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So this is a amateur question, but am i the only one who uses the same colored paint to highlight an area that becomes darkened slightly after me washing it? I dont know if this is like completely stupid of me or if this is common or what but it seems to make sense, of course its only 1 highlight there would also be a brighter secondary highlight on the most raised edges etc. Thanks everyone.

You might be overdoing the wash, if it darkens areas like that. I wouldnt see it as highlighting, but simply returning the base tone where you didnt mean to darken the color.

But yes, using same color to remove unwanted results with wash makes sense.

good point, thanks man,

No. You usually need to redo base colours after a wash. if you go straight to a highlight it will be too stark a contrast.

Ilgoth wrote:
You might be overdoing the wash, if it darkens areas like that. I wouldnt see it as highlighting, but simply returning the base tone where you didnt mean to darken the color.

But yes, using same color to remove unwanted results with wash makes sense.

I assume you mean "darkens like that" because if i can use the same colour i washed as highlight that would mean its too dark?

If you glaze it makes a lot more sense then if you wash.

Yes, of course it makes sense. A wash darkens the whole area (more in the recessed areas, but still some darkening of the entire surface), and the highlighting process involves building up from the darkest shade to the brightest highlight. Re-applying the original base color is going to be a slightly lighter tone of the post-wash color, so it makes sense as the first layer of highlighting. Because it's a small step up you'll probably apply it across most of the surface, leaving the washed color primarily in the recessed areas.

 Stormatious wrote:
I assume you mean "darkens like that" because if i can use the same colour i washed as highlight that would mean its too dark?

What they mean is that a properly-applied wash should be a modest level of shading outside of the deepest recesses, it shouldn't be staining the raised areas a very dark color. If the original color is bright enough relative to the washed model that you're using it as an edge highlight (instead of on most of the surface as a first layer of shading) you've darkened the model too much. Edge highlights should be several steps brighter than the original base color if you've done it right.

 Peregrine wrote:
Yes, of course it makes sense. A wash darkens the whole area (more in the recessed areas, but still some darkening of the entire surface), and the highlighting process involves building up from the darkest shade to the brightest highlight. Re-applying the original base color is going to be a slightly lighter tone of the post-wash color, so it makes sense as the first layer of highlighting. Because it's a small step up you'll probably apply it across most of the surface, leaving the washed color primarily in the recessed areas.

 Stormatious wrote:
I assume you mean "darkens like that" because if i can use the same colour i washed as highlight that would mean its too dark?

What they mean is that a properly-applied wash should be a modest level of shading outside of the deepest recesses, it shouldn't be staining the raised areas a very dark color. If the original color is bright enough relative to the washed model that you're using it as an edge highlight (instead of on most of the surface as a first layer of shading) you've darkened the model too much. Edge highlights should be several steps brighter than the original base color if you've done it right.

Could you watch this video and explain why he and alot of others in videos are doing it the way he is?, hes using even brighter colour straight after washing and this seems to be common, so i duno if you can explain that would be great. Thanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4w5khXWFCo&t=617s. He washes the gold around 5:28 and then does the rest of it around 10:00

It's just preference and how many steps you're willing to use.

Yeah, cheers man.

Does any one here dry brush with base colour after wash on areas where detail is very small and hard to restore base colour with paint stroke??


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To restore the raised areas


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Or do you just attempt paint stroke...

 Stormatious wrote:
Does any one here dry brush with base colour after wash on areas where detail is very small and hard to restore base colour with paint stroke??


Automatically Appended Next Post:
To restore the raised areas


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Or do you just attempt paint stroke...

I will typically use the same color after the wash just to bring a little life back to the color, but for the actual highlighting, I find a bit brighter or lighter works best for me.

Depending on how *efficient* you like your painting to be, if you prime in white, use thin layer paint to have a bit of white showing through the upper ridges of details, and then wash, you get natural highlights without the need to go back over the details.

For example, this mini was primed white, single thin coat of base colour allowing some white to come through, and then washed with an appropriate colour over top. No Drybrush, single coats, very quick. Particularly the hands and face are good examples, and the arms also show well the results of the technique, though it was used on the entire model.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/932937-Ork%20Front.html

Yep, like greatbigtree just said, there are a lot of ways to get similar results and it comes down to how many steps you want to take vs. how careful and neat you have to be. Coming back over a washed area with a base color is pretty standard. You can also pinwash specific areas to avoid darkening your base color etc.

