Painting dirt

[Hells_Clown]

I'm looking for tips on how to paint clothes and even skin so that it looks dirty, spattered with mud and all that. When I try to do that it just ends up looking like it's badly painted (well my minis look that way anyway, but I digress).

 

Can anyone give me some tips?

[dargrin]

When I do muddy cloaks I normally take muddy brown or earth brown and thin it way down. 2 drops of water to 4 of paint. I then apply it in layers. Allow to dry between each layer.

[Doug Sundseth]

1) Think carefully about where the dirt would go (if you have young kids, look at their clothes). Usually, you'll want dust around the hems of trousers and skirts/dresses. For really dirty clothing, add dirt to knees, elbows, cuffs, possibly thighs and collar.

 

2) Weathering usually needs to be subtle; use glazes and washes or add a bit of your dirt color to the paint you use for the clothing when you get to the right places (a wet pallette works well for the latter). The technique is fairly similar to sheer clothing (NNN).

 

3) If you want visible spatters, make sure they aren't too large; spatters of mud tend to be pretty small in most places.

 

4) If you're really serious, artists' pastels work pretty well for the dusty look, but the surface is very fragile. They work much better for display figures than for play figures.