Blending Fleshtones

[JimL]

I'm working on a Reaper ogre figure and it's mostly skin with tons of muscle detail. I am using the Reaper Tanned Skin triad to work it up. I've read a bunch of posts about glazing to make the blends smoother. The question is using that triad and getting my highlights a couple of steps lighter (Tanned Shadow+Oiled Leather then Tanned Shadow then Tanned Skin+Tanned Highlight and then Tanned Highlight) what would you use to start glazing those layers together and mixed in what proportion, water, extender, etc?

[Wren]

If you're happy with the colour and glazing purely to soften the blending, using your mid tone colour is usually a pretty safe bet. (So for you you could use tanned shadow, tanned skin, or probably the best bet would be a mix of the two.)

 

If you're not 100% happy with the colour, you can also use the glazing stage to subtly alter it. Using a different colour can also give skin a bit more of an illusion of complexity/translucency and make it more interesting or realistic to look at. Given the colours you mentioned, say you feel like the skin isn't looking sun tanned enough. You could glaze with straight Oiled Leather to bring in a bit more of an orangey-bronze glow.

 

Either way, you want to start with a very thin mix. Just a tiny drop of paint and add lots of water. You can also add flow improver to help get a more even coat. A drop or two of that and then the rest water should work fine. It's hard to give exact ratios because some paints are thicker or more pigmented than others. Start with a drop of paint and mix in some water. Basically you're going for something close to coloured water. Brush it across a piece of newspaper and let it dry. It should tint the paper with the colour slightly, but not obscure the text at all. The colour should seem pretty faded. I just did a test with a couple of the colours you used, and I got glaze consistency with one small drop of paint and 3-5 drops of water using a Master Series bottle as my water dropper bottle.

 

It'll seem thin, and it'll seem like it's not doing much. In general, it's better to start with too thin of a glaze than too thick. You can apply the glaze multiple times if it's too thin, or even add back in a tiny amount of paint to intensify it. But if it's too thick when you apply it and you obscure your layers, the only way to fix that is to repaint the mini. You'll probably think it's too thin and not doing anything. To test that it is, do something like paint one half of the figure's face or chest with 2-3 layers of glazes and then compare the two sides. (Make sure you let each layer dry between coats, but it shouldn't take very long if you've only used flow improver and water.)

 

If the edges between your layers are very stark, you can mix up thin but not super thin mixes and paint those just at the transition areas to soften them up.

[awong]

what Wren said...I'd only add...

try and unload your brush onto a towel or blotter. I test a glaze on my thumbnail. A swipe of the brush should leave a nice even film on your nail that dries fairly quickly (with or without blowing on the nail).

If it pools on your nail, it may pool on your mini and if you're not fast enough, may leave rings and other splotches.

-AW

[psyberwolfe1]

what Wren said...I'd only add...

try and unload your brush onto a towel or blotter. I test a glaze on my thumbnail. A swipe of the brush should leave a nice even film on your nail that dries fairly quickly (with or without blowing on the nail).

If it pools on your nail, it may pool on your mini and if you're not fast enough, may leave rings and other splotches.

-AW

 

This.

 

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

[captenglish]

what Wren said...I'd only add...

try and unload your brush onto a towel or blotter. I test a glaze on my thumbnail. A swipe of the brush should leave a nice even film on your nail that dries fairly quickly (with or without blowing on the nail).

If it pools on your nail, it may pool on your mini and if you're not fast enough, may leave rings and other splotches.

-AW

 

This.

 

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

AHA!!! That explains allot

[JimL]

Thank you Wren (and others for adding on) for the detailed response, that was exactly what I was looking for. I'm really trying to work on improving my painting and this figure is for the exchange so I want it to be the best work I can conjure. I also agree with Captenglish, that does explain a lot, great tip. I hope my wife doesn't mind me painting my nails!

[Ferox]

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

*facepalm*

 

THAT'S what I've been doing wrong.

 

Thanks!

[Karabean]

This.

 

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

 

 

Let me be another to say thank you!

[biscotta]

As someone who hasn't ventured into blending at all, I would appreciate a little more info. Can anyone offer an explanation of the basics of blending? As I read this thread, it seems very useful, but I don't really know how to apply it.

 

I've painted a handful of minis, but took a very long break. And this is my first post on the forums ever! I'm working on a mini with a lot of skin too, but he's more cellulite than muscle (Garravank).

 

Edit: Nevermind, I've found some useful things (especially this one: http://www.reapermini.com/TheCraft/7).

[captenglish]

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

*facepalm*

 

THAT'S what I've been doing wrong.

 

Thanks!

"facepalm" I have heard that in about twenty years, boy does that bring back memories

[psyberwolfe1]

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

*facepalm*

 

THAT'S what I've been doing wrong.

 

Thanks!

