Hey there, true believers, today’s topic is Blood effects and how to make ‘em work for you.



Blood is a substance like few others. It has several unique visual properties, depending on the state you come across it. This effect can prove very difficult to capture in miniature. If you can nail it, you can add a ton of visceral carnality to a piece and really evoke an emotional response using subtle (and less than subtle) visual cues. There are a couple of tailor made products for the effect, Citadel’s “Blood for the Blood God” technical paint, and Tamiya’s “Clear Red X27″, but I’ve found you can get a higher degree of verisimilitude mixing your own gore.



If used appropriately, You can use it to create motion/action in your pieces, whether through the direction of a splatter or even active bleeding.



SPLATTER EXAMPLE

BLEEDING EXAMPLE





Being able to capture these moments successfully can lend a ton of dynamism to a medium that is often comparatively static. Combine that with the emotional response that blood evokes in people (up to the extreme of some people feeling unwell at the sight of it), and you can see how carnage can be a powerful tool to employ as an artist - Provided you have mastered the effect.



In the same way a well done blood effect can tie a bow on a scene, a poorly executed one has a decidedly more distracting and comedic effect





RED FOR THE RED GOD







Enough Jibber Jabber, lets talk blood theory!



THEORY

Blood has several different distinct visual states, depending on its age, viscosity, depth, source, etc. For simplicity sake, and since we’re limiting the application to miniatures, we’re only going to discuss three types of blood, as these will be the ones most often visually depicted in miniature. This is also the reason why painting a bit of red on your weapon never really looks right. The stuff has depth, yo.



These are new blood, old blood, and dried blood.



The whole point of blood is to carry oxygen around to the cells of the body it resides in. Even the blood within your body has different colors, depending on how recently it was oxygenated. The difference can be quite dramatic, especially taking into account how much we need to exaggerate color contrasts in miniature for the effects to play correctly on the eye.





NEW BLOOD VS OLD BLOOD

Both of the examples in the image above are fresh and from the same body. The one on the left is freshly oxygenated arterial blood, and the one on the right is less oxygenated venous blood.



Both are still fresh, in that they have the same viscosity, but there is already a pronounced color difference in between the two. For the sake of miniature, we’ll generally be trying to capture the gem like quality of venous blood, in our pieces, as it has a greater visual interest in it’s depth of contrast, and will play more like blood at the scale.



Another thing you’ll need to take into account, is the characteristics of dried blood.



BLOOD MEAL

Blood has a very high iron content, and iron oxidizes (rusts) when it is exposed to oxygen. The image above is literally freeze dried blood. Notice how brown/violet it becomes when drying. If you’re creating a scene with old blood smears, or trying to tell a story where something violent has been happening for a long time in one spot, it is important to incorporate these colors (in a matte finish) along with the fresher, ‘wet’ blood effects.





LIQUID DYNAMICS







Blood is clearly a liquid, though to see the way some people apply it to miniatures, you wouldn’t know. I’m a big fan of the “Rule of Cool” with regards to art.



If it looks awesome, I don’t care if the kid couldn’t life a giant sword, the mech would snap in half at the waist or a dude would melt from wearing armor made of lava.



The real problem is that in order for blood to look awesome, it has to follow the physical properties that govern stuff in the real world.



It’s important to be aware of the sense of motion that you’re attempting to create with your splatters. Look at how both the angle changes the shape/direction of the splatters, and what the depth of the blood does to it’s opacity and overall color. See how it darkens substantially as it lies thicker against the white backdrop. These are all factors to be mindful of, when generating the blueprint of your effect in the mind’s eye, prior to execution.



COLOR THEORY

The painting of blood, without the use of a gloss medium, requires usage of the range colors above. Often, the mid tone red is selected, and then taken down the spectrum utilizing purple, blue or black, until it reaches the desired deep tone. You can accomplish this using any particular brand of paint you find most desirable…



We’re going to cheat though.



I’m going to cut through the color theory lessons, and show you how to get a convincing depth of blood using low opacity paints and gloss medium.



WARCOLOURS WAY

Warcolours are fantastic for this application, as they’ve a lower opacity than other paints, allowing you to layer them on top of each other without entirely masking off the surface layers below them. This special translucency allows you to build up depth, without worrying about your blood effects become opaque and homogeneous blocks of red.



The steps are exceedingly simple.



1. Mix Red 5 with gloss medium (and a tip of purple/black, if you’re feeling rowdy).

2. Dip a course bristled brush in the pool of paint (I use an old toothbrush)

3. Drag your thump across the bristles, flicking the paint in the direction you want it to splatter.

4. Mix Red 4 with gloss medium (and a tip of Red 5, if you’re feeling rowdy)

5. Repeat Steps 2 and 3.



EXAMPLE







This should get you well on your way to conquering your own blood effects. I’ll do another tutorial on pouring liquids here in the near future, if that particular effect catches your fancy.



Until then, keep your bristles damp!