Wet blending

[Gaeus Marius]

Just like the topic description, I would like to know what you guys use to slow the drying process in order to get a good blend. I thought I saw a tutorial on YouTube, but the guy never said what he used.

[winterdyne]

Vallejo do glaze medium and drying retardant. Both work.

[mr tough guy]

Using a wet pallette and diluting your paint to the consistency of milk should help a lot.

[darth_giles]

I've found I just have to work quickly. Thinning it a little helps, although you have to be careful that you don't think it too much.

[Gaeus Marius]

Thanks for the tips guys. I am just getting to the phase in my painting when I want something more than just "tabletop" quality. I am re-vamping an old army, and have switched to some Vallejo paints anyway dark and medium Sea Grey to be exact (painting a Space Wolf Great Company). I intend to use a lot of Bronze, and Leather-ish colers as well for the pouches and such. Any advice on the whole blending process?

[winterdyne]

Honestly, there are few times when you actually need to wet blend. In most situations, layering up will do the job just as smoothly (and if batch painting a squad) much more efficiently.

[Gaeus Marius]

winterdyne: I checked out some of your minis via the link on your post, beautiful! I aspire to that kind of quality work with my painting (NOWHERE near there yet). You use layering to get that quality? the highlights flow so naturally, I would have thought that you used blending. Is that what most of the rest of you do as well? How do you all use layering to get everything looking so smooth, do you use washes to blend them? I have had some bad experiences with washes.....

[Hemal]

Blending is not alwys wet blending - remember that dry blending is like layering but where you draw the newly painted colour onto the previous layer to create a very thin glaze that tints the layer below a little, and which eases the colour transition...

[winterdyne]

Layering / dry blending / feathering are pretty much the same thing. Paint thinned and applied properly doesn't go on a solid colour, its a tint that gets stronger toward the end of your brush stroke. You should allow each layer to dry on the model to the point where it won't be disturbed by the next. Generally this is just a couple of seconds if you've applied little enough - the main mistake people make is putting too much paint down at a time on the model. It's handy to have a heat source to dry the layer quickly - an incandescent bulb or hairdryer both work.

 

You get a smoother result by using many intermediate mixes. This is easiest on a wet palette - put a blob of colour A down, then about an inch away a blob of colour B. Pull the two into each other with a large brush and mix 'em up in the middle so it's a smooth transition. You can then pick paint up from an appropriate place on the palette for what you're trying to do on the model. As you go if things are looking rough you can put down a bit of a mix and add water or glaze medium to put a glaze on to smooth things out. Without a wet palette you may want some form of drying retarder to keep the mix fresh while you work. I tend to start from the sharper (usually highlight) end of the transition and work in - the further you go in the less accurate you need to be.

 

For a lot of work you'll go 'across' the transition with multiple layers, doing a few strokes to pull the paint along to where the next layer will be. Feathering differs in that the stroke direction is usually 'along' the transition and that you space the strokes out a little (ie don't over lap them) so the result is deliberately streaky. This looks great on naturally textured objects (chitinous shells, wood, hair). When feathering, due to the spacing, you'll usually want to work from the 'broad' end of the transition (usually shade) and work tighter as you go. You may need to tidy up the shade of an adjacent feathered areas (eg a Tyranid shell).

 

Edit: I do like using an airbrush for quicker work - most of the Ultramarines are just airbrushed with the spot colours being hand painted. The Space Hulk guys have a zenithal guide (so you can see where the highlights should be) coat with lots and lots of layering over the top to get it nice and rich and smooth. You can get a similar guide without using an airbrush by using the 3-primer method (Black- all over, grey- from about 45 degrees, white- just a dusting from directly above). The airbrush makes life a bit easier by allowing you to get a colour that's very close to what the finish should be.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Just like the topic description, I would like to know what you guys use to slow the drying process in order to get a good blend. I thought I saw a tutorial on YouTube, but the guy never said what he used.

Vallejo make "Model Color Drying Retarder", available in 17ml bottles for around £1.80. Alternatively, both Liquitex and Winsor & Newton make drying retarders ("Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder" and "Artists' Acrylic Slow Drying Medium", respectively), in around 118/125ml bottles for around £5. Les Bursley (YouTube AwesomePaintJob) uses the Liquitex medium mixed 1:1 with the paint (should double drying time if it's the same "strength" as the W&N stuff).