I’ve been saying I’m gonna do this post for almost half a decade. Got there eventually I guess.

I humbly regard myself as a master drybrusher. Despite being a “pro” painter who does full ‘Eavy Metal paint jobs and other such crazy shit I still use drybrushing regularly, even though it’s regarded as a messy “beginner” technique that doesn’t really look good. It’s not. Drybrushing can look seriously good, if you do it right. And 90% of people don’t. And so, in an endeavour to fix that (I say that like something more then a few dozen people actually read this blog), here’s my top 5 tips for drybrushing.

FYI, this isn’t a full drybrushing tutorial. I assume everyone reading this knows how to drybrush. These tips are to level up your drybrushing game, not teach you the fundamentals.

Tip 1: Use the right brush.

These Citadel STC synthetic drybrushes are my favourite soft-bristled flat head drybrushes. I’ve been using these for about 4 years and they’re still holding up just fine.

When drybrushing, most people use a big flat brush with stuff bristles. This is fine if you want to be mid, as the stiffer hair bristles are what cause a significant amount of dustiness and harsh transitions with drybrushing. If you want to be good, get yourself a drybrush with soft synthetic bristles. Flat ones work great for more textured areas, rounded ones are best for large smooth areas. Makeup brushes are often the choice for this, but be aware that while the rounded heads are great, some of them are slightly tapered. Avoid these, as the tapered bristles will fall into the recesses of your model and ruin the whole effect.

Good makeup drybrush on the right, bad makeup drybrush on the left. Flat vs tapered bristles. Those tapered ones will seriously screw up your drybrushing.

Tip 2: Dampen your brush.

Publicized by Artis Opus (who have some seriously awesome tutorials on drybrushing, go check them out), dampening your drybrush before using it is an integral part of good drybrushing. Using a fully dry brush is about 60% of what causes that dusty, chalky finish drybrushing is so maligned for (we’ll get to the other 40% later).
When dampening your brush, just get a bit of water on something absorbent (sponge, dish cloth, or paper towel) and use that to dampen your brush (be gentle if you’re using paper towel so as not to get any bits of torn paper into your bristles). Use a paper towel to get rid of any excess moisture (again, BE GENTLE). You don’t want to make your brush TOO wet. Your brush should just feel cool to the touch, not wet or damp, that’s how you know you’ve got the perfect amount of moisture in there.

Tip 3: Use a non-porous surface to work off your excess paint.

Here’s that other 40% of what causes the infamous dusty finish. If you use something absorbent to get most of the paint off your drybrush, you’re getting rid of all the moisture and just leaving yourself with dusty, chalky dry pigment, hence the finish. Using any non-porous materiel to work your excess paint off on will fix it. Using a tile as a palette? Flip it around and use the textured underside for this. Even a sheet of plasticard or a chunk of leather like your old belt can work for this. I love using the inside of the card binding of the Citadel palette pad, personally (see the thumbnail). The surface having a bit of texture is helpful, but not necessary.

Tip 4: Use the right paint.

It’s surprising how many people forget this very basic element of drybrushing. Using thick paint is essential. Thin paints like Reaper or Proacryl just won’t work for drybrushing. If you have to use a thin paint, leave it on a dry palette to thicken for a few minutes before using it. But even then, it’s not ideal. Best just stick to good thick stuff. Most Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, and AK paints should work fine, but always make sure. Citadel even makes a special Dry paint line that’s great (though not essential).
As well as that, NEVER use chalky paints for drybrushing. It’ll make your drybrushing chalky, funnily enough. Slightly chalky paints are ok (I.e half of Citadel’s lighter colours), the kind that’s aren’t super chalky but still aren’t smooth when you layer them. But very chalky paints (I.e all of Citadel’s whites) are a no-no. Since very light colours are often used in drybrushing, they’re the third most common reason why drybrushing has a bad reputation for chalkiness.

The power armour of this Blood Angels space marine was painted with a basecoat, all-over wash, a heavy and then a light drybrush (using the Citadel STC synthetic drybrushes), and a few edge highlights followed by a glaze of thinned red ink. What was that about chalky, dusty, and messy?

Tip 5: Use inks/washes after drybrushing if you need to smooth it out.

If, after all that, your drybrushing still doesn’t look quite as smooth as you like, a glaze of a thinned ink or wash will fix that up. The most common method of painting is basecoat, wash, then apply highlights (such as drybrushing). Try switching up the order to be basecoat, drybrush, and then wash to smooth it out. When using a wash in this way, don’t just slap it on like you usually would. You don’t have the benefit of layering over it to tidy up any tide marks or staining. Apply the wash carefully, in a controlled and even coat. Soak up any areas of pooling.
When using inks or washes in this way, make sure to thin them down to reduce staining and overpowering your carefully done work. You’re not trying to change the colour or your paint job, just tint it to smooth out your drybrushing. Make sure the highlights are a bit brighter then you think you need, as even a thinned the wash or glaze will darken it down slightly.

Quick, here’s a secret bonus tip. Go really light with your brush when drybrushing. I see so many people scrubbing away on their minis with a drybrush, it’s not funny. If you have to drybrush that hard, you don’t have enough paint on your brush (which’ll make it look dustier as well). So many people say don’t put too much paint on, as that’ll lead to harsh and streaky transitions, but not nearly enough say don’t take off too much. There’s a sweet spot that can only be found with practice.

And that’s it. Leave a comment if you’ve got any questions, join the Discord https://discord.gg/646b7T3d99 (lots of Youtubers/bloggers and paint experts in there), BYE.