 

My reaction too when I found this out. Ever since problems went away.

 

This.

 

Plus if you wipe your excess off on a towel make sure the towel is damp otherwise you pull out the water and leave only pigment behind which will give your glaze a grainy finish.

 

 

Let me be another to say thank you!

 

Your Welcome. I'm glad it helped.

[Madog Barfog]

AHA!!! That explains allot

 

I would have let this go, but with a name like CaptEnglish...

 

It's "a lot", as in one lot, or many. "Allot" means to allocate. You can get an allotment, but it might not be a lot.

 

Next - "try to" instead of "try and" :D

[Jay_Bizzle]

A friend of mine wrote a series of articles a few years back for a local gaming message board that has since been shut down, I found it quite useful. I take no credit for the writing of it, I'm just sharing it as I found it very helpful. Keep in mind the message board in question was primarily a Warhmmaer 40k message board, and as such the examples provided are GW paints, but you get the idea. I hope this will help some of you guys as much as it's helped me.

 

 

Wet Blending

 

What is Wet Blending?

 

Generally speaking, ‘blending’ is the term used to describe techniques that are used to fade paint on a model. There are several techniques, the most prominent being ‘feathering’ and ‘wet blending.’ I use both, but I’m a huge fan of wet blending. It involves the creation of smooth transitions by mixing paint on the model itself. The best way to think of it is as though the model becomes the palette.

 

Why use Wet Blending?

 

After sufficient practice, wet blending can be used to achieve quick, smooth, subtle transitions between colours. I emphasize the words ‘sufficient practice,’ as there are loads of variables that you have to learn to control when wet blending (how wet, how much paint, what brushes are best, what basecoat to use, what direction to blend in, and so on). Wet blending allows you to create realistic fades between the deep shading between muscles and the pale highlights on the prominent areas of skin; it enables you to quickly fade a power sword from dark blue to white, or produce realistic transitions between shades on NMM.

 

As an alternative to more simplistic highlighting techniques such as layering or drybrushing, wet blending allows you to minimize the visible transitions between layers of colour, which can be very advantageous for ‘showpiece’ models. It also works well with both very deep and very bright colours, which is an advantage over glazes (which are a bit more difficult to use on dark areas).

 

How to Wet Blend:

 

In General:

 

The first thing you have to do when you’re wet blending is to plan ahead, and establish the colour scheme that will be featured on the area in question. You’ll need to decide what colours you will use for (1) the darkest recesses, (2) the mid-tone area, and (3) the lightest highlights. You can vary this technique, of course. Personally speaking, I use wet blending to create a smooth transition between my darkest shade tone and my mid-tone area, after which I typically use glazes to complete the highlighting process. For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll assume that you want to paint an entire area using wet blending.

 

The second task is to break the wet blending project down into manageable chunks. As the name implies, we need the paint to be ‘wet’ for this technique, which means dividing the texture into portions that can be painted while the paint remains fluid and manageable. This isn’t the kind of technique that lends itself to assembly-line painting (particularly when you first give it a go). If I were painting a model that had lots of exposed skin areas that I wanted to wet blend, I would try to identify individual skin ‘bitz’ that I could work on; for example, the head, arm(s), leg(s), tail(?), and so on. With practice, it’s possible to work on increasingly large areas, as your blending becomes quicker and smoother.

 

Having established the colours and areas of interest, it’s time to get painting. The first thing you’ll need to do is give the entire area a coat of your neutral mid-tone colour. This will be the colour that is most clearly identifiable with the area, typically a middle-ground between the deepest and brightest shades you’ll use (a medium skin tone for skin, a mid-green for ork flesh, and so on). This coat needs to be smooth and even, as well as opaque (make sure none of the undercoat is showing through). You can apply this coat on all pertinent areas of a model, even though you’ll be working on individual parts separately after this.

 

Once the mid-tone coat is applied and dry, you can begin the wet blending process. On your palette, you’ll want to ready three separate pools of paint: your darkest / deepest colour, a supply of your neutral mid-tone colour, and the lightest / brightest highlight you’ll be using. Consistency is important here. You need the paint to flow easily, but not be so wet as to act like a translucent glaze; at the same time, you don’t want it to be too thick, as it will dry quickly and leave a noticeable texture on the model. A ballpark consistency is that of half-and-half cream. That equates to 50 / 50 paint / water in most cases, although some problem paints will need this scale to be tipped in one direction or the other. Experimentation is the key.

 

On to the shading: To begin with, you’ll want to apply a band of your darkest / deepest colour to the portion you want to be darkest on the model. This is typically the recessed areas of the model, although you can arbitrarily decide which parts will be darkest in the case of a fading blend on something like a flat sword or shield. When this is done, you’ll need to quickly wash your brush off.

