# Newbie - how to achieve realism, blending and smoothness



## thomasannand (Sep 9, 2019)

Hi guys, 

I just took up painting a couple of weeks ago and am half way through my second portrait. However, I want to know how it is possible to achieve the smooth blended colours you see in portraits. I can't work out whether it is because i am putting two colours side by side that are two extreme or whether I need to use a type of brush? I have attached a photo and you can see that many many skin tones are apparent, but they are not blended into each other at all. It's like the face has individual sections rather than being one. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!


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## Seattle (Sep 9, 2019)

You need to just blend the paints together more. Is that oil or acrylic?


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## thomasannand (Sep 9, 2019)

Seattle said:


> You need to just blend the paints together more. Is that oil or acrylic?


They are water mixable oil paints.


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