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Like the title says, when should I do my highlighting? Originally i thought i painted on highlights and then washed the model, but this makes the highlights too dark, they are almost imperceptible. I was thinking, and correct me if I am wrong, that I should wash then paint highlights and wash them with a lighter shade of wash (IE I use devlan mud, then paint highlights and wash with ogryn flesh/ sepia). Any advice/tips or tricks would be welcome.


Thanks in advance!

It really depends on the effect you are aiming for. If you want something with really bright highlights, wash before. If you are looking to blend all the colors together in a unified whole, wash after (this is often referred to as a 'glaze').

Both, I always highlight up to the brightest color hit it with a wash and do more highlighting with the brightest color to even more selective areas.

Definately Both!

I do an aggressive highlight (I.E. Go all the way up to your root color: Foundation Red -> 2 to 1 w/ Blood Red -> Straight blood red -> 2 to 1 w/ Blazing orange -> straight orange. Then wash it down, and re-pick up your final highlights where you need to.

I'm with Vulcan - depends what you're trying to do. I prefer a more muted skin tone on my orks, but I still want some variation, so I do: [black primer] > basecoat (GW orkhide shade) > midtone (VGC sick green) > wash (GW thraka green) > highlight (VGC goblin green) > wash (thraka, again). The first wash does a decent bit of shading, the final wash deepens the recesses and helps blend the layers together. The result is very natural (well, as natural as green skin can be...), in my oh so humble opinion. Same deal for their leathers - basecoat > highlight > wash, as I want a more subtle blend.

If I'm doing something like SM power armor, I'm going for starker line highlights, so I won't do a final wash over everything, since I don't want it to blend together subtly.