Hi!
Robert Crombeecke has a question that is really useful to illustrate the way I blend the diferent tones with acrylics.

We have to keep in mind two concepts:

1. Acrylics paintings gain strenght by saturation. The pigment they have gets more visible with every stroke you apply in the same place. In example, if you have applied the basecoat, and now you are applying the first highlight, you will have a lighter effect with every succesive layer, and that lighter tone will gain strenght. In the other hand, if the highlight (or shadow) is very extreme, you have to apply it in less coats so it doesn't get to intense. The more near to the basecoat is the tone you are applying, the more you have to insist so it gains relevance by saturation.

2. The more you thin an acrylic paint, the less opaque it is. You can play with different degrees of thinning to achieve different effects. In example, I have applied the basecoat and now I'm applying the first highlight in the forehead. That area must receive a lot of light so I rather paint a less thinned coat, so the highlight achieves strenght earlier and I get a cleaner work, avoiding the need of 3 thinned uncontrolled coats in a big area. In the other hand, if I have the basic skin job done and want to apply the flush effect, I need to thin the paint a lot and apply it with the brush discharged, with very little thinned paint in it, so the effect is very subtle in each stroke and I can control it in several careful applications, avoiding that the cossack looks like Heidi in just one rough application.

You can blend the different tones combining these concepts. If the difference between the colours is too big, you can apply a less diluted intermediate tone in the transition (mixing a bit of both tones in a corner of the palette) and apply it to smooth it roughly. When the difference is smaller, you can dilute more that intermediate tone or one of the main ones that you want to gain strenght there, charge very little paint in the brush and give several controled and precise strokes in the area so that shade helps blend all.

The concept is a bit complex at first time, but it's more similar to oils than it seems. It requires patience and some trial and error process.

Hope it helps...
Regards
FeR

Fernando,

Can you give me just a little more detail on blending pahse and what you are doing?

I understand that I apply the highlights and shadows first. Makes sense and I think I am good with that step. But when we start to blend them together, I'm not sure how to achieve this without simply painting over the other parts.

Is it that we take the different tones and mix them together for the appropriate shade and then thin them so it is more of a "wash" type mixture?

Sorry, I am really new to the blending phase.

It's OK, man. Sometimes I forget that, although my words make sense in my head, maybe they require more explanation . With blending, I talk about smoothering the difference between the diverse tones in a transition from highlights to shadows. You have to conceal the limits of the different tones areas to get a smooth and subtle finish.

You can do it appliying the intermediate colours in the transition very thinned. When you thin the acrylic paint with water, it becomes increasingly more transparent. It allows you to paint over the transition without fully covering the area. With patience, you can use it to smoothen the colour "jumps" in the area.

Any other detail?

Regards
FeR

Perfect, Thanks!

I am going to play with some card stock tonight just to get the process down and then work on the figure tomorrow.

Great idea!
FeR

Any help is more than welcome. A useful link that may help the guys to understand things
Regards
FeR

Awesome guys!

Hi, guys!
Just wanted to let you a pic where I have marked the exact places were the extreme highlights must be. If you observe the pic, you can notice the size of the highlight area and its intensivity:



Questions?
Regards
FeR

Do you blend the entire area or the edges? I can't understand how to blend in the very small areas.

It's the same thing for the large areas than for the smaller ones. We apply the tones in layers, right? So, you end with several superimposed layers whose limits you can clearly see. The idea is to conceal those limits so everything is smooth. The smaller areas require less work but more precission than the larger ones, that require a lot of touches. Keep in mind that the objective is to blend. Once you've got it, you're done.

Regards
FeR

Hi all!

It's time to post the next step of the course, the shirt.
We need a somewhat off white color. I thought in limiting the color palette in the rest of the miniature so, I'll paint this area using the skin tones in a different combination with just a new color addition.



From left to right:
Ivory, Basic Skintone, Khaki, Brown Violet, Prussian Blue and Burnt Cadmiun Red.

