Remaking of the Ridley Keystone & Mountain

[tompm]

Bricks, especially with mortar joints that are very lightly recessed are certainly a challenge. Perfection, meaning every single brick and mortar joint is uniformly colored with the "correct" color is (in my opinion) impossible, and doesn't look "real" anyway. So, here's my thought. If you look closely at every brick building, you'll note that despite the brick manufacturer's attention to detail, the color of each and every brick is not the same, especially if there's dirt, smoke, mud, etc. I'd suggest maybe taking what you have already (which is a great base!) dry stipling other colors close to the brick color as well as blacks and browns (light and dark) to the face of each brick face. The dry stipling would be done by lightly loading the small brush and then removing almost all of the paint (either on a pad or paper towel). At first you might think the initial attempts stand out like a sore thumb, but if you blend a bunch of different colors across the surface, you'll get that random effect that mimics the reality of a brick wall. Also don't be afraid to add whites stipling in some areas as the mortar itself tends to bleech out over time. I'd also suggest having no expectation that you'll get it right the first time, since you can always blank out what you've done and start afresh. I use this technique in virtually every scenery project I approach - whether that's rocks, water surfaces, or weathering. Another guiding principle I use is taking the view of the project from arm's length. All too often we're right on top of the structure where we see "imperfections", but if we hold it at arm's length, these imperfections tend to balance out. 2 cents for free!

Todd I know what you are talking about. That was problem with my first attempts; they were too perfect. There was no variations. With the drybrushing I am getting more than one shade and it is random. After I get this painting done and the building assembled I will go back and do some weathering.

The hardest thing for me to overcome in modeling was realizing the real world is imperfect. There are variations and imperfections everywhere.