What techniques do you use for depicting dusty boots? I am working on a tiger tank crew at the moment.

pigments might do the trick. I'm not sure, i have the same question

Tamiya weathering sticks are great, and so are the 'make-up sets'. but i prefer ground up artist pastels from most artist stores, they have a wide range of colours and a generaly inexpensive, i find the colour which matches the ground work or dirt i want to replicate:
materials: card-paper, pastel/s and a old brush

1; I rub the pastel softly across a peice of paper card-paper leaving a few crumbs so to speak.

2; then brush the the paint brush acrossthe streak mark and the crumbs softly,

3; softlybrush the tainted brush across the prepainted figures boots in a upwards motion.

it may tke a few trys and the best thing is water removes it quite easily so you can start again.

Hope it helps
Mat

I use MIG pigments Dried Mid on the boots of my 1/16th scale figures and it leaves a descent dusty boot look. Should probably do the same for small scale figures

When you speak of pastels, do you mean the harder chalky ones or the regular soft (classic if you will) pastels?
Mig pigments are not available here, and not a financial option at the moment.

Hi

If buying pastels from art shops etc. to "do your own thing" it should be Chalk Pastels not Oil Pastels.

Alan

Ah. that is what I thought. I have some chalk pastels. I will try them out this evening.

Mig Pigments are. IMO, the best for this kind of work - simply because they are a much finer grain than you can obtain from grinding down chalk pastels.

Most figure modellers will probably tell you to simply and very lightly dry-brush the dirt, dust, mud etc on...

I am no expert,but I like the way Mig Pigments work.

has no one read this?
i would say try the chalk pastels andf try dry brushing mud:)
good luck

A combination of db'ing and extremely light pastels - and only to make the transition between the dry sand and the boots/trousers.

You've probably figured out what to do by now, but I came across this picture of a figure I did about 5 years ago now. While the intent at the time had been to show dry mud, IMO it looks more like dust. This was done by dry-brushing enamels, building up the layers where I needed it thicker.




More photos in my gallery - go to page 3.

Rudi

Chalk pastels actually have a much finer grain than pigments if you grind them correctly (I use a piece of fine mesh). But that is their weakness - pastel dust will stick to everything and is impossible to remove, while pigments are easier to control and remove if so desired.

imo migments are second to none for subtlety. however i believe you may find natural dust fairly effective for this. pastels are great if you can find the right colours, all of mine seem to be missing except garish greens and oranges. a bit of dry brushing with mud colours before pigments, (or substitutes for pigments), will probably help.