When I look back on my painting career I can trace the maturation of my painting style. From flood-washes and grainy drybrushing to edge highlighting to glaze transitions. When I started I thought highlights went on raised surfaces. This is not the worst way to paint but falls far short of reality. Reality, I have realized, is simultaneously the greatest army painter’s shortcut and competition painter’s distinguishing mark1.
We spend out entire lives looking at things. Our brain is wired to notice contrast and interpret highlight and shade as three dimensional. Ever look at an aerial photograph of craters and think for a second that you’re looking at bumps?
Aerial photography from WWII. Those are craters, not bumps.
If you tilt your head to the right until the light appears to come from the upper-left the craters your brain will start reading the craters for what they are. Our brains do this when looking at miniatures, which is why proper highlight placement is so important. With it the sparing, sharp highlights of the army painter make sense and the viewer will fill in any gaps. Without it the meticulous, seamless highlights of the showcase painter will look strange and wrong.
Painted in an hour at a competition. Space Marine by Games Workshop.
Now, I don’t have the space or energy to go into detail on every type of highlight. Sharp edges are highlighted differently than rounded curves. Cloth is different from metal. Daylight is different from a streetlight. Instead I will try to articulate some basic concepts behind the placement of highlight when painting a model. Specific situations can be covered later in specific articles.
Less is More Saves Time
No matter what you are painting an why, having to highlight less will save time and energy. At first this seems more important to the army than the showcase painter. In some ways this is true, but if you’ve ever tried to paint to a showcase standard you’ve probably experienced the fatigue that comes from realizing another little detail needs a highlight, midtone and shade.
Highlight only upwards facing edges and surfaces. Ignore surfaces that wouldn’t be catching any light, no matter how detailed. Shading will add depth there, not highlighting.
On the right is a figure I painted during a speed painting competition. I basecoated, shaded and highlighted the figure in an hour. I focused on the top of the helmet, shoulder pads, backpack and knees. I didn’t spend much time on the feet and resisted highlighting the top edge of the greaves under the knee. On the elbow that is visible I let the edge highlight trail off as the edge started facing down. It’s not the greatest model, but by focusing on only a few highlights I was able to achieve a smooth blend that probably cemented my first place finish.
Break Bad Habits
I started with Space Marines, back when I first discovered the hobby. Once I advanced beyond drybrushing I started picking out the edges. Every edge would get the same amount of highlighting, even the edge between the bottom of the greaves and boots. I thought it looked good, but struggled with the helmet. My little lines didn’t look so good up there and I didn’t know why. I thought I couldn’t make them thicker as thin lines didn’t show as harsh a transition.
An example of highlighting every surface. Front Rank Napoleonic British Line Infantry
Even more recently I started on the Dallimore Three-Layer style of painting. Every surface received a shade, midtone and highlight, even if it was downwards facing. It’s not like I could leave it undetailed!
I was so wrong, and sadly it wasn’t that long ago. Only very recently have I embraced the idea that highlights belong only where light would be hitting the model and should take on whatever shape is required to properly represent the highlight. Our brains interpret them as highlights and we don’t see any harsh transitions, just a three-dimensional object. It’s when highlights are placed incorrectly that we really notice them.
The Rule of Thumb
I can already think of a good number of articles detailing specific highlighting theory. For example, the exception where downwards facing edges can receive a highlight. In the meantime here’s a few things to keep in mind while highlighting:
- Can you see the surface when looking at the miniature from the direction of the light source?
- Flat surfaces receive the same amount of light over their entire facet.
- Paint the entire miniature, not just each individual part.
The first one is simple. Remember that it’s a rule of thumb and that in a blue sky the sun isn’t the only light source. Look at the miniature from directly above and slightly to the side when looking for spots to put highlights. Depending on how many layers you plan to use highlight the surfaces that are visible from directly above and all directions that you are using for your light source the most.
A common mistake for large flat surfaces is to try to create a gradient on them. This can look good if done subtly, but if you’re only trying to paint a few unblended layers it won’t work at all. Simply treated like any surface, those flat planes facing upwards get a highlight. Those facing downwards get a shade. Pick out any upwards facing edges with an extra highlight and the result should be good. This is one I still struggle with and I haven’t had the opportunity to paint any vehicles or giant robots to test this theory on.
When trying to omit needless highlights it sometimes feel like you’re leaving the miniature unfinished in spots. Remember to step back from the miniatures, literally and figuratively and consider the whole. If there are nice bright highlights on the top of the shoulders is it important that the back of the knee is completely in shadow? If necessary, add an extra layer of shade in the deepest crevices, but if you have a gentle concave surface don’t be afraid to leave it plain.
Well, I hope that was helpful. I’ll be back with some specific techniques for dealing with glossy vs. matte and sharp edges vs. curves.
Tyler
1) Art is always controversial and I know there are exceptions to any “rule.” There is even a style of highlighting where each individual muscle is highlighted as if it was lit by its own light source.
A great model I saw was the “octagon” method I read in a book about painting larger-scale military figures. Basically you create the palate where you have a different color for each side of the octagon: top surface, angled up, side, angled down, bottom facing. And you paint not to highlight surfaces, but to as you say show where the light is coming from.