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I decided to work on my blending technique as the subject of this Learning Project. It was either blending or increase my proficiency in Latin. After discussion with Dr. Mascher about what appropriate materials for turning in would be I felt that blending would be easier to turn in rather than Latin.

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I started with the reds I would use in on the model. I have picked the colors and the gradient. I already have primed the model with a black coat. You can see the shades shifted lighter and lighter. This is to help raise the high areas. I will also be using a red shade to help with the deeper areas.

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This was a great start video on what types of techniques to use and when to use them. I felt it was like a review paper and I will watch more in depth videos on each individual technique I want to use.

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EVERY Miniature Painting Technique you must know and WHEN to use them

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I watched this youtube video on dry brushing as a way to improve my techniques. I don't have a lot of these brushes. My wife let me use one of her old make up brushes to substitute. We will see how it goes.

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This is the shading tutorial Video that I watched.

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So after watching the tutorial videos I learned that you are suppose to shade after the base coat. The shades are darker and help fill in cracks and recesses of the mini. After the shade you are suppose to layer up to the higher points with lighter colors. These are the shades that I have chosen to use. One for the metallic areas and one for the red areas.

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I used the Carroburg Crimson shade today. My first reaction was that pooling is certainly a problem. I need to work on my technique of applying the shade. I either had too much paint or was angling the mini wrong as I applied it. The shade would pool and become much much darker in areas of the pooling rather than just running into recesses. I did about half of the cloak of the mini in the shade in the first run just to see the difference between and could certainly see one after the pain had dried. I am going to try and angle better and use less paint on the other half.

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Today I finished the Red Shade. I like the end result a lot more. I certainly think that a layer of depth has been added already over just the base painting. It certainly adds a since of flowing and movement to the cloak. I am excited to see what we can do with the layering and dry brushing now that we are working up to the "higher" parts of the cloak and red areas of the mini.

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The first thing that I need to state is that I had a really hard time mixing the paints and getting a gradient. I tried to start with the darker color and mixing in the lighter color. Then moving to the lighter color and adding even more of the lighter red or a white. Creating the gradient was terrible for me. I didn't even put any of the paint on the mini. I just tried to create it on paper. I didn't like that it didn't seem to flow very well. It was very choppy and didn't look "Blended" as it is suppose to look. I am going to practice more of this mixing of the paints before I put it onto the mini. I can see why they tell you to practice on paper first.

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I watched this after the problems with Layering on paper. I now know its a glazing problem I am having with my steps looking not together and I will follow the glazing advice.

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Layering No so successful but moving on to dry brushing

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Layering No so successful but moving on to dry brushing

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I tried the layering on one section of the cloak on the mini and I was not happy with the result. I honestly think that I can do much better than this but I want to move on to the other techniques and try them to see how well they work. I will contenue to work on paint mixing, layering, and glazing because I have seen how beautiful they can come out when done correctly. I think that it is just a technique that I will have to practice more before I master it.

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Too much paint! Always too much paint. When you think you have wiped it all off there is still more there and it will ruin the section if you have any wet paint on the brush. Wipe, wipe, wipe, and wipe till you truly can't see any come off on your finger and then you can dry brush. I had to touch up the first attempts twice because of too much paint. However, once I learned to wipe off to what I would have considered excess and nothing was on the brush the dry brushing worked amazing and the results were great.

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Cloak after Layering and Dry Brushing attempts

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Cloak after Layering and Dry Brushing attempts

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I started a new model that I would use these techniques on with my silver colors because I had already done most of the silvers on the model that I did the reds on the cloak.

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The so I am finding that metallic colors are different than the regular colors and slightly more difficult. They have an inherent shading quality that makes using them and doing the gradients for the layering harder. The wash or shade though works wonders with them and makes them "pop" even better. The technique is not very hard at all and will vastly improve the areas that have metallic.

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Silver Metallic after Shading and dry brushing 

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Silver Metallic after Shading and dry brushing 

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This is a picture of the model after the base silver, shading with a very diluted black, and dry brushing with a lighter silver.

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I will say that the dry brushing technique was amazing to learn for all those wires/coils/rings. They are very very easy to paint by using this technique and I was very happy to learn how to make these stand out using this technique.

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I'm really glad that I took the time to learn how to do these techniques. I have a long way to go from award winning but I no longer feel ashamed when somebody wants to look at my mini's at the store. This has always been a relaxing hobby for me and this has only improved my appreciation for it and since of pride and accomplishment. There are some other techniques I would love to learn over time about how best to paint and blend. I think one of my next challenges will be flesh tones. They are suppose to be really hard to work with. I think challenging myself with them would be a great learning experience.