This air elemental was done with
heavy use of drybrush techniques with a pearlescent
white on top of a purple wash.
Once
the figure has dried and you are happy with the base coat
and washing, you come to a technique known as drybrushing.
In drybrushing the idea is to highlight the raised surfaces
by applying a very small amount of paint to your flat brush
and then dragging the brush across the grain of the texture.
If you do not have much paint on your brush, this will only
leave paint on the top of the texture.
Mix
the base color with a small amount of white. This is your
drybrush color, which represents light shining more brightly
off of raised areas of the texture. Wipe the brush on your
napkin until very little paint is seen being applied to the
paper. You are now ready to drybrush. As with washing, drag
the brush across the detail. Don't apply too much pressure
or go too slowly or the brush will have time to get down in
the shadowy cracks that you just spent all that time washing.
The brush should be perpendicular to the figure when you draw
it across. If you want to get even more outstanding highlights,
mix more white into the base color and repeat, this time brushing
even lighter over the details. You can do this two or three
times, getting lighter each time until you may even want to
drybrush with pure white VERY lightly, though this is often
just a bit much. This is a matter of taste, but I tend not
to get quite that white, especially for flesh.
After
drybrushing, be sure to seal the miniature with a matte spray
sealant. It is much better to use several fine coats of sealant
instead of one heavy one. Even matte (non-shiny) sprays will
often take on a shine if applied too heavily.
We
should have three colors applied to the figure so far (besides
the priming coat). The first is the base coat, which is the
basic color applied to an area of the miniature. The second
is a wash, a darker version of the base coat which represents
shadows or dark recesses. The third color is applied during
drybrushing, which represents highlights on areas with the
most direct light. The illustration below summarizes the process
so far.
The
tough part of painting the miniature is done at
this point. I am often lazy when it comes to basing.
Basing really sets apart miniatures that look complete,
and adds a lot to the overall presentation of the
miniature.
The
armor's highlights on this miniature were drybrushed
with silver to bring out the details.
