) is often of a lower quality and skimps on the glue.
It's generally useless for normal masking as it just doesn't stick permanently, so maybe take a look and see if it's acceptable.
You hit this right on the button. The best video I have seen on masking. The how, when, why. You are the only guy I have watched that approached it from this angle. Good job!
Glad I could help!
The silly Putty trick is mind blowing. I didn't expect to hear that. I had how tedious tape can be but silly putty is fast and fun for sure :)
Glad to help always!
Just ordered my first airbrush and then I saw you uploaded new video for airbrushing, how cool is that!
Excellent, happy to help as always. :)
Regarding cutting the tape in half you can use the dispenser itself, if you score a line down the middle of the shoe where the tape comes out, you can then pull a piece of tape onto that and just run your knife gently down that, you then have two halves without the need to cut it off and put it on the mat, cut out the middle man so to speak
Use the back of your hand to put and pull the masking tape a few times. Also there are some really low task tapes, like Frog for delicate surfaces.
Absolutely, it's a great tip!
Awesome tips! Unfortunately I saw this video after masking my Shatterpoint terrain, painting it, then removing my tape with some of the paint with it :(. PS: I did use silly putty, and camouflage putty and that didn’t pull off paint. Live and learn
Glad it helped, even if a little late. :)
Rewatching some older tutorials and instructions- thanks for sharing your knowledge and wisdom in this area. I always come away with more than i started ..... much appreciated
Glad to help
I made two mistakes, both of which come back to knock off silly putty I believe. First knock off silly putt seems to have a slightly different chemical formula than the real stuff has kind of a oily feel, it doesnt seem to leave that behind but it still concerns me. However the second problem is much more significant, im not sure if its the speed paint or the silly putty, but my knock off putty does indeed pull off patches of speed paint.
Silly putty is my favorite as well. Great stuff and I buy it in 5 lb. bricks. Love it. I also use blue painters tape next favorite. Use the neck out of it. Tamiya is also fantastic but not for figures. Plastic wrap is also well used in my hobby room. I also buy in a big roll at the office supply store...great stuff for really big areas. Great video Vince...Thanks for sharing...
Sounds like we are aligned on this one buddy.
One other quick suggestion that I don't think you touched on - a business card or something like that can be useful for when you want a quick hard-edged mask, and can be cut to different shapes for curves
Yep, it kills me I didn't mention that, I keep an old magic card at my desk to do that very thing.
Vince, love all your work and your efforts to teach us plebs how to paint well. Could we get some of the techniques you have used in previous hobby cheating videos demonstrated on some 40k or sci-fi type models? i find that the sci-fi types have a lot more hard lines and more open plains than fantasy. More robits? Thanks for all you do.
Yep, you should actually see some of them in coming weeks and months.
Mr masking Sol is a water soluble liquid mask. You can soak the parts in water for 15-20 min and blast it with a air compressor airgun. That's the best way to remove it from hard to reach places and is far better than trying to remove it with a toothpick.
Just ordered silly putty, thanks for the top tips.
No problem 👍
Great video. I would mention that you can buy actual "masking putty", which does the same job as Silly Putty but costs 10 times as much money :P
I am also eager to learn more about masking fluids. There are several different kinds, and I can't tell the difference. Some people also use straight liquid latex. I'd love to see a comparison of these products.
Yes, I left Masking Fluids out of this (mainly because I don't like them, but also because they deserve a whole video to themselves). I will likely pin an explanation of that so hopefully it explains to some folks.
Also, traditional masking tape can leave glue on the model even after trying to ware off its stickiness.
Yep, 100%
Yeah, it's infuriating, especially on clear parts (like aircraft canopies)
Thank you for the Fallout Hobbies idea. I didn’t know they existed but they are exactly what I have been looking for. I needed the .... negative side (?) of a flame stencil and had been having difficulty finding something. Think these will work great.
They are wonderful, I quite enjoy them, great for just laying down a shape to freehand over.
Good shout re the plastic wrap. I repaint 1/12 scale figures, so big chunks of space are not unusual
Yeah, it just makes covering big large spaces fast and easy.
Great video
SurvivalAustria
Thank you, happy to help as always. :)
I love silly putty. Works great.
Yep, it's such a simple and wonderful tool for this.
Kneaded erasers work really well too as a substitute to silly putty.
Good call!
Cheatin' request. How to paint 'brightly' . I see my paint schemes are quite dark and to get a better contrast but how to get that bright and clean look. Thank you.
Sure, I can add it to the list. Let me ask the following questions - 1) Are you washing as a near end step? 2) Are you painting over black? 3) Are you highlighting with some fairly bright colors in limited areas?
Dito I always end up with a dark paint job no matter how bright I start it with me though I think its just a visual problem I have I find for some reason to me at least the pure bright colours just don't look right and I just end up either toning them down or using a dark wash but I'm just weird that way I suppose 😁
@@VinceVenturella
1. Not washing at all
2. Painting over zenithal, white or grey
3. Not highlighting with pure white but making a hot spot from time to time.
If you check giovannidilenaart on instagram and his last Van Saar post you will know what I mean.
silly putty ordered and on the way, thanks!
