Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was just looking at one of GW's walk-throughs on painting DE infantry.

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&pageMode=multi&categoryId=400036§ion=&pIndex=0&aId=12400033a&start=1

I don't see a mention of "Dry-brushing" anywhere. Has this been replaced with 'highlighting' ? Can someone explain the difference to me?

Drybrushing is when you apply a colour to a brush and wipe off any water so that the brush is literally dry. You then run the brush accross a model and, as there's no water to carry the paint, it is applied only to raised areas.

Highlighting is a method of giving a model definition by manually painting lighter colours. It's quite diverse: You could apply lighter colours onto raised areas fulfilling a similar function to dry-brushing or (and more commonly), you apply an "edge highlight" by holding the brush 45* to a model's sides (think DA shoulderpads) and putting on a thin line of lighter paint.

In the case of DA, the highlights are the greeny colours on the edges of their armour.

It's a technique thing to achieve the same result (bringing out the details in a model). Basic difference is that highlighting involves painting several progressively lighter shades to "pop" the features of a model, while drybrushing creates a similar effect by dusting the raised areas of a model with a brush that has dried paint on it (a drybrush) with progressively lighter colors. Dry-brushing is a fast 'n' dirty way of achieving highlights. Painting snobs disdain it, as it won't win you any Golden Daemon awards and doesn't appreciably improve your skills. That being said, it is an easy and effective means to achieving a tabletop standard, especially if you're limited in painting skill.

Ah. That technique. I knew what this is but forgot the name applied.

How does one use the highlighting as described above (thanks Henners91 and Skarboy)?

I have always had trouble with paint consistency. Too wet and the paint would sink in and fill a depth; too dry and it'd be an ineffective 'dry-brush'. Then I'd try teeny bits of water to make it more ... pliant (?) and would often simply overdo it.

Practice makes perfect or is there something I missed?

Practice, mostly. I like to thin only a bit of the paint I've applied to the palette at a time. This way, I can simply pull in more paint or add more water if I over-/under-do it. Be aware of how much paint is on your palette and how much water your brush can hold. Sometimes, one drop is actually way too much.

hi
evan as a good painter i find drybrushing has its place.
if drybrusing try to find a nice flat brush
http://snmstuff.co.uk/vallejobrushes.aspx
Paintmaster Flat Brushes

They apply the paint in a nice flat way and hit the raised edges well.

Brothererekose wrote:I have always had trouble with paint consistency. Too wet and the paint would sink in and fill a depth; too dry and it'd be an ineffective 'dry-brush'. Then I'd try teeny bits of water to make it more ... pliant (?) and would often simply overdo it.

Practice makes perfect or is there something I missed?

For drybrushing I use a flat brush like Ranger suggested. The advantage is the different-sized stuff you can drybrush effectively without having to switch brushes.
Paint-wise, I dip the brush maybe 2 millimetres into the pot of paint, and deposit the resulting glob on a piece of printer paper. I find it much easier to manage drybrushing if the paint is thick & tar-like.
The brush I wipe down on the same piece of paper until it appears to be dry. But before I put it to the mini I'll brush it along the side of my thumb. If it gives my thumb a sheen of [whatever colour], without getting into any of the pores in my skin, it's just right. If it gets paint into my pores more paint needs to be wiped off. If it only deposits a kind of sticky dust, then it is too dry.

Mind, this may not be the best way to go about it, and it is VERY destructive to your brush.

For highlighting I use quite thinned down paints (not washes, but getting there), in tiny amounts, just on the tip of whatever brush I'm using.

For thinning paints, I just dunk my paintbrush in the paint (with only half of the brush submerged), then dip it in the water with the paint on the brush and mix the two together on my palette, wiping the excess moisture off onto the newspaper that I cover my desk with.