Vince, I feel like Ive just stepped out of a masterclass. A couple of months ago I started zenithal highlighting thanks to your other hobby cheating and I love it. However, this is like you have taken me to the next level of painting. Im now actively seeking a red or orange model I can paint just so I can use this technique. O, wait, Im sure I bought some bloodletters just this afternoon. :)
I figured this one out after watching some of your earlier videos talking about color theory and paint transparency. I’ve found Stynylrez Red Brown to be a good base color for this technique and it cuts out a step.
Hobby Cheating Video idea: Something that EVERY hobbyist will have to deal with at some point: Storage! How do you store your minis, terrain, brushes, paint, half-finished projects, etc? Just anything other than "putting them in a shelf". Unique an cool ideas would be great to hear. Another one could be: How do you transport your minis tournys these days?
I wish this had come a few days earlier! I tried glazing red over "regular" zenithal, and I was so dissapointed with the results that I'm covering that up, essentially starting over. Now I know a better method for future reference! : >
Hi Vince , Hope this message finds you well . So great you reply to old vids. Q, I want to follow your method using a universal shader ( Payne's grey) for the cool shade with a warm highlight (sunny skin tone) on my 28mm's . Watching this vid ,I was thinking maybe I could zenithal with Payne's grey , light rust and a Aged White , so I can go from cool to warm from the beginning with the zenithal. What do you think ?
I do something similar, I start with Hull Red, then build up zenithal preshade with lighter flesh tones. I then glaze with Fire Red. I've found you can then push the contrast further with Menoth White Highlight, followed by a pure red just on the tops of everything. The first time I tried this, I actually stopped breathing for a bit, it was so bright.
Vince Venturella agreed. It doesn't have too much purple in there, unlike a lot of deep reds. I'm really not a fan of shading with purple and highlighting with orange, it doesn't look real.
I followed this tutorial for a figure I am painting. All of it went well however once I began to use my brush to smooth out transitions and hit details, I found that the airbrushed paint was pulling right off the miniature. This was after it had tons of time to dry. I used a war colors red/orange ink for my highlights through the airbrush.
Sometimes that can happen based on humiity and other factors, to prevent it, you can always lay down a quick varnish after the glazing point, then move to your brush work.
I am interested in why you chose sepia instead of a warmer brown. Can you elaborate on that? I have a week off of work and am binge watching you're videos. You have a good coverage on topics I am interested in. Also, you are a very good teacher!
Thanks, glad the videos are helpful. I wanted a very dark brown for the shadows with a hint of green (complimentary color), that being said, you could certainly use a lighter brown and that would be fine as well. :)
So I find this a little puzzling-I guess it's a case of paint colour physics being different from light, yet I can't quite grasp it. The reason I say this is that the (daylight) off-axis illumination from the sky should be quite blue. I get that trying to add blue via a subtractive process is a bit doomed, so using blue in the zenithal scheme is not going to work as you'd hope under ‘warm’ paint, but it still seems odd that you're successfully using an off-axis highlight that is actually redder than the on-axis-which would seem to model what you'd see on a planet with a blue sun. Have you any insight? (Of course, I'm already grateful that you are showing us a method that works!)
The sky is blue, but the source of the illumination reflects quite warm and yellow. True daylight is actually a good mix of both, but when it comes to warm colors you are painting (reds, etc.) it's more a question of the paints. If you want a rich red, orange or yellow, you should start with a warm undercoat. What youa re really painting is the temperature of what is going to shine through and not clash with your layer over the top. If I then wanted to this to shift into a cold light, I would actually then use the brush for additional highlighting in a more blue toe and bring it back in through that so the shadows are still warm, but the highlight is cold. Hope that all helps.
@@VinceVenturella It really does, thanks. Being me, I'm still going to have to find a way to translate this into maths, though :). Colour theory-or rather the causes behind it-is really quite complicated. It makes me want someone to invent a zenithal varnishing technique, some paint that is opaque but can be turned transparent by some sprayable agent (or a UV light, though then you'd also need a fixative step). [Stephen wanders off to Google some film chemistry because why not…!]
If I don't currently have the airbrush paints for this and wanted to use up some brush on orange paint. I zenithal highlighted (dark grey, light grey, and white) and glazed with FW Sepia Ink. How would I value sketch from this point? Glaze with a rust color, and value sketch highlights with a bone color, then glaze with a my mid-tone (FW Flame Orange mixed with GW Troll Slayer Orange) ? I have been experimenting. It his hard to get a clean orange with the paints I currently have a available. I glazed with an FW Flame Orange ink. Still looks dirty. When I finish I want to apply some weathering like the new Tau GW army. The dab of Brown works on white armor. Not sure how to make it look good on orange. Dark grey like the primer or sepia? Thanks again for all your help. My skills are definitely improving, albeit at a slow rate. Lots of techniques and not enough time.
