Drybrushing Tutorial!

[SDub]

I'm not sure if many people were asking for a drybrushing tutorial, as it isn't the most complicated technique, but hopefully you pick up at least 1 new thing in this video!

 

 

Sidenote: should I not post weekly videos in this subforum?

[hammer570]

I'll leave the official answers to mods and senior forum members, but I appreciate seeing them here.  I did sub to your channel, but I honestly don't check youtube the way I check these forums or social media so I'm prone to missing such updates.  Seeing them here ensures I catch them soon after you upload.

[Doug Sundseth]

Nice treatment of drybrushing.

 

A couple of things you might want to consider for this kind of subject:

• When you describe an effect, it helps to show it and a contrasting piece. Example: "Drybrushing can give you a 'dusty' look. Here's a figure highlighted with drybrushing and here's a figure highlighted by layering. If you're looking for trailworn, drybrushing can be very effective; if you're looking for parade ground, you might want to use a layering technique or something similar."
• Similarly, it can be useful to show how a technique can go wrong and describe what to do to recognize and avoid that. Example: "If you the paint on your brush is too wet, you get obvious brushstrokes and heavy and rapid paint buildup that looks like this. The same brush strokes with a drybrush paint load will look like this."
• Finally, showing side-by-side before and afters of a relatively subtle technique like drybrushing (possibly with stills rather than video for the comparison) can make it more obvious why and when you might want to use it.

The only minor negative I saw was unsynched video and voice cuts, which were a bit jarring for me. That said, though, the presentation was clear and easy to understand. Good work.

 

(And FWIW, I'm glad to see these here. I don't know of any rules against republishing videos here so long as they follow the other rules. Moderators will be happy to let you know if there's anything you need to change.)

 

Good to see you back.

[SDub]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

 

@Doug Sundseth

 

I think you're definitely right. I could have had more visual information alongisde my verbal information. In regards to the jarring cuts, I'm using what an editor refers to as a "J cut." The audio for the clip starts before the video does, but they're always synced up on the time line. Splitting up the cuts like this helps to smoothen the transition as cutting both audio and video at the same time is quite jarring. However, that being said, it seems like most people who watch my videos don't care for the J cut, and instead think it's a mistake! So, maybe I'll reconsider my editing choice.

[Doug Sundseth]

I think if you were to use a short fade on the video cut rather than a jump cut the J-cut would work better. (FWIW, I didn't think it was an error, but wanted to mention the effect it had for me.)

[DixonGrfx]

J cuts aren't so bad. But yours seem a bit exaggerated. Not sure if the gap between the audio start and the video start should be shorter, or if the next cut starts too soon (where it feels like a visual run-on sentence).

[SDub]

J cuts aren't so bad. But yours seem a bit exaggerated. Not sure if the gap between the audio start and the video start should be shorter, or if the next cut starts too soon (where it feels like a visual run-on sentence).

 

You know that could be it. I asked my dad to watch one of my videos to see what an older generation thought of it and he mentioned that it's too much information too fast. So, I may just be going too quickly.

[Kheprera]

From a watcher's perspective (and this is my personal opinion and the videos I've been involved in have been strictly work-related), the cuts are very jarring for the type of video you're doing (I'm a project manager for the training area for a branch of government). When you're instructing, you want people to focus on the instruction, so when you have these jarring cuts where everything is out of sync, it detracts from the instruction and suddenly I'm focused on "wow that cut was weird and jumpy" instead of listing to what you're saying and showing. Transitions between cuts should be smoother (and trust me, I know how hard it is to get audio and video to sync).

 

As for the information itself: The information was good. The examples, I think, needed more contrast to really see the effect. I wasn't able to see much of a difference between the before and after. Maybe it was just me (I haven't had my coffee yet... really should do that). The previous video I could really see the highlighted edges.

 

And I'm speaking as one of the "older" generation (I'm almost 50... argh!!!)

 

I loved the showcase minis this week. Those were awesome.

 

I love how short and to the point your videos are. You might talk a bit fast, maybe...? I don't know. I was able to follow you okay, and being a Southerner used to a slow Texas drawl, there's been times I've had to tell people to s-l-o-w-d-o-w-n because they talk like a Hyper-Zoom Pixie who just drank her 8th cup of energy drink-laced coffee. You're also very relatable on-screen, connecting with your audience with a gentle humor and not trying over-hard to be funny or silly or over-doing it.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Kheprera

[SDub]

Those are some good comments about instructional videos v.s. flashy editing. I'll consider something less detracting from the video. Maybe masking the cut with some b-roll is the answer for most cuts; that would be the least noticeable. Syncing isn't too difficult. I just do a clap at the beginning and then there's a visual audio spike in the beginning of the track for me to sync with. As long as both devices are recording with the same frequency, shouldn't be any drift/sync issues :)

