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I am new to the 40k hobby and have had no experience painting minis before. I have painted a assault squad up using washes to get darker colour in the lower areas of the model but am at a loss on how to highlight. I have tried but have had absolutely disgusting results. How should I go about highlighting?

If you're new to painting in general, I'd suggest a light drybrush of a lighter shade than the paint that is already there. Just dip your brush in paint and wipe most of it off onto a towel until there's almost nothing left on the brush and it isn't making any marks on the towel. Then stroke the brush over the areas you want highlighted. For heavier drybrushes use harder strokes and slightly more paint. It should paint a small amount onto the raised surfaces of the model, thus highlighting it.

Post pics if you can so we can see how you're getting on.

Thanks. What would the more advanced techniques requite? Although I'm not going to be using them right now it woul be useful to know for when my skills reach a higher level.

I don't feel I'm properly qualified to answer that question as I am not an advanced painter, but my book about it tells me that you just paint a very thin line onto hard edged surfaces and blend it outwards. Alternatively you could layer colours up from a very dark base to a lighter one and blend as you go.

Welcome to your Hobby! Lock away your Wallet, behind Bars and Chains, because believe me, it's going to be empty before long. The Lures of Plastic and Resin Crack are never-ending.

More Advanced and Experienced Painters, who have more confidence in their Brush Control and Accuracy, don't tend to use Drybrushing, but rather use the same Colour to paint a Thin, Precise Line in the same area as you would Drybrush. It offers a more Crisp, Refined Highlight, but to be honest, I think Drybrush Highlighting works just as well, and can even give a little 'Glow' to the surrounding area, as some of the Paint will no doubt reach it. I'd stick to that. If you have some Spare Miniatures you can use as Test Miniatures, then give Standard Highlighting a go; you'll instantly see why Drybrushing is much faster, and much more forgiving.

I know it's hard to visualise and understand all of this, so why not take a look at Mek Dakka's Youtube Video, where he explains Highlighting, and shows you some examples! You'll be Drybrushing in the same areas he's Highlighting, and you'll reach more or less the same final effect!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLeCtHseE7k

Hope that was of some assistance to you!

And DD makes a good point, post up some Pictures if you can! There are a bunch of Painters on here who can give you really Detailed and Constructive Criticism, and you won't regret having a more Experienced Eye look over your work! I'm not a Painter myself, being more into the Modelling and Gaming Side, but again, I hope I've been of some use!

Yours,

Popsicle

Thanks for all the answers! I'll go try out that drybrushing trick right now!

Good Stuff! Make sure you take some Pictures when you're done. Remember, if you can see the Paint coming off the Brush onto your Tissue or Kitchen Roll, then you've still got too much paint. Also, begin very lightly; it's much better not to put enough on, and simply re-touch it with a slightly heavier Drybrush, than to overcook it completely, and have to start from scratch! Take your time, and you'll be fine!

Good Luck, Old Chap!

You coulld also take a look for LBursleys Awesome Paintjob youtube channel. He's got plenty of tutorial videos on there which will help you get the ideas on how and where to highlight.

I usually do this:

Lets say I painted something with Ultramarine Blue

I would use a 50/50 mix of Ultra and Ice Blue (or similar) and apply a thin line to the edge where the highlight is.

Then I would use a lighter mix (or just Ice Blue) on the small part where I would expect the highlight to be brighter.

If it's lacking brightness, some Skull White wouldnt go amiss.

It ends up looking quite edged how I do it, but that's my painting style lol
Take a look at my gallery to see what it looks like

Don't listen to these people dude!

Drybrushing is the lazy way out.

It's a bad habit that will stifle your progress.

It's the technique of impatient gamers who just want their models on the board to a level where no one will laugh at them when they pull them out of their case.

Whip out that beautiful little fine detail brush, thin your paint, and go over your edges like a man!

