Trovarion Coming back to miniature painting after 26 year hiatus and I’ve had a lot of new techniques to learn/relearn, but I’ve defiantly now learnt I’m not loading my brush enough from this as well 👍
Thx. This really helped. I just tossed a whole intessesor squad out of frustration. And thank you for getting to the point instead of filling this video with antics and charts.
I enjoy how you don’t rush through your tutorials, it gives me time to see what is actually going on! I probably won’t ever play the games but, I enjoy learning. Thank you!
thanks mate! with youtube it's always a bit of a tradeoff, need to keep it precise and somewhat short, because otherwise they don't get a lot of views which in turns mean youtube doesn't recommend them. Which always is sad, because a lot of work goes into it. But I also want to make sure everything I do is understandable, so that will always be the focus :) And as long as the patreon compensates for the reduced viewcount I should be able to keep it up! Thanks again for the kind words!
Holy separation of teaching quality. I’ve watched quite a few painting videos but, your demonstration of how the paint is supposed to be flowing on the nail of your thumb made it so wonderfully obvious what has been off for so long! Thank you! There’s usually all of this talk of milk and consistency on the palette or in a mixing dish but, it seems to have often in discussion have missed the point of; what it does when it comes in contact with the painting surface that is being desired. To say, to have the end in mind for what is trying to be achieved by the method and it’s angle of approach to that end so there is room to trouble shoot to that end. Thank you again you magnificent painter!
I have watched many edge highlighting videos. You are the very first to actually go into the subject of what to do when you cannot use the edge of the brush. Thank you.
Amazing video, I'm a beginner and the first minis I painted were Raven Guard Space Marines meaning that edge highlighting is something that I need to learn to make it not look bland since it's mostly black.
I really dig that you include a picture of what’s going on with your pallet. A lot of the time I feel lost because my paint consistency just isn’t working
I do not and never will have the brush control to do a lot of the fine detail line work that you can do. My eyes aren't good enough even with a visor. My hands just aren't as steady as they used to be so it's great to watch but I really can't hope to achieve this. You are very talented. Me, not so much. I'm not artistic but I do my best. Still helpful, so thanks.
This was very useful because the explanations are detailed, to the point and the process is clearly showed. I'm painting my first minis and it helps very much, thanks.
i recomment a good brush, that retains a solid tip, like these: bit.ly/2YVt0iS - it's totally worth it. Also head-mounted magnifying glasses help a lot! and most of all of course: practice.
hey thanks Trovarion i stuggled to get the right consisency for my edge highlight between too runny and too thick but this vid showd me that i was just using to much paint in general on my palet xD
Thank you so much ive just started following you and your work is amazing. I hope to be able to patronage soon, i used to paint figures mainly 1/35 military 30 yrs ago but ive started on minatures as there variety is incredible plus the variety of colours are endless. Please keep putting out these high quality tutorials as they are a wealth of information.
I really appreciate hearing these stories and it keeps me motivated to do these videos. thanks a lot! see you on the patreon discord chat server soon :) We will love to help you with achieving your painting goals!
This video was extremly good! Learned small tricks about using highlighting and it’s really nice to see on such easy “model” and “colors” as new beginner im not interested in painting strange trolls in different browns and yellows etc it’s just very confusing seeing most “example models.” seeing a blue space marine with nice blue brands was very helpful bc it’s colors that I have and use “want to learn how to use, I’m new a painter who paints lotr minis” and even doe I have yellows and browns I feel like learning from watching a simple model you recognize such as the space Marine and with the most famous colors like kantor blue, how to highlight it, Khorne red, scarlet red, greens etc is more interesting and easy to learn from😅
I want to paint up an entire chapter of Iron Hands Space Marines in the same style as the official GW artwork, so this tutorial is going to be invaluable for me!
Well, you explained very well why it's important to whipe the exess paint of the brush before edge highlighting. I tried that and OH MY GAD what a difference it makes! I'm back to painting miniature after a 10 years break and I did my first "test space marine" in drybrush, but I don't like the chalky look...
This is a sweet video, thanks for the tips. I am just wondering how to edge highlight on more natural models like trolls and orruks? I am finding it very hard to blend the varying surface curvatures in the organic shapes
I do a lot of edge highlighting, for me it is much easier than doing blending...but my friends think it is difficult or too time consuming. I hope this video will dissuade them and make them not so afraid of edge highlighting.
Many thanks for sharing. After picking up a paint brush around 2 years ago (after some 20 years not painting anything at all!), I've been painting several times a week and always selling inspiration, advice and great vids like this - thank you! P.S. do you have similar but for more "natural" minis (rather than metal armour), e.g. bones, carapace, skin, etc.?
Thank you. The best edge highlighting tutorial I've seen. Quick question though. I'm new to the hobby so some of my paint jobs dont go to plan. Can I just ex-prime my models and start again, or should I strip the paint off first? Thanks again for the awesome videos.
great video! what I'm still struggling with, is although I have good brushes, thin my paints, make sure there's enough paint on the brush, with some colours it doesn't flow well... making it difficult to paint clean thin lines
Same here... Especially when using the tip with doing a gentle stroke over kitchenpaper to get rid of water... After doing that there's like nothing of paint going from the tip. When I don't do that, there too much water running from brush
@@tomvanwalleghem8593 Well you if you do with kitchenpaper, it's going to absorb everything. Try maybe just doing that on your palette. People insist on the fact you shouldn't have too much paint on your brush, but it's equally important to have enough, or it will not flow, or dry way too fast (like a tiny dot of dried paint on the tip of the brush, that you can barely see)
@@tomvanwalleghem8593 not sure if this will help, but i have found that if you use a metallic colour to lighten paint like silver the paint flows much better. Not sure why but I find I can paint thinner and smoother lines when using metallic paints.
