So I went ahead and tried a wash on my Dusty figure and it was a brown wash, I then did a little dry brushing over it with a light shade of brown to tone it down, then finished with a spray on dull coat, as you can see, something went wrong. Its not truly as bad in person as it is in the photo, but there is a greenish hue in a couple spots if you look really close. I didn't even notice until I photographed it. In person it all looks like the upper right thigh. So in reality it looks dark brown and on film it looks like algae. What is going on here? Anyone have any ideas?

_________________

I'm starting to think I may prefer a factory look. Maybe a little drybrushing.

_________________

It doesn't look bad. But you do need to thin your wash, and perhaps match it to the color a little closer. You are getting deep shadowing on it, and that generally means too much or too dark a wash.

But that said, I think that the look really works for the character. It doesn't look production, no, but it does look good.

Also when I do a heavily artistic influenced work with deep shadowing and drybrushing, I always try to do 3 or 4 of them so you can always pose them together, and they won't have to blend into the rest of your collection.

- R

_________________

if the question is why did it turn greenish, I can't answer that. Maybe has to do with how well the initial paint was mixed, etc... But I agree that it may simply be a question of being too dark for the figure. If I'm shading an already dark color I'd use black or dark brown. But the lighter the base color, the lighter you want the wash to be also.

The other thing is - are you wiping away the excess wash when you apply it? That might help keep it more subtle.

_________________

I used a Vallejo wash and it doesn't really wipe off like others I have tried, like Model Master FX for instance. The Vallejo wash is like a clear coat almost and it dries hard, which is why I had to dry brush a bit to tone it down. I think maybe the green occurred from the testors dull coat reacting with the Vallejo wash. One of the problems I am having is when I try to thin the washes using acrylic thinner, it won't dry properly when applied. My next step was gonna be using rubbing alcohol to thin it so maybe that will dry better when applied. This technique is really frustrating me. At least Dusty looks good in person. I won't be photographing him, but he does look OK enough to display. All my other attempts have gone in the trash.

_________________

It looks good if a little on the dark side.
I don't know how much you've thrown away, but soaking figures in Simple Green overnight strips most hobby paints right off. The factory paint is unaffected (on Hasbro figures at least). Use someone elses' toothbrush and a toothpick for crevices.

_________________

I think he looks pretty good,he does have a bit of wash there but not bad

Is it possible there was green residue on the brush or in the container. There is no way you should have gotten green by painting brown over light brown.

_________________

I don't think there was any residue in the brush. I kind of think there was some type of reaction with the different products. Like I said the Vallejo wash is basically a clear coat. I may not have allowed it to cure long enough before spraying the dull coat. There definitely was no green tint before the dull coat was applied and dried and I tested the wash on another item before doing dusty with the same brush and it is not green and I did not dull coat that. Its a mystery. I fixed it by doing a little dry brushing. No more green now.

_________________

Oh and there is one area in the photo on his left leg, our right, where it turned black instead of green.....so that makes me think it is something chemically going on with this.

_________________

I do see the greens on my better computer, still looks good but not what you wanted a bet