In this post, I wanted to go back to basics and focus on a limited number of colors and just simple painting and dry brushing techniques. We will be trying out newer techniques each week. If you have a style or technique you would like to see attempted leave a comment and let me know!
Disclaimer Links below that go to Amazon are affiliate links that support me in continuing this fantastic way to create and bring you new fantasy art and techniques. Thank you so much for your support.
Enter The Owlbear
This figurine I received a while ago, it came part of my Dungeons and Dragons Official Paint Line Monster Set and wanted to complete some other minis until I did this one. This is a great mini to use the dry brush technique on. But it is a good idea to get a good understanding of what details you are wanting to highlight and understand the Mini as a whole.
Knowing the details
There are really good references on Pinterest as well as a sample color chart on the box that came with the mini but do not expect to have this all the time. In fact, the color chart for the hands I found I really didn’t like and ended up redoing and just dry brushing the detail in.
In this case, I went with just these colors for the mini. But first, we do our base coat!
Base Coat and Details
We start with the owlbear brown and coat the entire mini, get all the parts and pieces. Put on some good music to zen out on and paint on!
Now let’s work on some details.
Using just the colors listed above I have done the following.
- Abyssal Black for Talons, and feather edging, pupils of the eyes and the edge of the base.
- Orc Skin for light tone feathers on the chest and wings, and used for some detail work.
- Firenewt Orange for the eyes.
- Pixiedust Pink for the mouth
- Otyugh Brown was used more as a highlight with dry brushing.
The Dry Brushing Technique
To highlight shadows and corners we would do a wash on the mini, but let’s save that for its own discussion. Let’s talk about what the dry brushing technique actually is and how easy it is to accomplish.
In simple terms it lets us highlight the parts of the mini that are raised higher than the rest of the mini, which is the minor detail items on a figure. in this case, it the wings that appear all over the owlbear. We want to achieve a painting effect that doesn’t just have the same color for the entire wing. we want to highlight things like the wingtips and the calamus (or quill).
To apply the technique, pick the paint you want to use to highlight, I recommend a lighter shade of whichever color is currently painted. In this case, the owl is painted brown (Owlbear Brown) and we are highlighting with a lighter brown shade (Otyugh Brown). This is because in the light these are the places that technically would get the most light in a real-world scenario.
Bring a paper towel and with a medium-size brush dip the brush in some water and then dip in the chosen paint. Now, this next part might seem counter-intuitive but use the paper towel to take off most of the paint on the brush, I like to just paint the paper towel like I would a mini. Do this until the paint is mostly gone. To me, this is when I do not see anymore paint strokes on the towel.
Now go to your mini and start painting the mini as if you were base coating it. do not try to put any paint in shadows or in a crevis. By doing quick strokes in the areas you want to highlight you will see that the top ridges start getting highlights of that paint but not any of the other parts of the mini is getting this lighter color and you are getting what you want. This is super fun to do and you get great detail so quickly.
Amazon Links