# Highlighting tips needed



## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Hello all,

I would like to learn how to highlight as my painting so far is mostly neat, but just block colour. I have had a search through the forum and didn't find anything, Could anyone suggest a good tutorial, preferably with lots of pictures?

Even better could someone suggest an easy model or technique that would teach me in five minutes, that would be top knotch! :biggrin:


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

for us who are crap or don't do highlighting at all, your friends are inks and drybrushes.

For an easy highlight, just drybrush a slightly lighter colour over the surfaces. The drybrush will only pick out the raised areas and they will be highlighted!

With inks, wash them over the surface and they will pool in the recesses, giving them a darker look, which looks like shadows. 

To combine the two, you'll be washing the ink over the surface, then drybrushing over the top. Not only does the drybrush neaten up the ink, but highlights.

Hmm, I'm assuming you know how to drybrush and so on, just shout if you don't 

hope it helps


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## newt_e (Jan 1, 2008)

@beenburned - since you and squeek both list Eldar as your main army, which of the Eldar figures really lend themselves to being dry-brushed so that squeek can see the effect for himself?


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## Pariah (Jul 3, 2008)

If done well, all eldar models. However with the armour of Guardians they can be really good to practice on. Also they are rank and file troops, you can hide the mistakes :wink:

The best way to do a lot of it, is to use inks or failing that just a darker shade of the base colour, watered down. Just apply enough for the paint to pool in the recesses, wait for it to dry. 

Then paint a second coat of the base colour, keeping the paint from entering the recesses, to keep the shaded parts. Finally use a lighter shade of the base colour to pick out raised areas, this can be done with dry-brushing or with care and a fine brush.

Depending on the amount of highlighting you are comfortable with you can apply multiple layers of highlights using the fine brush, slowly decreasing size of the area you highlight.

Unfortunately, it all comes with practice, and trial and error. Dry-brushing can leave a powdery almost pastel like appearance to your models, where using "wet" highlights can give a smooth appearance.


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## beenburned (May 15, 2008)

Yeah, absolutely every model is great, due to the contours you get in the armour.
I don't often use washes at all with my eldar though, as I like to keep my army quite bright. The most success I've had with dry brushing is my dark reapers, but unfortunately I don't have access to a camera at the moment.

You want to avoid dry brushing and washes on models with flat surfaces, like a falcon. To add actual highlights to that you'll be needing ot pick out the raised areas with a ligher shade.

Pariah's right, it all comes with time and work. Keep working at it and you'll end up with some truly fantastic looking minis.


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## Pariah (Jul 3, 2008)

As a simple tutorial and a semi explanation, I have quickly prepared the following. Please note however, this is my first tutorial.

To demonstrate I have two pairs of jetbike rider legs(Already undercoated white), a paint selection of Midnight Blue, Hawk Turquoise and Ice Blue. Also I have used the basecoat, detail, fine detail and small drybrush.

First we start with the undercoated legs:









For my base-coat I have decided to use Hawk Turguoise, it shows up well and allows me to use the legs for a rider. This is applied as normal, using the basecoat brush









This is followed by a covering of a watered down coat of Midnight Blue. I typically water the paint down and mix it on an old blister pack. The consistancy is usually around the point the paint starts to act like water in its tendency to reform into droplets. Unfortunately that is the best way I can describe it. Again applied with the basecoat brush









Now this is where the two schools of though seperate. First I will show the drybrush version. I followed this by dry-brushing a coat of Hawk Turquoise over the legs. Using the small drybrush









Then Dry-brushing a light coating of Ice Blue over the legs, in a semi-organised way to produce a "line" of light down the legs.









Now for the "wet" brush method. Taking the detail brush I added a second coat of Hawk Turquoise to the legs, making sure not to run the paint into the recesses. However if you do that, you can always remove the paint if you are quick enough to add extra water to the paint.









Finally with the fine detail, and the Ice blue. I decided on a similar line of light to the dry-brushing. However I ran simple lines down the edges of the raised plates on the legs and down the shin of the model. Finally finishing with a highlight on the tip of each foot.









I hope this helps in showing you how to do quick and effective highlights. As you can see, dry-brushing is not my strong point.


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## DarknessDawns (Oct 21, 2007)

+ rep for that help pariah
a good method for beginners to highlighting is to edge, basically get some of the certian colour on your brush, find the edge you wish to highlight, and turn your brush kind of on its side tothe side of the bristles lay paint on the edge and nothing else (sorry if you dont understand) this is good becaus if you dont have and exactly steady hand you dont keep having uneven lines
(apologies for crappy explanation someone may be able to explain better)


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Thanks everyone, particularly Pariah, that does make a lot of sense! 

I have seen the drybrushed result in the past but hadn't understood how to do it and assumed it was with a sponge or something similar 

Time to dig out a paintbrush!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Just be aware that drybrushing is really bad for the brush, so you don't want to get a brand new one with a nice point for that work... I'd break out an older brush that's lost its point but is still relatively straight and use it for drybrushing.


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## Pariah (Jul 3, 2008)

As SoH states, use an old brush or a specific dry-brush. You need to remove 90% of the paint from the brush as well. Hence the "dry" bit. You are going to be almost dusting the paint onto the model.


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## squeek (Jun 8, 2008)

Ok will do, I have lots of old brushes from years ago that should do the trick. Thanks again for the help


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## raven_jim (Sep 27, 2013)

One thing I have learned with highlighting is the 1. lighting in your room 2. contrast in colours for shadow and highlight and 3. how you hold the model when painting.

1) A well lit room with natural light is the best way to paint, when painting at night i find when you come back to the model the next day the natural light will highlight a bad job and missed areas
2) When I first started getting into painting I used subtle tones and colour changes, this looked ok up close but from a distance you couldn't see them. Be brave and go bold in highlighting, I find mixing your base colour with 1:2 ratio of bleach bone (equivalent) gives the pop out colour you need, also make sure you use a dark enough shadow to give it further depth. It helps holding the model further back from you.
3) The way you hold the model is important, I used to hold it so I was looking at it face on, which makes sense, but when you place the model on a tabletop or display case you find the angle you look at is from a elevated angle. Consider this angle when you consider light source.


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## Insanity (Oct 25, 2011)

raven_jim said:


> One thing I have learned with highlighting is the 1. lighting in your room 2. contrast in colours for shadow and highlight and 3. how you hold the model when painting.
> 
> 1) A well lit room with natural light is the best way to paint, when painting at night i find when you come back to the model the next day the natural light will highlight a bad job and missed areas
> 2) When I first started getting into painting I used subtle tones and colour changes, this looked ok up close but from a distance you couldn't see them. Be brave and go bold in highlighting, I find mixing your base colour with 1:2 ratio of bleach bone (equivalent) gives the pop out colour you need, also make sure you use a dark enough shadow to give it further depth. It helps holding the model further back from you.
> 3) The way you hold the model is important, I used to hold it so I was looking at it face on, which makes sense, but when you place the model on a tabletop or display case you find the angle you look at is from a elevated angle. Consider this angle when you consider light source.


You provided some good information but.................this thread is 6 years old :laugh:


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## raven_jim (Sep 27, 2013)

Insanity said:


> You provided some good information but.................this thread is 6 years old :laugh:


better late than never


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