Gremlin Guy's Brickwork Tutorial

[Gremlin guy]

I was asked for a step by step on how I do my bricks, so I started explaining, in the chat room. That's not the best idea, so I was asked to pm it, and someone else suggested I just post it. So that is the reason you have to suffer through more bad photos from me. It wasn't my idea.

First I'll start off saying I like to do things as cheap as possible. This is very cheap. The foam core I got for free from a friend who's company was throwing out old posters/adverts that were on foam core. Its also not too expensive to buy.

The paints, I already had, but they did cost me something at one time. I think it was $2.79 for the Home Depot paint and about $2.50 each for the privateer press paints. The metal yardstick was the most expensive thing I bought and that was around $15. I use cheap brushes for terrain so they aren't much rather. They also don't need to be in good condition, so you can use them forever.

Here are the supplies I use, minus the brushes, and a cup of water. I suppose you'll need a razor blade too. Those do need to be in good condition.

The paints I use are Behr Ultra granite bolder (790D-4), P3 Bloodstone, Umbral Umber, sanguine base, and sanguine highlight.

If you have the money, get a smaller metal ruler as well as the yard stick. I can only get one right now, so yardstick it is.

The first step is to peel the paper off one side of the foam core. I love these free posters because the laminated side comes off in one piece! It does tend to warp a bit though, but if you paint both sides with a watered down base coat, and let it dry overnight, it will go flat (mostly). I didn't do that here though.

With your ballpoint pen, mark vertically each 1/4 inch.

Mark it this way along both sides and then use a straight edge and your pen to mark lines horizontally across your wall.

Along the bottom of your wall mark off in 1\2" increments. The next row up repeat this, but start with a 1/4" offset. Or you can count every other row until you reach the topmost row that will have bricks in the same column and mark those off. Then use your straight edge to mage those along every other row.

For the alternating rows, you can do one of two things.

1. Measure 1/4" and then 1/2" increments for precise measurements

2. Just eyeball it from the center of the brick above and below because its close enough.

[Gremlin guy]

Painting

First, when painting, always have a way to tell your wash cup from your drink cup. Paint infused sprite is not all that good.

I'm going to do three versions of brick here on my 2 foam sheets. Each will have all 3 on it.

Version 1 uses a base coat of the brick, and paints the grout separately. This gives you a darker brick color since the foam is black. To replicate on white foam, base coat it black first.

Version 2 uses the grout color as the base coat and the the brick is painted over top. I like this the best as its faster and easier while still giving a nice brick look. The brick color is a little lighter than version 1 though so go with the look you like.

Version 3 also base coats with the grout color, but then just uses a light drybrush. This version is very fast and the end result looks like a whitewashed brick that has faded over time to show some of the brick color through.

Here I've base coated roughly half of the sections with a watered down light gray paint, and a non watered down bloodstone.

You'll want about three layers of the the grey and about 2 of the bloodstone.

Once this has dried, drybrush bloodstone over the Grey base coat. Version 3 is complete.

For version 2, you'll want to paint a few coats of the bloodstone on each brick. If your better at dry brushing than I am, you can just continue that until you have a nice even coat.

For version 3, start painting in the grout in between the bricks. I like to water it down to where it almost flows through the lines just by putting the brush down. The thinner the paint is though, the more coats of paint you will need.

With just 2 colors of paint you end up with this

[Gremlin guy]

For the last step, I paint a few bricks with different shades. Here I've used Umbral umber for the darkest, sanguine base and then sanguine highlight for the lighter ones. You could also do a tan or something different if you wish. (My 5 year old suggest blue, green, and yellow)

When using pink foam instead of foam core, I mark the bricks with a razor and then widen with a pen. This helps keep the pen from tearing the foam. Every other step is exactly the same.

I hope this was helpful, but I can't claim it entirely as my own. Before making the bricks I did a lot of research on how other people made them. As always, I stole their ideas and methods, changed what I needed for me, and made it my own. Feel free to do the same with my work.

GG

[DavicusPrime]

So I have a question...  Once painted, is the foam still pretty pliable still?  As in, if something were to get pressed into a finished building, would it leave a permanent indentation?

 

The only reason I haven't done too much with raw foam/peeled foamcore is not knowing what to seal it with after drawing on the desired texture that would protect it from my haphazard storage arrangement.  Thinned white glue has not been enough.  But unthinned it fills in the texture.

 

Your process and paint job is really good.  Thanks for putting this together.

 

-DavicusPrime

[Gremlin guy]

My guess is if you press fairly hard, you'll leave a mark. You will also probably chip some of the paint.

For sealing, I'm sad to say I haven't gotten that far yet. Doing some google searches, Mod Podge may be the way to go. When I finish my building, I'll try it out.

I'm glad you liked it. The hardest part about this tutorial was typing it on my tablet.

* There are a lot of typos in this, but I'm working on fixing them.

[Vidd]

They look really good. Nice tutorial.

 

I wonder how they hold up in tears of wear/tear.

[Gremlin guy]

As long as you aren't tossing them around or dropping heavy models on them from high up, they should hold up fine. I did take my other terrain home from the LGS because people were just tossing them on the shelves when done though.

[KingJocko]

Good tutorial, I really liked the terrain from your other thread and with this guide I'll be able to mimic it. Thanks for the info.

[Gremlin guy]

Anytime. I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

[zFiend]

Really great tutorial and thanks for sharing!

[Dhampir]

I use a very similar technique, with on exception; I have built a brick stamp with an old brush. Pull all the bristles out of the brush, then with a pair of long nose pliars shape the metal ferrule into a rectangular shape. As an optional you can lightly sharpen the metal edges so that it cuts more into the foam. Then it's just a case of pressing the stamp into the foam.

I used this technique in my roudn two Iron Painter entry:

 

I

[Gremlin guy]

That looks really good. About how big is your stamp?

[Dhampir]

It measures 8mm x 3mm

 

[DavicusPrime]

Okay...  I think I know what I'm going to be doing with the next brush that wears out. 

 

-DavicusPrime

[Gremlin guy]

That looks like a great size. When I looked at pictures of my models next to my bricks, I thought they looked a bit like cinder block size. Then I remembered mass produced bricks don't need to be a certain size, just the same size.

I'm building a game table too though and I'm probably using an idea like this for cobble stones.

[Dhampir]

For cobblestones, I have a selection of different sized brushes that have been shaped into roughly round sizes that I use.

 

Just a tip, heat the ferrule of the brush witha  candle to losen the bristles and make removing them easier.

[DavicusPrime]

G.G.: Just out of curiosity... What are to going to use as the surface of your table?

Okay. I've been slow to make any city style terrain/tables because I wanted to figure out a tolerable way to add various cobblestone textures to things that looks reasonably good, is durable, doesn't take forever and won't cost an arm and a leg.

So far, Dhampir's homebrew cookie cutter texture stamps are looking like a potential breakthrough on the tooling side of things.

I really want something more durable than foam, but if someone knows a good way to protect the foam without filling in the texture, you have my attention.

-DavicusPrime

[Gremlin guy]

I'm just using pink foam. Hoping it will work out.

[Dhampir]

There is also this method using super sculpey to make a larger area stamp:

 

Aaaand, just in case you need it here is a repeating cobblestone pattern:

 

[DavicusPrime]

Dhampir...  that is flipping awesome.  is that mold flat or does it have some curvature?  hard to tell from the pic.  I think I'm going to have to make myself some forms to make  a couple different stamps.  Thanks for the ideas.

 

-DavicusPrime