 

While the first band is still wet, apply a band of your mid-tone colour directly adjacent to it. I know, this area is already painted with that mid-tone colour, but we need a new, wet coat. While both bands are still wet, you can use your brush to ‘pull’ them together, using a smooth scribbling motion. Always pull from light to dark (bright to deep), as it ensures a smoother transition. Darker / deeper pigments are more powerful, so pulling from dark to light will only serve to darken the entire area. Control is the key here; when you’re done, you should have a smooth transition between the darkest recesses of the model and the neutral mid-tone areas (which will constitute the majority of the final product). The most common errors you’ll encounter when first attempting this technique are (1) a tendency to wind up with too much of the area covered in the darker colour and (2) noticeable ‘swirls’ in the blending where the paint has not mixed smoothly. Don’t worry! You’ll get better with practice.

 

When this process is done, you’re ready to begin blending from your mid-tone to your highlight. Again, you’ll want to apply a small amount of your mid-tone colour to the areas adjacent to where your final highlights will fall. When this is done, wash your brush off, and, while the new mid-tone layer is still wet, apply a band of your lightest / brightest colour to the uppermost (or highest) portion of the area in question. Repeat the blending process from the last step, being sure to pull your paint from the brightest areas to the mid-tone areas, and not vice-versa. Again, control is required to ensure that you don’t pull the blending so far that it encroaches on your finished dark-to-medium transitions.

 

When that’s done, you should have a pretty smooth transition from dark to mid-tone to light on the area in question. The next step is to repeat the process on all similar areas on the model.

 

 

 

A Quick Recap:

 

 

1. Choose your colours (dark, mid-tone, and light)

 

2. Break the model down into manageable areas

 

3. Apply a solid coat of your mid-tone to all of these areas; let dry

 

4. Apply a band of your darkest colour to the recesses

 

5. Apply a band of your mid-tone to the middle areas

 

6. While coats 4 and 5 are still wet, pull the mid-tone into the dark colour, as smoothly as possible

 

7. Apply a band of your mid-tone to the middle areas adjacent to your last highlight

 

8. Apply a band of your lightest colour to the most prominent highlight areas

 

9. Repeat step 6, blending from light to dark, from coat 8 to coat 7.

 

10. Finished! Have a victory drink.

 

 

Troubleshooting / FAQ:

 

Q: How do I reduce the appearance of brushstrokes on the model?

A: Use a larger brush if you can, and thinner paint. A larger brush will spread paint over a larger area, which means your overall effect will be a smoother one than would be the case with a fine detail brush furiously working its way back and forth. Also, a larger brush will hold more paint, which means you won’t have to go back and forth between the model and your palette so often.

 

Q: What do I do if I’ve done my best but there are still some visible brushstrokes?

A: Use glazes of lighter colours to smooth out these rough patches. A few light glazes of the appropriate colour should get rid of prominent swirls or brush strokes.

 

Q: Why apply a basecoat using the mid-tone colour?

A: If you don’t, and you work from a dark base coat, you’ll notice this layer showing through, particularly where the final highlights are concerned.

 

Q: Can I blend by pulling from dark to light?

A: Yes, and in some cases this is preferable, particularly if you want the overall effect to be a dark one. However, you’ll need to be very careful not to overpower the mid-tone.

 

Q: Can blending time be increased by using an acrylic paint retarder?

A: Sure, but, it’s up to you to decide whether that’s a good thing or not. I’m of the opinion that it’s not, as it seems to increase the time you have to make mistakes.

 

I haven’t drawn up any specific examples as such, because I think the tutorial is in-depth enough. What I will do is suggest some colour combinations, just to make the above steps seem more concrete.

 

For a Blood Angels Space Marine’s armour, I would choose Blood Red as the neutral mid-tone colour, a mix of Blood Red + Dark Flesh for the recess shade, and Fiery Orange as a highlight colour. With Marine armour, it’s important to make your neutral mid-tone the most prominent colour.

 

For lighter human skin, I would choose Dwarf Flesh as the neutral mid-tone colour, a mix of Tanned Flesh and Dark Flesh for the recess shade, and Elf Flesh as a highlight colour. When wet blending skin, it’s important not to let the darker shade show up in areas that aren’t recessed.

 

For a blue cape, I would choose Enchanted Blue as the neutral mid-tone colour, Regal Blue for the recess shade, and a mix of Ice Blue and Enchanted Blue for the highlight colour.

 

Best of luck!

[biscotta]

A friend of mine wrote a series of articles a few years back for a local gaming message board that has since been shut down, I found it quite useful. I take no credit for the writing of it, I'm just sharing it as I found it very helpful. Keep in mind the message board in question was primarily a Warhmmaer 40k message board, and as such the examples provided are GW paints, but you get the idea. I hope this will help some of you guys as much as it's helped me.

 

Thanks! I can't wait to give it a try.