I think that would be a good plan, I mean the simplest answer depending on what you are aiming for would be to give a good drybrush of an ivory (or place the color if you want it more careful) and then work your orange over the top.
Super weird timing Vince!!! -last week I zenithal painted some bloodletters: army painter chaotic red(brown) and corvax White -then yellow game ink, followed by the same red as you. Old school GW orange and yellow highlights, followed by another coat of red game ink. Thinking of using a dark green to pin wash the deepest shadows?
Dark green is a great color for shadows on red. Sounds like you had a great set of steps to get there as well and I am guessing you have wonderful rich orange and yellow tones in the reds as well.
Just curious, how would you zenithal before something like a more blueish red. By that I mean more like S75 Bloodfest Crimson. I love that color and would like to try zenithal highlighting before glazing with it. But I'm afraid that since it's not exactly the warmest of reds, this technique (sepia, very orange/brown, bone) may not work as well. That said, it's still red & therefore more transparent than other colors. Is this (crimson colors in general) the one color that needs a special color scheme for zenithal highlighting over first (i.e. neither sepia/orange-brown/bone or black/grey/white but some triad as of yet not mentioned), or would a more traditional black/grey/white scheme be better suited? I'd guess maybe something like a burnt umber ink/VMA hull red/VGA Alien Purple (or even Alien Purple / Bone mix for the third color) might work, but I haven't tried it and I admit my knowledge of color theory isn't 100%. Not trying to be contrarian and find the ONE use case that doesn't fit the mold; I just really like this color and would like to not HAVE to rely on basecoating and layering in typical GW fashion if I can indeed zenithal and glaze to get 90% of the work done. As always, great video!
No issue, so crimson/magenta is an interesting color, it can be warm or cold, so the answer is you can sort of use either. Now, here is what I will say. It works best with a dark purple as the low town and then either cold blue/white (if you want cold magenta/crimson) or ice yellow/white/ivory) if you want a warm crimson/magenta. Hope that helps.
@@VinceVenturella Sorry I was so late to reply back with a thanks. For some reason this didn't show up in my notifications. Isn't UA-cam censorship wonderful? I could see dark purple/cold blue/white for the shadow/midtone/highlight respectively working for a colder crimson, but why would you use white for the midtone and ivory for the highlight for a warmer crimson? Should ivory be the midtone and white the highlight for warmer crimsons? The last idea makes the most sense, but I was just trying to make sure I understood what you were saying correctly. On a related note, given that I'll probably go with the colder crimson scheme, what in the VMC line would work best as a cold blue that still is lighter than the dark purple? I currently have 55 : "Ultramarine" & 52 : "Blue". I also have Andrea Blue and Dark Prussian Blue, but the first is too light while the latter is too dark IMO. That said, I am looking to pick up some more blues soon. Would you recommend something other than 52 or 55 or would one of those work? I'm personally thinking 49 : "Oxford Blue" would make for a good cold blue that isn't as dark as the Dark Prussian Blue. I need to acquire Oxford Blue anyway given how many people I've seen successfully use it for painting eye shadow on female models.
@@VinceVenturella I'm pretty sure Ice Blue (a.k.a. "Glacier Blue" now that they've renamed it) is a Game Color and not a Model Color paint. I know it's the same company, but I really am not fond of Game Color (although Game Air seems to be just fine oddly enough) namely because of the resin used in that line. I've heard it's usually more of an issue with the darker colors, but the one Black in that line I tried was enough to turn me off from it. Judging by the hue/value of that color though, I think VMC 66 "Deep Sky Blue" would probably be comparable. So I'll give that a try. Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware it was only the highlight color that'd change depending on whether warm or dark crimson was the end goal. Not sure I understand why a neutral grey is still the midtone in either case, but I guess I'll give it a shot and find out.
I was watching the "preparing for your best paintjob" video, where you took an additional step of using a wash and then a drybrush. Would that work in this process as well, and would we use a dark brown wash?
As I'm about to be painting a lot of red, yellow, and beige, this should be very, very helpful. One question, though, if after getting this sort of vibrant red or yellow, I wanted to dull it down, how would one do that? I plan on painting a lot of medieval figures, and while the men-at-arms will be nice and bright, I want the commoners to have similar colors but faded and dull.