@@trovarion Just the sheer amount of trims, especially for the older 3rd edition minis. Wanted to see how you tackle all those different parts, especially the random horns on the knee armor plates.
Wow, it takes me 2 hours to edge highlight one marine and the result is nowhere near as good as yours! This video has been so helpful. Thank you for creating this tutorial!
Huh, i never knew you could use a wash/shade paint like that, i better try that this weekend. My problem though is my own hands, as in brush pressure control, gorilla hands issues LOL
This was a great video that was entertaining but, more importantly, incredible informative. Thanks! Also - at 2:08 what is that foam cup you’ve got the miniature on?
Hi, this is an excellent video and your comments about wiping the brush should help me as I really struggle with paint flow when highlighting and sometimes my brush seems to fatten with water. Please could you let me know what black paint you used for the pouches and chest eagle as well? Abaddon black seems to let me down!
@@trovarion omg you weren't lying in the video when you said you typically reply to everything! Thanks! I really hope I can improve my highlights...I have tended to over highlight too thick and then use contrast paint glazes to tone them down afterwards. Also do you have a go to white?
@@martineasterman5170 you got to find what works for you :) as for white i dont use it a lot, but when i do i use a white ink (schminke or daler rowney) or kimera white
@@trovarion well there is no doubting that your methods work and everything looks clean and sharp...so I'd better sharpen up using your tips. Thanks though, I'm trying to do a more white style of deathwing like the PC game rather than the brown white that GW does, but no idea how to do that really!
Wow I really wish I could paint as fast as you. To get edge highlights as clean as that one a space marine takes me like 3-4hrs lol. Even then it’s only maybe 8/10 as good as your edge highlights
It's shots fired at overthinking in painting, just paint and you will learn :) Also when I made the first "Eavier than Metal" video I didnt even know about Miniac. It was obviously a play on the "eavy metal" style of painting and meant to be guides on how to take your painting up a notch if you wanted to. Would you prefer it to be otherwise? 🤔
From what I remember from art class ... thirty years ago ... if you take a base color you can gain a highlight by adding white and a shadow by adding black. So if you have blue, add white, then you have a lighter blue of the same tonal value. Same for adding a little black. Same color tone, just darker. Does this work with miniature painting? I notice that everyone seems to want to use a dozen different colors to gain basic highlight and shadow shades.
Simple answer: Sure, you can do that. There is a lot more to it than I can answer in a YT comment, but white and black both desaturate a color - and not everything in reality is a simple midtone with a black shadow and a white highlight. And then you have artistic interpretation. If you don't care about any of that, sure: Use a maincolor and shade with black and highlight with white :) perfectly fine.
Got question for you, what do you do after all the edge highlight? Some suggest to put contrast paint or wash over the whole model to blend highlights with model. What do you think about this approach? You live it after highlighting or put something over it to blend?
it depends what you want to achieve and how much time you want to invest. Do YOU like how it looks after only edge highlighting? leave it! If you feel like something is missing, add shades (as in...darker areas...not refering to the GW product). You mustnt forget that contrast paint turns everything it touches slightly glossy. Do you care about that or not? etc. Personally I don't paint armies, so I never do this traditional/simpl/fast painting approach for my minis. The video is just a beginner instructional video to help people nail the technique of edge highlighting. If I was painting armies I would not add anything to blend the edge highlights. They are only a fraction of a mm anyway, no room to blend. But I would definitely try to add some shadows with a wash, or anything that achieves a similar effect. But you need to do what you like and find the end result you like, that's all that matters.
I'm painting my first model and I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong with edge highlights. I'm getting slowly desperate and frustrated :( I bought the brush that you recommended (Raphael 8404 size 1) but the paint just doesn't seem to have the right consistency, no matter what I try. I'm using a wet palett and Game Color from Vallejo (wolf gray) but the paint is very lumpy, even fresh from the bottle and I never get it to the point that it just flows nicely from the brush. I allready added a small ball bearing into the bottle to make it mix better when shaking it. It doesn't even look as "flowy" as on your palett. I'm not sure if it's me or the paint....I'm usually not that clumsy. I'm a professional guitar maker, but this is just frustrating. Everything else goes so smoothly and than I basically ruin everything I done before with the edge highlights. I started over at least ten times by now...
@@gnipaheler Keep practicing! It got allot easier in the last 3 months. I don't know how to explain it, but once you suffered trough, you eventually get a feeling for the right consistency👍🖌👍
Thanks for that, it's a good video and I needed to hear what you said about brushes. I've been knowing my brushes are a problem for awhile now. When I do get them, I'll be sure to use your link. Can I ask, what music do you have on in the background? It sounds like gamelan aside from the drumming. I like it. Thanks again!
