Blending 101

Today's post is all about blending. Not making ourselves tasty beverages, but instead the blending of one colour into another. This is largely done as part of the overall subject of highlighting, but it's difficult enough to do that I've been experimenting with various methods to find the one that's right for me.

There's a fair bit of information out there for the older paint sets, some of which I've attempted, and there's no actual one particular way of doing this. Different people will use different methods, so try them all and see what works for you. For me, I wanted something that could:

• Blend very smoothly.
• Be done quickly.
• Use only as much paint as required (prevents waste).

Getting blending done quickly, while still being smooth, is mostly for squad based work, but it also means that I should be able to use a technique repeatedly without problems.

One technique that I've not even bothered with is "wet blending". This is applying the two colours next to each other, and then mixing them in place on the model. While it was my style of choice with the Tamiya range, the Citadel paints dry too fast for this to be really feasible - the layers will be dry before you can even start to mix them.

Another technique that I've read about is applying a small amount of paint with one brush, and then using another to sort of "pull" at the edges, leading the paint outwards from the edge. This can work quite well, particularly with a damp brush (note: damp, not water-laden!). Unfortunately, I was also suffering from the problem of the paint drying too quickly, leading to patchy areas. I'm not entirely sure, but I suspect the newer paint range makes this a little more diffiult.

The last method I tried ended up working out, but is the most tedious of them all to start with. After a bit of practice, it gets faster though and is actually best suited with squads (you can return to the first model after finishing the last). The results are shown below, though the photo doesn't do it justice.

Note that this model was used for experimenting different techniques, so not all blending and highlighting is even across it, but the knee pads and helmet muzzle are the best examples to inspect.
At this point I'll mention that it's far easier to blend by using a dark base and a lighter layer. Going the opposite direction can also be done, I tend to prefer washes in that case.

So the final approach is:

• Using a damp brush, apply a little paint, and then spread it outwards using brush strokes perpendicular to the blending gradient. That means if you want to blend from top to bottom, use brush strokes left/right to right/left. This isn't a hard rule, but I find it helps.
• If the paint is a little dry, this can quickly turn into a sort of drybrushing, but that's ok for now.
• If the paint is a little wet, you might have to "push" it back towards the edge.
• Another tip, is that sometimes I find it helps to use a damp brush to sort of "pre-dampen" the surface under scrutiny.
• Basically, this step needs a bit of practice to get the right amount of paint on the brush to start with!
• When learning, this can ruin a brush fairly well. So use an older, slightly frayed brush (which I find ends up working better anyway).

• Keep in mind that the paint will dry much darker in the end, so repeat as necessary. This is where it's suited to squad based models - by the time you've finished the first coat, you can immediately start on a second.
• Don't be overly concerned with keeping the blend perfect just yet either. That gets fixed in a moment.

• When happy with the basic blend gradient, the next step is to apply either a wash, or a very thinned down (almost wash consistency) base paint.
• This removes hard differences, and is they key to a smooth blend. Keep in mind that it will darken things a little.

The results should speak for themselves, though it really is much nicer than shown in the photo. I've used this technique across 3 models now, with different colours, and it's working fairly well so far. It's also easy to fix mistakes - just use either the lighter layer colour, or the darker base colour to touch things up a bit as you go along.

A final note on the technique itself is that it's best applied to larger areas (knee pads, greaves, that sort of thing). It can be a bit fiddly with smaller areas such as eye lenses, gems, fingers, etc, so I prefer straight forward highlights in those cases.

I've worked with blending from a base black spray to Eshin Grey, but it wasn't too visible on the photo, so instead enjoy a picture of Death Company in the works, led by Lemartes.