Help or pointers with blending from base to highlights PT 2

[DrClarke]

Okay, I\'ve really been at this for another week. I\'m determined to gain some solid grasp on blending by layering.

I had a lot of early failures trying this over and over with reds, blues and greens. I think I figured out what my primary problem was. After getting a nice base coat down, I\'d start mixing shades & highlights, and I\'d mix in about 5 parts water mix to 1 part paint. I\'m using 100% Vallejo Game Colors on these experiments. I belive the Vallejo Game Colors are a bit watery right out of the paint bottle. So I\'m thinking my 5:1 mix was much much much to watery and was nearly impossible to build up any highlights or build down any shades. Maybe if I did like a zillion billion layers it\'d start building up... but I\'m not there yet. So tonight I think I accomplished my first partial success:

The colors I used were:

Vallejo Game Color Dark Green (for the shade) (the GW equivalent is Dark Angels Green)
Vallejo Game Color Sick Green (for the base) (the GW equivalent is Snot Green)
Vallejo Game color Scorpy Green (for the highlights) (the GW equivalent is Scorpion Green)

I did a straight 1:2 ratio this time. 1 part water mix to 2 parts paint. And I finally got some noticeable transition results. Before when I was doing a 5:1 ration, I couldn\'t see any transitions at all.

So, my next question. What I\'m curious about now, is how to achieve some \'smoother\' transitions between the color shifts, so it\'s not so apparant and abrupt. I\'m just using the basic generic technique of putting down a base, then on the shade side I start with a paint mix of 3:1 (shade:base) and work my way from 2:2, 1:3 and then straight shade. The same for highlights, 3:1 (highlight:base), 2:2, 1:3, and then straight highlight. So there are indeed several layers here and many many coats.

I\'d really like some pointers on how to blend the transitions better though. I was thinking \'glazing\' but I\'m completely unfamaliar with the technique, and brief reading tells me it\'s basically like 12:1 or 10:1 rations, 10 parts water mix to 1 part paint? What color paint? What\'s the rule? Do you \'glaze\' the entire area? Does this blend in the transitions?

Sheesh I have this much trouble with layering, I can\'t wait to see my nightmares with wet blending.

Thanks!

 

[QuietiManes]

To get smoother layering you need to do more subtle layers. I.E. several more layers to go from shade to highlight if they are as far apart as the green example you\'ve shown. Thinner paints, more layers ad nauseum. Although your example looks pretty smooth as far as that goes, especially if it would be done on a 28mm fig, the human eye wouldn\'t pick up the separate layers too easy. 3-5 layers would probably be well above \"gaming/tabletop\" quality. 3 on most of the model, 5 on the face because it\'s such a focal point most of the time.

You can also do a wash/glaze as you mentioned. A similar colour to what you\'re layering. It\'s just a very watered down ink or paint you spread over the surface which colours the whole thing very slightly and makes the gradations seem smoother/less noticeable due to the fact there is another layer of paint/ink over the whole thing, sort of unifies it. I think most people do this with a darker colour, therefore you\'d have to compensate by layering up to an even lighter highlight so it looks the way you want after you dull it down with the glaze. You might want to use the future mix for your glaze, check the articles section if you\'re not sure what that is. The article is called \"magic wash and wet pallets\" I think. Failing that, you could put a super small amount of dish soap in the glaze to break the surface tension, helps give a more even coat.

Looks like you knew most if not all of this already though so perhaps I\'m missing something?

In all honesty I think wet blending is easier. Then again I\'m an odd ball...

Hope you work it out
RB

 

[Impernouncable]

Like QuietiManes said, the real trick to layering is using very thin paint. My prefered consistency is about like watercolor. The key element is opacity. If your layers aren\'t essentially transparent your transitions will be choppy. Naturally this takes a huge amount of time but it has dramatically improved my own performance.

 

[farseerlum]

a niggling feeling i\'ve had for some time now and your example seems to comfirm it.
the paints can\'t be broken down in mathmatical ratios for shades. at least not easily.
i think some paints are more \"powerfull\" and need to be used in a different ratio to get the right transitions.

in your example the harshest transitions are from the extreme ends to the 1:3 mixes. mayby 1:4 would be closer to an even distribution.
mayby it\'s just me but shouldn\'t your example have three bands of non-mixed colors in it?

 

[Trevor]

Yeah, you need to thin it right to get the transparaency right.

Looking at your example you seem to be a bit darker where your colours overlap and lighter in the middle, but that may just be the picture, I usually work from black or darkest colour up through to lightest or white.

If you use the transparnecy of the paint to get a smooth grade you can apply the same colour multiple times, going over a smaller area each time, done right it can get some very smooth effects that are indistiguishable from blending.

 

[DrClarke]

It should indeed Trevor. There are two instead of three.

I forgot to leave a band of pure \'base\' color in the middle.

And at the top, above the 3:1 light green, is actually a stripe of pure Scorpy green, though my pencil mark is not there to show it.

And you brought up a good point. I need to experiment without trying to be logical by utilizing perfect ratios and mixtures I just can\'t help it though. I think it\'s cause I code at work and what not.

 

[KatieG]

Something else to try to smooth out the layering (as I think you have enough layers, just need to get them smoother) is feathering. Feathering is when you put down thinned paint, and then use a CLEAN brush to pull it out a little to smooth the transition. You have to be quick though to get to it before it dries...
--Katie G.

 

[Trevor]

I didn\'t know there was a term for that. It seems all those techniques I stumbled upon by trial and error over the last 18 years are actually known techniques. oh to have had CMON back in the 80\'s, it would have made things so much easier, even heavy metal was pretty basic back then.

 

[Seth Gecko]

One thing I have stumbled upon recently is the use of mediums, when mixing your highlight colours try adding a matt medium or glaze wash (both from Vallejo) these both add transparency to the paint, without thinning them too much. thus the highlights can be applied bolder and the edges will have more transparency, feathering or blending to the underlying colour.

 

[vincegamer]

Originally posted by Trevor
I didn\'t know there was a term for that. It seems all those techniques I stumbled upon by trial and error over the last 18 years are actually known techniques. oh to have had CMON back in the 80\'s, it would have made things so much easier, even heavy metal was pretty basic back then.

I think it was Robert Plant (don\'t quote me) who said he played guitar for years and then decided to take lessons. He was shocked to learn he hadn\'t invented all that stuff he\'d been doing!