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As the title says I'm struggling with big contrast highlighting - I mean like the brilliant work Sorastro does on the Crisis Protocol miniatures. I've been following his Captain America video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB0CCVZvrHk). My problem - and I have this with pretty much all video's I watch online - is that I understand the basic principle but I struggle with where to put the different layers. The painters move from dark to progressively lighter colours but watching them they seem to keep going over basically the same areas. I've never found a video where somebody talks you through this layering process in minute detail.

I end up doing what I think I'm seeing, going over all the raised areas with every layer, so that I basically end up with a contrast between two colours - v. dark and v. light with all the middle gradients covered over with the last highlight. Also Sorastro's painting technique seems to be very much like Squidmar's - transitioning through many different layers - as opposed to using glazing or other blending techniques. Am I seeing that right? I've heard Sorastro talk about "volumes" and somebody commented on here that Squidmar "paints volumes" - what does that mean? How else could you paint if you aren't painting volumes?

When I do what I think they are doing I always seem to see the lines between the different shades whereas their painting looks so smooth. In short I need help.

If anybody has any useful tips for how I could get closer to Sorastro or Squidmar's technique I'd be very glad to hear them. Cheers.

Check YouTube for Zumikito Miniatures video on volume. He explains it pretty well. I have the same issue where I watch a video or three, try out a technique and struggle to get the right results. I think a lot of it boils down to developing your own version of a technique through practice. Good luck!

Have a look for Lyla Mev too. She has a good video where she shows how to place highlights etc - to briefly summarise, try lighting the model from above (or wherever you want your light source to be), take a picture of it and then posterise the picture in a graphic editor. You should get bands of colour showing you where your shadows, mid-tones and highlights should sit.

Edit: Ah, here it is... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eec_Z4F_Sjo

If you're not getting the transition between tones, then your layers are too thick. The concept you need to understand is that whilst the coverage of your layers is indeed getting smaller, you're still going over layers prior to simply the previous one. It's less a staircase of seperate layers, but rather the light reflecting through multiple layers of transitioning tones. This is how depth is created. Try spending more time on the layers, keeping it as thin as possible.