Cold highlight and warm shadows

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Little Jimbo
Posts: 92
Joined: 17 Feb 2012, o 10:43

Cold highlight and warm shadows

Post by Little Jimbo »

Not to long ago i read/heard about using warm colors for shadows and cold colors for highlights but I can not remember the specifics of the method or the color theory of it. And i have been unable to fine anything good on the interweb.

So last night I tried to experiment a bit by my self and I completely failed.

My question is dose any of you have experience in any thing related to this ?
and where are there some good resources for hardcore color theory, preferably related to miniature painting, as I really need to get a better understanding of how colors work.

Best regards
Daniel
p1per
Posts: 315
Joined: 28 Feb 2012, o 14:15

Re: Cold highlight and warm shadows

Post by p1per »

Not sure if you mean the same thing I have in mind but anyways.

One example that fits your question would probably be the color Red. Instead of using a darker red and later black for your shadows, you can use for example purple or green which are on the cool site of the color wheel and mix them with red. So you have a warm basecoat and highlights but a cool tint in your shadows. You can do this with a lot of colors, red's just an example. Try adding the complementary color of your basecoat and see what happens or move a little to the left or right on the color wheel and see how it turns out. Experiment a bit. :)

There's also a really nice article in the last PORTAL issue by WAMP which covers some theory on different ways to achieve contrast, it's really a nice read and as far as I remember it also covered warm/cool contrast. ;)

Hope this gives you a bit of an idea.
Little Jimbo
Posts: 92
Joined: 17 Feb 2012, o 10:43

Re: Cold highlight and warm shadows

Post by Little Jimbo »

p1per wrote:Not sure if you mean the same thing I have in mind but anyways.

One example that fits your question would probably be the color Red. Instead of using a darker red and later black for your shadows, you can use for example purple or green which are on the cool site of the color wheel and mix them with red. So you have a warm basecoat and highlights but a cool tint in your shadows.
Hope this gives you a bit of an idea.
Yes this works quite well and I have had great results with this methode. But lest say I want to use a base coate of vallejo game color dark blue(72.017) and for shadow i mix in a warm brown like terracota or tan(72.065/.72.066) then for the high light i want a cold color but i think electric blue (72.023) i to bright. I tried mixing in some of the cold greens like sick green (72.029) and also escorpena green (72.032), a more warm green. but inorden to brighten up then dark blue for highlight I need to ad so much the the color is clearly a green color. Anyway I tryed to apply the colors to the mini as I fint it hard to imagine exactly how some colors work together on the mini. The shadow worked grad giving a worm shadow but the highlight was awful.

I guess the is some thing i don't understand about the colors.
I guess the question is how do I go from deep cold blue like dark blue (72.017) into a highligth with out getting to warm. Is the answer simply to add white, I stooped using white to make high light some time ago with great success.

also thanks about the tip with the article.

best regards
Daniel
p1per
Posts: 315
Joined: 28 Feb 2012, o 14:15

Re: Cold highlight and warm shadows

Post by p1per »

Try adding a yellowy-orange or a slightly yellow tinted beige and see if you like the outcome :) (yellow-orange would be complementary to your dark blue color ;) )

/Edit: Sry somehow forgot to add the following:

With Dark Blue you already have a very dark color which doesn't give you much room for deeper shadows (for my personal taste it would be too dark as a basecoat) so you probably won't see a huge difference in shadows by mixing different darker colors in your Dark Blue. Maybe try and pick a lighter blue color and work from there. You can also check out my Seamus Tutorial maybe the colors I used there will give you some inspiration for your own blue. :) There I used GW Space Wolves Grey to highlight my blue color and also put a bit of Hawk Turquoise in my Basecoat. ;)

Or you may try what I posted before for your highlights - adding a yellow tinted beige color and keep the shadows cool.
Little Jimbo
Posts: 92
Joined: 17 Feb 2012, o 10:43

Re: Cold highlight and warm shadows

Post by Little Jimbo »

But I want the shadow warm and the highlight cool.
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