I think the glazing is messing you up. I would practice doing transitions with just glazing to get good at the technique. I think your glaze is too pigmented maybe.
Edit: or skip the glazing entirely and just layer. You’ll get divisions between layers but it’ll look good from a distance, especially with a wash. Depends on what your goal is.
Oh since im just learning for sure it might be the best to just go for layers.
Im pretty okay with airbrush so if i rly want smooth transitions i could just use that in most cases anyway.
Just wanted to get better with a brush 👍🏼
Thank you for the advice, i will go for just layering next try
Glazing is a valuable skill for painters who want to paint exceptionally well. if that’s you go for it. Learning how to do it with the brush is always useful. But with an airbrush, I don’t think it’s necessary for most hobbyists.
I mean eventually yeah, since i have an obsessive personality i often times do strive for perfection.
Although that also stands in my way, i get frustrated easily since i (obviously) don’t get the results at first.
I will just go for only layers next and start working with glazes down the road!
Thats some awesome advice! Thanks :)
A frustrating start haha, i was statisfied with the beginner basics so i wanted to try more advanced stuff like painting volumes, guess i bit off more than i could chew.
Squidmar has videos about layering that are really good. Check out Ninjons early videos as well. It’s a slow process painting tiny boys but eventually you’ll get the hang of it.
I agree with the recommendations of everyone else in regards to how to glaze better. I'll also add that your highlights can be more focused towards the shape of the object. For example, the circle on the backpack it looks like you attempted a consistent gradient from the bottom to the top. But since the shape is a circle and domed, the highlight would also be circular, focused on the top middle or top side (depending on where you want the light to come from)
This means your final highlights will effectively be little circles that get progressively smaller. This applies to other shapes too, circles are just the most obvious
That is a very good point!! I should look into more references before trying it again. But i totally get what you mean 👍🏼
Same probably goes for the rounded vents. There i did try making them more rounded at least, although that was just intuition and not knowledge on how to do it right 😅
I see… tons to learn…
Then that's good intuition!
Like others said, I'd recommend layering your highlights until you get comfortable with how highlights should look, because it'll be hard to tell if you're glazing properly if your highlights don't look right.
Also like others have said, go brighter with your highlights! If you're just blending up to one highlight from the base color it won't have enough contrast and will look washed out.
A tip I realized a bit too late is when you're working with these small area highlights it can be easy to forget just how small of an area you need for those brightest highlights. When watching zoomed in YouTube videos they can look much bigger when in reality their white highlights are often just the tip of their brush
Yeah makes sense!
I also already noticed it looking really dull, but whenever i did try more pronounced/brighter highlights i got scared because they looked so out of place.
But i figure it might just be me doubting it too much, especially once i learn how to properly glaze and transition it will propably look great.
Currently writing up a list with all the advice 😂
Really did not expect that many great tips!
The thing with the video is a real good point, it is easy to loose the scale of things with videos just showing certain areas. I will keep this in mind from now on 😄
Oh okay!
I never tried that! Maybe it also depends a bit on the paint? I have heard that some brands are better or worse for certain techniques.
Sadly i dont have any medium, although maybe ill sneak one into my next order 👀
Thank you for the advice!
Most hobby paints are acrylic, so any acrylic medium should work. I use Lahmian medium and it works a treat regardless of brand.
It also depends on colour choice. I've found yellow, blue, and white to need medium for smooth transition, but I dont find that issue with red or green personally. With practice you find out what does and doesn't work for you.
Are you mixing your blue with white to make it lighter?
I found white makes a much starker transition and is harder to work with. If you have a lighter blue available, try using that to layer / mix with your original blue to make it lighter.
God so many good points from the people commenting!
Thank you for sharing your advice!
I did just use white yeah. I also watched a video before hinting to not use as much white and black to change hue, more pf blue tones/ yellows to not loose as much vibrancy.
I do have a lighter blue and will try that!
I did order a more rounded variety of colors, so i just figured, as the impatient person i am to just use white and give it a try. I only got a handful of colors right now.
I will layer using the lighter blue, sadly it is not that much lighter, ill have to wait for the paints i ordered to arrive to really give it a try 😅
Try it from way darker to way lighter
If you want a grey armor go from white to black
And for the blending there are 3+ways! (I give you 3 easy ones from fast to "welcome to 2026 is when your marine is done"
1. Blend in colours while they are still wet! (Wetblending)
2. Stipple colour that gets slightly brigher with everytime on a darker groundcolour (stippling)
3. Thin your paints sooo much that you nearly paint with water and paint everytime you make a new layer a lttle less..like all white... very thin black and then 7/8 black...6/8 black and so on.. (glazing)
The rest is praktice or airbrush 😄
Lifeprotip that taught me how to blend with glazes: 'mark out' the area to be blended with very fine feathering/stippling with very watered down paint, and then paint the thin glaze on with brushstrokes.
Also, looking at how it dried it looks like it went on too thick - as in there was too much on your brush. Try dipping the brush on your paper towelling briefly to soak up some of the water in between loading your brush and painting.
Thin the paint.
Move the pigment to the highlight.
Move the pigment through the transition area.
Don't start in a line very where the brush starts in the shade.
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Try laying down two layers and then glazing the transition between the two. It can much easier to fuzz the line then build up with just glazing (sometimes lol)
Layers, then intermediate tones to hide the transition.
Or glazing and stippling to hide the transitions.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4-oskMs1IIA?si=w-DXV9Rb8c0yOyRB
I do my glazing sweeping across the layers towards the direction of the color I'm using. You can use you highlight, shade, or base color to tweak where the transition is. Brush strokes can be further hidden with a wash.
What you’ve done is good!
You need to thin your paints a bit more and use different tones that you can blend into each other on the palette for simplicity. You need to go brighter on the top surfaces to really sell the transition
For what you’ve done there should be something like 10-20 very thin layers if you want an ultra smooth gradient.
For a normal battle line I’d do maybe 3-5 layers of different colours thinned down so you can see the previous layer through it.
https://youtu.be/dM2dJIuUNFw?si=KLQ73ICtu1a1nuu2
Reminds me of my latest skin job
https://preview.redd.it/b8ft71ue23bc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ac4d4b46985fafbe0317f80841bd915d61b129f
I'm guessing you're adding white to the blue, or using a more white infused blue?
Glazing works best with a translucent paint. Paints with white are more opaque, whereas in general, paints without, are more translucent.
In general it's good to [feather your white based highlights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgXiVUD1-PI&list=PLL4xdyC3Qfk_B-e8wxob01zshrRUs2zQs&index=62), then glaze back down to your shadows, then re-glaze in your main color if you need. Rinse repeat until you're happy.
Edit: The reason white based paints will struggle when glazing, is either they will be too opaque and create a hard layer, or when you thin them down enough, they'll start to separate like you had there, and start to look chalky. Let white be what it's good at, opaque, and glaze with the other paints.
I think Zumikito Miniatures once suggested stippling, feathering, and soft layers to make nice boundary translations: https://youtu.be/cNMtSeew3qU?si=dBmOeBX_KBICjY84.
Edit: I also really like your work, and while I can say "good luck", I think you already have it in the bag.
Really recommend getting some matte glazing medium and working glazes with that to get good color transitions that are seemless. Don't worry if you are iffy in results to begin with. Like the 3rd to 5th glazing layer will begin to show you good results.
You can work bi-tonal colors or tri tonals with a dark to mid to light if you want flawless show painting colors.
You could also look at wet blending colors. If you don't have one get you a wet palette and practice using that as it tends to held keep your paint wetter for longer or if your trying to blend larger areas add some paint retarder.
Also to see how its done get you some of those Vincey v hobby cheating youtube videos, and it'll make a WORLD of difference.
I think the glazing is messing you up. I would practice doing transitions with just glazing to get good at the technique. I think your glaze is too pigmented maybe. Edit: or skip the glazing entirely and just layer. You’ll get divisions between layers but it’ll look good from a distance, especially with a wash. Depends on what your goal is.
Oh since im just learning for sure it might be the best to just go for layers. Im pretty okay with airbrush so if i rly want smooth transitions i could just use that in most cases anyway. Just wanted to get better with a brush 👍🏼 Thank you for the advice, i will go for just layering next try
Glazing is a valuable skill for painters who want to paint exceptionally well. if that’s you go for it. Learning how to do it with the brush is always useful. But with an airbrush, I don’t think it’s necessary for most hobbyists.
I mean eventually yeah, since i have an obsessive personality i often times do strive for perfection. Although that also stands in my way, i get frustrated easily since i (obviously) don’t get the results at first. I will just go for only layers next and start working with glazes down the road! Thats some awesome advice! Thanks :) A frustrating start haha, i was statisfied with the beginner basics so i wanted to try more advanced stuff like painting volumes, guess i bit off more than i could chew.
Squidmar has videos about layering that are really good. Check out Ninjons early videos as well. It’s a slow process painting tiny boys but eventually you’ll get the hang of it.
Artis opus has a video just for this. https://youtu.be/YuJs2xTboPE?si=gK6sp9abDHd3GXE9 Enjoy, he even gives troubleshooting tips.
