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Drybrushing is like every other technique, there is a time and place to use it, as pretty much everyone else has said so far haha.

You should never not use a tech just because others don't like it, you may well find there are specific parts of models or effects you want to get that that tech can work with very very well.

Blending and layering are fantastic in their own right, but not always 100% of the time. Dry brushing can really come into its own on heavily textured parts of models, or to get a worn effect, or to give a stippled effect over blending, etc etc.

Long story short, always keep an open mind and never give up on any one technique.

I'm not sure why I feel compelled to post this as the thread has been covered and is old. But I want to point something out, that was only touched on in regard to drybrushing results and how "advanced" the skill is.

Dry brushing is no different than any other painting skill, be it wet blending or layering/feathering. As someone who started painting in the 80s, I can tell you that I did nothing but dry brush until the late 90s, and I achieved results equal to virtually anything you can do layering or wet blending. You spend a long enough time mastering something and you can become amazingly proficient at it. You start doing things like dry brushing 7 different colors just on a model's face. You begin to get the amount of paint you use on the brush and the brush control down to amazing levels.

Basically I was doing "dry" layering, I would at times reduce the paint on my brush to an almost pigment level. The gradients were extremely smooth because they were laid with hundreds of strokes, leaving only very fine powdering each time. And you couldn't just slop it over the surface, you had to be targeted in exactly where you wanted your paint to go and at what level of coverage.

That being said, be smart, the key to painting is to master the techniques...as many as you can, and then learn to apply them appropriately so that you paint in a reasonable amount of time. I was burned out from painting, it was only my introduction to wet techniques that brought be back. Why??? Because it took me SOOOOO long to get level 10 (as the previous poster would class it) paint jobs using those techniques. Paint was applied so fine, and with dry techniques you had ALOT of overspray as pigment level dust made it's way to other parts of the model. This meant even more time in cleanup or constant masking and removal.

So while everyone focused on drybrushing being quick, remember, wet blending and layering are quicker for many things..not in fact longer. That is if you are trying to get showcase results. That being said, it's so important to learn all of this and use the appropriate technique, or you will be too slow and when you really want great results, it can result in burn out. For things like fur and bones, there is still no better technique in my mind than dry brushing. Nothing gives you that great organic feel of layering in the fur, or the dry brittle texture in the bones. Heck, I think it makes the best leathers too, as leather is usually a bit ashy and worn. Learn to better control you dry brushing, apply it as you would wet layering, with multiple colors and levels. Of course any good painter can and should disagree with me, because everyone has such a unique style and has learned their own methods...or furthermore has their own taste in appearance. The important thing is to not abandon a technique before you have mastered it, then learn to use it in your arsenal where it makes the most sense for you to achieve great result in a REASONABLE amount of time.