Blending, FOR NOOBS!

[TKNY]

I would highly recomemend picking up a DVD to observe how a skilled painter blends. I saw J Bonamant\'s DVD and I feel it cleared up a lot of things. For one thing, it showed me you can make some nice blends with few colors. I used to lay out 10 or more tones before I even started lol You can also get a look at how he loads his brush and thins his paint. There are other DVDs like miniature mentor, but I haven\'t checked them out yet.

I\'ve read countless tutorials and articles, and I learned more in one hour of watching that DVD then in anything I\'ve read. The only thing better would be to actually have in person training.

 

[Enzed]

When I try and thin my paints to what I believe is blending consistency it becomes a very watery wash and is too hard to control the spread on the mini. Any tips?

 

[obsidianpainting]

I would totally say wipe off your brush some more. Take a cloth or paper towel or something beside your pallette, and take your brush (after you put paint on it) and just wipe. I twirl my brush around as well to keep a point. But just wipe. Until it looks like NOTHING is coming off of the brush. as soon as that happens your good to go!

 

[ScottRadom]

Originally posted by TKNY
I would highly recomemend picking up a DVD to observe how a skilled painter blends. I saw J Bonamant\'s DVD and I feel it cleared up a lot of things. For one thing, it showed me you can make some nice blends with few colors. I used to lay out 10 or more tones before I even started lol You can also get a look at how he loads his brush and thins his paint. There are other DVDs like miniature mentor, but I haven\'t checked them out yet.

I\'ve read countless tutorials and articles, and I learned more in one hour of watching that DVD then in anything I\'ve read. The only thing better would be to actually have in person training.

I agree with this 100%. And the JBT DvD is awesome. Worth triple the amount you\'ll pay if you are interested in upping your painting. I\'ve never bothered to check but apparently there are a lot of real nice tut\'s on YouTube.

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Enzed
When I try and thin my paints to what I believe is blending consistency it becomes a very watery wash and is too hard to control the spread on the mini. Any tips?

yeah wipe the excess off. i use my thumbnail as it\'s close by (!) and doesn\'t take it all off like toilet roll etc

 

[hestan101]

i cant see your gallery obsidian???

 

[obsidianpainting]

That is because i took the pictures down. Im trying to get better quality photos. Im building myself a light box, And then ill try my best to get the best photos i can! I don\'t have macro on my camera so that sucks, but ill see what i can do

Obsidian

 

[mattsterbenz]

I was asked via PM what my method of blending is. So here it goes

Whatever works!

I use all kinds of methods. Primarily it\'s a scrubbing type of motion with super thin paint. The key to this is that the paint should dry shortly after it leaves the brush. Don\'t overload it, and make sure it\'s thin enough.

I use wet-blending from time to time when things need to be really smooth. Such as on Sigvald\'s sword (though I used no other wet blending on him. Everything else was done with the first method). I don\'t use any medium, flow enhancer or retardant. Just paint and water. Got to make sure you go quick before the paint dries out.

Hope this is helpful

-Matt

 

[obsidianpainting]

Thanks for your post MB. Very much appreciated

 

[Enzed]

Another question - How far do you go with the highlights and shades? As far as white and as dark as black? I am finding it hard to choose what is too bright and what is too dark, a lot of the time I wreck a few hours work by making a wrong colour choice.
Also are the DIY wet palettes (warmachine blisters etc.) good for blending?

 

[obsidianpainting]

Personally i don\'t usually ad white to colours for a highlight. Sometimes i do, but if i do i make sure my paint is thin as to make sure its not chalky. I do add black, seeing as how black is really just the darkest blue ever! it depends on what colour really, if your willing to give examples of colours then i could help out a little more.

Also wett pallettes are awesome. I don\'t use a blister pack foam thing though. Heres how i make mine (for a cheap cheap cheap cheap thing)

Essentially i just take a bin of some sort ( a small tupper ware container) take a sheet of paper towel, fold it so it fits inside. Then get some Wax paper (also known as kitchen paper?) and cut it so it fits perfectly on top. Add some water to the paper towel, then put the wax paper on top. let it sit for 10 minutes and you are good to go!

Wet pallettes i find aren\'t really too amazing for what they are made out to be. the only benefit i\'ve found is if i want the paint not to dry then use a wet pallette. Essentially i think i went with a colour on one for roughly a week. it was pretty cool

Thanks, Gary.

 

[Enzed]

An example of mine is a green skin colour for goblin/orcs. I usually start with a base coat of dark angels then snot green for mid and finally goblin green for highlight. Do I slowly work through the layers increasing the ratio of colours? (e.g. Darkangels as base then 80:20 snot green, then 60:40....) or do I add whites and darks to these to make the transition?
I also find when I am working in smaller areas I have very little room to layer so many subsequent layers and it ends up looking like block highlights because I can\'t decrease the size of the layers to create the transition. Hopefully you can understand what I am trying to say

 

[slah]

Originally posted by ScottRadom
Crayfish-What I\'d really like to see is one of your models with all the pre-shading done and no layers of paint yet. I am intrigued by these methods and I am trying to find the happy medium to improve my game table mini\'s but without completely stalling my speed by doing 50 layers of paint with 10:1 wateraint.

