Dip technique - 28mm Renegade ECW Pikeman

Here is my first attempt at trying to recreate the dip-highlight technique pioneered by Saxon Dog on an ECW pikeman from Renegade Miniatures. I feel I've done well and managed to paint a figure of a similar standard to that achieved by Mr Dog by highlighting after a layer of Army Painter or 'dip' was applied.

The base colours are blocked in and the dip is then lightly brushed over the figure and left to dry for 24 hours (this drying time is of vital importance! If not left to dry, the dip will crack when varnished). Once dried, the lighter colours are essentially painted over rather than highlighted, only leaving the recesses with the darker original colour (this is shown pretty well on the second photo on the satchel strap). A coat of matte varnish is then applied to finish the miniature. I only highlighted the buff and yellow as the dip made them look very muddy. The highlighting had little effect on the dark trousers so I decided not to bother.

The key to using the dip, I feel, is to use as few colours as possible. As you can see, I used the same colour for the buff coat as for the satchel and the sword attachment/strap. I found I was using too many colours for my AWI infantry and this didn't really work well with the dip so I may try and minimise on colours, sacrificing a little historical accuracy for a better aesthetic effect on these figures.

Feel free to leave any thoughts or suggestions and I'll get back to you.