...in which I attempt to demonstrate acrylic paint blending methods for brush painting figures.
Three methods are introduced - layering, wet on wet blending and two brush blending. The first two get serviceable demonstrations on the video but the third, which is new to me, is a poor effort!
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On my figures, when using the hairy stick, I use three methods for blending acrylic paints to achieve smooth transitions from one colour, tone or shade to another: layering, wet on wet blending and two brush blending. The last of those is new to me and still a work in progress.
My video demonstrates each of the methods in turn with varying degrees of success. Links are provided below to some superb examples of figure painter using these techniques properly!
Layering
Unlike oil or enamel paints, which remain open or workable for some time and therefore allow colours to be mixed together on the figure itself, acrylics dry extremely quickly and need different approaches if the same seamless transitions and blends are to be achieved.
The main system used is layering which is the addition of thin coats of progressively lightening (for highlights) or darkening tones or shades of paint on decreasing areas of the model until the desired transition or effect is achieved.
The paint to be painted in each layer is thinned using water or a medium (retarders and flow improves can be added if desired) and should be of a thin semi-transparent consistency (difficult to describe in words!) - it cant be too thin (you will just need more layers to see the desired change in colour), but too thick is no good whatsoever! NB - do not use AB thinners to thin paints for layering - the solvents used to make our air brushes work may, with the friction caused by the brush stroke, reactivate the lower layers of paint and cause them to lift off - ask me how I know! Vallejo’s FAQ says this too - so it must be true!
Each layer must be fully dry before moving on to the next.
As each layer goes down, especially if there is a significant increase in the tone or shade, when dry a ‘tide mark’ or line showing where the value changes may be visible. These can be further blended by feathering the edges with even thinner washes of the tones or shades in question (eg a line between a dark and a light layer can be feathered with a mid tone).
Example from the video - clumsy and certainly not seamless! But, illustrates the text above. The transition from VMC English Uniform to VMC Beige has been done in 8 progressively lighter layers - nowhere near enough for this size of object but useful for demo purposes.
Wet on Wet Blending
My favourite! Quick, effective and, with a modicum of practise, easy!
In this method (which is based on a traditional watercolour process) a thin wash of the base colour is painted onto the general area of the required blend and immediately, the desired highlight or shading colour is painted onto the high spot or shadow area and quickly feathering to the wet wash. Capillary action takes care of the rest! The trick with this method is to work quickly (that wash of paint will dry as you watch) and to ensure that the colour to be blended is thicker than the wash - if both are the same thin consistency, the two colours will completely mix of their own accord without the required controlled transition.
Water can be used as the first coat if the paint to be blended is, for example, a contrasting colour and you do not want its value or hue to be changed by the wash of base colour.
Once feathered, leave well alone until dry.
Again - thin with water and or medium and not solvent based thinner. A little retarder in the wash can help to slow everything down which can be good (but not if your are, as am I, impatient)
This will make more sense if you watch the video!
Examples
Two Brush Blending
This is a new one and I have just started to try it - it seems most useful.
Similar to Wet on Wet but the paint to be blended goes onto the a dry model and is then blended in in quick succession with the tip of a second, clean, damp brush. Exponents of this method use a special medium to dampen their brush - good ol’ spit! When I first saw this I was a bit dubious but in practice it seems like the fluid acts as a resist and prevents the paint leaching to far into the liquid. It also seems to grab the paint making the feathering process effective. You will see me have a go on the video but it’s a very poor effort - check out the linked vids for the real deal.
Links
Layering acrylics to paint faces
Marion Ball (about an hour, but magical!)
Iguazzu (18 mins of genius)
Layering for skin tones
Coen! Top man - top job
Two brush blending
The basics well explained and demonstrated
Brant Benoit
1
2
3
Used to shadow and highlight a figure
Studio McVey 1
Studio McVey 2
Thank you for looking
Video Music
Music
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http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Josh_ ... Wake_1790/
Oh Mallory (Instrumental version)