Could i ask for a guide on edge highlighting/ layering on uneven shapes like skin or similar to flesh hounds body. Thank you very much nd yes your guide helped me improve :)
I have a layering and glazing video, you can start there. One of my eavier than metal videos is including a lot of skintones! (the khorne berserker). As for how to edge highlight uneven shapes - it's best to pick the highest up "edges" - even if there is no edge, but just the ending of a shape - and then paint your lines on that, the way i did on that one round shape on the foot of the marine.
Do you use some special paints? or was the blue used for highlighting just thinned more then you would usually do once you get it out of the pot? My edges sometimes don't look so sharp and have a thicker edge then I would have liked
I am wondering about the consistency of your paint on the wet palette. Even when mixing in water it never gets this "drop or milk like" quality. Ive noticed this in a lot of videos from different painters. My paint just gets runny. I feel like I am missing a basic step. Do you have a video on the channel that I might check out ? I do enjoy your style and presentation and as someone that has only recently joined this hobby, it feels like there is an overwhelming wealth of information you provide. Great stuff!!
@@trovarion first of all thank you for taking the time ! I dont know if I am using my palette correctly, I think is the short version of it. On your palette it looks like the paint is dilluted but still has some surface tension. On mine as I add water, it just gets very runny and smears all over my palette. Maybe I am jumping the gun with my question concidering I am just starting out. I also just discovered your website so I should probably look through the index. I appreciate you taking the time and no worries if my question is a bit unspecific for you to answer it here. Cheers !
@@Michael_Malice_Music ah...I am using baking paper as a palette paper, not the one that comes with the palette. it's kinda waxed, so my paint will form these drops.
Hey dude! Can I ask where you got those dropper bottles? They look the same shape as model colour bottles which I’ve been trying to find for a long time. Thanks!
Any tips for keeping your lines straight and small? I find my lines on thins straps of leather end up converging on each other which looks like garbage or they arent straight and have some slight swivel to them although i dont have shakey hands.
get a good brush with a great tip; flatten the brush, turn it 90°, use this side for extra thin lines; get magnifying glasses; be extra careful and go slow; practice
"softening the effect" is done through transparent layers. it doesnt matter what you dillute the layer with. that said if you can paint a gradient into your edgehighlight it's probably too big anyway.
Do you use just water to thin when doing edge highlighting? I'm using a #0 8404 (my #1 has a single extra long hair that is driving me crazy), but the paint seems to dry in a minute or two -- can't seem to "write" lines as fluidly as you (I need to do multiple strokes for the paint to cover). When I add more water, it's so thin that the paint doesn't cover consistently
Honestly, as a newbie, what I quickly realized is that the basic Citadel brushes (most of them) are not suited at all for this.. or at least they make your life way harder than it needs to be. Either by having poor ink retention , that it quickly dries, or that the tip splits very easily
@@trovarion You said parts of that, yes. I am pointing out that if your brush sucks , you have to be exponentially better to be able to get a proper result. A master probably doesnt give a shit what brush they use, a newbie however needs all the help they can get. Was my point.
@@vedomedo I am not sure I get your point. I said a good brush will help tremendously and I even show how the brushtip should look and how to get it even sharper. I also explicitly said in countless other videos to stay away from citadel brushes.
I know that many use airbrushes or canned paint to lay down their base coats, but why not base coat black and then use the first color and coat panel by panel and avoid putting color in the recesses from the beginning? This is what I am working on doing. Thoughts?
Of course you can :) painting is all about what you like to do. Just questioning if you are going ro be faster having to apply the basecoat making sure you don't hit the recesses. Can always try it and see what you like better :) up to you!
@@trovarion thanks for the reply! I don't worry too much about speed. I paint for enjoyment and stress relief. I am more concerned with what looks good to my eye.
@@trovarion Paints too thick, when i apply it to the small details it just doesnt accent the shape of whatever im highlighting very well, I've tried thining the paint as well, I use a thicker brush with a thinner tip, but struggle to be "precise" enough on small details
@@yeaahknow7819 I mean...you see how thin my brushtip is at 8:00 and how i use it on the edges. your paint needs to be thin, but opaque enough to leave a mark. also not runny - a.k.a. you want to wipe the brush on a piece of paper towel. get magnifying glasses if you cant work precisely.
I'm trying to do edge highlighting with a new small detail brush but the bristles keep splaying and ruining the accuracy. Is there some kind of method of maintaining a good tip on the brush or is it actually better to do this kind of detailed work with a bigger brush?
What about correcting errant brush strokes that you don’t catch right when it happens. Ie I accidentally get a spot of abaddon black on a mepheston red painted knee Pad that’s been shaded with contrast or wash and I don’t find the mistake until it’s already dried. Especially over an armor panel where a contrast or wash has already been applied over the base coat! You can’t just pull out Mephiston red and correct the mistake. If you add more wash over the mistake area it screws up the wash color around your mistake area. Wtf do you do?
I'd probably try to optimize my painting process to minimize these things. E.g. only start with the contrast/wash-shading after I applied the pannel lining and can still correct with the base color. in the case you mentioned i'd try to create a mix of mephiston and whatever you used as a shade to match the color in that exact area the black stroke is on and correct with that. you might hit the same color shade that way and if you dont, well I don't think it's a big tragedy, honestly ;) It wont be that evident on the table. And you could always consider adding battle damage to cover it up. If it's a showcase mini you'd simply invest more time to correct this.
