Gandalf the Grey
New member
Excellent, the blending is simply exceptional.
Demihuman's DemiWIP
- Thread starter Demihuman
- Start date
Webmonkey
New member
I have the same problem. I can sorta make it happen with an airbrush,.. but doing it by hand seems to continue to elude me
Zab
New member
I'm having the opposite problem. With the AB I don't exaggerate the gradients enough and my blends disappear. More practice (and restraint) is needed.
Zab
New member
Stop reading. Start painting. I think I cranked out 2 whole armies before I even had a glimpse of that click moment. Sometimes you just have to keep trying and not think so much. Reaper minis are good and cheap - not the bones line - the metal ones. You can strip 'em again and again and again... Just keep at it an you'll get there. Khonner is a great example of a dude who has gone in leaps and bounds by just painting mini after mini after mini. Also watching others paint in real time or in person can help you to see what they are doing differently than you, from the paint's consistency to the way they use their brush.
Demihuman
Active member
Haha, Digga getting called out! A little less post-y and a little more paint-y 
Blending is pretty painstaking, but i do think there are a lot of different correct ways to do it. So it's not like there is some secret formula. I tried 2 brush blending and it didn't really work for me although I do quite a bit of wet blending in very small areas. Big wet blending is super fun and fast especially for those flowy fantasy robes. Glazing is a must have technique, if nothing else for the brush/paint control it gives you. A big break through for me was watching Sprokets work and reading his article on stipling:
http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/2012/01/spots-before-your-eyes-guide-to.html
And then this exercise from chest of colors was key:
http://chestofcolors.com/about-driving-and-contrasts/
It turns out that if you put a spot of pure white and a spot of pure black at the respective ends of your crappy blends they look way better. Who knew?
Back to glazing, I did a workshop with Aaron Lovejoy and he had a really important point about blending: It's less about the color and thinning and more about how flat you can lay down your paint. So if you can lay down full strength paint but only have each layer one atom thick you can build up your layers slowly with control. Thinning paint a ton doesn't do anything if you can't then lay that paint down in a very controlled manner. Something to think about.
Also, you don't even have to have blends just paint in the lines, and keep the place where your paints border each other nice and tidy. Some of those super clean old school space marines are painted like that and they look awesome.
Okay. Back to Joany, Tackled the neck, which went way easier than I thought it would. Even with the weird orange glowy things... Setting me up to get my purple glazes goings... PURPLE GLAZE, ALL IN MY MINI'S EYE/ PAINTS ACTING FUNNY AND DON'T KNOW WHY/YEAAAAAHHHHH PURPLE GLAZE.
Ahem.
Also going to do a Giant Display Base™ for her. I think I am going to try and incorporate the base I already have going. Already took the heat gun to an old CD player in the awesome garage. That's why it smells like burnt plastic.
Blending is pretty painstaking, but i do think there are a lot of different correct ways to do it. So it's not like there is some secret formula. I tried 2 brush blending and it didn't really work for me although I do quite a bit of wet blending in very small areas. Big wet blending is super fun and fast especially for those flowy fantasy robes. Glazing is a must have technique, if nothing else for the brush/paint control it gives you. A big break through for me was watching Sprokets work and reading his article on stipling:
http://sproketsmallworld.blogspot.com/2012/01/spots-before-your-eyes-guide-to.html
And then this exercise from chest of colors was key:
http://chestofcolors.com/about-driving-and-contrasts/
It turns out that if you put a spot of pure white and a spot of pure black at the respective ends of your crappy blends they look way better. Who knew?
Back to glazing, I did a workshop with Aaron Lovejoy and he had a really important point about blending: It's less about the color and thinning and more about how flat you can lay down your paint. So if you can lay down full strength paint but only have each layer one atom thick you can build up your layers slowly with control. Thinning paint a ton doesn't do anything if you can't then lay that paint down in a very controlled manner. Something to think about.
Also, you don't even have to have blends just paint in the lines, and keep the place where your paints border each other nice and tidy. Some of those super clean old school space marines are painted like that and they look awesome.
Okay. Back to Joany, Tackled the neck, which went way easier than I thought it would. Even with the weird orange glowy things... Setting me up to get my purple glazes goings... PURPLE GLAZE, ALL IN MY MINI'S EYE/ PAINTS ACTING FUNNY AND DON'T KNOW WHY/YEAAAAAHHHHH PURPLE GLAZE.
Ahem.
Also going to do a Giant Display Base™ for her. I think I am going to try and incorporate the base I already have going. Already took the heat gun to an old CD player in the awesome garage. That's why it smells like burnt plastic.
BloodASmedium
[img]http://pnp
Looking grand...quality painting
Demihuman
Active member
Digganob
New member
Yeah Zab called me out alright. Sad thing is I have been painting orks since I was 14/15 years old and still havn't had my click moment, but I do not paint as freaquently as all you other gods of painting either. Still I try to figure it out and make some cool stuff, and dream of the day my minis will look like yours, till then I keep on dipping. Thanks for the help bud.
Well I haven't painted them yet so there you go... They are next
Ohh shoot, maybe I did not read your thread enough, "slap on wrist" :shame:
wargamesculptor
New member
Looks fantastic Demi, at this rate we'll have to give you a 15mm scale model to challenge your skills as your making these infinity models look easy ! Look forward to seeing what you do with the base. DIGGA STOP READING THIS AND GO AND DO SOME PAINTING ! !
Demihuman
Active member
I got the sword finished! I did some quicky nmm gold that you can get away with on very small pieces. You can see it good the cross on her wrist and the little bars around it. I stumbled on this painting the all the gold rings and coins on teh Orc Shaman ( http://www.coolminiornot.com/360556 He still needs votes! )
Just base coat brown, take some Vallejo German Yellow (a very desaturated yellow) nearly full strength and just smear it with a kind of stiff brush from midway up the brown toward your highlight. then add a dab of pure white on the very brightest spot and a nice inky brown in the darkest spot, then edge highlight to taste.
I did basically the same thing on the cross guard and pommel, but used some glazes of Brick Red and greys from my pallet.
Got the back pack all done too. Check out my gems
wargamesculptor
New member
Very nice attention to detail Demi and very well painted gems
BloodASmedium
[img]http://pnp
Okay soo this is just eh it's alright...Jk lol nah seriously this is A MAZE ING.....YOUR ST ART ING TO GET ME NERVOUS ...I MEAN LA ST YEAR YOU DID SOME FINE WORK.BUT EVA SINCE THAT HELLBRUTE (GOD I LOVE THAT HELLBRUTE) YOUve HAD A SURGE IN YOUR SKILLSET THAT HAS GIVES YOU THE A IL IT TO THANK FOR EVERYTHING MODEL YOU PAINT INTO A HIGH END CALIBRE OF FANTASTIK work MAN FROM YOUR COLOR COMP TO YOUR FREEHAND YOUR STARTING TO PULL A HEAD OF ME AND EVERYBODY ELSE....IOW YOU Must HAVE MADE A DEAL WITH EL DIABLO OR SOME THING BECAUSE MAN YOU KEEP TURNIN!!G OUT MINIS AFTER BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED MINI...WELL DONE MY BROTHER ON THE WEST COAST...WELL DONE BRAVO INDEED......MORE MORE MORE
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