From: Tom B <kaladorn@g...>
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 17:23:08 -0400
Subject: [GZG] gzg-l@vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu
_______________________________________________ Gzg-l mailing list Gzg-l@vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu http://vermouth.csua.berkeley.edu:1337/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gzg-lI'd say assemble first Mike. Take a few seconds to file off any sprue flash. I find it easier to work with the whole mini and there may be directions you want to work your brush that the sprue would impeded. Drybrushing reminds me a bit of the sport of curling. Those guys take corn brooms and whack them back and forth to clear the path for the stone. It looks like there is a lot of brush movement for the small path they have to clear. So a certain extent, this reminds me of the action of drybrushing. A light touch, many passes, very small changes. If you make one pass and see fairly noticeable amounts of change, you've got too much paint. It can take you 4-10 back and forths over an area to see the change you want. And if you're doing it in layers (drybrush dark grey, then light grey, then white), you'll want to be very careful to have a dry enough brush for subsequent layers and a lighter touch than the first layer/fewer repetitions. With this, you'll brush up with a little dark grey, less light grey, and even less white, but the end result should look just fine. Then you can work on picking out details. Sometimes after that, another final drybrushing pass is useful too. Painting is an art. Two people can paint the same mini even aiming at the same sort of look and end up with different looks because of painting techniques. As you practice, you try out different options (always keep an ear open for new things to try). Eventually, you find the techniques you learn to do well and sometimes quickly and you find out the techniques that produce the look you like best. Rome wasn't built in a day, neither was a good painter. Rome left lots of dead bodies in its path to glory and a good painter came from a mediocre or bad painter by way of a lot of less than perfect mini painting. Just don't get discouraged - given time and patience, you will improve. TomB