One of the most useful hobby tools I own. :)
Great and informative video. Thank you again.
Thank you, happy to help as always.
Tried regular making tape for the first time with my airbrush and as soon as it got wet it started peeling up so the paint got right under it.
Yep, it's really better in most cases to use something like the Tamiya tape.
Thanks for the video Vince, the silly putty tip is a good one! Is it any different than masking putty that some sell because I was about to buy some. One other thing that I've used is just a small piece of card for when you have a lot of straight edges that you don't want to go to the trouble of using tape for. Useful for panel modulation on tanks for example.
Nope, same stuff, and it kills me I didn't mention the card thing. I keep an old magic card on my airbrush booth for just that reason.
Thanks. I like the cheap simple cheap ideas =)
Yep, I am a simple cheap man. :)
thanks for the great advicw Vince !! Brantford ont here :)
Awesome, happy to help as always. :)
I use masking tape because I can't find any other fancy tapes locally. How long after a fresh coat of paint can I put masking tape on it?
Well, masking tape is tough, but that being said. I would stick it to your underarm multiple times first to reduce the stickieness. Then I would say as long as the paint has cured for 30 minutes to an hour (based on your local humidity) you should be okay, but there is always some risk of pulling up paint. You can varnish first as well and let that cure for extra protection.
What would you recommend for painting hazard stripes on Space Marine shoulder pads?
Well, I happen to have a video on painting hazard stripes on space marines in a few weeks. That being said, Tamiya tape is probably your friend still. That being said, you can also use a mechanical pencil to lightly sketch your straight lines and then paint them in. My best advice is make the shoulder pad yellow first with your gradient and then do the stripes in black, don't go the opposite direction.
@@VinceVenturella cool thanks
Thanks, very helpful video!!
Thank you, happy to help as always. :)
Silly putty, a real winner.
Hey Vince, penny for your thoughts on this. Doing some chaos knights. Like, a 4k point army. It's a slow project, delayed further by GWS NOT SENDING ME MY DAMN KNIGHTS AFTER TWO MONTHS AFTER PAYING. Actually no store has chaos knight wardogs in the UK, so really just seems like there's a shortage. Even so.
But anyway. I've got the armour panels down fine - putty for large areas, a thin masking tape for lines or hard edges, the armour is great. Maybe I'll get to show you one day.
My issue is with the trim. I'm frankly sick of hand painting trim over an army. It is soul sucking, spine wrenching and possibly unfun.
Silly putty doesn't seem to handle it well enough - it's complex trim, it's spiky and I can't get the silly putty flush with the edge without overlapping trim *and* not being concerned about it not being covered. I'd rather whinge and mutter about hand painting trim over butcher my lovely panels - especially when many already have extra work, with lines, stripes or whatnot.
You mentioned in the comments that various liquid masks work differently with different results - do you think any are suitable for this task? I saw GSW and Vallejo both have one I could get relatively easily.
And yes, I know this is overkill for one or two knights, but I have 8 wardogs and 4 big knights to go - and that's ignoring my brothers imperial knights, that I'll probably have to paint for him. Lot of time on trim I'd prefer to avoid.
So I generally find liquid mask pretty awful to use, but that being said, for plates like that, it can be absolutely appropriate for big knight panels. A good liquid mask is the vallejo one that comes in the short flat bottle, but something like Tamiya or Mr. Hobby is really the gold standard for this. It makes it so the trim is not near as bad.
@@VinceVenturella Hey Vince, it's your favourite (well...) idiot again.
With liquid masking, do I need to varnish first? I just tried it on a spare piece of plastic - mask went on okay, struggled to get a grip on it to remove it, when I finally did it was taking up the glaze, paint and primer with it. This is why we test things, i guess :)
Or was the Mr Hobby 133 (blue masking liquid) the wrong one? It says water based, can be cut, peeled and whatnot.
@@benstaffordson7163 It's generally a good idea to varnish first yes, I don't generally like liquid mask, as it can pretty easily pull paint. I would give it a try again with the varnish (let the varnish cure for sure) and see how it goes. Nothing wrong with your choice of liquid mask.
@@VinceVenturella Ah, sweet. I varnished it after that comment just as an assumption - the satin/ultramatte arrived with the liquid mask, which is fortuitous :)
Can definitely see the issues with our fragile paint layers, but if I get it working over a dozen knights.. anyway. Thank you again as always, you legend
Very nice tips...
Thank you, very much appreciated.
You were looking for 'Positive' or 'Negative' Templates
You are correct. :)
What should I use for candy paints? It's so sticky after I'm done and it's all dry, the paint peals with the mask.
