I have tried a number of the common techniques in the literature for weathering and highlighting effects. Washes work great, even white wash to make painted wood look all desert bleached, pastel powders worked great. Rust-all techniques worked great. Dry brushing has not. What is the trick here? So far, I dab the brush in paint, then paint most of it off the brush upon something unimportant as described, and then try and paint a raised, highlighted feature. I find that to get anything to actually come off the brush and lay on to the feature when it is “dry” requires such smearing, even on a very small scale, that it is tough to be accurate and just paint the small scale feature only. A mess ensues. Can anybody elaborate on this? As of now, “dry” brushing appears to me to be an oxymoron. Help!
There is a fine line between what works and what doesn’t. First, what kind of brush are you using? I use and old brush that I cut most all the length of the bristles off of. They are very short and stiff. It started out life as a 00 if I remember correctly.
Next, and the trickest part, how much paint are you leaving on the brush. I just touch the paint and then tap the brush against a box bottom while adding a slight flick to the brush. Kinda like making many, many commas. I do this until the brush no longer paints a full comma but starts to miss a little then I rotate the brush and kit it a couple more times. Then I paint. Barely touch the surface, left to right. Rotate the brush after a couple of strokes to regain more paint.
Something else that makes a difference is how thin the paint is. Thinner works better for me. And color make a difference too. You can dry brush silver for ever and get those tiny traces you want while Neutral Gray, for instance, only four or five swipes is about all I get.
I also got problems with dry brushing. I managed once to get “acceptable” result. Last time I did it I ended up rubbing off the underlaying paint. Usually I get too much paint on the figure, or no paint at all. I had best results with soft brush, think it was a 00.
The type of paint that you use to dry brush also makes a difference. Because acrylics dry so fast, I have found that enamels are much better for dry brushing. I use Testors in the small bottles as they seem to dry a little slower than Model Master. I use an old brush that I have cut down to about 1/8" in length. After I have dipped the brush in paint, I brush it on a paper towel to remove the excess paint. The rough surface of the paper towel quickly removes the paint. I hope this helps.
I found that the quick drying of acrylics was a pain, My solution is instead of using a paper towel use a baby wipe or similar these wipe off the excess paint but still leave it wet.
ah ha! There are some interesting points brought up in response to my inquiry. I have been using a fine brush, but with normally lengthy fibers to it. Cutting one down for some stiffness, strength and greater precision could really help. Fine suggestion. I have been using enamels, but drying right on the brush still appears to be an issue. But it appears that the main technique involves getting rid of excess paint after dabbing in the jar is the trick and not truly exhausting the amount of paint on the brush. About the time during normal painting of a surface when you are starting to reach for the jar to replenish the brush may be the stage desired for this technique. And with a short brush. I’ll give it a try!
Hi Dave…I was having a lot of trouble"Dry Brushing" too…Then one day I was reading my new Micro-Mark that had came in the mail, when I got to page 65 on the bottem left side is a set of Dry Brushes! I bought them all! Its changed my mind on Dry Brushing…Or you can go to www.micromark.com and look at #81082 its a set of four dry brushes for $22.35 worth every cent…
Also thin your paint…I was using to thick of paint and I read it in here about thinning it and its works!!.. Like the old saying try it you’ll like it! Well I love it!..Theres four different brushes in there to pick from or you can buy all four! I guess you could use any of them and get the results you want but having all four gives me piece of mind knowing Ive got another one if this one is to big or to small…I like to be able to choose! I think it’s better to have it and not need it than it is to Need it and not have it!..I’ve borrowed that from K357 ha,ha…Thats his motto too…