tiny dry brushing ¬_¬

[ManicMan]

okay, I'm not expert at dry brushing but that doesn't matter too much in a way. I know how to remove alot of paint (most of it) from a soft brush and rub it (kinda) over to get just the top bits covered but here is a thing...

Dry brushing, as I see it mostly, can be a bit messy and while you can control it, you may need to touch up some edging.. so how do you go about dry brushing SMALL areas.. like small recessed areas. Not on any particular figure but if you have a furred character, who is wearing robes.. but you want to dry brush the fur which can be seen between folds, how would you go about that?

best I can think is to forget about dry brushing and to just shade it down more then up.. Just wondering about some general ideas of how people do it cause even the basics, you should see and ask how other people do things ^_^

 

[Eric]

I generally don't and I just paint the highlights. That said I have a small smooshing brush from Rosemary & Co I use for dry brushing and I see they now do an extra small, so something like that could be an option!

 

[Michael Stockin]

Not on any particular figure but if you have a furred character, who is wearing robes.. but you want to dry brush the fur which can be seen between folds, how would you go about that?

Not being flippant, but use a small brush?
I rarely drybrush figures but when I did, I would use my regular brushes.
I know there are drybrush brushes these days, but I never use them.

The only time I use a big brush for dry brushing is on terrain.

 

[ManicMan]

yeah, but small brushes I got are for detail work. If i used them for dry brushing, they would kinda ruin the tip

 

[Eric]

I bought a pack of cheap small brushes for doing work with my weathering enamels and pigments. So they can get ruined and I don't mind too much.

 

[Michael Stockin]

yeah, but small brushes I got are for detail work. If i used them for dry brushing, they would kinda ruin the tip

People do say this but I am not sure how?
Maybe I drybrush differently?

Mine are all fine.


When I dry brush I gently 'stroke' or 'pull' the brush down its length and then wash it as normal.

This is a terrible way to show how I do it:








I see some drybrush brushes and they look you rub them all over the model like you are applying blusher?

 

[ManicMan]

I have had blusher applied to me, but never applied it myself (I was an ugly sister in a panto ^_^. and had to leave the second performance after my part was done as I had a Saxon concert to attend) but I'm pretty sure I'm heavy handed with alot of things I do, so that might be a issue.

also dry brushing tiles is much easier then my highlighting them one by one. that takes some time.

 

[Michael Stockin]

Oh I don't drybrush the tiles. I paint them one by one and paint on the grain.



That was just something on my desk to show direction.

 

[The Serene Badger]

I can't get on with the makeup brush style, they seem too soft? I find it just paints stuff, no matter how much I take off. I'm sure it's just a skill thing, but I get on better with a stiffer brush.

@Eric - how are the rosemary and co smooshing brushes? Those two little ones look like they could be so much better than the soft ones I've got, even the smallest from the set is too big.

 

[Brother Meredith]

I tend to use a unified drybrush (Pale Sand) and not worry too much about precisely matching the base colour. Also have some small knackered brushes if did want a more focused drybrush?

 

[Deadestdai]

I don't drybrush tiny detail like you described, just painted on a bit of highlight to the highest raised areas so there's contrast and depth in there somewhere using a teeny brush.

 

[Eric]

@Eric - how are the rosemary and co smooshing brushes? Those two little ones look like they could be so much better than the soft ones I've got, even the smallest from the set is too big.

I like them. As I understand it R&Co make the formal dry brushes for Artist Opus and those are a slightly different blend of hair (goat), but evidently I assume based on the these older smooshing brushes (badger). They also do their own range of Dry Brushes individually or in a set. I'm sure I've seen the Artist Opus ones talked about being goat hair so I would assume they are much the same. I've never used those so I don't know how much softer/harder goat hair is.

I've a Large, Medium and Small, which were the only ones they did the many many years ago when I bought them. I find them stiffer than the typical synthetic makeup brushes and so prefer them for that reason. I do use a few small super cheap makeup brushes for metallic dry brushing because it'd be a total nightmare to get the mica out of these, so I've some stuff to compare to. I've got a handful of other official dry brushes from GW/Army Painter and so forth, but I find they splay out like crazy after not too long, these have kept their shape rather better.

I've considered the Artist Opus dry brushes and the R&Co, but to be honest these three are still going okay so probably won't get those. I'll probably get an XS if I make another order with R&Co. as one to dry brush little areas would be nice, but to be fair any old brush does the job at that scale I guess. I only use the large one on terrain really. Anyhow I'm glad I have these in the tray as an option, I'd certainly get them again.

I've a feeling Army Painter also do a formal set of dry brushes in the "make up" style now, not sure if they were natural or synthetic hair, but I remember noticing them when I was idly looking at the Artist Opus range because they were a lot lot cheaper (which could be good or bad!).

For scale reference: