Basic Blending Tutorial

Getting a grasp on basic blending opens the door to learning many other techniques. To do this tutorial I have chosen three main colours, BT2, BT4 and BT6 you can use either these colours or 3 of your own choice. I have selected them from the same colour group so they blend easily together and spaced apart (2,4,6 instead of 1,2,3) to get a greater graduation in the shading. The image I have used is dandelion clock by Lili of the valley.

1. This blending technique is called dark to light as it begins with a base layer of BT2, the lightest colour. Colour the entire area you plan to shade with the light colour, the alcohol from it will help the darker colours to blend together easier. Colouring in a circular motion colour the areas to be the darkest (in this case the top of the skirt where it meets the jumper) it is important to use a circular motion as it is far easier to blend this out than a solid dark line.




2. Using the medium colour, the BT4, colour (again in a circular motion) along the edge of the dark line to blend it.




3. Repeat the process with the lightest colour, the BT2 along the edge of the medium colour so the entire area is blended together. In this case as I haven't taken the lighter colour all the way to the edge of the skirt I have used the blender pen to blend out the edge of the lighter colour




4. Repeat with the under layer of the skirt. The darkest part will be where it is overlapped by the upper layer of the skirt.




5. Repeat the process with the remaining areas. The image below shows all the areas I would shade as the darkest to give you a starting point for your blending




Colour the remainder of the image for the finished product below



My next tutorial will cover colouring skin and different colour combinations for each skin tone:-)