Painting 'smoothness'

[gsr15]

Hi all,

So I've searched around and haven't found quite what I'm looking for so here's the question I have...how can I improve the smoothness of my paint job? As an example, I've tried my first multi-color blending (see attached) and while I know the actual blending could certainly be smoother, the paint in general just appears to be somewhat rough looking. It seems like the pigment didn't get laid down evenly or something. I was using a very thinned mixture for all these layers (don't even know how many layers I put down...lots) perhaps too thin? Is it surface preparation? poor primer coat? or just purely my technique which certainly needs to improve? I see so many of the submissions on here where the paint just looks really, really smooth, even just solid colors, and I can't seem to achieve that at the moment...any thoughts/suggestions?

Thanks!

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[Tommie Soule]

prep is very important, as is proper priming, but the most common reason is the way the paint layers are applied.
que the most often used phrase ' use more, thinner layers'.

your painting is good tho

 

[CarbonCopy]

Again, things that all affect paint smoothness: Prep, primer and many thin layers of paint.

Also, work light to dark... It's much easier to layer a darker shade over a lighter one. Mix up intermediary colors (orange in between your yellow and red, as an example).

 

[gsr15]

Thanks guys, so I did the bottom half of the helm starting from white and building up using different colored paints (yellow, orange, red) in very thin layers. The problem I had was that even with extremely thinned paint (I think I was probably using 5+:1 wateraint) even one layer of the darker color didn't blend that well (perhaps just a skill thing...) and the transition was very noticeable. So on the horn things, I tried starting with the red and then going over that with MANY layers of thinned yellow paint (I think I spent about 2 hours in total on this helm...slow painter.) I found that I eventually reached the same orange and yellow colors, it just took a while longer and the blending seemed better...at least that's what I thought until I took the pictures, which showed the roughness. I guess starting with the dark base is more forgiving but the end result shows that and I just need to work with even thinner layers starting at the light base.

 

[Avelorn]

One thing that is important is to have very little paint on the brush or to drag the little drop that is created towards an edge for highlight or down a crevice for shading. Another common error is to have the brush in a too straight angle when creating a blend, I use very much the side of the brush.

The appearance of smoothness and blending is very much helped by good application of contrast and light as well. I think not worrying so much about smoothness but instead working on those aspects you will eventually get the results you're after and perhaps have a more rewarding and joyful journey as well. It takes time to learn what consistencies that work and how to use the brush.

 

[Chrome]

And if the roughness is very apparent it might be the pigments reacting to something in your water, you could try thinning with some bottled water or buy some distilled water and try that. There's also paint thinners out there you could try out that are more kind to the colour than water is. If all those fail in getting your paint smoother you have no choice but to blame your technique.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Here's a great technique called side-loading that I have found VERY useful for mini's and 2d work. The first vid is how to side load a brush and the second is how to paint with it. Doing this in layers with the different colors you want could help a lot.





At about 30 seconds, see how smooth the transition is in a few easy strokes.

 

[gsr15]

Thanks again for the tips, I definitely think I at least understand the technical aspects...implementation is clearly something else, as is the more artistic side of things like appropriate contrast and lighting as Avelorn mentioned. But, as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day

@Chrome I hadn't thought about my water before, I guess I'll try some of the non-tap variety and hope for that to be the problem instead of my fledgling skills (however unlikely that may be )

@ Shawn R.L. Do you use a rectangular brush in your mini painting or can these concepts be applied with a round brush as well? I would guess a rectangular brush is required...perhaps I'll make an addition to the stash.

 

[Wyrmypops]

Is there chalkyness? Gritty from the paint. White paint has a history of that. In a recent thread some folk suggested the P3 range for white paint as they don't come with that baggage. I picked some up, ain't been using them long enough to offer an absolute but ain't had anything but groovyness from them.

Is the paint drying and ikkle bits of manky paint getting transferred to the mini? I've taken to watering my paints with an eye dropper style bottle, filled with a A smidgeon of Flow-Aid, a tad of Retarder, and the rest Distilled Water. When the paint on the palette does eventually dry, it does so rather evenly, without that manky skin forming and possibly intruding into the painting.

A habit I got into when blending/layering was licking the brush. Some of us swear by it, some swear at the practice. It just provides a few convenient pros, with the con just being a multicoloured mouth. It keeps the brush damp in a not-too-wet, not-too-dry, it's-just-right way. Ensures there ain't too much paint going on. Lumpy bits could be felt and tongued off. And having a brush in ones gob sure cuts down on the amount of ciggies one puffs through.

Glazes can be a nifty save after the event. Most useful for certain colours that appear too pallid after the highlights. They inject a bit of pigment back into the whole area, but applied evenly with control they don't affect the area as an ink wash would do. A bonus is that they draw together the blending beneath them.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

@ Shawn R.L. Do you use a rectangular brush in your mini painting or can these concepts be applied with a round brush as well? I would guess a rectangular brush is required...perhaps I'll make an addition to the stash.

No, I don't use a rectangular brush for this, at least not when doing mini's. For canvas work I use it all the time.
On mini's I use a pointed brush, get it wet, put a tiny bit on the tip and sort of scrub sideways.
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