@@trovarion thanks for the tips. The whole contrast revolution thing is great and all until you mess up and dont catch it in time to wipe it off with finger or a clean, wet brush. Any thoughts on using a retardent when doing edge highlights so you have more time to wash off mistakes when doing the panel/"eavy metal" style of highlights? As far as the video thx for the tips. I'm doing a test batch of 2 minis for a pre heresy Thousand Sons army i'm starting and I'm starting on edge highlighting tomorrow. You vid was very helpful.
@@Mike_Honcho_8653 I never know what to say when people say "any thoughts on using X?", Especially if it's using additives which I never use. I paint straight forward with water only. Experiences and preferences are different. You'd have to try it. But in all honesty...just practice...you'll get better at it. And you didnt train yourself to only be able to paint with additives.
Maybe a dumb question, and I will accept any input from anyone as I am 10 months deep in my noob-ery, but what if I paint with glossy paints, then use light and trace the edge highlight locations and then finish with a matte varnish? Might this work for at least a "training wheels" method of learning how to better edge highlight in more accurate ways?
But the light hit different edges differently in the image of geometric shapes that you showed. So I am not trying to find edges, but how light from a single direction will light different edges different ways...
@@mikecourt13 you are painting a 3d model, you will never capture everything correctly, because once you turn the model everything is "wrong" again. But sure, why not try it?
@@mikecourt13 you could also just prime it black and put it under a harsh light before you start painting. the edges will reflect a lof of light and give you an idea. no need to fiddle with gloss varnish, matt varnish,...
Yeah, that's why I said I personally fimd it better to aim for that :) But in the end a lot of people want to aim for a simpler version and that is fine too :)
Everybody has to start somewhere - If you are new to miniature painting and this helped, let me know!
Trovarion Coming back to miniature painting after 26 year hiatus and I’ve had a lot of new techniques to learn/relearn, but I’ve defiantly now learnt I’m not loading my brush enough from this as well 👍
@@Hope4sun nice! Glad it helped!
Just watching your technique is helpful. Thank you.
Thx. This really helped. I just tossed a whole intessesor squad out of frustration. And thank you for getting to the point instead of filling this video with antics and charts.
Great video! Which brush did you use? I couldn’t find the link you mentioned
I enjoy how you don’t rush through your tutorials, it gives me time to see what is actually going on! I probably won’t ever play the games but, I enjoy learning. Thank you!
thanks mate! with youtube it's always a bit of a tradeoff, need to keep it precise and somewhat short, because otherwise they don't get a lot of views which in turns mean youtube doesn't recommend them. Which always is sad, because a lot of work goes into it. But I also want to make sure everything I do is understandable, so that will always be the focus :)
And as long as the patreon compensates for the reduced viewcount I should be able to keep it up!
Thanks again for the kind words!
Best heavy metal style edge highlighting guide on youtube
Just got into painting Warhammer 40k minis about a year ago. I always struggled with edge highlighting. This video helped me alot. Thank you!
Holy separation of teaching quality. I’ve watched quite a few painting videos but, your demonstration of how the paint is supposed to be flowing on the nail of your thumb made it so wonderfully obvious what has been off for so long! Thank you!
There’s usually all of this talk of milk and consistency on the palette or in a mixing dish but, it seems to have often in discussion have missed the point of; what it does when it comes in contact with the painting surface that is being desired. To say, to have the end in mind for what is trying to be achieved by the method and it’s angle of approach to that end so there is room to trouble shoot to that end. Thank you again you magnificent painter!
3
B5
Who the hell smears milk on their table to even know that
This guide was so helpful. I love how you show all the steps and don't skip ahead. Lets see you do a Blood Angel please!
I have watched many edge highlighting videos. You are the very first to actually go into the subject of what to do when you cannot use the edge of the brush. Thank you.
Amazing video, I'm a beginner and the first minis I painted were Raven Guard Space Marines meaning that edge highlighting is something that I need to learn to make it not look bland since it's mostly black.
I really dig that you include a picture of what’s going on with your pallet. A lot of the time I feel lost because my paint consistency just isn’t working
Thank you for this! Such a big help! Especially the tip about wiping excess paint off on a paper towel.
Came here via Midwinter Minis recommendation. So glad to have found your channel. Awesome info!
I do not and never will have the brush control to do a lot of the fine detail line work that you can do. My eyes aren't good enough even with a visor. My hands just aren't as steady as they used to be so it's great to watch but I really can't hope to achieve this. You are very talented. Me, not so much. I'm not artistic but I do my best. Still helpful, so thanks.
Very helpful. I feel 100% more confident in doing this, and will try it out on some minis this weekend!
I'm a new (super new) painter, and the hint on using the pinky to stabilize just helped me A LOT!
Thanks, mate! Love from Brazil.
This was very useful because the explanations are detailed, to the point and the process is clearly showed. I'm painting my first minis and it helps very much, thanks.
Great to hear! Thanks for taking the effort to leave a comment!
Oh my gosh I wanna thank you so much I’m subscribed love it dude
You make it look so easy! I've just got back into 40K after 15 years and I'm finding edge highlighting so difficult.
i recomment a good brush, that retains a solid tip, like these: bit.ly/2YVt0iS - it's totally worth it. Also head-mounted magnifying glasses help a lot! and most of all of course: practice.
