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I know that many painters greater than I will ever be use edge highlighting, but whenever I see it in large amounts I usually cringe. My problem is that edge highlighting, no matter how well it is done, tends to look messy when closely scrutinized. For example, the common green edge highlighting done on DA power armor. If you look closely at the lines they are not straight at all. Its tends to look kinda jagged and grainy even when done by pro painters.

SO

In my perhaps obsessive compulsive quest to paint as best I can to the point where I may be biting off more than I can chew, I have been looking into ways to make the "perfect" edge highlight, that is, edge highlighting that looks perfectly straight even under a magnifying glass. My Google-Fu is apparently weak. I have considered using masking tape like I do to paint halved/quartered marines, but even if you paint the bits on the sprue this would be immensely difficult due to curves, small pieces, etc.

Does anybody have any experience with this or am I just being to overly perfectionist? How can I make my edge highlighting look like it was done by a machine with precise lines down to the micrometer?

Practice. Lots of practice. Micro-fine edges need just the right consistency of paint, the right load on the brush and a mighty steady hand. Remember you're usually not drawing the line with the point, but rather with the side of the brush against the edge you're highlighting. On flatter surfaces (eg panel lines) you use the point to draw the line, but then tidy up with the base colour once you've done the highlight.

I think you're being "overly perfectionist". So a few questions first. Are these for gaming or display? Remember, at several feet away, your eye can't resolve detail that fine, and it looks great on the table. Secondly, what brand/hair brushes are you using? A good quality Red Sable, or even better, Kolinsky Sable brush will give you much better paint flow, and therefore better control.

On a good day, my edge high lighting is straight and razor sharp. On a bad day, not so much. But, since my armies are meant for the table top, whether it's razor sharp or not so much, they all look the same on the table from several feet away.

Not trying to be a negative poster here, but IMHO, edge highlighting *should* be rather random and a bit "messy" if you will. You're actually trying to simulate the play of light across a raised surface, and that will never be geometric and precise. It's also an overall effect you're trying for, not something that should be looked at under close scrutiny.

I think you need to consider the distance at which they are 'normally' viewed. Holding a fig up close in your hand, you will see a ton of imperfections, even on some of the best pro-painted stuff. It's only when you get to the signature models where everything is perfect, and on those amazing, golden-daemon type figs, the edge highlighting is actually perfectly blended into the model, so you see no errors at all. But for table-top figs, all your trying to do is making them look great from a distance of 2-4 feet away.

I had real issues with the same idea when I watched the GW painting DVD in their latest 'how to paint' book/dvd combo pack. I thought they looked horrid, until I saw the wide angle shots of the army, then they looked fabulous.

So, I guess what I'm saying is that if you are trying for competition models, edge highlighting is not an issue, since you will be blending or glazing or <insert technique here> to achieve total perfection. If you're going for tabletop, paint up the fig a bit, then step back a foot or two and look at it. As long as the overall look is achieved, you can move on to the next.

That said, I do think some of the edge highlighting I see uses colors that are FAR too removed from the main color and it does look silly. The GW edge paint set offers some good, subdued colors, but not nearly enough. I think your always better off to make your own edge highlight color by missing the base color, some medium and then a shading color of your choice, be it a darker grey or lighter, as you prefer.

Just my .02 cents.

Edge highlighting always has its place, even in competition work - usually to exaggerate contrast to reinforce the shape of the model, or to fake an effect that's not there (cracks and marbling for example).

As a few people here suggested, I noticed in my relatively new time painting that there is a huge difference painting for table top and painting for display. With table top paint jobs a lot of shades and highlights are super exaggerated (even more than normal for mini painting) so blurry edges will not be noticed and will look better far away. If it's a display model then the painting gets more detailed and the highlights and shades are not as exaggerated and edge highlights will be part of a gradient of color on a surface. The problem is that display models look great on cmon but you can't appreciate it on the table (not that it looks bad, but it would be like reading a book from across the room: you can tell its a book but the rest is a blur).

I guess you have to pick what you like and it sounds like you want higher quality display models. Just know that when you see only edge highlights on a model it's probably meant for table top.

For even edge highlights you have to apply even pressure from the edge of the brush and at a constant angle with the piece. If steady hands is not a trait you have then maybe painter's tape is the way to go. Tedious but useful.

 ZultanQ wrote:
Does anybody have any experience with this or am I just being to overly perfectionist? How can I make my edge highlighting look like it was done by a machine with precise lines down to the micrometer?

I suspect that as long as you are using a brush it will look like you are using a brush. Don't get me wrong, there is a range in terms of how well any technique is executed but are you aware that a micrometer is 0.001mm? What you're asking may be possible (I doubt it) but if you take your painting to a level where your expectations become unrealistic I fear this hobby might end up being more of a frustrating experience for you than an enjoyable one. Do you have any pics of your edge highlighting attempts that you could pop up? That might get some helpful pointers.

Would some sort of foam/sponge be better?

I mean they still distort shape wise but couldn't you apply an edge with one more consistently?

Honestly I don't see an easy answer for application solutions.

Thanks all for the responses. I don't plan on entering any contests where I'll be submitting display models any time soon, I've haven't even played a tournament where paint jobs factor in yet. So this is mostly for tabletop.

What I hadn't considered, which has been mentioned in this thread, is that Golden Demon tier pieces tend to have the edge highlighting blended rather than hard lines, so maybe I'll look into creating a sort of gradient which sounds much easier. Still might experiment with my original idea of perfect lines, but I think blending is what I'll try now.

Try using soft colour pencils (I use the water soluble ones).
It's really easy & if you make a mistake you just rub it off with your finger. You do have to varnish it after & be careful how you hold it while you're doing it though.

Personally I dont like edge highlights at all think they look cartoonish

Pencils for edges.

Googled a couple relevant pics to this discussion. The first pic shows the stages. Unhighlighted, highlighted, fixing errors. The second pic shows the final product. Well done edge highlighting is great, even when it's not "perfect" as in this case, it still looks really good even at such a high level of magnification. On the tabletop you won't see the slight imperfections when it's done to this standard.

Edit: The article that the images were from which is basically a guide to edge highlighting.