So...blendings hard!

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**Slappywag**

Yeah that's pretty much it. I dug out a really old ('95) badly painted terminator and stripped it. It didn't even have an undercoat...*what was i thinking*...luckily it all came off (green and red?!)

I base coated necron abyss then wash it with L. purple several times to get a really dark purple vibe going. I then got necron abyss again and really really watered it down and just started going over it again and again do a little area at a time. I then did the same with a 50/50 mix of n. abyss and mordian blue.

I found it hard to make the paint sit where i wanted it to as it just ran straight to the cracks and sides. I was told thinner would help to break the surface tension of the water, would that help with this?

It isn't all that smooth but was my first try...ever

Anyway pics...

bit dark

Big ol' eyes haha

Can anyone experienced in blending give me some tips? I've looked over loads of sites but they cant exactly give me CC...

Please bare in mind it looks a little weird as nothing else is painted yet...kinda puts it off a bit.

Try not to look at the raised edges running over the armour.

Would a wash help to smooth it out some more? Blue wash that is...or should i do a purple? as the blue is already quite prominent.

Slappy

**1-UP**

I can't blend for beans, mainly because the art of properly mixing and thinning paints escapes me. Usually I can do an acceptable job with drybrushing and a glaze, but I'll admit it doesn't look as nice as a true blend job.

Looks perfectly respectable. A wash/glaze might help it flow better, but I've had rotten luck lately with them tinting my color to "not quite right". Practice will make perfect I'm sure. Maybe paint a sprue and then do a test wash?

**Slappywag**

Yeah, its really tough.

I've just had another look at the model and i think i should keep going with the blue and make it more opaque. Then give a wash.

It's hard to get a good photo as the light is screwing with it too much.

I was going to paint a sprue and check but i won't lose anything in trying on this model as it's just for practice.

EDIT - I just went over again with less water and in a smaller area and it looks awesome now!

I think ill still put some ink on it though.

**Kyley**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BXPR1W-EKs

Although I don't know how much use this will be for you, I've watched it and still cannot blend :p

**Gunzhard**

Yeah the problem is not your mix. It is ok to have a watery (even extremely watery) mix... you have too much paint on your brush, so you have to wipe a lot of the paint off with a paper towel before applying. A 'wet pallet' is really the way to go but not necessary. Your paint is running into the crevasses only because you have too much on the brush so you can't control it.

The easiest thing to do is just practice with water. It won't hurt your mini and you will get a feel for getting the wetness where you want it - that is what I did. I don't even us a paper towel anymore, I just wipe the excess off on my pallet.

Your mix can never really be to thin... this really didn't sink in with me either until after watching the Julien Casses video (miniaturementor.com); he paints almost entirely with 'tinted water' like paints and the result is unbelievable.

Best of luck!

**Slappywag**

Ok i tried some more and its looking better.

I also found a website with a guy talking about brush control.

He had a point saying when shading pull the brush towards you and highlighting push it away.

You can still do it with either push or pull as long as when you lift your brush it's dumping the last and majority of the pigment at either its lightest or darkest point depending on shading.

This was helpful when i was having another go as i could control the paint better.

Here's the newer and better one.

I think it looks quite good.

Well first/second attempt it looks 'aight'...lol

The transitions are still obvious though... :(

**Gunzhard**

Looking better already dude...

**Vermillion**

It's looking great just now. Where you think the transitions are obvious mix a little of the paint between up again and try to smooth it in so to speak. With practice and patience you'll be blending entire armies in no time

Look forward to some finished model pics too keep up the great work.

**scuddman**

Of course, don't expect in the beginning for your blending to be like that. However, it helps to look at an example so I can explain blending and what it's about. I did not paint that, alexi z's blending is at a level higher than mine, but the basics are the same.

Traditionally when a new painter asks me to teach them how to blend, I ask them what they know about highlighting. Everyone generally knows about drybrush..the paint only sticks on the raised edges. However, to go to the next step, which is highlighting, you have to understand the concept of lighting.

The eye can see several million colors. When you look at an object, you actually see many shades of color because of the way light reflects off of it. Highlighting is painting in this manner to simulate what the eye sees. Even when you look at a vanilla paint tile, parts of it are brighter than others.

