Blending Using an Airbrush?

[hobgoblinclub]

I've recently bought an airbrush (I've had others but this one is the first time I've had one worth using for anything other than priming).

As my first big challenge, I'm planning to paint a metal Lord of Change with it. 

The question is, when blending colours across his wings, should I start with the dark colours and work towards the light ones, or the light colours and work towards the dark ones? I was advised when I bought it but can't remember what was said.

Thanks.  

[CoffeeGrunt]

Dark to light, much easier that way.

[hobgoblinclub]

This makes sense to me. If it was light to dark, surely the dark colour would just leave a hard line over the top of the light one. I'd assume spraying light over dark would allow the dark to show through?

[RuneBrush]

I'm guessing you're going multi-coloured here?  If so then probably light to dark (assuming you're going from tip to tip) is the best bet.  You shouldn't ever get a hard line with an airbrush though, the worst case is the colour underneath will discolour the layer you're applying.

If you were going a single colour, then the general rule of thumb is you apply a middle colour first and then shade it, followed by a highlight.  The theory being that if you over shade or over highlight you can touch it up with the middle colour, you can also go back to the middle colour to improve the blending, which goes some way to minimise that typical "airbrushed" look.  I've also found doing this makes it easier to grab a brush and push the highlights.