Well, depends how fast you want to be be with it. The easiest method would be to use different undershades (i.e. alter the colors underneath). If you used black in the mix with your darker tones, it will naturally destaurate the colors as they will be weaker. If you use darker browns, the red will be weaker. The brighter and more aligned the undershade, the brighter the color over top. The other option is to mix the color itself with some of the complimentary color to desaturate it (i.e. have a very small amount of green in the red), that will also make the color less powerful.
Thanks a lot, Vince. You're really doing Slaanesh's work making all these beautiful armies throughout the world, driving us all further and further in the quest to perfection.
I have primed a couple of crocodiles black and am wandering what the next step could be. I am planning to paint the belly a sandy color and paint the top different kinds of green tones. Maybe a reverse zenithal highlight, but should I still use grey and white or do different tints make more sense. Maybe start with a layer of green ink before grey and white? Any advice would be much appreciated.
With something like those colors, I would go more warm tones, into ivory. I would also check out the video I did on the highlighting unusual animals and shapes (including things like underbellies which are brighter).
I have done some mini's in a traditional zenithal highlight and I would like to "warm them up". Would you suggest going over them with brown ink or skin wash ink from Vallejo (maybe thin it down some) and use a airbrush to speed the process up?
Yep, that's an easy way to kill the black and grey, a good all over glaze with something like flesh tone or a seraphim sepia etc. will warm up the whole thing and make further warm colors very easy.
I can’t wait for my airbrush paints to arrive so I can finally get started too! I want to build a pastel pink Space Marine force, so I wan wondering if these colors work too, or should I use purple for the first color? Or do these 3 work well with pink too?
Great video as always, and really useful. Quick question: when I see pictures of the GW flesh hounds they are generally darker on top, almost purpley black, with a rich red underbelly. To achieve that would using this technique “upside down” work? I mean literally turn the model over so the light rust and aged white were directed at the belly. Or would that end up with the shadows in the muscle folds being all out of whack, and if so how would you approach it? Many thanks, really enjoying these videos
So the trick here is you don'tneed to stop with the zenithal or be a slave to the format.Zenithal is simply undershading. Reversing it fully wouldn't work, as that would move all your hidden recesses into light (which isn't what you are going for, i.e.a muscle grouping on the side is still casting a shadow below). Remember, you can be targetted. So I would do the dark brown all over, some light medium brown at the 45 degrees from above, and then I would do the white on the sides (legs), Face and across the underbelly carefully, essentially, you are placing the ivory where you want the bright red. I would still focus the ivory to be the most intense on the top of the leg muslces that are red and the front of the underbelly and face area.
Vince Venturella Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I thought the shadows would be all out of whack if I inverted the model. Taking this one step further, what sort of zenithal would you do on a mini that would ultimately be in black armour, e.g. black templar or deathwatch Marine, or would you not bother with zenithal? Thanks again for taking the time to reply, I’ve learnt so much from your videos
Great Video. Can you get the same effect putting the red on by brush? I don't have the room or set-up for air-brushing. Also, do you share glove-buying with a left-handed painter?
Yep, a thin red glaze paint will do the same (albeit slower). I only keep the left hand on at all times as the right hand needs control for the brush itself. ;) - Saves money too.
Quick question - did you do any other priming other than the German grey on this model? I’ve been learning so much from you and other mini painters, Vince. Thank you!
Hey Vince, very helpful video as always, thanks for sharing! One question: if i want my ogres paint with a brownish skin tone (game air Barbarian Flesh) is it a good ide to use a flesh-like ink instead of sephia at the beginning?
This is going to sound crazy, but especially with Barbarian flesh (which is very red/pink) - Dark green is the answer. Green is what 2-D artists use to undershade flesh. It will work complimentary with the pink/red to create rich shadows.
I'm contemplating to zenithal my Land Raider. I'm thinking grey primer (because of the micro filler to smoothen the surface), cavalry brown, vermillion red, orange fire, and bone white (all Vallejo). I'm also thinking about appling a preshade with a dark red (e.g. bordeaux). I'm not quite sure, if that step's actually too much. does this sound feasible to you?
Sure, if you haven't already, you may want to watch the video on Panel modulation. The key with zenithal on something that large is to break up the lighting on the surfaces and use the natural break points to your advantage.
Thanks Vince this is a technique I really want to try on some witch elves for my upcoming DoK army. Would you have a recommendation for adapting this technique to paler skin tones?
