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morning dakka,

I'm going to be painting a black tabard for an SM captain. I was thinking of using a dark gray base color (1:1 vallejo black with vallejo german gray), lightly dry brushing with a medium gray to pick out all the folds and then giving the whole thing a black wash to catch the recesses. I know dry brushing tends to leave a chaulky, rough surface, which isn't going to look great on cloth, so I'm wondering if there are any tricks for dealing with that. I could obviously choose not to dry brush at all, but I'm more interested in learning how to work with the technique then to work around it

cheers

Usually when I have done something similar the wash I put over it seems to soften up the chaulky, rough texture you were talking about.

As you said it would probably be better to just highlight normally and try drybrushing a different color elsewhere.

What I usually do with terrain is a gradual gradation. Drybrushing looks chalky if the contrast between the base color and the drybrushed color is too abrupt. Also, i don't think cloth is one of the things one usually drybrushes. Rocks, maybe, or fur. Cloth... not so much.

Drybrushing can work very well on cloth indeed. The main secret is LESS paint. You want to build up the highlights very slowly. You should be just able to see the highlight as you lightly brush the model. Add more layers as necessary. I also like to use a light was over top of a drybrush as it tones down the highlights a touch and helps hide any mistakes.

I usually find that if the brush is a little damp to start off with, the dry brush goes on smoother which is a lot better for cloth. Just dip your brush in the water jar then get it as dry as you can(still a little damp obviously!) then dip in paint and wipe on cloth and then drybrush.

Drybrushing works wonderfully on textured surfaces, but that doesn't mean it can't work on smooth-faced shapes, too. The key, as has been mentioned, is to use a VERY dry brush, working through multiple applications to slowly build up a smooth gradient. The result gives you the same range of tones as a layered highlight, but with much softer transitions (of course, not as smooth as something properly wet-blended). With proper technique, you can get results that look airbrushed, at a glance.

The quickest fix when things are looking rougher than you'd like, though, is a glaze. Thinned ink or thinly spread premixed washes work great for this, as they're translucent. Even highly thinned, paint tends to wash out your newly created gradient more than it smooths it.