Highlighting

The aim for highlighting is to create a smooth gradient from a dark colour to a lighter one. To emulate light shining on the model. This is highly emphasized on 28mm figures. The difference in reality wouldn't be as stark as what we paint. The reason for this is we require contrast to make miniatures look good on the tabletop. As we are standing 3 or 4 ft away from them. So the contrast between shadows and highlights need to be big. It's a great way of making detail pop.

The way we achieve this, is to start with a solid, thin base coat. We put a wash into the recesses to provide the deepest shadow, ideally where any two parts meet. Next we apply multiple layers of paint towards the top most, or closest to the light source. Each layer covers a smaller surface area, and we can go all the way towards a simple line along edges. How many highlights we do is dependant on taste, and the size of the painted area. Some areas require a wash and a single highlight, others might require several. Alot of people quote the three layer approach as wargaming high standard- a wash, a base coat and a single highlight. It is a good compromise between looks and time expended.

Now the real challenge is how to make this smooth? There are multiple ways. Firstly, an airbrush naturally feathers paint, so there is no clear line, the transparent nature of each layer means you actually get more shades than the simply number of colours you put through the brush. Another is to use multiple thin layers- the thinner the paint the more transparent so there will be no sharp edge between the two colours, using the same principle as an airbrush with transparency. The third, and arguably quickest, way is to apply a wash or glaze over the top of the layers, as it's a transparent layer of a single colour it will unify the layers and therefore blue the transitions. There are more advanced ways of maintaining smoothness, one is to feather paint; this is where a limited amount of thinned transparent paint is applied, with the brush dragging the paint up to the highlight. The point at which the brush leaves the model is where there will be the most opaque paint. This will be the highlight with the transparent thin paint tinting the colour through transitions to the end result. Some people use a technique known as wet blending where the painter actually mixes the layers of paint on the model, meaning there is no clean line as the paint smoothly transitions into the next mix.

Here is a very helpful visual demonstration of how highlighting is achieved.

Many thanks to Jamie Tranter

We can move the light source to create interest, or even add multiple light sources. A light source might also be coloured: a yellow flame for example. In which case we can start experimenting adding yellow to highlights! 

Back to top