OK - in that case: How can I make this look less awful....?

[Doug ex-em4]

Right, no sniggering at the back - I'm going to post some pics and they show my rubbish painting in all its horror but I've got to come out sometime....

I was trying to paint this dog black and white, like a border-collie. It's not a border-collie model but that's the finish I wanted...

So, I undercoated in black, then painted most of it in medium grey, then black washed. Then dry-brushed the white bits. Then gave the white bits a grey wash. The result is a ghastly, dirty-looking mess.

Any suggestions for how to remedy this?

















Thanks for looking. I hope you are not traumatised....

Doug

[marianas_gamer]

Doug,
First of all it ain't that bad.  You gave us one of those close up photos that show the flaws in even the best painted minis.  My guess is that if you went with a three or four levels of color you would be more happy.  It looks to me like you put down a base color, painted the chest and the socks and then dry brushed the boy.  How about putting down a base, a lighter coat for the chest and socks, another lighter coat or two, and then a very light dry brush? Just my 2 cents.  I am sure that some of the fellows that really know what they are doing will be by to give you some good advice.
LB

[LeadAsbestos]

I personally believe that drybrush should be used for sculpted textured fur and absolutely nothing else. Even then, use it sparingly. A bit of controlled brush strokes will take more time, but get a much better effect.

[ink the troll]

What might work- repaint the bits you want to be white with thin medium grey paint. Instead of covering the whole area with white in one go, add lots of single strokes* with an off white/ slightly cream colored paint- as if you were trying to paint on the single strands of fur. Add some pure white accents later.

* like on this old wip:

[Westfalia Chris]

Based on the pics you provided, the figure doesn't seem to feature clearly-defined sculpted fur. In this case, I would support LeadAsbestos that drybrushing is not the best method. I would suggest the following:

1. Paint the figure an off-white as a base, or maybe a very light, warm grey such as Vallejo Model Color Deck Tan.

2. On top of this base, layer a mix of the base shade and pure white to cover the raised areas, leaving the base in the recesses.

3. Cover the entire figure in a warm grey wash, such as Vallejo Model Color Medium Grey (987). This should be very thin, and you should remove excess wash from the highest spots using paper tissue after application.

4. Paint in the black areas using a very dark black grey or anthracite

5. Very sparingly and carefully, cover the black areas in a black ink or wash to give them some more definition, particularly in the recesses.

Going from pics of Border Collies I looked up online, the fur coat seems to be rather pure both in the white and black areas. I don't think that drybrushing would work well on the figure due to the soft-ish detail and is generally problematic if one is aiming for a clean finish, so I'd recommend the layering and washing process outlined above.

[Cubs]

I personally believe that drybrush should be used for sculpted textured fur and absolutely nothing else. Even then, use it sparingly. A bit of controlled brush strokes will take more time, but get a much better effect.

This.

If it was me, I'd take a thin brush, with some thin light grey paint, and layer up some dabs (think like a tear-drop shape) with the side/tip of the bristles, all over the areas you want to be white. Then repeat, but with white paint, concentrating more in the middle of the patches. Keep them far enough apart that you can still make out some texture, but close enough to look like thick fur.

Then, for the black, a similar approach, but with a dark grey and then mid grey, and go much more sparingly, to do the black sections. You only need to hint here and there with it, you don't need to cover all the black parts, because the eye is easily fooled by just a dab of texture here and there.

[Lordblackwing]

Some good advice/ideas here. Doug, if I may, who makes the dog? It looks about right for a Labrador, and I could use one for a group project. 

[Orctrader]

...who makes the dog?

From an OOP Cluedo Set sculpted by Mark Copplestone.



Think I heard that Doug has the masters/moulds, but I may have dreamt that.   



As for painting...IIRC the figures had been "polished" so even if there was fur sculpted on the dog, it didn't survive, so a very smooth surface.  I painted mine dark grey, washed with black then did some highlights - black mixed with flesh.  Only a quick job on the dog though.

[Doug ex-em4]

Thanks for all the contributions - I have a lot of excellent ideas to work with. On reflection, those of you that suggested that there wasn't really enough definition for satisfactory dry-brushing are absolutely correct.

Having had a complete rethink in the light of all the replies, I'm ditching the idea of painting it as a border-collie (why did I even think of that when it obviously isn't one?). I'm going to paint it as a black Labrador and use some of the ideas posted here to try and get the black right.

Thanks for all your replies.

Doug

[smokezombie]

From an OOP Cluedo Set sculpted by Mark Copplestone.

Think I heard that Doug has the masters/moulds, but I may have dreamt that.   

Is this true? I would love a set of these.

[Doug ex-em4]

Well thanks, Orctrader for raining on my parade 

I've been slowly painting a set of these and I didn't think I'd done too bad (apart from ther dog). Then you have to go and post a picture of yours

It's not that I mind your painting being so much better than mine - that's just life. What makes me grind my teeth is how good painters like yourself can so clearly see details on figures that I always miss. For eample. Mrs Peacok's clutch bag - missed that completely. The neckline on her dress. I thought it was some elaborate chain-like decoration but now (from yours) I see it's just a simple thing with some pearls. The book in Prof Plum's pocket. I haven't got to that figure yet but I would probably have thought that was just a bit of flash or something. How do you do it? Even though I bought one of those MagEyes things that someone here recommended (and it does make a big difference) I still miss these details.....

In deep frustration

Doug