16 years here, both wfb/sigmar and 40k :)
@@trovarion What head-mounted magnifying glasses do you use?
hey thanks Trovarion i stuggled to get the right consisency for my edge highlight between too runny and too thick but this vid showd me that i was just using to much paint in general on my palet xD
Awesome tutorial, exactly what I was looking for. How does this not have more views?
I wish i knew this hobby when i was in school. Videos like this could have saved me from many bad marks in arts classes xD.
Been following a lot of guides for the past few weeks and I really appreciate this style.
More videos like this please! And more thumbnails like that as well!
Yes sir!
Thanks for the link to the brushes, I immediately bought one. It can be hard to find quality brushes for a good price.
nice, let me know how you liked them!
Your tips are the best tips. Started with a wet palette but haven’t been running the brush over paper!
Amazing video, thank you!!!!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! Beautiful video 😍
Thanks mate :) glad it was helpful!
Fantastic video. You cover the subject extremely well.
thanks mate!
Thank you so much ive just started following you and your work is amazing. I hope to be able to patronage soon, i used to paint figures mainly 1/35 military 30 yrs ago but ive started on minatures as there variety is incredible plus the variety of colours are endless. Please keep putting out these high quality tutorials as they are a wealth of information.
I really appreciate hearing these stories and it keeps me motivated to do these videos. thanks a lot! see you on the patreon discord chat server soon :) We will love to help you with achieving your painting goals!
Love the chart joke!!!
Best tutorial out for by far!!!
I'm new, and this video helped me out. Cheers!
Glad it helped!
Love that thumbnail. Great video TYFS
This video was extremly good! Learned small tricks about using highlighting and it’s really nice to see on such easy “model” and “colors” as new beginner im not interested in painting strange trolls in different browns and yellows etc it’s just very confusing seeing most “example models.” seeing a blue space marine with nice blue brands was very helpful bc it’s colors that I have and use “want to learn how to use, I’m new a painter who paints lotr minis” and even doe I have yellows and browns I feel like learning from watching a simple model you recognize such as the space Marine and with the most famous colors like kantor blue, how to highlight it, Khorne red, scarlet red, greens etc is more interesting and easy to learn from😅
Thank you for your intuitive video's
I want to paint up an entire chapter of Iron Hands Space Marines in the same style as the official GW artwork, so this tutorial is going to be invaluable for me!
This is a helpful video, thanks so much. I just have one question, How did you connect the space marine to the wire?
drilled a hole into the leg and glued a piece of wire in :)
thanks for this . helps a lot
Very good tutorial with loveable music. Keep doing this!
Well, you explained very well why it's important to whipe the exess paint of the brush before edge highlighting. I tried that and OH MY GAD what a difference it makes! I'm back to painting miniature after a 10 years break and I did my first "test space marine" in drybrush, but I don't like the chalky look...
This is a sweet video, thanks for the tips. I am just wondering how to edge highlight on more natural models like trolls and orruks? I am finding it very hard to blend the varying surface curvatures in the organic shapes
I love the look of this style of painting but damn actually trying it makes me feel like I'm going insane.
I do a lot of edge highlighting, for me it is much easier than doing blending...but my friends think it is difficult or too time consuming. I hope this video will dissuade them and make them not so afraid of edge highlighting.
This is a great video. Many thanks
Many thanks for sharing. After picking up a paint brush around 2 years ago (after some 20 years not painting anything at all!), I've been painting several times a week and always selling inspiration, advice and great vids like this - thank you!
P.S. do you have similar but for more "natural" minis (rather than metal armour), e.g. bones, carapace, skin, etc.?
Not for the edgehighlighting style, no. More in depth videos about more natural highlighting are on my patreon.
Excellent guide thank you.
Awesome please give us more!
Ask and you shall receive!
Perdon por ser repetitivo en mis comentarios,pero...Ud;ES UN GENIO!.
Gracias!
Thank you. The best edge highlighting tutorial I've seen. Quick question though. I'm new to the hobby so some of my paint jobs dont go to plan. Can I just ex-prime my models and start again, or should I strip the paint off first? Thanks again for the awesome videos.
great video! what I'm still struggling with, is although I have good brushes, thin my paints, make sure there's enough paint on the brush, with some colours it doesn't flow well... making it difficult to paint clean thin lines
Same here... Especially when using the tip with doing a gentle stroke over kitchenpaper to get rid of water... After doing that there's like nothing of paint going from the tip. When I don't do that, there too much water running from brush
@@tomvanwalleghem8593 Well you if you do with kitchenpaper, it's going to absorb everything. Try maybe just doing that on your palette. People insist on the fact you shouldn't have too much paint on your brush, but it's equally important to have enough, or it will not flow, or dry way too fast (like a tiny dot of dried paint on the tip of the brush, that you can barely see)
@@tomvanwalleghem8593 not sure if this will help, but i have found that if you use a metallic colour to lighten paint like silver the paint flows much better. Not sure why but I find I can paint thinner and smoother lines when using metallic paints.
I hope you do a tutorial on Chaos Space Marines. Those trims are really a pain when edge highlighting.
I am not sure I understand - what is the difference? What is the exact problem?