The palette:



From left to right and up to down:

Base color: Basic Skintone + Khaki
1st shadow: Base colour + Brown Violet
2nd shadow: 1st shadow + Brown Violet
3rd shadow: 2nd shadow + Brown Violet + mix of Prussian Blue and Burnt Cadmiun Red
Mix of Prussian Blue + Burnt Cadmiun Red for outlining and extreme shadows
1st highlight: Base colour + Ivory
2nd highlight: Pure Ivory

The most important factor when painting an area in white or a very light tone is the base color. A slight difference in that color can make the difference between the need of more highlights, more shadows or just big change in the whole tone of the area. I recommend that you paint a large and flat part of the area, wait for it to dry and decide if you like the tone. I've chosen a tone similar to the skin tone and a bit light. That way, I'll just need two additional tones for highlights and four for the shadows, in order to obtain the contrast degree I want.

Let's start with the base color. As always, we apply a solid tone, painted in two or three diluted coats:




Maybe some of you have noticed that I have made some adjustments to the previous step; I have given a touch with a bit of thinned Basic Skintone in the hair to highlight it a bit more. Also, I have corrected some details of the skin, like the right lower eyelid, that wasn't properly outlined. Don't get obsessed with completely finishing an area from the start. There always be details to improve or corrections aimed to balance the whole thing. Also, you can change your mind about an area or simply have an accident


I'll do an approximate sketch of highlights applying the first highlight tone. Upper part of the shirt and its main folds:



Now, I do the same in the shadows areas. First shadow in the lower areas, insisting on the lower part of the sleeves and the lower part of the main folds:



I start the work in the left part of the chest. I add more highlights and shadows, while cleaning the whole area. One word of advice. Be careful when painting the extreme shadows because they are hard to cover with such lighter tones:



It needs some more touches that I'll add after working all shirt. Now, the right side of the chest:



Front part of the left sleeve:



As you can see, I'm not polishing completely until the shirt is more advanced in general. In these kind of areas you better get an idea of the whole thing and then, adjust what needed. Also, the normal thing is to give touches in previous areas while you advance. A bit more of work in the same area:



Don't forget the upper and rear part of the sleeve:





Let's start the other sleeve. Front:





Rear:





We have already done the biggest part of the work. Some final touches and a coat of matt varnish and that's the results:





We can add more shades and things, as dirt effects, but we'll wait to have advanced more in the miniature

Till next step...
FeR

ok so blending is layering....the more layers the better the blend?

Well, you have to stop when you have a nice result but, yes, more work means better results.
Regards
FeR

Fernando,

What size brush are you using for the eyes? And more specific the highlight on the pupil?

What size brush do you use for base coating?

I guess I'm having multiple problems with brushes and maybe more paint thinness. When doing some of the stuff, I seem to be putting on drops of water instead of flush brush strokes leaving behind some paint. This is when I have thinned it and try to do a highlight or a shadow. When the drop goes on, it quickly dires around the outside and that leaves a little more paint there so I kind of get a circle outline.

Is my paint too thin?
Am I just to impatient and need less thinned paint on the brush and put down more coats?

This might also be my blending/polishing problem. My understanding is that I thin my colors even further and go back ove the highlights to smooth out the transitions from base skin tone to highlight 1 to highlight 2 and same for shading. But I seem to be doing more of a "wash than a blend I think based on how much thined paint I have on my brush.

Of course if I go back and read the thread I have part of my answer(and I just caught the Heidi comment ):

"2. The more you thin an acrylic paint, the less opaque it is. You can play with different degrees of thinning to achieve different effects. In example, I have applied the basecoat and now I'm applying the first highlight in the forehead. That area must receive a lot of light so I rather paint a less thinned coat, so the highlight achieves strenght earlier and I get a cleaner work, avoiding the need of 3 thinned uncontrolled coats in a big area. In the other hand, if I have the basic skin job done and want to apply the flush effect, I need to thin the paint a lot and apply it with the brush discharged, with very little thinned paint in it, so the effect is very subtle in each stroke and I can control it in several careful applications, avoiding that the cossack looks like Heidi in just one rough application.
"

I have got some questions too, Fernando.