So the key with something like candy coat paints is first to let them cure completely before you try to put the tape over. Then you next step is to take something like this tamiya tape (which I definitely recommend). They key is to take the tape and stick it to the back of your arm or your palm, then peel it, then repeat. This will reduce the tackiness of the tape, but it will still stick and be less likely to bring up other paint.
On Silly Putty. Do the residual oils in the putty transfer to the mini? That was something I was afraid of, and havent tried it yet
Never had an issue or noticed any transfer.
Very informative Vince. Do you ever cut a little hole in the finger of a used glove and insert a weapon, limb or other protrusion though it so to mask what's then left inside the glove?
I have not, but that's a really good idea, I will have to give that a go. :)
@@VinceVenturella Glad to be of service. Now you have another reason to hoard old gloves!
i use that scotch tape and i mainly build 1/24 scale trucks and when i go to do a 2 tone paint job 9/10 i dont get a scraight ege so would it just be how i put the making tape on
Perfect is always tough
@@VinceVenturella but the problem i have is paint would bleed under the taoe and look very tacky would it be how i lay the tape down
@@j.h.customsireland So there will always be some bleed. BUt you can minimize it with a good tape like Tamiya tape and then also be careful how thin your paint is, the more thin and watery, the more likely it will bleed.
@@VinceVenturella i use rattel cans mainly on my truck but if need id isw me air brush
Have you had any success using minimal adhesive masking tapes? My hope was to us low stick masking tape to create custom stencils/patterns that I could airbrush over (for large vehicle surfaces). Now, I am a bit concerned that I may pull up some of my base coat. Any tips/thoughts are greatly appreciated!
I have never tried, but you can absolutely do what you are talking about. I have cut them before using regular masking or painters tape that I then stuck to my arm a few times to erode stickienss and that worked.
@@VinceVenturella ohhh good idea to reduce the tack by sticking it to my arm! Thanks for the advice!
Would painter's tape work for covering large areas?
I would generally avoid it, it's a little too strong and can remove paint. It can work if you are very careful and remove a lot of the stickiness, but it's always a risk.
Update: I disagree on your remark about stencils. they can be used on any shaped surface. I admit though, that it needs a bit of preparation. Also, they should be used accordingly to the size of the area, that's going to be painted.
- - -
I don't see masking fluid, e.g. from Tamiya, Humbrol, or any other brand. Why is that?
I need to put a pinned comment on this and should have mentioned it in the video, but I wanted to do liquid masks separately as they are all very different in performance and deserve more of a head to head. In general, I don't like them much and don't like to use them, but I will give them a full separate review.
because masking fluid is terrible
@@misterPloms that's your opinion. I like masking fluid, as it can cover areas, tapes can't.
@@naphaneal Anybody who has used Humbrol masking fluid will believe all masking fluid is awful ;)
I found Vallejo liquid mask along with the silicone tipped brushes makes liquid masks almost tolerable to use, but it's still the last resort for me.
Stuff like Parafilm and silicone (Centreline) tape can pay you mask some awkward areas without resorting to liquid mask
What is your opinion of masking fluid such as Humbrol Maskol or Vallejo Liquid Mask?
Edit should have read the pinned comment
Yeah, in general, I don't love liquid masks, I'll cover them at some point, but honestly, they aren't worth messing with. Putty is so easy to apply and shape and MUCH, MUCH easier to remove
@@VinceVenturella ah well, decided to get some, I'm making a batch of tokens for OPR's grimdark future and am having trouble finding a masking solution that is practical for masking off that kind of thing
Nice tin foil is one I use with tape.
Good call. :)
Why does Tamiya tape not pull the paint off like ordinary masking tape, doe it have the same stickiness as ordinary masking tape on the underside ? ah I see your trick, you remove the stickiness through use. It's still risky.
No idea, I just no that it's level of stickieness is such that it doesn't grab the paint.
Haha, I feel so stupid for not thinking about my hand, though to be fair, I didn't have to use masking a lot
Sometimes the best tools are right in front of us. :)
Thats what i wanted
Excellent, happy to help as always. :)
Nikelodeon Ass Voice.
Awesome tutorial bro im jk. its really helpful
Just thought I'd mention a couple of things.
Give Parafilm a try I bought a two metre strip of it last year and still have a lot of it left, it's. It perfect for everything but it does some things unbelievably well, a Moggys Miniatures video introduced me to it.
th-cam.com/video/o_wF3Jd-UHQ/w-d-xo.html
For masking tape the way you pull it off makes a difference to how likely it is to pull paint up.
Peel the edge up and fold it so it has a really sharp bend in it (if you can have the not sticky side folded right back onto the still stuck down section) then gently pull it back, the sharper angle makes it less likely to pull paint up. You sort of unroll the tape rather than pull it up (learnt this from masking over wallpapered walls.)
Someone else mentioned the parafilm, I will have to give that a try. Good tip on the Masking tape, totally makes sense.
Aluminum foil
Also a good pick!