I know quality takes time but if I can bastardize some of your guys\' methods into tabletop mini\'s I\'ll be thrilled.

This is a variation of the theme of pre-shading. When mastered I think it could be the basis for an entire army with an excellent paintjob done very very fast!

http://www.helldorado.fr/figurines/helle-moller-step-by-step-painting-guide-by-thomas.php

 

[freakinacage]

watch this i have found it extremely helpful

 

[obsidianpainting]

Originally posted by Enzed
An example of mine is a green skin colour for goblin/orcs. I usually start with a base coat of dark angels then snot green for mid and finally goblin green for highlight. Do I slowly work through the layers increasing the ratio of colours? (e.g. Darkangels as base then 80:20 snot green, then 60:40....) or do I add whites and darks to these to make the transition?
I also find when I am working in smaller areas I have very little room to layer so many subsequent layers and it ends up looking like block highlights because I can\'t decrease the size of the layers to create the transition. Hopefully you can understand what I am trying to say

For orc or goblin skin what i would do, personally. Would be start with a mid tone. Which would be snot green. Shade down to dark angels green. If i wanted even further shading add scab red to dark angels green. A LITTLE goes a long way. then go back with my mid tones, then do my highlights of goblin green. I usually don\'t do mixes of snot green and goblin green. to get the effects i want. I just use the colour itself, as the \"glazing\" technique i use really allows you to go from one extreme to another
and for highlighting goblin green. add a LITTLE sunburst yellow.

hope that helps, Gary.

 

[Backstabbeth]

I was asked to contribute to this thread so ill give it a shot.

I used to use a technique where in apply a highlight onto the mini, then take a slightly damp but clean bush and feather the edge of that highlight into the darker color below. I did the same thing basically for shading. The dilution I was using was about 1:1.

I have been working on a new style now where in I am acheiving better blending and smoother gradients. Here is a pic from my WIP thread.

The key I have learned is to thin the paints to around 4 or 5 to 1. Then use simple strokes pushing the brush to where you finally want the darkest portion of the shadow to end up. So if you are doing a shadow with this method, you would start slightly inside of the midtone area and drag the tip of your brush to the darkest area. 2 things that I did wrong at the start but have corrected (for the most part)

1. I had too much paint on the brush. the brush should have little paint and should look like you are simply dampening the mini with a stroke. I dip the brush maybe 1/3 into the paint. then pull the brush across a towel to remove excess paint. Then, since I am holding the mini, i test how much paint is coming off on my thumb if its very little I am ready to go. I do a series of 3-5 shadows and 3-5 highlights depending on the color. anyway, thats my style. Fun stuff but i have a long way to go.

Cheers:beer:

Tim

 

[obsidianpainting]

Thanks tim, and by the way the mini is coming along nicely!

Gary.

 

[Enzed]

The key I have learned is to thin the paints to around 4 or 5 to 1. Then use simple strokes pushing the brush to where you finally want it to end up. So if you are doing a shadow with this method, you would start slightly inside of the midtone area and drag the tip of your brush to the darkest area. 2 things that I did wrong at the start but have corrected (for the most part)

1. I had too much paint on the brush. the brush should have little paint and should like like you are simply dampening the mini with a stroke. I dip the brush maybe 1/3 into the paint. then pull the brush across a towel to remove excess paint. Then, since I am holding the mini, i test how much paint is coming off on my thumb if its very little I am ready to go. I do a series of 3-5 shadows and 3-5 highlights depending on the color. anyway, thats my style. Fun stuff but i have a long way to go.

Cheers:beer:

Tim

Do you just use the midtone to shade and highlight? So by continually pushing the paint further into the recesses and decreasing in size as you go this creates a dark area of the midtone?

Vice versa for highlights? You pull smaller amounts of paint from edges towards the mid area to highlight?

Am I understanding this correctly?

 

[Backstabbeth]

Do you just use the midtone to shade and highlight? So by continually pushing the paint further into the recesses and decreasing in size as you go this creates a dark area of the midtone?

I lay down a basecoat as of the midtone just as typical. make sure that basecoat is completely solid on your model, i mean make sure there arent even hints of blotches or anything or the blending wont lok good (i learned this the hard way). I keep that midtone around on the pallete cuase i will need it again. Then i start with shadows. I mix in a shade into my shadow, a little at a time till i reach the darkest shade i want. and yes, each time i put more shade in the shadow mix, I paint on a smaller area. they key to the whole puzzle is the thin paint. I know so many painters here have said the same, and its also the amount you have on your brush. (refer to ealier comments regarding the amount to have on your brush) for the highlights the action is the opposite. push the paint to the raised areas of the model. If you see an amount of paint on the model after one stroke, you either have too much paint on your brush or your paint is to thick. anymore questions feel free to ask. a lot of posters have great tips on this thread and its cool how everyones style is different.

 

[Enzed]

Thanks for that I understand now (I think) although the theory is a lot easier than the physical action!
One more thing: What colours in particular did you use for the purples shade and highlight?

EDIT: Apart from this mini what are some others with such big areas of cloth to practice on?