This is the first key. You want to highlight areas to mimic this effect, and this is why I bring up this picture. Look at the dark areas at the bottom of her feet. What color are they? Almost black. Look at the brighest portion of the gold. It's essentially pure white.

You want to be able to mimic this type of lighting effect with highlights before you learn to blend.

What blending is, is taking highlights and have them gradually fade into another color. If you look at the model, her highlights are seamless, the different colors natural go from black to white. Or from dark to extremely light. But before you can learn to blend, you have to have color control. That's the biggest mistake most of my paint students had.

If I look at your model, your highlights don't actually effectively highlight the model because your contrast is too low. You need color control from dark blue all the way to white before you can blend.

**scuddman**

Here is an example of highlighting without blending that you should be able to do before you start blending.

Look at the green sash carefully. How many colors is that? That is not only two colors. If you look carefully, the darkest portion is a think, dark green.
THe brightest portion is that thin green line at the very outer edge of the left side of the sash. If you look carefully, you'll see it's very bright, but very hard to notice. Note also, that it is a straight line, and that you can see that it's not blended. You need to be able to achieve this effect before you can start blending.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Lastly, I need to ask what type of blending technique you are using. There is more than one way to blend a model, and some techniques are easier to learn than others.

**Slappywag**

Cheers Scuddman

I understand how to highlight - although my ability to pull it off isn't amazing

I also know that my example doesn't correctly show how light would reflect off the surface. It was more of an effect than showing my highlighting skills.

I didn't plan on where i wanted the lighter bits,
I just slapped paint on. I can see how you were misled by me talking about brush strokes for highlights. That was a way just to control it so it looked smoother and didn't pool.

Ive been reading up on how light reflects on surfaces though, so that's the next step of blending highlights.

I just figured i should learn how to blend a block of colour before learning to blend transitions of multiple colours.

Thanks for the examples, very nice.

Slappy.

**scuddman**

Ahh, I see. It looks like from your first post you're doing wet blending where both paints are wet. If I'm only blending two colors and I'm wet blending, say from left to right from dark to light;
I'll paint the left side a solid dark line. I'll paint the right side a solid light line. The solid lines are not watered down. I paint a third line overlappin the middle and the solid line with a watered down version of the solid line, then do the same on the other side with the lighter color. If there's too much water, they become murky. If it's not enough water, brush strokes don't affect it. I essentially let the two wet lines mix, then use a fresh brush with no paint to make that wet, blended area even. Since both paints are wet, in the middle they naturally blend together.

This type of blending is called wet blending. Ironically, I don't use this type of blending very much. I originally learned blending the GW way, so I use a technique called feathering that's much slower but does the same thing.

**Slappywag**

scuddman wrote:Ahh, I see. It looks like from your first post you're doing wet blending where both paints are wet. If I'm only blending two colors and I'm wet blending, say from left to right from dark to light;
I'll paint the left side a solid dark line. I'll paint the right side a solid light line. The solid lines are not watered down. I paint a third line overlappin the middle and the solid line with a watered down version of the solid line, then do the same on the other side with the lighter color. If there's too much water, they become murky. If it's not enough water, brush strokes don't affect it. I essentially let the two wet lines mix, then use a fresh brush with no paint to make that wet, blended area even. Since both paints are wet, in the middle they naturally blend together.

This type of blending is called wet blending. Ironically, I don't use this type of blending very much. I originally learned blending the GW way, so I use a technique called feathering that's much slower but does the same thing.

I've never tried wet blending

lol, this was the last way you said. Each mix was watered down loads and laid over several times but each time i did it i did a smaller area every time so the colour would become more opaque. Well, im pretty sure thats feathering. But i didn't use another clean brush to 'feather' it downwards.

How i did it got chalky quite quickly, should i be using another blank clean brush to 'feather' it down to prevent this?

slappy

**scuddman**

The idea behind the feathering technique is that as you draw the paint out, the paint becomes more transparent, allowing it to blend in with the other color. You do not have to use another brush to feather, but the brush needs to be free and clear of paint and water when you feather, or you lose control. Let me try to find you an example.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
http://www.jenova.dk/Blending.htm
This site does a good job of explaining it.