Chest of Colors forum

Ok, I need som help here. I have started on a Helldiver miniature from PP. I need some advice on how I should do the highligt, where to focus. I haven´t got the hang on zenitial light yet. I started by doing some layering, but that dont look good. I know that I need to smoothen out the highlight, and I guess that practise is all that´s relly going to work (I cant get it right at the moment). Should i try to use a dark or light glaze for the grey areas?
Can you please help me out bu suggesting how I sahoulg go further with this model? I´m planning to do some glow- effect and some weathering later on (will be using pigment for weathering).
Thanks for looking
/Denniz
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well zenithal highlighting is actually very simple once you get the hang of it

With this model I'd advice you to continue highlighting the central armour towards a point between the top spike and the three dots. Try to highlight between the spikes as well, but be sure to leave a very thin dark line between the spike and the armour. For the claws I'd also advice to highlight towards the top, and maybe concentrate some light on the area just below the screw.

Try to get the contrast and direction of the light first, then start working on smooth blends

What helped me a lot to grasp zenithal lighting is looking at the pictures on this blog: https://nomadpainter.blogspot.com/. Especially his Studio Miniatures paintjobs really show the exaggerated effect, although they lack some smoothness.

I hope this helps!

Click to see full-sized image

Well, everything is simple once you know it;) I´ll try to do the highlights as you suggested, I´ll try it out tonight. Should I use glazing for smoothen out the highligts, and if so, should I use a bright, midtone or dark glaze? Lot´s of newbie questions, but if you don´t ask...

I´ll look at the blog, thanks for the tip!:)

You can do some more shading with dilluted black paint if you really want to do something about it, but I'd concentrate on the highlights for now if I were you.

I'm someone who rarely fixes things afterwards I consider almost every miniature as a test subject and use the knowledge of things that went wrong for the next figure, instead of wasting time trying to correct them on the same figure.

A way to determine where to put (zenithal) highlights is by holding your model under a single strong lamp and look where the model is the brightest and where the shadows are the darkest. This works best on a bare mini where you can see the light bounce of the metal mini. You can still use this technique on a painted mini though, but sometimes it's a bit harder to see where the light bounces of the surface.
You can use this 'technique' as a guideline or when you are in doubt of where to place your highlights.

Your grey parts look pretty good as a intermediate colour, but they look so blocked in. The darkest areas are too large, and too big in contrast with your medium grey. If you leave these areas small, you create a transition for the brain/eyes.

Anyway to improve, I would go a lot further on the highlights for starters, toward the higher armourplates. Depending on what you want, you could go for deeper shading too. Just use thin layers and work your way up/down.
When you're done with highlighting and shading, you can glaze the area for smoothness. I don't see this as fixing anything but as a usefull painting technique to get a smooth endresult. Be carefull to use very thin glazes or else you'll lose the contrast you build up with highlighting/shading. The colour is personal choice. I often use a colour when I glaze a grey. Something like a darker blue or green. It gives some colour variation to a monotone area.

Just don't be afraid to experiment with colours and techniques!

Thanks for all advices! I´ll try to do some painting tonight on this model and then I´ll post the result and hopefully you can guide me in the right direction;)

I tried to do some zenithal lightning on the Helldiver, I think it was much better then before. What do you think, should I go further and make the shadows darker and the highlights brighter? Later on I will use some pigments to try and make som weathering and rust on this mini.
Thanks for looking.
/Denniz
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image
Click to see full-sized image

This already looks a lot better!

yeah, it seems you're getting it right.

matt black is not the most spectacular color, but with a little bolder contrasts and a little more colors you should have very nice and visually attractive minis with ease!

mahon: I did the highligts a bit brighter and then added some rust and dirt to the mini, to break of the black/grey, dull look. I also think that the bright leaves makes a good contrast to the dark mini. I think it looks ok now, posted it in the gallery section. Feel free to point out my errors or what I should have done differently.