Drybrushing Tutorial – Which Paint Brand is Best?

One item that I neglected to mention in my previous drybrushing post was the importance in selecting the right paint for the job. Whether you select Reaper, Games Workshop, Foundry, Vallejo, Apple Barrel, or some other brand, it will affect your end results.

A superior drybrushing paint is made from finely ground pigments. In low quality paint the pigment is chunkier and this translates to undesired results such as snowballing, excessive dust, and blotchy transitions. 

I’ve had good results from Vallejo Model Color and Reaper MSP paints. I’ve also used Vallejo Model Air Metallics for drybrushing metallic colors. The Dropfleet Cruiser above was done with Vallejo Model Color and Vallejo Model Air. The EPIC Rhinos in my previous post were done with Vallejo Game Color White.

Paints that are airbrush-ready generally have fine particles in them, but they are wetter and require more time rubbing your brush on the paper… so there is a trade-off.

What colors have worked for you? Leave your tips in the comments below.