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okay, so i'm currently painting up a box of termagants, trying out different colour schemes. what i'm doing at the moment is a green skin (dark angels with scorpion drybrushed over,thraka green wash. i'm sure there's a better way of doing this though) but it's the carapace that's giving me trouble. (more trouble than painting usually does, that is- my painting skills are mediocre at best)

want i want to do is create a 'gradient' on each scale of the carapace- so the inner part of each plate is a darker color that fades to a brighter one at the edge of the plate.
in this case i've painted the entire carapace Black Red (vellejo model colour) and want to transition it through to Flat Red (also vallejo). what i've been trying is layers of progressively brighter colour- black red, then black red/scab red, then scab red, then flat red.

problem is, i can't seem to get a good transition- i've been trying to feather it but don't think i'm doing it right- can't seem to find a tutorial for feathering.

if anyone could point me to a good tutorial, or tell me of a better technique for this, it'd be great, thanks

cheers,
Ash

First, I would purchase a dry-retardant, it makes this a lot easier.
Okay, you have your two paints with the retardant mixed in. Paint on the two colors where you want them to be all the way towards each other but here they meet, leave a gap. Get a clean brush and almost feather the paints together working towards one end. Such as, start in the dark, and feather up till the brightest red is pure and not darkened. Then, start at the brightest and work down. This will take a bit of practice and some experimentation but it will give you a smooth blend. This technique is called wet blending if you want to look more into it.

I would stick with blending on the carapace.


Here's a picture of one of the Tervigon I just did, you can see the transition on the carapace best in this pic. I started with a base of Mordian Blue, then gradually mixed in Enchanted Blue. The key is gradually. With your red carapace, start with your darkest base, then mix a little bit of your lighter red in. For the most extreme highlights, mix bleached bone or white into your mix. Your carapace will look great, and I hope I helped!
Granesh

this isn't for beginners but you might want to try wet blending. It creates a nice smooth transition and works especially well for flat surfaces. You basically need to thin down your paint enough that it flows easily but doesn't pool in recesses. You put a small dot of the color you want to highlight with down and feather the edgeds while the paint is still wet. Your working with the translucency of the paint to do this so your going to need to do this before the paint dries(fairly quickly). Keep your brush moist and your water right next to you because you have to clean your brush when paint begins to collect on it.

I realize that the pictures arn't the best but they are good examples of blending.

thanks a bunch for the help guys- i'll give wet blending a try but i can see me being greatly successful with it- as you say, it isn't for beginners.

@granesh: that's awesome. how would i go about getting that effect then? use a fine brush, little bit of paint, paint small lines across the carapace, as i go down use the lighter mixes?
the one i did last night came out looking ok-ish, need to use more gradual mixes,as there's too much contrast- i basically have stripey tyranids at the moment

[edit] also, i'm guessing i do need to start thinning my paints? i usually just bung it on straight from the pot- i realise this is probably NOT what i should be doing?

Ooh err. My nids are dark angels green too. But with snot green drybrush-highlight and a thraka wash.
The carapace is shadow grey w/ black wash and space wolf grey drybrush-highlight.

But yeah I have nothing new to offer, blending would have been my only suggestion.

Thinning paints is a must
Not only does it make sure there are no brush marks or lost details, but alot of techniques with painting require control over how the paint moves.
With it being too thick, it wont do what you want it to do as much.

Just a case of thinning out paints and trying out a few methods.

Also, if you can along with blending then you can gradiant shift.
Simply feather the darkest colour onto the carapace 1st, then move along, slowly mixing the paint to make it lighter.
Takes a fair bit longer since your waiting on drying time, but it doesent look bad, ill try and grab some pics tonight when i update my nids blog.

so can i just use water or do i need to scrape together some change for a thinning medium? i'm guessing turps and/or white spirit is a big no?

also, how does one go about feathering properly? it may be merely because i'm not thinning the paints, but any attempt at feathering just ends up a smudge of paint running the width of the carapace- not pretty

thanks again

Honestly Ashtaroth, I used a medium sized brush and dragged it erratically across the edge of the carapace. You still want to do your blending, but the layering will look more natural. Only at the fine white highlights did I use a fine detail brush. And the only time I ever just put paint straight on the model from the pot is if I can control how much I put on there in the first place, or I'm doing fine details like eyes or gems; otherwise, a little water goes a long way!
Good luck,
Granesh

Granesh wrote:Honestly Ashtaroth, I used a medium sized brush and dragged it erratically across the edge of the carapace. You still want to do your blending, but the layering will look more natural. Only at the fine white highlights did I use a fine detail brush. And the only time I ever just put paint straight on the model from the pot is if I can control how much I put on there in the first place, or I'm doing fine details like eyes or gems; otherwise, a little water goes a long way!
Good luck,
Granesh

ah awesome; looks like i just need to thin the paints (and stop using a detail brush for general purpose ) milk-ish consistency right?
thanks again