by Chris Middleton

Blending there are 2 ways I use to blend. the first is the hardest because you must be very fast, which in most cases I am not. so I found the second way which works for me 80% of the time.

The First This method is achieved by putting on your base coat colour and  before it dries to add the next lighter highlight shade on top allowing the 2 layers of wet paint to "blend" together. however as I said when doing a large area you must work fast or the first coat will dry before you can mix and apply the next layer. I do use this method on small area's such as gems or eye's on space marines where the area is small and all you are doing is adding a bit of white to the base colour to lighten it.

The Second This method is a little easier for myself, because if you want you can stop and let the layers of paint to dry. I find this works very well on large area's such as cloaks and robes. The first step is to lay down the darkest colour. This would be a darkened base colour , that will be the shaded recess's . I typically add some black to give me the dark colour, but with some colours adding a dark grey or brown will work better then black will. (only way to discover what you like or which works best is to experiment. So give it a try,  the only thing you are wasting is some paint and time) Apply the first colour in 2 thin coats thinning your paint with water or FUTURE magic mix (future no wax floor shine mixed with water, it helps thin and allows the pigment in the paint to lay flat, it also brakes the surface tension of the paint allowing it to flow across the surface instead of forming droplets ). Now that you have the base coat on, you can start blending up to the lightest shade. Here is where patience is needed most. Take your base colour and mix in a lighter shade. I have found that  using a colour like GAMES WORKSHOP bleached bone will work better than white as it will have a tendency to not turn colour's like red to pink, but gives a more suttle lightening effect. Once you have the colour tinted to where you want it add some water or magic wash to thin the paint out so it is very watery. The reason for this is so when you apply it to the high points it will be almost transparent allowing the base colour to come through giving a blended look to it. After that just continue to lighten your paint and add more layers to bring the high points up to where you want. I recommend stopping between layers and holding your miniature up and looking at it from a distance then ask your self does it look good the way it is or do I want another layer to highlight it more?

A Few Other Tricks If you mixed up your base coat and painted it on, but after letting it dry it doesn't look as dark as you  want it to be, you can always use a thinned down wash of black ink or a dark ink similar to your base colour. This will darken the base colour a little more and the ink will flow into ridges and creases. Some times this real works really good to give a 3D look to somewhat flat surfaces. Another good use for inks is if you pause half way through blending and find that the paint is starting to look "chalky" from being thinned (some paints and colours have a tendency to do this when thinned) just apply thinned wash of the same colour ink to kind of glaze the surface. It will help get rid of the chalky look. For mixing your paint go to a dollar store or craft store and pickup a small hobby paint palette. The ones I buy are 8 inches round with a dozen wells around the edge to mix paint in, do not use your good brushes to mix paint! use a toothpick, a small piece of plastic spur or an old brush. When mixing paint sometimes you really got to stir it and if the paint gets up in the end of the bristles by the handle of the brush, it will dry there and ruin the brush as it will spread the bristles apart which will ruin the shape of the brush. A good rule of thumb is to not allow paint to go more than half way up the bristles. If it does clean it right away. The other thing for ease of use I have a premixed bottle of MAGIC WASH mixed up, it is a small squeeze bottle with only a pin hole in the top so I can add one drop of water at a time to paint when thinning. there is nothing worse than having your paint mixed to the perfect shade and having to add more paint because you thinned it too much.

Wi th some patience and a little practice this can all add up to some fine looking miniatures, so have patience and experiment to find how it works best for you. Worst thing that can happen is you have to strip it and start again. for this reason I try to paint the blended or hardest parts first, so that if you don't like the end result and end up wanting to start over you are not stripping a mini you have 90% completed.

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