So here would be my advice if you were doing this for skin tones. Grey black primer Warm Grey 45 degree angle Dark Green glaze all over Ivory from above deep pink skin (maybe with a little magenta) Lighter pink highlights.
Hey Vince, Would it make a big difference if I primed my Blood Angels in Vallejo Grey rather than Vallejo German Grey? I guess I'd need to lay down two coats of FW Sepia then? Also, does any brown wash work for this? GW Seraphim Sepia, Vallejo Dark Brown?
I assume you mean a rattle can? Yes you can, you would want to pick a darker color in the range (they have several dark browns) and then prime it normally. Then pick a lighter color (they have an excellent bone primer) and pull the can wayyyy back and do a light dusting over 2-3 passes. I know both Victor Ques and Tabletop Minions have videos on Rattle Can zenithal priming, so you may want to give those a look. Hope that helps.
@@VinceVenturella watched both of them, I think one of the problems I'm having is after doing red with red, although the look isn't bad I'm less sure highlight, wash, dry brush afterwards. instagram.com/p/BqDNYo1n8Vj/?igshid=12okgysn1kauz
When doing things like this red color could you use a dark red primer? I recently picked up Vallejo's German Red primer (I think) after seeing how badly it was to get mephiston red to cover over black.
I have a bloodthirster still in its box on my shelf. If you were painting one for competition how would you go about painting the skin? I was thinking use this technique then do something similar to your video about painting Caucasian flesh but with reds instead of flesh.
Yep, I think that sounds exactly like what I would do. If I were painting it for competition, this would be my starting point, just to get the colors set and a nice zenithal for lighting volumes. From this point, you can do basically anything you need. :) - Hope that helps.
If a model is predominantly one color (e.g. nurgle daemons, khorne daemons, plague monks, etc.), would it be an option to instead just zenithial with a dark tone, moderate tone and light tone of that particular color instead? I am guessing the advantage of the "zenithial undercoat + single glaze" method is that you guarantee that the final color gradient is all comprised of the exact same hue with three increasingly light tones of the same green, as opposed to the lighter one potentially being slightly more yellowish and the darker one slightly bluish, or whatever?
Correct, if the model is mixed at all and you don't cover those areas, it also still sets you up to quickly complete those areas. For stuff like Red, you also get a brighter red, as res is so translucent.
Unfortunately, black is one of the most difficult colors to paint to a high level, as it needs very careful color control to read as black, but here is the best thing I can give. Use a standard Blak/Grey/White zenithal (as per my most recent video), then mix a 5-1-1, Thinner/Payne's Grey Ink/Black Paint (i.e. a very thin dark black blue ink/paint glaze), then spray through your airbrush very lightly and directionally up toward the shadow. It's probably something that deserves it's own video, so I will have to add it to the list. I hope that helps and thanks for watching. :)
So I'm about to paint a crazy amount of bloodreavers. For predominantly flesh tone models, would you still use the light rust or something more geared just towards a mid to light flesh tone? Bonus points if you can list a citadel substitute, as that is currently what I own for now. Any help would be much appreciated.
I would look at the speed painting flesh video and do that. The rust will likely be too brown, some purple/crimson underneath it would give you the colors you are looking for. here is the video I referenced - ua-cam.com/video/PCQXQT9SRdQ/v-deo.html
Awesome tutorial! Does the ink take a long time to dry (like hours)? I just tried to wash part of a model and the ink seemed to come away revealing the zenithal underneath?
In general, it depends on the ink. Some inks more easily reactivate with water, so they really never fully cure. In most cases though, it shouldn't be more than 10-15 minutes to get dry if they have the normal amount of medium.
Could I use this for painting a warm white as my final color (like a bone/cream color - Citadel Screaming Skull) if I thinned it down and airbrushed it over the top?
Sure, you are probably going to want to stop at like an ivory, or something fairly warm, the more white you get, the dryer the pigment and the less smooth it will be.
@@VinceVenturella I'm going to give that a shot. I think I'm also going to plan my next army scheme around glazes that maximize this method to make my life easier. Thanks for taking the time to write back.
Vince Venturella Thank you for the fast response.I will give it a shot on my cthuluwars project (mostly big naked Monsters) :-). I guess regular thinner on alcohol basis (like x20A) should work?
I am not familiar with that thinner, I use standard Vallejo Airbrush thinner and always found that to work. One final note, Ghost Tint's have a slightly glossy finish, so I would prepare for a final coat of dull cote to smooth it out.
