oil painting help

[godfather]

I paint with oils wet on wet my question is how do you apply the shadow colour and highlight colours: dab the paint on then blend or lay down a line then blend. hope this makes sense.

 

[Sambaman]

I suppose it depends on what your comfortable with. I mix all of my shades beforehand. I start with my darkest shadow tone and work that into the deepest shadow areas. I then take my midtone and work it up next to my shadow tone blending the two as I go. I use a stroking motion (just like painting). Some say to butt the two colrs up to each other and then use a brush (NO PAINT ON THE BRUSH!) in a "stippling" motion on the border between two colors and softly "stipple" the edges to blend them together. I suppose again, it has to be what you are comfortable with. Mike Davidson's book, "How to Paint WWII Figures" (hope that is right) is a great basic reference for getting started. It is readily available, and should be fairly cheap. I would mix a small amount of color up and practice on something small and disposible. Practice makes perfect! HTH,

Jay H.
OKC

 

[Buddha]

I too normally paint wet-on-wet when using oils. I prefer to lay shadow, mid- and highlight colours on the appropriate surfaces and blend the edges with a dry brush using a stippling motion. This gives me a cleaner colour registration. Occasionally I layer colours/shades one atop the other blending as I go with a dry brush. This tends to give a more subtle blend but takes longer and there is more paint build-up. On occasion I also paint in layers from darkest to lightest by letting the coats dry before applying the next lighter shade, feathering the edge of the wet paint to facilitate smooth transition. It's a mood thing with me depending on whether I'm in a hurry.