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When it comes to highlighting I normally layer on the highlights or edge highlight. The look I'm going for with my new army, however, is 40k marines in dusty old scrapped 30k armour but my test model (in which i edge highlighted) just made it look cartoony and not grity real life (I'm used to painting cartoonish orks). So I was wondering if dry brushing on the highlights would produce both a weathered effect and realistic subtle highlight? What are your experiences with dry brushing before I waste another test marine. XD

Probably not

Dust doesnt settle on the top of ridges

ususally thats were it wears off the fastest.

I have done dry brushing for highlights and it just looks like you were tight on time.

Dry brushing is often done to simulate areas where dirt has rubbed off. So paint model the "correct" colour, wash or filter it with a brown, drybrush it the original colour again and it'll look like the brown dirt has rubbed away on the raised edges. For this drybrush you want to really work at getting all the paint off the brush but then be relatively heavy with your strokes, it'll give a slightly softer blend. You can do a similar thing but instead of a brown wash use a sand coloured filter, the filter will make it look dusty and the drybrush will look like the dust has been rubbed off.

You can add to the effect and make it look like the paint has been marred/scratched. Do another drybrush of a lighter tone of your paint, do an intentionally scratchy drybrush (leave too much paint on the brush) but be very light with your strokes and focus on the edges which would naturally accumulate scratches.

As a final step you can very very lightly drybrush a light metallic (something like runefang steel) on to the sharp edges, it'll make it look like the paint has rubbed off and is similar to "pencil weathering". You just want the slightest amount of silver on the edges so that you can barely see it but when the light catches the edge it makes it look like the paint has rubbed off. You only want to do that on the sharp edges though, doing on the more rounded surfaces will just come out messy.

These are techniques commonly used by people who paint historic models, making it look realistic rather than messy is the challenge and it takes some practice.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 wolffe wrote:
I have done dry brushing for highlights and it just looks like you were tight on time.

You have to be careful and considered when you drybrush.

Wargamers often treat drybrushing as a beginner technique and do it far too messy, but before wargamers got their hands on drybrushing historic modellers actually used it as an advanced technique.

The green on this model for example is drybrushed to give it a subtly weathered look rather than being factory fresh...


As is the dark grey of this instrument panel...

I don't want to edge highlight though because it doesn't suit the look i am going for so how else could i highlight?

Unless you're pushing for display models or similar I'd say drybrushing is very viable for tabletop figures. Power armor is not the optimal candidate for drybrushing but I've been drybrushing my Space Wolves for ages and have been satisfied with the results. I lack the patience, time, and skills to pull off a clean edge highlight which is why I've resorted to drybrushing.

I suggest trying it on a single model. You can easily layer on top of it if you're not satisfied with the result.

Don't highlight? Base them with a lighter color than your end goal and wash them with a shade to darken leaving the raised areas lighter. I stipple on weathering and use oil washes to darken the recesses with dirt or rust colors. Use a sponge to stipple on a contrasting color to simulate a primer layer showing through chipped areas.

Btw, when i say dry brushing i don't mean just grabbing an ood brush and just going to down on the model. I dry brush gently only on the edges for a more subtle highlight. What I'll do i son pay day I'll grab a box of marines and do a test squad to see if I like it. I'm painting purple so the colour might work well.

 Weazel wrote:
Unless you're pushing for display models or similar I'd say drybrushing is very viable for tabletop figures.

I don't know why people keep insisting on this, drybrushing can be as valid on display models as any other technique. It's all about how well you apply it.

I'd get a cheap lot on ebay, or use extra sprue, rather than buy a sacrificial marine box. Up to you of course.

 troa wrote:
I'd get a cheap lot on ebay, or use extra sprue, rather than buy a sacrificial marine box. Up to you of course.

That's kinda what I meant. Just grab those 3 space marines for £4 boxes they do in my store.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Weazel wrote:
Unless you're pushing for display models or similar I'd say drybrushing is very viable for tabletop figures.

I don't know why people keep insisting on this, drybrushing can be as valid on display models as any other technique. It's all about how well you apply it.

Just to make sure, what is the best way to apply it?

 lolman1c wrote:
I don't want to edge highlight though because it doesn't suit the look i am going for so how else could i highlight?

Without highlighting?

Why not try glazing or shading from a brighter color.

 Desubot wrote:

 lolman1c wrote:
I don't want to edge highlight though because it doesn't suit the look i am going for so how else could i highlight?

Without highlighting?

Why not try glazing or shading from a brighter color.

I already shade using washes so that will be included. There will be layered effects so the brightest colourz will be on top and darkers on bottom. It's more edge highlights i don't want to do.

I use dry-brushing for metallic wear and carbon scoring, but for dust, scratches, dirt, and mud I prefer to water down paints. Vallejo has instructional weathering kits that teach and provide materials to do all of it. I have found these to be a good starting point, granted it's for WWII vehicles.

 lolman1c wrote:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 Weazel wrote:
Unless you're pushing for display models or similar I'd say drybrushing is very viable for tabletop figures.

I don't know why people keep insisting on this, drybrushing can be as valid on display models as any other technique. It's all about how well you apply it.

Just to make sure, what is the best way to apply it?

Well, basically what I said in my previous post....

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Dry brushing is often done to simulate areas where dirt has rubbed off. So paint model the "correct" colour, wash or filter it with a brown, drybrush it the original colour again and it'll look like the brown dirt has rubbed away on the raised edges. For this drybrush you want to really work at getting all the paint off the brush but then be relatively heavy with your strokes, it'll give a slightly softer blend. You can do a similar thing but instead of a brown wash use a sand coloured filter, the filter will make it look dusty and the drybrush will look like the dust has been rubbed off.

You can add to the effect and make it look like the paint has been marred/scratched. Do another drybrush of a lighter tone of your paint, do an intentionally scratchy drybrush (leave too much paint on the brush) but be very light with your strokes and focus on the edges which would naturally accumulate scratches.

As a final step you can very very lightly drybrush a light metallic (something like runefang steel) on to the sharp edges, it'll make it look like the paint has rubbed off and is similar to "pencil weathering". You just want the slightest amount of silver on the edges so that you can barely see it but when the light catches the edge it makes it look like the paint has rubbed off. You only want to do that on the sharp edges though, doing on the more rounded surfaces will just come out messy.

These are techniques commonly used by people who paint historic models, making it look realistic rather than messy is the challenge and it takes some practice.

If you want to find good examples of drybrushing focus your google searches on historic planes and tanks as these are old techniques used by historic modellers.

The key to good dry-brushing is getting enough paint off of the brush so that a single pass of your brush doesn't change the models appearance at all. It should take 3-5 swipes going against the grain to show any subtle results. Doing this with a progression of lighter colors over a suitably textured material will give great results.

Most of people's negative ideas about this technique are from seeing results of too much paint, too few passes, or a completely unsuitable textured area. Standard space marines are a good example of a surface that's hard to make look good via DBing.