Sure you'll screw up, but it will teach you fine motor controls that are invaluable to painting those miniatures you can proudly whip out at tournaments and have guys go: "Hey nice" and "Not bad" (thats the best compliments they give out)

Highlight? whats a highlight?

Zarkin wrote:Don't listen to these people dude!

Drybrushing is the lazy way out.

It's a bad habit that will stifle your progress.

It's the technique of impatient gamers who just want their models on the board to a level where no one will laugh at them when they pull them out of their case.

Whip out that beautiful little fine detail brush, thin your paint, and go over your edges like a man!

Sure you'll screw up, but it will teach you fine motor controls that are invaluable to painting those miniatures you can proudly whip out at tournaments and have guys go: "Hey nice" and "Not bad" (thats the best compliments they give out)

Wrong. Dry Brushing is not Lazy, it is Forgiving. You will reach almost identical results, and it gives you a certain Margin of Error, a certain Safety Net, which you can always rely on. This will help you to feel confident and accomplished as you learn about Dry Brushing and Highlighting by doing both, hand in hand, by yourself. You will understand this even more firmly when you come to try it yourself. Later, in 3, 6, 12 Months Time, when you've mastered Dry Brushing the Highlights, you can try a Squad or Two, or a Vehicle, using Pure Highlighting. I have never done so, and use the Dry Brush Method for consistent, reliable results. I have a bit of a Nerves Issue when it comes to Modelling and Painting; I have to do Dry Runs of everything I'm going to stick together, several times - just putting it together, and holding it steady - because I'm afraid I'll mess up. You might not, but I assure you, Dry Brush Highlighting will give you a confidence that your Miniatures will not be 'Screwed Up', as Zarkin has already conceded that Pure Highlights will do without serious practice.

Don't use Pure Highlights. Use Dry Brush Highlights.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

sluggaslugga wrote:Highlight? whats a highlight?

You are kidding, aren't you? If not, I apologise. Kindly see the Below Video, it will explain exactly what a Highlight is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLeCtHseE7k

Hmm :<
(edited)

Zarkin is right!

Drybrushing is inferior to blending.

Look at the celestine in my gallery, then tell me you can get near the same level of detail by Drybrushing.

@OP start thinning.g your paints too, it really helps

Looks sick! Red Hatch Lenses are sweet!

See? Perfect Example of why Dry Brush Highlighting is every bit as good! There's no need to go for Pure Highlighting. I know I'm going on a bit of a Rambling Crusade here, but trust me, you won't be any more impressed. It won't be as neat and refined, and it will look more glaringly obvious and out of place.

Edit: Why'd you delete? It was brilliant!

J.Black: Then answer me this. How many Miniature have you painted, roughly? That's why you can Highlight perfectly. These people can't first time, and won't, which is why I'm steering them away from it.

Popsicle wrote:Looks sick! Red Hatch Lenses are sweet!

See? Perfect Example of why Dry Brush Highlighting is every bit as good! There's no need to go for Pure Highlighting. I know I'm going on a bit of a Rambling Crusade here, but trust me, you won't be any more impressed. It won't be as neat and refined, and it will look more glaringly obvious and out of place.

Edit: Why'd you delete? It was brilliant!

J.Black: Then answer me this. How many Miniature have you painted, roughly? That's why you can Highlight perfectly. These people can't first time, and won't, which is why I'm steering them away from it.

I agree, dry brushing is a good technique to learn for new painters. They get to see how colors blend , how the color goes into transitions , and how "light" gets applied , even if eventually
not all minis gets a dry brush job , how it looked visually will be burnt into their memory. Very nice point you brought up Popsicle.

And to defend dry brushing , if its done carefully and thoughtfully , it wouldnt look bad or rough at all.
Most of the time it gets bad name because people just rush , stick a giant brush into giant pot of paint and just slather it on -_-

( i deleted it because it looks like crap compared to theirs , so i felt its going to be a bad example / proving their point )

no i was kidding
of course i know what a highlight is its a lightbulb getting high (srsly i know what it means)

LunaHound wrote:

Popsicle wrote:Looks sick! Red Hatch Lenses are sweet!