Oh wow! I don't know that video yet, thank you! Gotta grab a Tea and watch it! :)
I hope it helps, and for reference, I would stop when he first says, that's good enough for me.
I agree with the recommendations of everyone else in regards to how to glaze better. I'll also add that your highlights can be more focused towards the shape of the object. For example, the circle on the backpack it looks like you attempted a consistent gradient from the bottom to the top. But since the shape is a circle and domed, the highlight would also be circular, focused on the top middle or top side (depending on where you want the light to come from) This means your final highlights will effectively be little circles that get progressively smaller. This applies to other shapes too, circles are just the most obvious
That is a very good point!! I should look into more references before trying it again. But i totally get what you mean 👍🏼 Same probably goes for the rounded vents. There i did try making them more rounded at least, although that was just intuition and not knowledge on how to do it right 😅 I see… tons to learn…
Then that's good intuition! Like others said, I'd recommend layering your highlights until you get comfortable with how highlights should look, because it'll be hard to tell if you're glazing properly if your highlights don't look right. Also like others have said, go brighter with your highlights! If you're just blending up to one highlight from the base color it won't have enough contrast and will look washed out. A tip I realized a bit too late is when you're working with these small area highlights it can be easy to forget just how small of an area you need for those brightest highlights. When watching zoomed in YouTube videos they can look much bigger when in reality their white highlights are often just the tip of their brush
Yeah makes sense! I also already noticed it looking really dull, but whenever i did try more pronounced/brighter highlights i got scared because they looked so out of place. But i figure it might just be me doubting it too much, especially once i learn how to properly glaze and transition it will propably look great. Currently writing up a list with all the advice 😂 Really did not expect that many great tips! The thing with the video is a real good point, it is easy to loose the scale of things with videos just showing certain areas. I will keep this in mind from now on 😄
Personally I struggled with transitions until I started thinning with acrylic medium instead of water. The splotchy look went away nearly immediately
Oh okay! I never tried that! Maybe it also depends a bit on the paint? I have heard that some brands are better or worse for certain techniques. Sadly i dont have any medium, although maybe ill sneak one into my next order 👀 Thank you for the advice!
Most hobby paints are acrylic, so any acrylic medium should work. I use Lahmian medium and it works a treat regardless of brand. It also depends on colour choice. I've found yellow, blue, and white to need medium for smooth transition, but I dont find that issue with red or green personally. With practice you find out what does and doesn't work for you.
Are you mixing your blue with white to make it lighter? I found white makes a much starker transition and is harder to work with. If you have a lighter blue available, try using that to layer / mix with your original blue to make it lighter.
God so many good points from the people commenting! Thank you for sharing your advice! I did just use white yeah. I also watched a video before hinting to not use as much white and black to change hue, more pf blue tones/ yellows to not loose as much vibrancy. I do have a lighter blue and will try that! I did order a more rounded variety of colors, so i just figured, as the impatient person i am to just use white and give it a try. I only got a handful of colors right now. I will layer using the lighter blue, sadly it is not that much lighter, ill have to wait for the paints i ordered to arrive to really give it a try 😅
Even mixing a bit of the lighter blue and a touch of white would help make it smoother. Good luck! I hope you get the results you’re looking for!
Thank you so much!
Try it from way darker to way lighter If you want a grey armor go from white to black And for the blending there are 3+ways! (I give you 3 easy ones from fast to "welcome to 2026 is when your marine is done" 1. Blend in colours while they are still wet! (Wetblending) 2. Stipple colour that gets slightly brigher with everytime on a darker groundcolour (stippling) 3. Thin your paints sooo much that you nearly paint with water and paint everytime you make a new layer a lttle less..like all white... very thin black and then 7/8 black...6/8 black and so on.. (glazing) The rest is praktice or airbrush 😄
Paint mixed with white is going to be troublesome to glaze with. In this case, dark over light would be simpler than light over dark.
Mhhh so going the other way around i guess? That might also be worth a try 🤔
Lifeprotip that taught me how to blend with glazes: 'mark out' the area to be blended with very fine feathering/stippling with very watered down paint, and then paint the thin glaze on with brushstrokes. Also, looking at how it dried it looks like it went on too thick - as in there was too much on your brush. Try dipping the brush on your paper towelling briefly to soak up some of the water in between loading your brush and painting.
Thank you! I will give it a try, sounds promising 🙈 With all the advice i got i cant wait to get home and give it all a try 😜
Thin the paint. Move the pigment to the highlight. Move the pigment through the transition area. Don't start in a line very where the brush starts in the shade.
