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Comments
I have done very little dry brushing, particularly on something like this. Give me a short tutorial on what you would do here Bill. Appreciate your thoughts on the clapboard. One thing I did this time on the nail holes...I put the nail hole in with my pointed awl then came back with my #11 blade and on every other or every third or so hole I made a short slit with the tip of my blade right through the center of the hole. This was all done before enhancing the wood grain with my wire brush. This created a "crack" or split effect right where the nail hole was accented by the wire brushing.. Worked real well. I'll try and get a real close shot and post.
Thanks Carl. As I mentioned, the beauty of putting the "utilities", as Bill called them and I'm really not sure what they are!, in that back corner is that it allows me to tone down the look as much as I think it needs as the diorama comes together.
If you haven't done much drybrushing, that area probably isn't the place to learn or practice!
"Quick tutorial" probably wont get it done, but I can steer you in the right direction. First, here's a trick: go back to that picture and look at it with squinted eyes. Squint your eyes to the point that the picture is out of focus. What you'll see are the natural highlights on the raised edges of the castings caused by the light falling on them. Those natural highlights are unreliable depending on the lighting situation the model is in.
Keeping that "blurry" image in mind, the goal of drybrushing is to artificially reproduce those highlights.
Does this make sense so far?
I use a few colors working from dark to light. In this case maybe a medium gray, a tan and a light gray. (All acrylics--probably high quality paint and not craft paint). I almost always use brand new small flat brushes so the bristles and edges are perfect.
Load up the brush with you first color. Work it back and forth on a paper towel so the paint gets all the way to the interior bristles. You want to work the brush back and forth on the paper towel until almost all the paint gets removed on the paper towel. (So, put the paint on the brush and wipe it back off). Test the brush by wiping it on the back of your hand in a spot. If it highlights just the ridges of your skin (like a finger print), you're ready to "drybrush" on the casting. You want to just "catch" the raised edges of the casting with paint. You'll probably only get 4 or 5 strokes before it'll be time to load/unload again. Keep repeating with the lighter colors.
I'm not sure if I'm telling you anything you don't already know, but that's it in a nutshell!
For dry brushing I use a stiff straight brush and I use the blue shop towels to wipe off the paint. It's more difficult to see how much is left on the brush on a white paper towel.
Thanks Joel and I think you're right, it should blend in nicely once the diorama is complete.
Thanks for the thumbs up Phil, I value your critique and thanks for taking the time.
Hey Steve, thanks my man...it's so nice to get the opinions of the resident experts here on the forum and that's what it's all about. Hashing around ideas and bouncing things off each other. Good tips on the dry brushing you mentioned...thanks.
The clapboard siding is about 2.0 mm thick so just cutting a section out would not put the framing close enough to the backside of the clapboards to look realistic. So I laid out my area and shaved down the thickness to just that of the clapboards. This brought my framing close enough to give the impression that clapboards are stock thickness and individually installed. I then weathered the siding to taste. This is a back wall and I put the detail close to the ground in case I messed it up I could cover it with clutter!
Note the Damaged area with a piece of clapboard missing. I weathered the bottom edge to appear very worn with a gradual transition up the wall.
A bit of scale perspective!
Geezerbill
Thanks Bill.
Note the horizontal strap brace across the bottom. I remember seeing this on screen doors in the past. Keeps the thinner door from going out of square and is usually adjustable to take up the slack.
Roof with corrugated and a piece of metal flashing.
Have you tried bridal vail.
Carl.
Carl, That would have been cool! A stencil would have worked great. Not too late I don't think..hmm
I think bridal veil is used for simulated 1:87 chain link fence? I may be wrong there but If so, obviously too big for screen!
Thanks Phil, I'm always thinking of new things to try...ie this was purposely done on a back wall of BlueSky just in case it was a dud! I'm happy with how it turned out.
Geezerbill
Inspiration from a photo found on-line. Note the window security bars...
You should think about moving this business to a better neighborhood if you need metal bars on the doors.
Bryan
What did you use for the crackle effect?