It's all about developing your own method and order of operations but there's no wrong way as long as you get the results you want.

 Luciferian wrote:
Yep, like greatbigtree just said, there are a lot of ways to get similar results and it comes down to how many steps you want to take vs. how careful and neat you have to be. Coming back over a washed area with a base color is pretty standard. You can also pinwash specific areas to avoid darkening your base color etc.

It's all about developing your own method and order of operations but there's no wrong way as long as you get the results you want.

Ok, in a way if i go over some raised areas that were darkened with orginal base i could get a better effect since i would be using more layers, rather then just washing the whole shoulder and going straight to highlights


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question mark.

I think we should discuss terms first.

Primer is the paint you (typically) spray onto a model. In general, white, black, or grey. This adheres to the plastic, so that later coats of paint can stick without flaking off. You can prime in any colour you like, but a primer is designed to stick to a surface, whereas other paints are designed to stick to paint (such as sticking to the primer). "Army Painter" has a variety of coloured primers, and there are also versions by Tremclad, Krylon and others.

https://shop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=15

Then you have your "base coat". As most people start with white or black, this is usually your first colour to be applied. Some people go for a solid colour, others like me deliberately allow some of the primer to show through. With white, this creates free highlights. With other colours, you could use a (for example) Light Blue primer and then a thin medium blue base coat, to achieve highlights with more pigment.

A "Shade / Wash" can then be applied. If you apply it to the entire area, the entire area will be darkened but more pronounced in the recesses. If you apply only to recesses, you'll keep existing highlights, but may need to blend the colours afterwards to smooth things out. In general, if you're inexperienced, wash the whole area.

Some people may then return to the "medium" colour areas to either apply a thin coat to return an original colour (base coat colour) or they may drybrush. Either way, they would avoid painting into the recesses as that would eliminate the shadowed washed areas.

"Highlighting" is then done by either drybrush or very controlled application of paint to the highest edges of details, to further define them, using a lighter colour.

There are other techniques such as wet blending, glazing... these generally require several thin coats that overlap to create artificial gradients of colour on the model, that create even more accentuated details.

"Better" effect is subjective. I rather like my own painting, and it's very simple. I like bright models, and I don't like weathering effects or camo effects as I find it detracts from the detail. I also don't like "dingy" models, even if it might be more accurate particularly for trench / muddy warfare. I find I get a very acceptable effect, for the effort I put in.

Glazing, as a technique, can require 10 or more coats, each carefully applied and you have to wait for the paint to dry between each coat. And there's little room for forgiveness, as if you slop, you can't just touch it up, you basically have to start over or you ruin the effect you were going for. I simply would not have the patience or consistency to achieve that technique.


So, in regards to your last post... you might want to try base coat, drybrush (brighter than end result) and then wash over that, to even out the tones. The medium becomes dark, the light becomes medium... and you could then highlight again with the light colour to get deep, dark, medium, and bright colour.

 Stormatious wrote:
Does any one here dry brush with base colour after wash on areas where detail is very small and hard to restore base colour with paint stroke??

Yep. It's just a question of how much time you're willing to spend on a model. Drybrushing quickly applies a brighter shade to raised areas at the cost of being less precise than doing each tiny detail individually. A lot of the time for a tabletop-quality model that's good enough and you can take the shortcut. For a contest piece you might want to highlight directly with a very fine point brush.

 Stormatious wrote:
Ok, in a way if i go over some raised areas that were darkened with orginal base i could get a better effect since i would be using more layers, rather then just washing the whole shoulder and going straight to highlights

Exactly. It's a question of how many layers you're willing to spend time doing. Using the original color before a brighter shade probably gives a smoother transition from dark to light (because it's fewer brightness steps away from the color that is on the model post-wash) but takes more time to do the additional layer(s). Going straight to edge highlighting with a brighter shade is faster but less realistic. You as the artist have to decide whether time or quality is more important on a particular model.