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Hello everyone.
Recently came back from a break from the hobby and looking forward to start painting again.

I've been looking at a lot of videos on YouTube recently to try and 'up' my painting skills to the next level.
One of the most common techniques that I saw used on miniatures was Zenithal highlighting.

All the videos that I've seen were using airbrushes and unfortunately I do not have an airbrush :(

Some videos mentioned something like 'you can achieve this effect with a brush if you do not have an airbrush...'

But I have yet to find any tutorials on achieving zenithal highlighting with a paintbrush.

Does anyone have some tips or advice on doing so?

I thought of something like:
- Prime model
- Apply a layer of drybrush or maybe wetbrush to try to just catch the parts where the light would hit the model and then try to blend the layers together?

Any help would be great!

Get a black, grey and white rattle cans. Works just as fine and is more cost/labour effective.

Howdey,

As Ninjapirate says, you can achieve the same effects with white, grey and black spray cans. Best tutorial I've found was from Element Games below.

https://elementgames.co.uk/painting-tutorials/28-1-day-daemons-how-to-paint-daemonettes-speed-painting

The link below (also Element Games) goes into the basics of Zenithal with brushes and also glazing over Zenithal to get the cool effects.

https://elementgames.co.uk/painting-tutorials/246-multi-stage-pre-highlights-and-hybrid-glazes

Happy painting

Assuming "Zenithal" highlighting means using different darkness primer beneath your main colours, you could do a few things without an airbrush.


First, if you start with white primer, a coat or two of mid-grey wash, followed by a dark grey / black wash (only in the darkest areas) could work.

If you start with grey primer, you could wash it black, then drybrush white. Probably the easiest option.

If you start with black primer, you could go with a heavy drybrush of grey, followed by a light drybrush of white.


You could also go white primer with a black wash. Fastest option, but probably the least smooth for colour transitions.


After that, you just use very thin paint. Thin enough that the white upper edges of the details show through as highlights.

I normally do this over white primer, then add a darker wash afterwards. It's fast, and you get nearly the same effect of "whitened" highlights, mid-tone, and darker recesses. I find that to be faster, overall, than any of the first three, and I can then drybrush / highlight if I so desire afterwards.

Rattle cans or drybrush in a pinch