@@trovarion Just the sheer amount of trims, especially for the older 3rd edition minis. Wanted to see how you tackle all those different parts, especially the random horns on the knee armor plates.
Great explanations.
Thank you my friend!
Wow, it takes me 2 hours to edge highlight one marine and the result is nowhere near as good as yours! This video has been so helpful. Thank you for creating this tutorial!
I'm an aos player but think I need to pick up a couple of space marines, they look great for practicing
Such a good guide!
thanks!
I was totally down with this video as soon as a chart was mentioned
down or done? :D
Huh, i never knew you could use a wash/shade paint like that, i better try that this weekend. My problem though is my own hands, as in brush pressure control, gorilla hands issues LOL
This was a great video that was entertaining but, more importantly, incredible informative. Thanks!
Also - at 2:08 what is that foam cup you’ve got the miniature on?
It's a cork
Hi, this is an excellent video and your comments about wiping the brush should help me as I really struggle with paint flow when highlighting and sometimes my brush seems to fatten with water. Please could you let me know what black paint you used for the pouches and chest eagle as well? Abaddon black seems to let me down!
Been using scalecolors black since a couple of years now!
@@trovarion omg you weren't lying in the video when you said you typically reply to everything! Thanks! I really hope I can improve my highlights...I have tended to over highlight too thick and then use contrast paint glazes to tone them down afterwards. Also do you have a go to white?
@@martineasterman5170 you got to find what works for you :) as for white i dont use it a lot, but when i do i use a white ink (schminke or daler rowney) or kimera white
@@trovarion well there is no doubting that your methods work and everything looks clean and sharp...so I'd better sharpen up using your tips. Thanks though, I'm trying to do a more white style of deathwing like the PC game rather than the brown white that GW does, but no idea how to do that really!
ive been painting for years and i couldnt edge highkight, this helped alot!
Wow I really wish I could paint as fast as you. To get edge highlights as clean as that one a space marine takes me like 3-4hrs lol. Even then it’s only maybe 8/10 as good as your edge highlights
Was the chart thing shots fired @ Miniac? Also noticed the “eavier than metal” videos
It's shots fired at overthinking in painting, just paint and you will learn :) Also when I made the first "Eavier than Metal" video I didnt even know about Miniac. It was obviously a play on the "eavy metal" style of painting and meant to be guides on how to take your painting up a notch if you wanted to.
Would you prefer it to be otherwise? 🤔
From what I remember from art class ... thirty years ago ... if you take a base color you can gain a highlight by adding white and a shadow by adding black.
So if you have blue, add white, then you have a lighter blue of the same tonal value. Same for adding a little black. Same color tone, just darker.
Does this work with miniature painting? I notice that everyone seems to want to use a dozen different colors to gain basic highlight and shadow shades.
Simple answer: Sure, you can do that. There is a lot more to it than I can answer in a YT comment, but white and black both desaturate a color - and not everything in reality is a simple midtone with a black shadow and a white highlight. And then you have artistic interpretation. If you don't care about any of that, sure: Use a maincolor and shade with black and highlight with white :) perfectly fine.
Great video, would you recommend layering, blending, glazing and then adding an edge highlight?
Thanks! Some good tips :)
This is exactly what i have been looking for! Thank you!
Thank you!
Awesome video! How would you do an osl effect coming from the lenses of the eyes without ruining your edge highlight?
so helpful, thanks a lot :)
1:28 I felt like that segment was a mini dis to miniac lol
Who's miniac?
@@trovarion someone who likes his paint charts :)
@@diokosa7001 rad!
Got question for you, what do you do after all the edge highlight? Some suggest to put contrast paint or wash over the whole model to blend highlights with model. What do you think about this approach? You live it after highlighting or put something over it to blend?
it depends what you want to achieve and how much time you want to invest. Do YOU like how it looks after only edge highlighting? leave it! If you feel like something is missing, add shades (as in...darker areas...not refering to the GW product). You mustnt forget that contrast paint turns everything it touches slightly glossy. Do you care about that or not? etc.
Personally I don't paint armies, so I never do this traditional/simpl/fast painting approach for my minis. The video is just a beginner instructional video to help people nail the technique of edge highlighting. If I was painting armies I would not add anything to blend the edge highlights. They are only a fraction of a mm anyway, no room to blend. But I would definitely try to add some shadows with a wash, or anything that achieves a similar effect. But you need to do what you like and find the end result you like, that's all that matters.
Chart, denied!
Shut down.
Do you have video on how to paint death guard I’m a beginner and I just picked up the plague festers warband box
On patreon, but not necessarily beginner.
@@trovarion ok thanks
I'm painting my first model and I honestly don't know what I'm doing wrong with edge highlights. I'm getting slowly desperate and frustrated :( I bought the brush that you recommended (Raphael 8404 size 1) but the paint just doesn't seem to have the right consistency, no matter what I try. I'm using a wet palett and Game Color from Vallejo (wolf gray) but the paint is very lumpy, even fresh from the bottle and I never get it to the point that it just flows nicely from the brush. I allready added a small ball bearing into the bottle to make it mix better when shaking it. It doesn't even look as "flowy" as on your palett. I'm not sure if it's me or the paint....I'm usually not that clumsy. I'm a professional guitar maker, but this is just frustrating. Everything else goes so smoothly and than I basically ruin everything I done before with the edge highlights. I started over at least ten times by now...
i feel the same, its hard getting the edges smooth without fighting the paint
@@gnipaheler Keep practicing! It got allot easier in the last 3 months. I don't know how to explain it, but once you suffered trough, you eventually get a feeling for the right consistency👍🖌👍
Aha the charts!
