I have seen some beautifully blended paint jobs that just were not right, I mean in the sense that they are done as a topographical exercise. the parts furthest from the central core are lightest and the ones closest to the core are darkest, sometimes this is in direct opposition as to how light and shadow actually work. Years ago Duke Seigfried ( the man who originally introduced acrylic paints to the hobby world, via the Heritage company) advocated doing a dark wash or dark color in the same family on the under sides of the arms inside of the legs and under the chin, even though many were quicky jobs they looked fantastic on the table top. What he was doing was using the noon sun effect of light coming straight down, this is how your lightest shades (sometimes almost white) reflect where the sun hits fully, and the darkest is where the least sunlight is recieved. the easiest way of figuring it out is to put your primed figure under a good light and observe, and remember where the highlights and shadows fall and paint appropriately, sometimes it will call for a blend job and sometimes the edges of the areas have a very sharp demarcation. As for the blending, there are dozens of good methods, just prime a bunch of junk figures and start experimenting, but try to keep a log for each figure of what you did and what you used, thus later if you want the same effect you will have a less difficult time trying to replicate the effect. I hope this helps. steveb
