If you need some drybrushes, you can’t go wrong with the new Masterclass: Drybrush set from the Army Painter-here’s our review.
This week we are cracking open the new dry brushes from Army Painter. They will save you time, paint and make it all that much easier! When you have a whole army staring you down in the face, you need some good dry brushes. Because speed is sometimes just the name of the game.
We are going to show you how they paint, compare them to some other brush sets, the tutorials they have, and much more! That way you can decide if this set is worth your hard-earned hobby dollars. Let’s go!
Best Drybrushes For Miniatures: Army Painter Masterclass Review
These are the brushes Rob is going to take a look at today. They are much larger than their previous set, all the better to paint faster. Rob is going to demonstrate how they work on his Adeptus Custodes and much more. If you want to grab the brushes for yourself, go take a look here. Let’s jump into the video!
Website Resources:
They have a ton of great resources on their website. Like a store locator, tutorials, easy navigation, etc… They really put the time in to the site to make it a great hobby resource!
The dry brushes are going for only $19.99, like with all their stuff, really affordable and high quality. Before you say it, these have a similar look to makeup brushes but are made specifically for painting, although you could find lesser quality makeup brushes for less. While these Drybrushes aren’t the most expensive out there either, so you won’t have to spend $80 to get a great set of brushes either!
You can see the brushes come in 3 sizes and each one has a different application. Each brush is made of the finest goat hair bristles and seems to holds up to the test of time so far. Rob has had his other Army painter brushes for years already.
If you’re new to painting or looking for inspiration, they have tons on their site about which brush is best for each task. If you need resources, their site is a great place to be!
Compared to the Older Set:
These are a decent amount bigger than their normal set of brushes. These aren’t really made for targeting detailing per ce, more of overall use to hit the whole mini.
Masterclass Drybrush Set Bristles & Brush Cleaning:
Rob has used and cleaned all three, but they all look like new! It’s easy to see how well they have held up and how clean they still look. On top of that, they are still super soft and have maintained almost all the bristles.
Army Painter doesn’t have a brush cleaner and conditioner yet, but Rob LOVES the Jentastic Brush goop and uses it literally all the time. He conditions every brush he’s ever had and still has some of his first can left!
Super awesome stuff and worth picking up for almost any painter out there! You can also see Rob’s tutorial on how to use it here.
For cleaning old dirty brushes, he also uses the Winsor & Newton Brush Cleaner. Again, just a really great little product that makes life easier. To see how to use it, check it out here. Just keep in mind you only need this once, after you clean an old dirty brush the first time, just use the Jentastic goop after every painting session to keep your brushes in top-notch condition going forward.
The Setup:
Here is the mini Rob is going to be working with. He already had the wash and base coat on, for both of which he used Army Painter paints. This was coincidental, but he prefers their metallics over almost any other companies’. So most of his metallics are done with their stuff anyways. He does love the super matte Scale 75 Metallics for some projects too though.
They also make a Wet Pallete, if you want to use any of the blending techniques that they show on their website or just grab one for your everyday needs. He’s also going to also be using a few of their reds to paint today, so you can pick them up here if you want to use the same colors.
For the first dry brush, he’s going to be using a gold/silver highlight. To get the mix ready, put Plate Mail Metal and Bright Gold onto your palette and mix them together. It will produce a super shiny gold color great for highlighting Custodes. If you have a ton to do as Rob does, you can also mix up a whole container of the stuff.
One last little tip, you can throw a penny in the corners of your wet palette to make it last longer. This acts as a Zinc anode and keeps your palette from getting gross, just replace the pennies when they get really bad looking.
Painting With the Dry Brushes:
The less paint you have on the brush generally the better. Dip your brush in the metallic blend and pull the bristles in one direction across the mini in a big highlight. You don’t have to be too careful here either. If you hit another area, not really a big deal. Just a super simple technique that is already making the mini pop.
Rob is done with the biggest brush for now, but before he puts it away he’s going to clean it using the goop that we talked about before. Just put some water and goop in the folds of your hand and move the brush all around. Just make sure to get all the areas that had paint on it and down into the bottom of your brush.
Then just rinse it out in the water and dry it off, and you’re good to go.
He just did a super simple base coat of the cloth with Dragon Red to start with a regular brush. Then He moves to the smaller size of dry brush here and uses the same technique as before. He uses Pure Red this time and hits a light dry brush over the entire cloth. These brushes have so many uses and are great for anything that has raised edges and when you need to save time.
Grab Your Masterclass: Drybrush Set Here!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