See? Perfect Example of why Dry Brush Highlighting is every bit as good! There's no need to go for Pure Highlighting. I know I'm going on a bit of a Rambling Crusade here, but trust me, you won't be any more impressed. It won't be as neat and refined, and it will look more glaringly obvious and out of place.

Edit: Why'd you delete? It was brilliant!

J.Black: Then answer me this. How many Miniature have you painted, roughly? That's why you can Highlight perfectly. These people can't first time, and won't, which is why I'm steering them away from it.

I agree, dry brushing is a good technique to learn for new painters. They get to see how colors blend , how the color goes into transitions , and how "light" gets applied , even if eventually
not all minis gets a dry brush job , how it looked visually will be burnt into their memory. Very nice point you brought up Popsicle.

And to defend dry brushing , if its done carefully and thoughtfully , it wouldnt look bad or rough at all.
Most of the time it gets bad name because people just rush , stick a giant brush into giant pot of paint and just slather it on -_-

Why, Thanks! I feel pretty strongly about the Viewpoint I'm taking, so, yeah.

sluggaslugga wrote:no i was kidding
of course i know what a highlight is its a lightbulb getting high (srsly i know what it means)

Thank Christ for that.

The more one practices, the more one improves.

I'd liken it to a shotgun and a rifle. Drybrushing is a shotgun. You'll hit your target, it'll get the job done, it's a valid method. Pure highlighting is a rifle. It takes more effort and skill to get an instant kill with it, but once you learn how to use it correctly, you can take shots from long distances and precision shots which you'd be unable to pull off as well with a shotgun.

Example: Ork skin. Drybrushing gets the colours, but it doesn't get the thin-line tendon effect of a pure highlight. Of course, it's difficult to get that effect using a pure highlight too. But it's possible, and with practice, the painter can eventually get there.

Once you learn pure highlighting, you can use both pure highlighting and drybrushing as the situation requires. If you only learn drybrushing, you'll be limited in certain areas.

Pika_power wrote:The more one practices, the more one improves.

I'd liken it to a shotgun and a rifle. Drybrushing is a shotgun. You'll hit your target, it'll get the job done, it's a valid method. Pure highlighting is a rifle. It takes more effort and skill to get an instant kill with it, but once you learn how to use it correctly, you can take shots from long distances and precision shots which you'd be unable to pull off as well with a shotgun.

Example: Ork skin. Drybrushing gets the colours, but it doesn't get the thin-line tendon effect of a pure highlight. Of course, it's difficult to get that effect using a pure highlight too. But it's possible, and with practice, the painter can eventually get there.

Once you learn pure highlighting, you can use both pure highlighting and drybrushing as the situation requires. If you only learn drybrushing, you'll be limited in certain areas.

All true. The above Post really does put it into perspective for you. As long as you're Up-Close and Personal with your Shotgun though, it's going to Kill all the same.

Popsicle wrote:

Zarkin wrote:Don't listen to these people dude!

Drybrushing is the lazy way out.

It's a bad habit that will stifle your progress.

It's the technique of impatient gamers who just want their models on the board to a level where no one will laugh at them when they pull them out of their case.

Whip out that beautiful little fine detail brush, thin your paint, and go over your edges like a man!

Sure you'll screw up, but it will teach you fine motor controls that are invaluable to painting those miniatures you can proudly whip out at tournaments and have guys go: "Hey nice" and "Not bad" (thats the best compliments they give out)

Wrong. Dry Brushing is not Lazy, it is Forgiving. You will reach almost identical results, and it gives you a certain Margin of Error, a certain Safety Net, which you can always rely on. This will help you to feel confident and accomplished as you learn about Dry Brushing and Highlighting by doing both, hand in hand, by yourself. You will understand this even more firmly when you come to try it yourself. Later, in 3, 6, 12 Months Time, when you've mastered Dry Brushing the Highlights, you can try a Squad or Two, or a Vehicle, using Pure Highlighting. I have never done so, and use the Dry Brush Method for consistent, reliable results. I have a bit of a Nerves Issue when it comes to Modelling and Painting; I have to do Dry Runs of everything I'm going to stick together, several times - just putting it together, and holding it steady - because I'm afraid I'll mess up. You might not, but I assure you, Dry Brush Highlighting will give you a confidence that your Miniatures will not be 'Screwed Up', as Zarkin has already conceded that Pure Highlights will do without serious practice.

