"Simple brick painting?" Topic

I've found a few tutorials on TMP about painting the brickwork moulded on the Mars Attacks terrain, but I really just want a "quick and dirty" way of getting it done.

So far what I've come up with is the idea to coat the models in a light brown for the mortar, then dry brush in a brick red. Perhaps using another colour to shade some of the bricks differently.

Do you think this would work as a quick way to get things done (obviously I'm ignoring the doors and windows at this point, I just want to get things off to a rapid start). I don't need anything tI be of display quality, but my main consideration, aside from time, is that I have a brown spray can already and red craft paint should be cheap, so I'd rather not spend a lot extra on top.

Of course, the only way I'll really know is if I get on and do it, but as I probably won't get started for a couple of weeks I thought I'd just throw it out there.

Cheers
Chris

That works fine. I like a gray base for the mortar then a brick red drybrush over that. If you go back and paint about a tenth of the bricks a different sort of brick-like color it looks better.

Thanks. That's good to know. And I have a grey spray can too, so that could work. :)

Really easy. Spray bricks grey. Cut up a dish washing sponge, but leave flat surfaces intact. Dip that into brick coloured paint. Start dabbing on grey base. The harder you press, the more paint goes on and it looks darker. Leaves you with an uneven effect, just like older houses.

All I did for the brick work was paint a sandy colour all over and then rubbed off with my thumb, leaving the residue in the cracks between the bricks and giving it subtle dusty tone all over.

Thanks, both, for your ideas. It makes me very pleased I posted here as I am coming away with some ideas I'd never thought of, and dead simple too!

Much appreciated!

Any pictures of these methods?

It can be done backwards from the suggestions so far. Paint the brick color over most all of it, let dry thoroughly, then use the mortar color as a wash, which can be easily tidied up while wet.

YouTube link

Anything meant to look old could still benefit from dry brushing a random pattern for the bricks.

(Oops. Very similar to Karellian Knight's suggestion.)

Paint all the bricks red with spray can. Get some Tempera paint from the craft store in a whatever color you want the mortar to be -- I usually can't find gray, so mix my own from a bottle of white and black. Be sure the red is dry, then coat the whole thing (and you really slop it on, don't be shy) with the tempera paint and let it dry. Now take a damp paper towel and start wiping off the tempera paint. It's water soluble, so most of it will wipe off, leaving the gray in the mortar lines. If you don't make the paper towel too wet, the gray "film" that's left on the bricks provides a nice random weathering effect. If you like a newer looking building, wipe more of the paint off.