There are many definitions as to what the word "blending" means, but either way, each one is linked to another somehow.

Blending means to match. Blending means to erase a bit of a texture so it goes well with another texture next to it. Blending basically means....BLENDING OHMAGOSH.

Of course, that's what the true definition is. The word itself. It's basically the opposite of calling a banana an orange. You get me?

In order to blend, you can honestly use any program you want. A program, mind you. Not PowerPoint or a photo editing app (except for picsart if you have the brush section installed). If there's no brush tool, it's not a proper program and i advice to switch asap if you're are in the current situation.

Blending doesn't mean that it only works in blends. It works in signatures, covers, and so on. If you're making a graphic where you're trying to match something or blend it in, obviously "blending" will be involved, no doubt about that.

Let's start with erasing. There's no specific setting it should be on when you erase; you'll realise what the setting is when you actually start, hopefully.

Try to make the erasers opacity as high as possible, unless you're trying to blend in a photo really carefully. If you're in that type of situation, you will need to be precise on how you erase. Are all the sizes of the brush in each row going to be the same size? Should each lines opacity start from highest to lowest or lowest to highest?

Like before, calm down.

The only way to do terrible blending is by
a) being lazy and not careful enough
b) rushing the whole entire process

If you do the exact opposite, then your blending should at least be decent.

The next thing you should look out for is matching.

You don't just grab an emerald green texture and start blending it in with a bright pink texture. You only can only pull it off if you grabbed a decent colouring or the theme of the graphic you made is supposed to only be based on those two colours.

You need to match. When you start off with a silver texture, chances are that the next item you will blend in together with it depends on your graphic mood and theme overall.

Is your graphic supposed to be mysterious? Try bronze. Are you going for a horror and gory theme? Try red. Are you looking for a rebellious yet crazy theme? Try black with white polka dots.

Of course, the brightness and vibrant amount also counts. You can't just grab a dark yellow texture and blend it in with a bright pink texture. Colour. Really. Does. Matter.

White and turquoise match. Orange and red match. Just don't overdo the colours you pick because you don't want them to clash. You need to also look out on the brightness and darkness of them as well.

If someone was given a request, and the colour scheme didn't matter, and they also didn't give a damn about looks, here's what they might have done.

Boom. Slap on a bright blue solid background. Boom. Slap on pink polka dots on the left. Boom. Paste on a geometric texture on the right, make it green, and set it on overlay.

Now, what you're probably thinking is that this persons taste involvement with colour schemes is disgusting.

Well guess what? It's not just that!

Firstly, the middle of the graphic would be empty. You'd probably be saying, oh well, let's just add on a model in the middle.

Well you're wrong. The model matters later, and the background NEED to be properly filled. Who knows, your calculations may have been wrong and the models hair was shorter than you anticipated so there's this weird blue thing behind her, and you don't know how to use the clone tool to make her hair longer.

That only one situation. There's probably many more.

And what else is wrong with the graphic?

Before you answer and say the polka dots, the answer is maybe. It's really up to your imagination. What type of pink is it?

Is it hot pink? Then yes, it would badly crash. Is it a light greyish pink? No, it's would probably blend in, depending on the intensity of the blue. The size of the polka dots? Well, you shouldn't aim for too big and too small; just somewhere in the middle would be fine.

Is there anything else wrong?

Nope, is what you would say.

You'd think it would be perfectly fine if it was a bright green.

You are actually wrong, and I'll tell you later why. But in the meantime, YOU FORGOT SOMETHING.

"Paste on a green geometric texture on the right and set it on overlay."

There's two other things wrong with this.

One; it's a geometric texture. Geometric textures usually have dots in them, so would that clash with the polka dots on the left? Yes. Because it's green and pink clashing together on a blue. That's not so nice if all of the colours in the graphic had a full 100% vibrance amount in it. The dots would stand out against each other too much like they're in war.

The next wrong thing is the setting OVERLAY. Overlay wouldn't really matter, in fact, it looks good on textures, right?

Wrong.

Again, it's geometric. That means the background would be black. If you went on overlay, the section where you put the texture would have the blue a darker shade and some sort of weird pattern that's hard to see because of the setting.

Put it to screen or lighten. Boom. Problem solved. The black is gone so there's no different shades of blue, and the white geometric bit itself is properly visible.

What else is wrong? That mistake you made.

The geometric pattern got changed to green. If the texture is a colour other than black and white, I doubt the screen and/or lighten setting will work.

If there's something that is black and white, DONT ADD COLOUR TO IT. Unless it's from a colourisation, of course.

That was weird wasn't it? So many wrong things can happen when you blend.

Do NOT be careless.

This is a very vital rule.

Actually care and give a damn about your work, and you should be good. If you complain to me and say that you're busy..woman, why are you even taking requests if you're preoccupied in something?? Or if you just tell me that you suck in graphic designing, that just means you're not caring enough about your work.

I know some people who have made graphics for a year and some for only a few months.

Guess what?
About 20% of the newcomers are better than the "experienced" ones.

Why?

It's a special word.

Dedication.

That means, they put effort in and do it at a continuously high rate for days and days, maybe even weeks.

Now, this may be 20%, but that's a lot. It's practically one in five people.

If you stay committed and don't give up after a day, work hard, be precise, don't rush, use the right brush settings and know which colours to use, THEN YOU WILL BE GOOD IN BLENDING.

I hope you guys liked this chapter! I enjoyed making it and I'm sorry for the delay, but I usually make chapters for each lesson in my graphic school. However, I'll update more quicker next time, I promise!