Don't use Pure Highlights. Use Dry Brush Highlights.

As demonstrated by Popsicle, drybrushing is for those who are afraid of making mistakes.

DON'T BE AFRAID POPSICLE! There is nothing better for your learning than making mistakes. And remember mistakes are never unfixable either.

IDENTICAL?

My god man, show me a Golden Demon model using pure drybrushing, you cant, show me a GD using pure highlighting/blending, erm..... every single one of them.

Of course drybrushing has its uses, but if you were to learn one or the other, the answer is obvious.

Zarkin wrote:

Popsicle wrote:

Zarkin wrote:Don't listen to these people dude!

Drybrushing is the lazy way out.

It's a bad habit that will stifle your progress.

It's the technique of impatient gamers who just want their models on the board to a level where no one will laugh at them when they pull them out of their case.

Whip out that beautiful little fine detail brush, thin your paint, and go over your edges like a man!

Sure you'll screw up, but it will teach you fine motor controls that are invaluable to painting those miniatures you can proudly whip out at tournaments and have guys go: "Hey nice" and "Not bad" (thats the best compliments they give out)

Wrong. Dry Brushing is not Lazy, it is Forgiving. You will reach almost identical results, and it gives you a certain Margin of Error, a certain Safety Net, which you can always rely on. This will help you to feel confident and accomplished as you learn about Dry Brushing and Highlighting by doing both, hand in hand, by yourself. You will understand this even more firmly when you come to try it yourself. Later, in 3, 6, 12 Months Time, when you've mastered Dry Brushing the Highlights, you can try a Squad or Two, or a Vehicle, using Pure Highlighting. I have never done so, and use the Dry Brush Method for consistent, reliable results. I have a bit of a Nerves Issue when it comes to Modelling and Painting; I have to do Dry Runs of everything I'm going to stick together, several times - just putting it together, and holding it steady - because I'm afraid I'll mess up. You might not, but I assure you, Dry Brush Highlighting will give you a confidence that your Miniatures will not be 'Screwed Up', as Zarkin has already conceded that Pure Highlights will do without serious practice.

Don't use Pure Highlights. Use Dry Brush Highlights.

As demonstrated by Popsicle, drybrushing is for those who are afraid of making mistakes.

DON'T BE AFRAID POPSICLE! There is nothing better for your learning than making mistakes. And remember mistakes are never unfixable either.

IDENTICAL?

My god man, show me a Golden Demon model using pure drybrushing, you cant, show me a GD using pure highlighting/blending, erm..... every single one of them.

Of course drybrushing has its uses, but if you were to learn one or the other, the answer is obvious.

I'm not afraid. I'm simply Cautious with my Miniatures. Unlike some, perhaps I do not have Miniatures which I count as expendable, and intend to use as Guinea Pigs for a Technique which is both very tricky to get right, and very simple to get wrong. You missed my point completely, evidently, when you say 'Show me a Golden Daemon'. We are not Golden Daemon Painters. Such an idea is unrealistic, and we both know it. Dry Brushing achieves what High Lighting does, to a High Table-Top Quality, when done with Care and Caution. The Learning Curve of High Lighting will be considerable evened by the Experience of Dry Brushing.

Yes... painting like GD is good and all , but other than popsicle , did anyone actually read what OP said?
OP said he has no experience in painting.

Telling him to use technique GD winner uses is no different then telling someone to fly before they can walk.

Dry brush = skill good for progression.

