Dry Brushing - Acrylic or Enamel ?

[NARSES2]

Dry Brushing - Acrylic or Enamel ?

I've nearly always read/been told that you get better results dry brushing with enamels,but lately generally through laziness I've been using acrylics. Just wondering what others do ?

[Librarian]

Both, to be frank.

Revells acrylics have been an eye-opener for me. Experimenting with different colours and levels of thinning pays dividends. I find when I first brush on a large expanse it looks awful and streaky, possibly lumpy, but leave and return and a perfect smooth coat awaits you. Extra benefits come from the fact that some enamel colours (red/yellow etc) can require several thin coats whilst the acrylic alternative require far fewer .

[JayBee]

I have only ever used enamels for drybrushing, but I can not imagine any reason why Acrylics should not give a good reresult.
You may have to change your technique a little, but practice will show the best way.
Why do I tend to use enamels? Well in this neck of the woods they are the only thing that is relatively easy to come by. Even at that my closest reasonable source for most modelling is in Glasgow, and that is a seventy mile round trip!

Jim

[Old Wombat]

I have a collection of Humbrol enamels, which I do use, but 90% of my painting is done with acrylics, including dry-brushing (but I do make sure I have a layer of flat clear lacquer down between the main colours & the dry brushing).

[Librarian]

Apologies...bit of a burk, I missed the "Dry brushing" bit. If I'm highlighting cockpit/wheels/pistons etc then I've used acrylics on enamels for years. Works well for me 'cos if it goes too far a bit of acrylic thinner and a toothbrush removes it without affecting the base coat.

[NARSES2]

including dry-brushing (but I do make sure I have a layer of flat clear lacquer down between the main colours & the dry brushing).

I miss the varnish stage out when I dry brush. Can I ask why you do it ? Or is it so that you can remove the dry brush layer if it goes wrong ?

[Dizzyfugu]

Dry-brushing is actually the application of more or less dry pigments that cling to a prepared surface, so the "paint technology" (enamels, acrylics, but also oil paints or even artist chalks or crayons) is of little matter. More important is that you can even-  and lightly apply the pigments.

Personally, I prefer enamels for dry-brushinmg and post.shading, but that's just because I am used to them and have a good feeling concerning the paint's behaviour on the brush and the surfaces. I also rarely add a varnish coat/phase between basic painting and effects, esp. for dry-brushing. When you apply washes, e .g. classic thinned oil paint on enamels (very old school these days, though), things can get messy without a varnish layer for protection of paint or decals. And removing errors is just as complicated with or without varnish - if you have to repair the basic paint layer, the varnish is an extra layer that makes things more complicated and ugly. But who'd make errors, after all...? 

[jcf]

Both, primarily 'acrylics' over the last two decades because of odor
and sensitivity issues with the solvents in 'enamels'. Years of working
with high VOC hydro-carbon solvents in epoxy, fibreglass and paint in
boat, woodworking, art and auto-body work resulted in a limited tolerance
to them. Even small amounts give me a raging headache.

In practical terms, as dizzy pointed out, there is little difference as it's
more down to technique than material.

[NARSES2]

Cheers lads 

As said initially I usually use acrylics nowadays simply because that's what I use for most of my painting and haven't really noticed any difference from when I used to break the enamels out specifically to dry-brush.

[Librarian]

....although I have found some of the 'metallic' acrylics dry damn quickly and clog the brush .

[NARSES2]

....although I have found some of the 'metallic' acrylics dry damn quickly and clog the brush .

Had that happen this morning 

[PR19_Kit]

One of my railway modelling buddies mentioned to me that his attempts at using enamel varnishes over acrylics were disastrous. The varnish stripped off the top layer of the colour coat apparently.

[Mossie]

I use exclusively acrylic and they drybrush well.  I'd recommend thinning them 50/50 with water otherwise you can get a chalky finish.  Kills your brushes though, best to use an older, flat brush.