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Hello all,

I’m currently working on a city of death modular terrain/table with amera buildings. I have basecoated the buildings dark grey and will drybrush them with a light grey. However to give them a bit more color I want to use a little bit of brown on some spots to give the buildings a more gritty dirty look. You see that a lot on warhammer city of death buildings and on custom build city of death terrain on forums. My question is how do I get that look?
Should I drybrush a little dark brown on top of the light grey drybrush, or should I paint the brown before the light grey drybrush? Or should I use washes?

Thanks in advance!
Mike

Different methods will give somewhat different effects.

Drybrushing leaves a somewhat chalky finish, good for representing dust. If the buildings are based on dirt, a brown drybrush around the bottom of the walls would be appropriate. This is usually done as a final step, without targeting the edges, which would mask your highlights (if applied heavily). If you want a more subtle, overall effect, drybrush your brown lightly in random patches before your light gray highlights - this will tint the base color and provide some variation, while the final gray highlight ties the look together.

If, instead, you want to represent streaks of rust and grime that have run down the walls or pooled in the recesses, a thin brown wash makes more sense. Washes are a bit more distinct than drybrushing, so it's best to target places where water would pool and/or run - downward from bullet holes, rivits, pipes, etc. or in the recesses around buttresses, window sills, door jambs, etc.

test on some scraps. Its very subjective.

Personally, I like base-coating a darker color (say...,black) then bringing it up with lighter drybrushes...then maybe a colored wash here or there for rust or other color effects.

There are a ton of methods... experiment and share what worked for you!!!

Thanks for your response
I posted two pictures of two different buildings. I want to achieve those kind of effect. To get a little bit of color into the buildings in order to break the black/white/grey dullness. I also posted two pictures of my terrain (without the darkgrey basecoat).
Some people say that it is achieved to drybrush a little brown after the final light grey drybrush and others say the brown should be drybrushed before the final light grey drybrush.
Thanks!

Those painted buildings definitely have added texture. Could be a textured aerosol with the window type areas masked off. I use texture paint on all my Amera stuff. (http://atticwars40k.blogspot.com/) You can see a few in my blog but I haven't posted any pictures of completed pieces yet.

Your table looks totally awesome btw; I really can't wait to see the final results. I would suggest trying Oil Washes.

Prime, mask, spray texture, remove mask and spray desired base color, add further base coating, GLOSS, then add oil wash everywhere (it will fill cracks and drip and do things that make for very realistic wear and grime), then MATTE.

What are you using for footprint/bases? Anyway, keep us updated!

you should try out modelmates weathering spray...
its a spray on dye that you can rub off with a towel to get it right into the spots you want to