[The Son of Horus]

I've lately come to an obvious realization, which I should've come to some time ago.

First, I'd like to direct your attention here.

http://www.faceters.com/askjeff/images/color_wheel1.jpg

I've found that when you lighten or darken a color, doing it with the shade to the left (lighter) or right (darker) has much smoother results than using an off-white or white to lighten or a dark grey or black to darken.


Next, I've recently figured out how to do "stairstep" highlights, which yields essentially the same results as blending but is a hell of a lot easier to do. It's literally making lines on the surface, albeit very fine lines, and lightening each step. Each line probably ought to be maybe two brushstrokes with the tip of the brush wide. It's hard to explain without pictures, but if you give it a shot on a sheet of paper in just a square setup with no texture like the surface of a model, you should get an idea of what I'm saying.


Finally, I've found that watering paints down to the point where they're an almost ink-like consistency yields far better results than even the "normal" amount of watering down. You just have to watch the crevasses and make sure it doesn't spill in!

 

[Djinn24]

I agree with every part except the blending portion, once you get blending down you get much better results in additions to it looking cleaner. One thing to keep in mind is the more you water your paints down the smoother the color will be but more coats you have to put on to get the proper saturation of color. If you are painting for competition I agree that highly diluted paints are awesome, but for normal painting diluting to much will cause you to take days on a single squad, if not longer.

 

[CATzeentch]

well thats how long it takes me anyways and they look okay.
Nice tip, i will definitly try it and hopefully speed up my painting(I'm very very very slow)

 

[The Wraithlord]

I tend to paint very slowly too but there is merit in what you have to say. Especially if one is going for tabletop quality overall. For anything higher though, you need blending imho.

 

[Dirge Eterna]

I just got into highlights and blending for my Word Bearers, and I'm pleased with the results. Makes my SM look like they were painted by a five year old. lol.

-Dirge