Rust Tutorial

This was a tutorial I did on creating a heavily rusted piece of metal.  It was originally done quite a few years ago now; at that time I was not using pigments and this is achieved with only acrylics.

Step one: Primer black/Primer white, basecoat in black

Whatever floats your boat.
 

 

Step two: RMS Dark Skin

Cover the area completely.
 

 

Step three:  Stipple on RMS Rust Brown

I used a flat brush that I cut down to make the bristles shorter--this helps to prevent some of the splaying of the bristles as I tap down on the track.  It takes a light touch.  Randomness is the key, but as you will see, I have a problem with randomness and my random dabs become rather uniform.  I'll also thin the paint about 1:2 paint:water.  That allows some of the underlying Dark Skin to peek through.  I'll just hit the spots again to get more coverage.
 

 

Step four:  Stipple on RMS Clear Orange

I utilize the same process here, but with less coverage--these areas are the most rusted and should be the smallest in area.  As you can see, my randomization leaves much to be desired and the track now looks pixelated.  Time to go back and fix that.
 

 

Step five:  Randomizing the randomization

I take any one of the 3 colors (and usually all 3) and go back and try to make my random areas look more random.  Then I do it again...and probably 3 more times.

 

Step six:  The metallics

At this point, I drybrush (Gasp!) RMS Honed Steel along the edges of the track where the rust would be knocked off or never accumulate due to activity.  I chose the top edge and the bottom edge of the track. 

I hope you find this helpful.  Of course, this is really just an overall structure.  Depending on the effect you are looking for, you can vary the amount of metal shining through, or the amount of the "dark" or "bright" rust you want.