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I painted these two tonight, it was my first time attempting anything other than prime > base > wash > done so I'm wondering how I did? Any tips would be great as I know it's not perfect by any stretch.

Looks good to me!

At times the highlights would just "outline" the shape along the edge to create details where there are none.
At times the highlights would hit the areas that pick up the "light" to create contrast.
At times a dry-brush highlight just creating contrast by amplifying the sculptor's skill and model detail.

If the models has the contrast, and the detail, and reads well from afar, then the highlighting has done its job in my opinion.
Then there are just the levels of skill in which the highlights are applied in, that only matter when miniature is held up for closer look.

From experience, the skin is most difficult to highlight because it never has that extra contrast and from far away all looks a bit too uniformed.

Also, I found that there are some miniatures that is a joy and pleasure to highlight and others is a chore and for others it doesn't have much of a significant impact.
It is up to the sculptor to not only make awesome miniature, but build it in a way that makes sense for painting.


To take highlighting to the next step, apply an extra highlight on top of the current one, to have an effect of a rough two-color "gradient" :
1 - The light-blue that is already there
2 - And a lighter version of that blue in areas that pick up the light the most
The model will have a rough gradient from, washed dark -to- base blue, -to- light-blue light, -to- even lighter-blue highlight

Hope that helps, and or makes sense

Not a bad start. Work on practicing your smoothness. Thin paints and more layers is the key here. Work the brush strokes of your lighter shades from dark to light, then take a little water on your brush and feather in the starting point to avoid leaving faint layer lines.


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I disagree about the skin too. That's where I perfected my layering skills. Skin is forgiving too because your contrasts aren't as stark so it's a nice starting point to learn.

you are on the right path.

the hardest part about layering is the transition between the layers. that is why you need the blend.
a "hard edge" like you have done looks ok on distance but not realy good clouse up. then again, the blend is not easy to do, and the smaller area you are painting on the worse it gets.
you can cheat a bit by doing a shade wash on the "hard edge" but you still need to tidy it up later.

it takes alot of practice, patience, a sturdy hand and paint mixing to do normal layering.
i cant do it so im cheating with shade washes.

Obviously as a single model there are areas to improve, and others have chimed in on that.

But ultimately, if you did a whole unit of these chaps to this standard you'd be very happy and they'd look great on the tabletop.