Huehuehue
Thanks for that, it's a good video and I needed to hear what you said about brushes. I've been knowing my brushes are a problem for awhile now. When I do get them, I'll be sure to use your link. Can I ask, what music do you have on in the background? It sounds like gamelan aside from the drumming. I like it. Thanks again!
Music is quoted in the description
@@trovarion Thanks :)
Could i ask for a guide on edge highlighting/ layering on uneven shapes like skin or similar to flesh hounds body. Thank you very much nd yes your guide helped me improve :)
I have a layering and glazing video, you can start there. One of my eavier than metal videos is including a lot of skintones! (the khorne berserker). As for how to edge highlight uneven shapes - it's best to pick the highest up "edges" - even if there is no edge, but just the ending of a shape - and then paint your lines on that, the way i did on that one round shape on the foot of the marine.
Do you use some special paints? or was the blue used for highlighting just thinned more then you would usually do once you get it out of the pot? My edges sometimes don't look so sharp and have a thicker edge then I would have liked
You need to play with dillution levels and always wipe off excess water on a paper towel
I am wondering about the consistency of your paint on the wet palette. Even when mixing in water it never gets this "drop or milk like" quality. Ive noticed this in a lot of videos from different painters. My paint just gets runny. I feel like I am missing a basic step. Do you have a video on the channel that I might check out ? I do enjoy your style and presentation and as someone that has only recently joined this hobby, it feels like there is an overwhelming wealth of information you provide. Great stuff!!
I'm not sure I understand...your paint is too dilluted? Or what exactly is the problem?
@@trovarion first of all thank you for taking the time ! I dont know if I am using my palette correctly, I think is the short version of it. On your palette it looks like the paint is dilluted but still has some surface tension. On mine as I add water, it just gets very runny and smears all over my palette. Maybe I am jumping the gun with my question concidering I am just starting out. I also just discovered your website so I should probably look through the index. I appreciate you taking the time and no worries if my question is a bit unspecific for you to answer it here. Cheers !
@@Michael_Malice_Music ah...I am using baking paper as a palette paper, not the one that comes with the palette. it's kinda waxed, so my paint will form these drops.
@@trovarion ahh I see ! Ill try that thank you
Hey dude! Can I ask where you got those dropper bottles? They look the same shape as model colour bottles which I’ve been trying to find for a long time. Thanks!
Thank you very much
Bro this is amazing, thanks for the tutorial your work is great!! Please tell me about your palette? What is it?
A wet palette ruclips.net/video/JzGae5S828k/видео.html
Trovarion Miniatures amazing! Thanks for the quick response! Most RUclips guys don’t even respond 👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽👌🏽
Great tutorial!
May i ask the what size brush you are using?
raphael 8404 size 1. linked in description.
Any tips for keeping your lines straight and small? I find my lines on thins straps of leather end up converging on each other which looks like garbage or they arent straight and have some slight swivel to them although i dont have shakey hands.
get a good brush with a great tip; flatten the brush, turn it 90°, use this side for extra thin lines; get magnifying glasses; be extra careful and go slow; practice
@@trovarion thank you
What are some really good detail brushes with really solid tip?
There is links to the brushes i use in the description
how did you get your citadel paint in the squeeze bottles? sick vid btw!
Transfer the bulk of the paint, thin the rest with water or medium and transfer the rest
Can you/should you use glaze medium with Edge highlighting to soften the effect?
"softening the effect" is done through transparent layers. it doesnt matter what you dillute the layer with.
that said if you can paint a gradient into your edgehighlight it's probably too big anyway.
Do you use just water to thin when doing edge highlighting? I'm using a #0 8404 (my #1 has a single extra long hair that is driving me crazy), but the paint seems to dry in a minute or two -- can't seem to "write" lines as fluidly as you (I need to do multiple strokes for the paint to cover). When I add more water, it's so thin that the paint doesn't cover consistently
Honestly, as a newbie, what I quickly realized is that the basic Citadel brushes (most of them) are not suited at all for this.. or at least they make your life way harder than it needs to be. Either by having poor ink retention , that it quickly dries, or that the tip splits very easily
yes, but that is what I am saying, no? :)
@@trovarion You said parts of that, yes. I am pointing out that if your brush sucks , you have to be exponentially better to be able to get a proper result. A master probably doesnt give a shit what brush they use, a newbie however needs all the help they can get. Was my point.
@@vedomedo I am not sure I get your point. I said a good brush will help tremendously and I even show how the brushtip should look and how to get it even sharper. I also explicitly said in countless other videos to stay away from citadel brushes.
@@trovarion no clue about your other vids. Just checked this one out. That being said, I didnt say you were wrong, did I? I simply made a comment lol.
@@vedomedo sorry, I just tried to find out what your comment meant lol. :)
I know that many use airbrushes or canned paint to lay down their base coats, but why not base coat black and then use the first color and coat panel by panel and avoid putting color in the recesses from the beginning? This is what I am working on doing. Thoughts?