[Blubbernaught]

Curiosity brought me to look up J cuts and I stumbled across a a tip 'In reality, while you're editing you probably won't be thinking "I should start a project that employs lots of J-cuts and L-cuts." As usual, the best editing is the editing that no one notices. The same applies to J-cuts and L-cuts. They should be used to subtly aid the flow of your videos and to keep your audience focused on the story you want to tell.'  For myself and it seems for others who have commented the cuts are a small distraction from the focus of the videos.    Maybe not the cuts themselves, but when several such transitions are done one after the other in a short span of time it becomes much more noticeable.  It almost ends up looking like the video is lagging from the audio for a moment.   Sort of like watching a streaming video when there's not enough bandwidth and it can get choppy and doesn't feel like a smooth flow.   

 

Not really a complaint, just an observation.   I like the videos and the way the quick, to the point style.   Keep'm coming.     

[Kheprera]

Curiosity brought me to look up J cuts and I stumbled across a a tip 'In reality, while you're editing you probably won't be thinking "I should start a project that employs lots of J-cuts and L-cuts." As usual, the best editing is the editing that no one notices. The same applies to J-cuts and L-cuts. They should be used to subtly aid the flow of your videos and to keep your audience focused on the story you want to tell.' For myself and it seems for others who have commented the cuts are a small distraction from the focus of the videos. Maybe not the cuts themselves, but when several such transitions are done one after the other in a short span of time it becomes much more noticeable. It almost ends up looking like the video is lagging from the audio for a moment. Sort of like watching a streaming video when there's not enough bandwidth and it can get choppy and doesn't feel like a smooth flow.

 

Not really a complaint, just an observation. I like the videos and the way the quick, to the point style. Keep'm coming.

^^^This^^^

 

Bolded: Especially in a "Talking Head" segment, you want your dialog to flow smoothly to look like one, single take. One of the things I learned at Videomaker (work flew me out to attend a week-long course) was that when you're watching something, like a movie, you don't realize that a single scene can be comprised of so many different takes melded together. A 10 minute video/movie clip could have taken 4-5 hours just to shoot even if the location is static!

 

It's not the scene transitions that jar so much but the cuts in the scenes spliced together that seem like they're supposed to be all in the same "take."

 

Keep the videos coming, though. I'm always of the opinion that I don't learn or can't change if someone doesn't tell me about stuff!

[SDub]

" As usual, the best editing is the editing that no one notices. The same applies to J-cuts and L-cuts. They should be used to subtly aid the flow of your videos and to keep your audience focused on the story you want to tell."

 

This is something that's important to remind myself of. I'll try to be more subtle about my editing as for it not to detract from the content of the videos. As always, your guys' feedback has been invaluable. 

[Keianna]

Another thing to consider is trying to have your examples show the most contrast you can. The figure you showed was difficult to see the difference on. Either a white drybrush over a black figure or an ivory over a dark brown just to illustrate the technique would be preferable. One of my cooking school books had this problem when they took pictures of vegetable cuts. They used a very white vegetable on a very white cutting board. Exaggerated contrast for the purpose of instruction is helpful.

 

Other than that, this video looks good. I have not yet watched your others yet, but I will add them to my list.

[Sanael]

What Keianna said. For instruction, sometimes you need to go beyond the natural point sometimes...the dryad and the space marine both had some issues in the video, in that your drybrushing wasn't hugely contrasting (so it flattens out under bright camera lights) and your basecoat was mildly satiny (rather than matte), so it was hard to tell what was a highlight from.paint and what was a highlight from lighting. The space marine in particular had the satin issue.

 

This is why I like the idea Doug had about B&A shots being stills instead of video. Using stills, you can set up your lighting to be more advantageous to the subject at hand (I assume your video setup is pretty general at the desk), and reshooting is easier if necessary.

 

As for the editing, I noticed one jarring moment...right around 30 seconds in is a big J-cut that really looks laggy...especially when I watched on my phone. I personally didn't notice any that seemed distracting during the shots at the table.

 

For posting here, the mods will let you know if there's an issue. I would also suggest including your name or your series' title in the thread header, so we know what to expect when we click on the thread. So, instead of "Drybrushing Tutorial!" You might title the thread "SDub: Drybrushing Tutorial" or "PaintMoreMinis: Drybrushing." I would also suggest you start tagging these threads as "PaintMoreMinis Video" or similar, so folks can easily find relevant threads (it addition to the topic tags you already use).

 

And hey, check out those Hordes models! Glad you saw some more diverse submissions this week! Cool stuff.

[SDub]

Thanks, Sanael and Keianna!

 

Yeah,  a lot of people have brought up the issue of not being able to really see the effect of the drybrush. I may need to exaggerate the technique if I'm doing a video about a technique. Good suggestions. I'd like to see some reaper minis from some folks on these forums :)