1. How do you manage to duplicate the same shades of the paint? When I try to use Vallejo bottle paint dropper to measure exact amount of the paint each time, I end up with huge amount of the paint and most of is usually wasted.

Do you use only sight to recognize shades or you have more economic way to measure the same amount of each paint when mixing?

2. When you blend and polish, do you prefer lighter color on darker or it does not matter?

3. Would you mind to describe at which part of the head did you use flush effect?

Terry,
That circle of paint you talk about used to happen to me all the time, they call it "tide marks", all the pigment rushes to the outside edges of the water droplet. It's caused by too much paint on the brush when using thinned paints. You just need to wipe a bit of paint off your brush on paper towel or something similar before you put the brush to the figure. Hope that helps.

Andrew.

For the eyes, I use a number 1. For basecoat, a number 2. The main thing I need in abrush is a good straight tip. I also prefer the the ones with longer hair, as they allow you to charge more paint if needed. I dont use the smallest numbers because their tips, once used, are not so good at it culd seem and they charge very little paint.

I think that you need either less thinned paint or either charging less thinned paint on the brush. You can do it both ways.

Regards
FeR

1. Don't get obsesed to duplicate the exact proportions of paint. I measure it in an aproximate way. Just mix the needed amount of paint until you get what you need. If I have to mix two tones and need two intermediatte colors between them (four different tones total), I put some paint of the first tone in one cup of the palette and some of the other tone in other cup, leaving 2 empty cups between them. Then I add and mix different ammounts of paint from the "primary" cups in the empty ones until I have a colour gradation in 4 cups.

2. If you do it with the darker color, you will darken the area. Same goes in the other hand so use that concept as a tool .

3. I add some flush in the cheecks, just down the point where you apply the highligts, a bit in the lower part and tip of the nose and a bit in the ear lobes.

Regards
FeR

Hi all!

Time to post the next step of the course, the trousers.

Having in mind that the miniature will wear a buff boots and the fact that the shirt has a very light tone, I thought that a dark wine color for the trousers would work really fine.

Let's choose the tones for that. As we did in the shirt, let's try to stick if possible to tones we have used earlier so everything gets more integrated:




From left to right, Khaki, Burnt Red Cadmium, Prussian Blue and Chaos Black. The color palette is very simple:



Base coat: Burnt Red Cadmium + a bit of Prussian Blue
1st Highlight: pure Burnt Red Cadmium
2nd Highlight: Burnt Red Cadmium + Khaki
1st Shadow: Base coat + Prussian Blue
2nd Shadow: 1st Shadow + Chaos Black

When painting darker colors, is better to apply few highlights than too many, because we risk to distort the overall intended tone. Once applied the tones in the palette, we'll decide if we go with a further highlight or not. We start with the base coat, applied in two or three diluted coats:



We apply the the shadows in the lower parts and the highlights in the upper. Shadows done, with the 1st applied in general darker areas and the 2nd only in the lower parts and inner folds shadows:



With such darker tones, I find easier to go polishing the transitions while I apply the successive layers of shadows and highlights. A give another coat with the base tone, as if it were the first highlight, first in the left leg:



Then in the right leg. This is the most arduous step:



Now, we apply the 1st highlight of pure Burnt Cadmium Red. Now, you can tell how the volumes build up:



And the 2nd highlight, in the upper areas and to define the shape and highlight of some folds:



As the finish is a bit satin, I apply a bit of matt varnish with airbrush so we can see the final result properly:



So we're done by now. Apart from the final dirt effects, maybe I'll apply more highlights depending on the whole view of the miniature.

The miniature so far:



Regards
FeR