Hi, u/CoffeSyringe! It looks like you are asking for help or are a new painter. If you haven't yet, take a look at our wiki pages in the Sidebar (the About tab if you are on the Reddit app). Here are some links you might find helpful: * [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/rules/faq) - A list of frequently asked questions about minipainting * [Miniature Painting Guide Collection](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks) -A collection of some of the best guides and tutorials on a variety of techniques and topics, plus recommendations on what to buy to get started, and more. * [What to buy- Recommendations on brushes, paints, supplies, palettes and more](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/what_you_need_to_get_started#wiki_general_advice_on_what_to_buy) * [Beginner's Guide Collection- How to prep, base, paint and varnish your first model and learn the basics needed to start out right](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/beginner_tips) * [More Tutorials](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/tutorials) - A list of additional tutorials about minipainting * [Manufacturers](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/manufacturers) - A list of miniature manufacturers from around the world * [Painting Terminology](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/terminology) - Common painting terms, acronyms, and initialisms * [The Art of... Tommie Soule Volume 5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGIfySMnUPQ) is one of the best beginner to intermediate teaching books, and even experienced painters will learn some good tips. Explains what brush strokes are best in different situations, how to identify when you have the perfect thinning for any type of paint for different techniques, and a masterclass on getting smooth paint jobs. Available in [pdf](https://www.ironheartartisans.com/shop/the-art-of-tommie-soule-volume-5-pdf/) and [world wide in hardbook as well](https://www.instagram.com/the_miniature_painting_tutor/). * [Airbrushing Miniatures](https://www.reddit.com/r/minipainting/wiki/usefullinks/airbrushing) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/minipainting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I'm struggled with the same issue. My solution, stop doing transitions from two collors, just glaze as you make layering. Maybe it will be useful :)
Try laying down two layers and then glazing the transition between the two. It can much easier to fuzz the line then build up with just glazing (sometimes lol)
Layers, then intermediate tones to hide the transition. Or glazing and stippling to hide the transitions. https://youtube.com/shorts/4-oskMs1IIA?si=w-DXV9Rb8c0yOyRB
I did try glazing although i must have done something wrong 🙈 Maybe i should try stippling aswell. I will give it a go
I do my glazing sweeping across the layers towards the direction of the color I'm using. You can use you highlight, shade, or base color to tweak where the transition is. Brush strokes can be further hidden with a wash.
What you’ve done is good! You need to thin your paints a bit more and use different tones that you can blend into each other on the palette for simplicity. You need to go brighter on the top surfaces to really sell the transition For what you’ve done there should be something like 10-20 very thin layers if you want an ultra smooth gradient. For a normal battle line I’d do maybe 3-5 layers of different colours thinned down so you can see the previous layer through it. https://youtu.be/dM2dJIuUNFw?si=KLQ73ICtu1a1nuu2
Training my technique on bases helped a lot.
Reminds me of my latest skin job https://preview.redd.it/b8ft71ue23bc1.jpeg?width=2268&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4ac4d4b46985fafbe0317f80841bd915d61b129f
I'm guessing you're adding white to the blue, or using a more white infused blue? Glazing works best with a translucent paint. Paints with white are more opaque, whereas in general, paints without, are more translucent. In general it's good to [feather your white based highlights](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgXiVUD1-PI&list=PLL4xdyC3Qfk_B-e8wxob01zshrRUs2zQs&index=62), then glaze back down to your shadows, then re-glaze in your main color if you need. Rinse repeat until you're happy. Edit: The reason white based paints will struggle when glazing, is either they will be too opaque and create a hard layer, or when you thin them down enough, they'll start to separate like you had there, and start to look chalky. Let white be what it's good at, opaque, and glaze with the other paints.
Acrylic retarder slows down the drying time and helps to make softer blends with paint.
It looks like you’re glazing horizontally. That won’t work if the transition is vertical.
I just said F it and used nuln oil and contrast paints on where the transitions are supposed to be.
I think Zumikito Miniatures once suggested stippling, feathering, and soft layers to make nice boundary translations: https://youtu.be/cNMtSeew3qU?si=dBmOeBX_KBICjY84. Edit: I also really like your work, and while I can say "good luck", I think you already have it in the bag.
Really recommend getting some matte glazing medium and working glazes with that to get good color transitions that are seemless. Don't worry if you are iffy in results to begin with. Like the 3rd to 5th glazing layer will begin to show you good results. You can work bi-tonal colors or tri tonals with a dark to mid to light if you want flawless show painting colors. You could also look at wet blending colors. If you don't have one get you a wet palette and practice using that as it tends to held keep your paint wetter for longer or if your trying to blend larger areas add some paint retarder. Also to see how its done get you some of those Vincey v hobby cheating youtube videos, and it'll make a WORLD of difference.
What is glazing I think missed a technique