Blending is killing me!

[redarmy27]

Howdy everyone! I\'m having a we bit of trouble getting blending down. I\'ve looked at the tutorials here and I still fail to achieve any sort of result. Does anyone know any good practice exercises that could help me accomplish this? I\'d be incredibly grateful. Thanks!

 

[Einion]

Just to check, is this actual blending, wet blending, where one colour is blended into another while both are still wet?

Einion

 

[redarmy27]

It\'s blending where you already have one color already on the model and then you want to gradually bring up another color.

Would the method I\'m describing be easier or harder than wet blending?

 

[freakinacage]

sounds like you are layering, rather than blending. show us some pics so we can see where you are falling short

 

[DaN]

how is it going wrong?

You could have your paint too thick, so that it\'s harder to get that gradual transition due to the concentration of pigment...

You could have the paint too thin, so that it\'s starting to run and pool like a wash...

There are a few things that could be going wrong, and a number of ways to fix them, so if you can, as mentioned shove on a few photos, or provide a more detailed explanation, we can try and help more

 

[Avelorn]

Just to add one thing. You can rarely have your paint too thin. If it goes everywhere it is due to having too much paint on the brush. Not to say you necessarily have to paint with \"juices\" or basically \"coloured water\" but Sebastian (Automaton) does... and WWSD FTW!!!111

Yeah pictures would help!

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by redarmy27
It\'s blending where you already have one color already on the model and then you want to gradually bring up another color.

Right, that\'s painting a graduation or gradient then, using layers/layering/glazing.

As DaN asks, what\'s the problem exactly; I\'m guessing you might be trying to go from the base colour to a second colour in too big a jump? Generally you don\'t go from the midtone to the lightest colour in one go. You generally get much better results (and it\'s easier to do) if you have at least one intermediate colour - so you might have highlight, light, midtone, dark and deep shadow (sometimes this will just be black) as the basic colours for any major colour.

Originally posted by redarmy27
Would the method I\'m describing be easier or harder than wet blending?

Depends on who you talk to; some guys use blending, others don\'t.

Wet blending in acrylics isn\'t easy to do well and it has some inherent limitation - one of the big ones being time (you have to work quickly, end of story) - so it\'s probably not the best technique to use for all smooth graduations, but it\'s great for fast results. Just remember that faster methods usually look like they are.

Einion

 

[freakinacage]

Originally posted by Avelorn
Just to add one thing. You can rarely have your paint too thin. If it goes everywhere it is due to having too much paint on the brush. Not to say you necessarily have to paint with \"juices\" or basically \"coloured water\" but Sebastian (Automaton) does... and WWSD FTW!!!111

Yeah pictures would help!

wwsd? whats that?

 

[redarmy27]

Alright here we go. I took the time to re-evalutate my miniature. I redid him and started doing very gradual layers on him. He\'s going from a very dark green and slowly up to a light green as a highlight. I now plan to use a binding wash as an easy way to achieve a smooth transition.

I\'m taking my time on this mini; the cape alone too over 3 hours of careful painting and gradual \"stepups\" from black-dark red-blood red.

I\'m guessing for my wash on the armor, I\'ll go with a dark green thinned out with water and lightly baste the entire green armor portions so they\'re uniformly covered.

For the cape, I plan on using a darker red to achieve a good blend.

Does this sound right? If you have any other suggestions, it\'d be great to hear.

 

[Legacy Account]

That\'s looking alright fella!

Can I suggest not using a wash, but just glazing your green back. It\'s similar, but you don\'t let the paint/ink pool in the recesses - it\'s more like a very fine, transparent layer painted across the entire surface that\'ll tie all your blending together. After reading the bottom of your post, you seem to have the right idea.

I\'d carefully re-shade a couple of the folds on the top of his loincloth too. You might find a red glaze works on that as well.

 

[redarmy27]

Thanks

I did my glazes today.

I basically took a dark green with a hint of black and watered it into a glaze. I made sure not to drown the mini, but to make sure a good even coat went onto the armor. It looks much better now.

I also did the same for the loin cloth but with a deep red with a hint of black.

I\'m loving this. Last year I was having trouble with all of this, but I\'m learning that it\'s all about PATIENCE!