Beginner question on shading

[shags j]

Hey all,

I\'m looking at stepping my painting up to the next level.

I want a nice shading on my models but can\'t get away from that line where the different shades meet. Not matter how thin I get the paint it\'s still there. Any hints?

Cheers,

Shags

 

[Ogrebane]

Read the articles shags. The use washes but thin them alot. What are you painting. Show us pictures.

Remember we are hunters we have to see things.

 

[stefanhws]

Hints:
- thin the paint (consistence like milk)
- use less paint. To much paint will leave pigments at the borders
- read the articles on CMON
- practice, practice, practice

 

[Modderrhu]

It sounds like you\'re trying out glazing, shags. You said you thin your paint, but how much? For glazing, you can thin as much as 10 to 1 with water. Also, how different are the shades that you\'re trying to blend? Theoretically, you could glaze a dark blue with white, but in practise, you need to glaze up through 4 or 5 intermediate shades at least. If you have too much contrast, then try glazing over the pesky line with an intermediate shade.

A bit of soap or flow aid in your water will help to soften the lines because the paint won\'t gather where it has already dried. Oh yeah, and practise, practise, practise.

 

[airhead]

could you have too much paint in the brush (overloaded)? The edges of the stripe you put down should be feathered and blend in to the area beside it.

Are you trying to go too far in one step? Lots of the shading you see here is done through 3 or 5 colors of paint from the dark shadow, shadow, base color, mid highlight and highlight. If you are trying to go from dark shadow to highlight in one step it will look funny.

What brushes, paints and additives are you using?

Pics would help.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Modderrhu
It sounds like you\'re trying out glazing, shags. You said you thin your paint, but how much? For glazing, you can thin as much as 10 to 1 with water. Also, how different are the shades that you\'re trying to blend? Theoretically, you could glaze a dark blue with white, but in practise, you need to glaze up through 4 or 5 intermediate shades at least. If you have too much contrast, then try glazing over the pesky line with an intermediate shade.

Yeah, what he said.

About thinning, I often thin paint much more than 10:1 though, but a lot depends on one\'s personal preferences and the thickness of the paint to start with. Even using very \'watery\' mixtures you don\'t have to worry about flooding an area because you control the amount of paint in the brush - it should be more damp than wet.

Einion

 

[shags j]

I\'m blending through multiple shades (prolly 4-5 from say ice blue to almost white).

Will post some pics to show yall what I mean.

(Will try not to load the brush with as much paint to. See how that goes.)

Cheers,

Shags