WHM said:
I've seen his site and printed out the pages, but he uses enamels and I acrylics. Did try enamels but had some problems so have stuck with acrylics.
I use water in place of turpentine logic being if a step requires the paint to be thinned then the correct medium would then be water.
What is not clear is when drybrushing what color is used, the base color or the camo color and does it overshadow the color beneath?
Anybody get good results w/acrylics?
I use a lot of acrylics. I have a fair collection of Polly-S and Tamiya paints. I also use enamels, including Testor's (basic) and Testor's Model Master. I will very often use a variety of acrylics and enamels on one model.
I follow the Ritter method pretty closely, with only modest adjustments to my own tastes. (Note that the Ritter method is very different from the method 1ComOps describes).
The basic steps I follow are:
1) Prime
2) Base coat
3) Camo
4) Wash
5) Detail
6) Dry brush
My most common painting is with a white spray primer (most often Testors Model Master now, though I prefer Floquil when I can find it). Then a Model Master enamel spray-on base coat. After that, most of the detailing and weathering are done with acrylics.
If I am doing camo with acrylics, I do that next.
Then I do the wet washing. It takes a bit of practice and experimentation to get right. Still, I have stuck with Ritter's basic method.
I have found several detailed techniques that help keep me happy with my Ritter-style washes.
I use the plastic off of GHQ blister packs as my paint pallette. I fill up one buble about 1/2 way with water. Then I touch my paint brush to the tip of a dishsoap bottle and stir it into the water to break the surface tension. Then I dip the paint brush into black or dark brown paint, pull it out, and stir it into the water. Repeat the dip one more time. That's it. Two dips to a half-full bubble of water.
Then I wash it all over the whole model. No saving any part. Completely wet, top to bottom. Move on and do the same to the next. After I've done this to about five models, I go back to the first. Judging the timing on this is important. I want the wash to be starting to dry, but not yet dry. Kind of sticky wet. Then I "beat it up" with a flat-headed redsable brush (just like Ritter says to!). Whish, whish, whish. Left-right left-right. Rotate the model a bit. Left-right, left-right. Rotate a bit more. etc. Once you've done a full rotation of the model, go on to the next.
It feels like you are completely painting your models black. Then like you are taking off all of the wash you just put on them. You'll wonder why you're doing all that, just to get back to where you started. But ... when you're done, you'll see that there is still some shadowing left in the recesses, and the whole thing looks a bit dirty. That's what you wanted to achieve. However, as a result the model may look a little darker now. That's OK, for the moment.
Then on to detailing, mostly with Polly-S acrylics. Tracks I do in "Grimy Black" or "Oily Black" if they are rubber-tracked (U.S.), or in Tamiya "Bare Gunmetal" if metal (Soviet, Italian). I prefer Polly-S "Oxidized Aluminum" for metal tracks, but I can't find it anymore. Tires should also be done with "Grimy Black" or "Oily Black" (I did my Italians with "Night Black", and now regret it. Too black.)
More and more often now I am using razor-point markers for camo or detailing. I have green, brown, blue, yellow, red, and black. Much of the detailing on my Italians shown a few weeks ago in the "Show Us Yer Stuff" thread, such as the camo on the AB41 armored cars and the insignias on the Macchi C.200 fighters, were done with pens.
One thing I have discovered, though, is that if I am using the pens, I have to do my overall wash first. The "beating up while it is sticky" phase makes a mess of the penned-on inks. Experience has shown me that I should wash first, then camo, if using the pens.
Very much in the details now, but I have also discovered that if I want to make the camo look "soft-edged" like an airbrush can do, I can achieve some of that affect by using the pens, and then doing a clear-water wash. But don't beat it up, just put the water on, and let it dry.
Now some detail washes. Grillworks get a wash of black that is not so heavily diluted (maybe 5 dips of the brush for a half-bubble of water), and tracks get a particularly sloppy wash of Polly-S "Rust" that is only diluted about 2-to-1 by water (always using that dab of dishsoap). Sloppy in that I wind up washing all over the running gear in the process. Then I dab the running gear a little with a sable brush to wick away the excess.
Next is dry-brushing. I use Polly-S acrylics. The idea is to use a lighter shade than the base-coat.
This can be done by taking the base color (or a near approximate if you've changed brands between base coat and dry brushing, like I do), and mixing it with 2 parts base color, 1 part white and 1 part yellow, or some similar mix. Experiment a bit to find a mix you like.
In my case I seldom mix for dry brushing. I have chosen a few ready-to-use colors instead. I use Polly-S "Sahara Sand" for dry brushing over Forrest Green (Soviet) or Olive Green (U.S.) vehicles. It is a light green/beige color. Works fine for my purpose. I use Polly-S "U.S. Khaki" for dry-brushing brown vehicles or "Soviet Khaki" infantry. It is a brown-tinted tan. I use "Flesh" for my Afrika Mustard colored vehicles (like my Italian tanks).
I use a long, fairly bushy brush. Dip it fully in the paint. Put it on a cloth or paper towel, fold the cloth/towel over it, and press/squeeze out all the paint you can. Once.
Then brush the model all over with very light strokes, with particular attention to areas with greater detail (bolts, rails, grills). Some models more, some models less. Go a little light on large unfeatured surfaces or rounded surfaces. Adjust to taste.
Yes, you do cover up some of the base coat. But mostly on the raised surfaces/features. So they become more visible. The occasions when you also get some showing on an unfeatured flat surface just wind up making it look dusty. That's OK. It makes the model look a little lighter overall. Kind of re-balancing it from the slightely darker state it was at after the wash.
Sometimes I will also do a dry brushing of silver over the tracks. Or not. I haven't yet decided whether I like that step enough to make it a regular event.
For infantry, I change the order a little. It becomes:
1) Prime
2) Base coat
3) Dry brush
4) Detail
5) Wash
It's fun. Takes practice. Takes some experimenting. But it's fun. The results are kind of like magic. 'Cause it looks so cool. So you'll want to run around and show the results to the wife, the kids, the neighbors, anyone you can corner.
Don't. They won't understand. Instead, take some piccies, and post 'em here. We're here for you, to help you work through this issue -- the sorry lack of appreciation of your art. We appreciate it. Really, we do. Show us some more.
). Gotta constantly try to remind myself when to do which step. Get it wrong probably half the time, and wind up going back to re-paint tracks that were done before the dry-brushing instead of after, etc.