**I’m moving! Please visit my new blog: Ink Epiphanies. All the Serpents and Doves content is being moved, and any new posts will be made there. Thank you so much for visiting**
Believe it or not, I finally finished the blending tutorial I promised almost half an eternity ago! The sad part is I really had to cut the amount of content down so I could actually fit everything into one post.
What I am left with is one of the most basic elements of digital painting: blending colors. Technically, there is no right way to blend. Blending is often achieved either through using the smudge tool or actually painting with brushes by varying opacity and flow. I will be honest: there is no quick solution for blending. No matter what method you choose be prepared to spend quite some time on it.
The Smudge Tool:
Many (though not all) digital artists are aghast at the thought of using the smudge tool to blend, but some do use it. I personally can’t stand working with the smudge tool alone. I used to, but it takes an extremely long time when used properly for an effect slightly watered down from what it has the potential to be
- Smudging only moves pigment around, it doesn’t actually blend colors. The best way to smudge blend is to use a spackle brush, and only a spackle brush because it takes up little bits of color to smudge around rather than an entire section.
- We will start with these three shades of green
- Using your spackle brush set at a low strength (about 50% or below, but it is always good to vary it), move the brush back and forth perpendicular to the color edges
- Varying the brush size and strength, move it back and forth, up and down, diagonally, every direction you can think of over and over and over again to achieve the look you want. If you want a more artistic style then leave it less blended, more smudged, and vice verse if you want a realistic blend
Painting:
I have grown to love the painting method. It is delightful to see that whichever brush you use will have a different effect in your art. Try a variety of brushes to see what you like best. You may even decide to use a uniquely shaped one that becomes your trademark style. For the sake of simplifying this tutorial I am going to use the following two brushes:
- Let’s start with purple splotches
- I am now going to make a note about opacity and fill. These are some of the most vital functions you use to paint. Opacity relates to how transparent the color is when released, fill is how much color is released. When blending I find it easier to start with a mid range opacity, higher range fill, then slowly start decreasing both as you go.
- Using your spackle brush, hold down the “alt” key (command for mac) and grab the darkest color. The darker the color is the lower your opacity should be. Start painting along the dividing line of the dark and mid-range color. Keep pressing the “alt” key to grab the different shades (including dark, mid-range, and lighter colors) as you go along. It also may be wise to vary your brush size. Go over and over this section until you achieve the look you want. But keep lowering your opacity and fill!
- Repeat for the middle color and lightest color.
- For a final step, paint over the entire area with an airbrush set to low opacity and fill (around 10% & 30% respectively) to give it a polished look.
- At the end you should have a relatively smooth gradation moving from dark to light
- If you have a streak of color that isn’t behaving and will not blend, don’t be afraid to “cheat” and smudge it out. That often helps immensely.
Other popular brushes to use for painting:
- solid round-gives an almost oil painting, artsy style
- airbrush- makes the painting looks, well, airbrushed
- Clouded speckle brush- looks like a bunch of airbrushes stuck together. It gives more texture than the airbrush, more distinct lines than the spackle brush, and less harsh lines than the solid round.
This technique can be applied to almost everything you paint, though I find it especially helpful for skin tone and fine fabrics. Below you will see how my canvas tends to look when painting an illustration. I create little “palettes” of color on separate layers and use the “alt/command” key to grab whichever color I want. This also goes to show that it is okay to be extremely messy while painting… there is the wonderful eraser available!
After I have started adding detail and cleaning:
I hope that was at least slightly helpful. Remember, don’t be afraid to experiment. That’s when you find something fun and unusual to put into your artwork.
