Blending Advice Question

[cyrano111]

I\'m trying to learn blending and have read a number of the articles here about it, but I am left with a question - at least one.

Is the lighter layer to be applied while the darker layer is still wet? Is that the reason for using Future Floor Wax or some other extender? It sounds difficult to complete all the darker layer before any of it dries, but I haven\'t tried Future yet, so perhaps it is possible. Before trying, though, I thought I\'d check whether that\'s what I need to do.

It sounds like if I try feathering, then the darker layer could be dry, since each new lighter layer would be so thin.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Ogrebane]

You can only blend one layer at a time. Im not sure myself if you mean layering or wet blending. With wet blending then bith layers are blended whilst the paint is wet. With layering you use very thin layers of paint and paint several layers to achieve the \"blended\" effect.

 

[sebrushworth]

There are a number of different ways of achieving a smooth blend, and I don\'t think you\'ll find two people who use exactly the same technique, although most use a variant of layering. When layering, you wait for each layer to dry, and then put a new semi-transparent layer over a smaller area on top, gradually working up with a lot of layers to where you want the highest highlights to be, and down to where you want the deepest shadows to be.

Wet blending is a different technique, where you blend two colours in to each other on the figure. Basically, you put two colours either next to or on top of each other on the figure, and then work them in to each other with the brush.

Wet blending is generally considered a more difficult technique, but both require quite a bit of practice, so you should probably decide which one you want to learn and stick to that until you can do it well.