Fly's Studio: Part 4 - Painting The Stones

In case you are just joining us, this series of articles chronicles my real-time adventures preparing and painting Old Glory's Fly's Studio from their OK Corral series of 25mm Western buildings. Because the entire process is an experiment, you'll get to see my successes and mistakes along the way. To see the entire series of articles, click on the Fly's Studio link.

In this installment, I paint the stone foundation.For me, painting buildings is one of the most relaxing parts of the hobby. My main process for painting these Western buildings will be drybrushing. I don't have to worry about being exact, the process is quick, and if I don't like something I just paint it black and start again. Repainting rarely happens.

Step 1: Primer Touch-Up
After the gesso dried a couple days, I came back today and touched up any areas the primer missed, hitting them with a dab of black craft paint. Here you can see the building wall, a nice solid black.


Step 2: Drybrush Americana Graphite
I began giving the stone foundation a heavy drybrush of Americana Graphite, making sure to get some in the massive spaces between the stones but leaving quite a bit of black for deep shadow. This is my base dark gray. Don't worry about getting paint on the wooden walls. It will happen, as the photos show. Because I easily can touch up the primed walls, I do the foundation first.


Step 3: Drybrush Americana Neutral Grey
Every step of drybrushing is lighter than the previous. Not just in color, but in application. Again, don't worry if some areas are darker or lighter than others. Mistakes are good at this point! The one photo shows the contrast between the Graphite and Neutral Grey.


Step 4: Drybrush Americana Slate Grey
Again, a ligher gray and a lighter touch. My camera setup isn't professional, so the subtleties might not show up as well as they do in person.


Step 5: Drybrush Americana Grey Sky
A very light drybrush of Slate Grey to pick out highlights.


Step 6: Drybrush Ceramcoat Antique White
The final drybrush is a very light and random drybrush of Antique White to pick out the top highlights of the rock. Never use pure white because it is too stark. Antique White has a buff tinge, dulling it.

Step 7: Touch Up Black
The final step is to touch up the wood with black. Because I will be handling the building during the painting process, I'll let the paint dry a while before I continue. Plus it gives me time to write this article.


Final Thoughts
At this stage, the stones look good but still a bit "clean." When I am done with the entire building, I will come back and muddy up the foundation and the bottoms of the walls slightly. That will tie it all together, making it look realistic. If I didn't stop to take photos and answer the phone several times, the whole process would have taken no more than thirty minutes. Not too bad for a Friday morning! Now to eat lunch. I'm not sure if I'll continue working on this today. I also have to finish my 15mm Peter Pig WWII guys. I'll keep you posted.