I've been painting for about 18 months, celestine was about the fifth mini I did. Drybrushing is faster and can look very good when its done well, but comparing it to blending and highlighting is daft.

LunaHound wrote:Yes... painting like GD is good and all , but other than popsicle , did anyone actually read what OP said?
OP said he has no experience in painting.

Telling him to use technique GD winner uses is no different then telling someone to fly before they can walk.

Dry brush = skill good for progression.

Thanks again. The Deal is Sealed, then. Whilst, Zarkin, your Comments are appreciated, and will be of undeniable use to the OP in the Future, we're discussing the Present. For him, Dry Brushing is clearly the way to go. Thank You for an enjoyable debate, nevertheless.

Im going to have to humbly bow and leave this one , im by no means a professional like Zarkin so i'll back out now xD

Lol, you guys dont listen.

Expendable? You do realise when you've painted a mini, it doesn't float off into the Ether of Never-To-Be-Painted-Again.

It's as simple as dipping it in Simple Green and trying again!

Plus, you know exactly when you make a mistake when you edge highlight. Making sure your paints are thin, just paint over your mistake!

I really hope you dont go, "Oh No! I've made a mistake! Ah well, I've just wasted a $5 model."

In the end it's the OP who's gotta choose his own technique.

Just know KhaineFlakes, like J.Black I've been painting for a very short time (7 months now) and I never learned drybrushing. If I had, I would be stuck in a state of laziness and caution and would have never improved.

Check out my gallery if you don't believe me, you can see my progression.

Cheers

Zarkin wrote:Lol, you guys dont listen.

Rather Hippocratic of you, isn't it?

Zarkin wrote:Expendable? You do realise when you've painted a mini, it doesn't float off into the Ether of Never-To-Be-Painted-Again.

Certainly. It's Wasted Time though, isn't it?

Zarkin wrote:It's as simple as dipping it in Simple Green and trying again!

Granted.

Zarkin wrote:Plus, you know exactly when you make a mistake when you edge highlight.

You've just conceded, in plain and simple terms, that Mistakes are much more glaringly obvious when Hard-Edge Highlighting. Not a Quality that a Beginner looks for when searching for a Technique.

Zarkin wrote:Making sure your paints are thin, just paint over your mistake!

With Drybrushing, you won't be making mistakes. That's the difference, isn't it?

Zarkin wrote:I really hope you dont go, "Oh No! I've made a mistake! Ah well, I've just wasted a $5 model."

I don't, no. I go, ''Oh no! I should have Drybrushed that!''

Zarkin wrote:In the end it's the OP who's gotta choose his own technique.

Given.

Zarkin wrote:Just know KhaineFlakes, like J.Black I've been painting for a very short time (7 months now) and I never learned drybrushing.

That's a shame. I can show you a Tutorial, if you like?

Zarkin wrote:If I had, I would be stuck in a state of laziness and caution and would have never improved.

So... according to you, it's flipping lucky you didn't learn Dry Brushing, as you'd have been a worse painter? What? A worse painter... because you knew an additional technique... I don't follow.

Zarkin wrote:Check out my gallery if you don't believe me, you can see my progression.

I'm sure your Progression is fantastic. Now show us a Miniature you painted 7 Months Ago that looks that Decent, using Hard-Edge Highlighting.

Zarkin wrote:Cheers

Same to you.

Ok ok popsicle.

I think we're done here

Khaine, don't be afraid to make mistakes

To para-phrase Nietzsche:

"Whatever doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger"

Live and learn man

Peace out

Zarkin wrote:Ok ok popsicle.

I think we're done here

Khaine, don't be afraid to make mistakes

To para-phrase Nietzsche:

"Whatever doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger"

Live and learn man

Peace out

Fair enough.

/End Debate.

+++Edit+++

''Whatever doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger?''

So... if someone used a pair of Sharpened Garden Shears to slice off your Hands and Feet...

No offence, of course. I wouldn't dream of it.