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Hey Dakka,

I've been trying to repaint my two armies (Tyranids and Orks) but I'm having a bugger of a time trying to paint highlights on their skin. I don't need any step-by-step colour help or anything; I know what colours to use, and how much colour in each consecutive step. My problem lies in the subtly of the highlights on the skin. There aren't exactly any hard edges, so should I not go as light with my highlights...? Any tips would be helpful.

Pictures would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance.

-Big Mek LugNutz

when you put the final highlight on, do a light wash to help blend it. Give that a shot and see how it goes.

For orks I've always had the best results ending with a yellow highlight. It somehow makes them look more "alive" than just going to a lighter green.



I've got a dark, dark green, a medium green and then two passes with yellow. The terrible coverage of GW yellows actually helps them blend in better in this case.

Try this, it helped me a lot!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/394533.page

Thanks, all, but I was wondering where to place progressive highlights, but its all very helpful.

@MrMerlin: Yes I have seen that tutorial. Thanks for the reminder I'll check that out again. Oh, and btw your Ork blog is awesome, I'll have to bookmark it, and go through it all this week.

Anyone have any Tyranid highlighting tips?

nids? I really like this technice by J-paint:

Big Mek LugNutz wrote:Thanks, all, but I was wondering where to place progressive highlights

Take a primed or bare plastic model (preferably on the darker side, though any uniform coloration will let you see variations reasonably clearly) and stick it right under a bright lamp. Nothing tells you where to fake light better than real light.

Honestly, though, the most rudimentary approach - that of "deeper = darker, higher = lighter" - is enough to give attractive (if not overly realistic) results, in most cases. Consistent source lighting and proper occlusion are impressive technical feats of painting, but don't always make for the most attractive play pieces (as well as being beyond the skill of the average painter). For most of us, trying to apply a simplified, stylized lighting scheme smoothly will lead to the best results. It should be relatively simple to figure out where the highlights should go - the trick is in actually applying them.

Ah, right - so when you're highlighting your goal is to emphasize details. It will look a little clownish from up close, but most of the time you're seeing these models from anywhere from 1-3m away. So don't worry about the direction the light is coming from and follow the "deeper-darker, higher-lighter" rule already mentioned.

For my orks I tend to go straight yellow across the brow ridge, cheek ridges, ear tips, chin tip, mid-upper lip and nose - all the farthest out points.

Ok, thanks to everyones help.

Perhaps my WIP logs will experience a little activity in the weeks to come.

p.s. Storm Lords coming soon.

-LugNutz

One interesting way to do the skintones for Orks is to prime them white, and then paint the skin with Thraka Green wash. I did this technique on my Grots as a test run (2 coats of Thraka Green on the skin for grots, 3 for the Runtherd, then painted the rest of the minis normally) and was pleased with the final effect.