So this is at first thought maybe a simple thing. But I always found getting the color of shifting desert sand right to be strangely elusive.
My desert sand either looked too much like dry brushed dirt, or it came out too light. Always too much or not enough contrast.
So when I got my latest Star Wars Legion expansion, the classic droids and their iconic escape pod I was once again confronted with desert sand.
So this time I stopped and gave it some thought first. And I think I finally came up with the dart that hit the target fairly close to the center!
The base color has to be light so that when you put a wash over it to shade it you don't darken it too much. And then the final dry brush highlight should only be subtle. It should accent the highest ridges of the sand but not be obvious "brighter spots".
And the final thing is that it needs to have some translucence to it, to give the appearance of the winds blowing a very thin layer of sand across the surface.
So using my best color instincts I painted the sand with a base coat of Vallejo Game Color Bone. Then I took Citadel Agrax Earthshade and heavily diluted it with Citadel Contrast Medium. After this wash was dry I took the Vallejo Bone and mixed it with some Vallejo Game Color Dead White. This was used as the single dry brush over everything.
I used the same color scheme for the bases of R2D2 and C3PO. Although I realized afterwards that I was doing it over a bright, white acrylic paste while the escape pod's sand was primed in gray. So the droid's bases' sand doesn't quite match the escape pod sand. This is an important point as I think the sand effect looks better over a gray primer coat.
So I think for better or worse I have a pretty good color scheme for desert sand. I plan to use it on future miniature and terrain projects.
Let me know what you think!
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