Drybrushing is a little like Chinese Checkers - a moment to learn, a lifetime to master. Most of us are familiar with the basic technique and can get fair-to-middling results. The majority of us, however, are not true masters of the art, and occaisionally get streaks, brush marks, or other artifacts of imperfect technique that reveal the model to be just that - a model.

I've recently discovered a trick (probably well known to many of you) that gives me just a little bit more margin for error with drybrushing with acrylics. Rather than drybrushing striaght from the bottle, I use a misture of artists' acrylic (usually white), the original color of the model being drybrushed, and a dab of acrylic retarder gel. Not only is the color pre-blended with the background (being based on white tinted with the underlying color), the retarder allows a breif period (1-10 seconds) in which the drybrushing can be smoothed or even erased with a stiff, clean brush. In essence, you can correct or erase your drybrushing mistakes before they dry!

I call it my retarded drybrushing technique. #:-)

Cheers Part-timer :-)

That's a neat tip... I'll give it a go next time.

All the best

Rowan