Brick hype!

Mah frieeends, I'm so hyped right now because I just had that moment we all know, when nothing seems to work and suddenly you do one thing and it all clicks together, just like that! 

To put it shortly, I applied the mortar lines with an airbrush over a layer of chipping fluid, I used a grey color, and this didn't work very well. They were kinda "soft" looking, so I went over them with the same color applied with a brush. Better! Then I didn't like the brick colors at all, the overall tone was too dark. At this point I went for a walk around my village to find references and oh boy, did I find some gems! So after returning home I did what I tried to avoid - yes, I repainted every brick with a brush with a mixture of sandy-orange, even flesh tones! Looking better now, but it still looks like a barbie house. So I thought eh, oils will take care of the rest and focused on the roof.

This was also covered with a layer of HS and I sprayed Deck Tan all over it and chipped it down. I applied more over the shed since the roof is different in the ref. photo. I suppose those are cement tiles so they have a different color. Going back to brushes and ref. photos from today, I darkened several tiles (just on the barn for now) to represent grime build up. I also applied these acrylics (Burnt Umber and German Cam. Black Brown) as a wash between the tiles, although this will have to be reinforced with oil paints. I'll get back to the roof tomorrow and add some lichen deposits as well and overall just bump up the overall contrast, but now we're getting to the magical turning point.

The acrylic wash worked so well that I tried applying it over the bricks. And this is the moment when everything just clicked! Haha, I decided to call it a night after achieving what you see in photos because I don't want to overdo it, that's what often happens when I get too stoked. But to be fair, I'd consider the brick walls to be pretty much done. Of course they'll receive some moss and grime deposits, but that can be done with oil paints. 

Again, stoke levels are through the (tile) roof!