[GZG] Question for the painting gurus...

One of the most interesting parts of painting for me is the difference
in look between a dry brushed and washed figure.

For instance, two recipes for chainmail:

1) Paint with a colour like flat steel or aluminum (silver if you
must) and run some black miracle wash over it, which blackens in the
spaces between rings. Looks good.
2) Paint with a matte black, then drybrush on the
silver/alumnimum/flat steel. Also looks good.

You can usually tell by looking at a figure which school of thought
the painter subscribes to - paint up, then wash to dull down and throw
shadow into the nooks and cranies, or paint dark and drybrush up the
highlighted regions.

It's not a religion either as you see people freely mix drybrushing
and washing in the same figure (and washing with inks nonetheless).

Not much to recommend one strategy over the other IMO, except perhaps
that drybrushing destroys brushes and washes not so much.

Either drybrushing badly or washing badly (both common the first many
times you try unless you're lucky or have expert insruction) can
destroy a figure and make the effort you spent painting the figure
otherwise seem wasted. I really do understand why some people avoid
both because they just don't want to ruin an otherwise decent paint
job.

But the reality is both are separate skills and hard to master, but
mastering them gives you a range of painting options when approaching
a figure that allow lots of variations in a look and like a good
artisan, you can pick the right tool for the job.

And BTW, the BTEF reference with the transposed dates really does
require some explanation, Mike L. :0)

TomB

-- 
"Now, I go to spread happiness to the rest of the station. It is a
terrible responsibility but I have learned to live with it."
 Londo, A Voice in the Wilderness, Part I

"To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like
administering medicine to the dead." -- Thomas Paine

 Thomas Paine

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