Of course you can :) painting is all about what you like to do. Just questioning if you are going ro be faster having to apply the basecoat making sure you don't hit the recesses. Can always try it and see what you like better :) up to you!
@@trovarion thanks for the reply! I don't worry too much about speed. I paint for enjoyment and stress relief. I am more concerned with what looks good to my eye.
@@thehumblepundit9790 that's great! It's a great hobby for that :)
Do I have to highlight on every edge? I feel like if I do it on a space marine helmet it would degrade the look.
You do what you want to do :)
Thanks really helpful. What palette do you use?
A selfbuilt wet palette
The straight lines or larger lines are easy, any tips for small edges? for instance the ones on the thigh (round shape) I really struggle with those
what exactly do you struggle with?
@@trovarion Around 8.45 in the video. The details are so small I struggle to edge, the circle shape and even the "vent" lines, any tips?
@@yeaahknow7819 when you say you "struggle" - what is the problem? paint too thick? brush too big?
@@trovarion Paints too thick, when i apply it to the small details it just doesnt accent the shape of whatever im highlighting very well, I've tried thining the paint as well, I use a thicker brush with a thinner tip, but struggle to be "precise" enough on small details
@@yeaahknow7819 I mean...you see how thin my brushtip is at 8:00 and how i use it on the edges. your paint needs to be thin, but opaque enough to leave a mark. also not runny - a.k.a. you want to wipe the brush on a piece of paper towel. get magnifying glasses if you cant work precisely.
How do you get the model on the pin like that? Just drill a hole or something?
Yes
I'm trying to do edge highlighting with a new small detail brush but the bristles keep splaying and ruining the accuracy. Is there some kind of method of maintaining a good tip on the brush or is it actually better to do this kind of detailed work with a bigger brush?
Gw brushes are shit my dude
Hi I'm new And i've had some trouble highlighting Balthasar gold, should i mix it with white or just use plain white on it?
You typically dont want to highlight metallics with regular acrylics. Use a brighter metallic color instead.
@@trovarion thanks i appreciate it
What about correcting errant brush strokes that you don’t catch right when it happens. Ie I accidentally get a spot of abaddon black on a mepheston red painted knee Pad that’s been shaded with contrast or wash and I don’t find the mistake until it’s already dried. Especially over an armor panel where a contrast or wash has already been applied over the base coat! You can’t just pull out Mephiston red and correct the mistake. If you add more wash over the mistake area it screws up the wash color around your mistake area. Wtf do you do?
I'd probably try to optimize my painting process to minimize these things. E.g. only start with the contrast/wash-shading after I applied the pannel lining and can still correct with the base color. in the case you mentioned i'd try to create a mix of mephiston and whatever you used as a shade to match the color in that exact area the black stroke is on and correct with that. you might hit the same color shade that way and if you dont, well I don't think it's a big tragedy, honestly ;) It wont be that evident on the table. And you could always consider adding battle damage to cover it up.
If it's a showcase mini you'd simply invest more time to correct this.
@@trovarion thanks for the tips. The whole contrast revolution thing is great and all until you mess up and dont catch it in time to wipe it off with finger or a clean, wet brush. Any thoughts on using a retardent when doing edge highlights so you have more time to wash off mistakes when doing the panel/"eavy metal" style of highlights? As far as the video thx for the tips. I'm doing a test batch of 2 minis for a pre heresy Thousand Sons army i'm starting and I'm starting on edge highlighting tomorrow. You vid was very helpful.
@@Mike_Honcho_8653 I never know what to say when people say "any thoughts on using X?", Especially if it's using additives which I never use. I paint straight forward with water only. Experiences and preferences are different. You'd have to try it.
But in all honesty...just practice...you'll get better at it. And you didnt train yourself to only be able to paint with additives.
Trovarion Miniatures 😁💪💪💪👍🙏
Noice, thanks for this video. :)
Maybe a dumb question, and I will accept any input from anyone as I am 10 months deep in my noob-ery, but what if I paint with glossy paints, then use light and trace the edge highlight locations and then finish with a matte varnish? Might this work for at least a "training wheels" method of learning how to better edge highlight in more accurate ways?
It's not that hard to identify an egde I'd say.
But the light hit different edges differently in the image of geometric shapes that you showed. So I am not trying to find edges, but how light from a single direction will light different edges different ways...
Trying to avoid the Tron look with every edge done the same way regardless of the direction the edge is facing.
@@mikecourt13 you are painting a 3d model, you will never capture everything correctly, because once you turn the model everything is "wrong" again. But sure, why not try it?
@@mikecourt13 you could also just prime it black and put it under a harsh light before you start painting. the edges will reflect a lof of light and give you an idea. no need to fiddle with gloss varnish, matt varnish,...
How do you guys keep your brushes so sharp? I always struggle with my brushes.
you need some decent brushes. Raphael 8404 are my go to brushes, there are a couple of links in the description of my videos.
@@trovarion Ty for the suggestion, I just started using them and so far they are amazing!
Though i do like the highlighting like this, I prefer less highlighted areas and more focused to where its gonna stand out. Still love the model !
Yeah, that's why I said I personally fimd it better to aim for that :) But in the end a lot of people want to aim for a simpler version and that is fine too :)