Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was wondering how to mix paint containing a red colour to make a highlight? What I find is that by adding white to the paint, rather than making it a lighter red it becomes pink (and so does not look right). Is there a way around this?

I've seen lighter flesh-tones work, as well as some oranges. Both have elements of red in them, and can make your red brighter, although it depends on what actual thing you are trying to paint. Organic red, I'd go with flesh-tones (i.e. Kislev Flesh or Cadian Fleshtone). Inorganic, probably oranges (i.e. Troll Slayer Orange, etc.).

I know for a fact that light highlighting with flesh colors on a Blood Angels power armor looks pretty good

Flesh tones, oranges, beiges and greys can all work for a highlight on red depending on what you're trying to achieve.

As the others have said, flesh tones are good to use for highlighting red. Here's one of my models using fleshtones for edge highlighting as an example!

Another trick is that if the area loses colour as you highlight, keep going until you've got it as bright as you want then hit the whole thing with a strong red glaze, that will tie all the transitions together and re-saturate the area, bringing back the red (or whichever colour, it works for most things).

Just to echo what others have said I've found that Vallejo Basic Skintone works well mixed with Evil Suns Scarlet as a highlight.

Depends what kind of red you're working with. If you've got quite a dark red then highlighting with a brighter one, a scarlet for example, would work. Whereas if you're already using quite a bright red then orange/fleshtone/pinkish would be better depending on your preference.

Myself I prefer reds on the purple spectrum rather than orange/brown, so pinkish (but NOT pink) highlights achieved by adding a very, very small amount of an off-white work well.

In general the key is that adding black/white is not always the answer when you want a darker or lighter shade. Try mixing in some yellow instead of white for your highlight color.

 Peregrine wrote:
In general the key is that adding black/white is not always the answer when you want a darker or lighter shade. Try mixing in some yellow instead of white for your highlight color.

Agreed. For example, the old 'How to Paint Citadel Miniatures' book (blue cover) suggested to darken a red color by adding a small amount of dark green instead of black to the color.

I undercoat in a dark red, black wash, highlight back up in same red, highlight in lighter red, highlight in orange, light highlight in a flesh

"Buypainted" on youtube recommends red+yellow+white in a 2:1:1 ratio.

I occasionally mix in a tiny splash of gold for a metallic tint to it as well, works great on armour plates.

K.