Would using a literal glaze from GW out of an airbrush work? Or just thin down some paint? I ask because I have some GW glazes and I've barely ever used them lol
@@VinceVenturella HI again Vince! Thanks again for all your help, really appreciate it. Follow up question (I know I'm peppering you with them lol hope you don't mind) So I finally decided to paint my Chaos Space Marines Kill Team the colors of the Red Corsairs. Now I have a lot of GW paints. I have Rhinox Hide for deep brown (I think it's the equivalent of Vallejo Burnt Umber), and Doombull brown, plus some other shades of lighter brown. I however don't have an equivalent to that Light Rust. Could I mix a brown with say a mid range orange or skull white for the second or top down coats??
@@VinceVenturella going to zenithal with my airbrush (got the light rust Vallejo paint) and glaze the GW Bloodletter with a brush. Need to be a bit targeted in areas instead of the whole model since I'm worried about excessive coats that may clog details. Would still work, yes? Either way I'm super excited. Going to mix a bone color with the light rust for the extreme highlight, since any near white always gives me trouble through an airbrush. I always seem to get that annoying speckling heh.
Red is probably the one that can really have some interesting effects, because that will definitely get a unique look and the blue darkest parts of black can inform a deep purple red.
@@VinceVenturella I managed to find Light Rust and just grabbed Charred Brown for the dark brown. However, my local Vallejo stockist never carries Aged White, so had to go Wraithbone from GW. What do you think would be the right ratio of thinner (Vallejo Airbrush Thinner) to Wraithbone (GW Base) for airbrushing that final top-down step?
Ok Vince I found the venithal for red! I'm looking to do Orks with red armour but I also intend to make use of the technique for their skin. Will this warm version lend itself to the green flesh of the Orks too?
It will actually work wonderfully for Orks as long as you want the yellow-green style of Orc skin (i.e. warm orks as opposed to mint green). You can do this and then put the thin green over the brown/ivory and it will turn deep green to yellow green.
I have all the paints necessary so I'm going to try this today. If I zenithal in this style for my Orks it will work well for the browns, reds and as you say; warm flesh tones. But how will I achieve a good black over this? Some shoulder pads and armour will be black with cheques. Thanks for all the help!
Well, you have two choices. 1) Just paint black over them in the traditional style. It will still be faster because of the ease of work on the skin and armor. or 2) Use some thin black glazes pulling to the shadows and slowly bring it down to preserve the highlights. Hope that helps.
@@VinceVenturella thanks Vince! What about for the 3 zenithal colors? Also when you come in to glaze the red (or really any color) do you hit it from underneath too, or just straight on? If you have a traditional zenithal with a black, Grey, white, and I wanted to use a blue ontop, would you apply the blue from under the model as well to hit areas that would not receive the blue from any other angle? Thanks again!
Other than the freehand on models, I do not. I loved drawing when I was young and took art throughout high school (though that was many years ago - like many). Models are just more enjoyable to me in general, perhaps the increased utility pushes me over. :)
Nope, just stuff I have learned and studied in miniature painting. I have taken a LOT of color theory courses from many great artists who are nice enough to offer them at the conventions I attend and I can't recommend such a thing enough if you have the chance.
Vince, I feel like Ive just stepped out of a masterclass. A couple of months ago I started zenithal highlighting thanks to your other hobby cheating and I love it. However, this is like you have taken me to the next level of painting. Im now actively seeking a red or orange model I can paint just so I can use this technique. O, wait, Im sure I bought some bloodletters just this afternoon. :)
Excellent, always happy when the videos line up with a project. :)
I figured this one out after watching some of your earlier videos talking about color theory and paint transparency. I’ve found Stynylrez Red Brown to be a good base color for this technique and it cuts out a step.
Good call. I just use my Grey/Black for everything, but that would be a great base primer.
Wonderfully effective technique Vince! Thank you for sharing!
Happy to help as always. :)
Hobby Cheating Video idea: Something that EVERY hobbyist will have to deal with at some point: Storage! How do you store your minis, terrain, brushes, paint, half-finished projects, etc? Just anything other than "putting them in a shelf". Unique an cool ideas would be great to hear.
Another one could be: How do you transport your minis tournys these days?
Awesome idea, added to the list. :)
Great video! Thanks, as always, for taking the time to share these.
Thank you, happy to help as always.
Neat technique! The results are great and the application is simple. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you, happy to help as always.
I wish this had come a few days earlier! I tried glazing red over "regular" zenithal, and I was so dissapointed with the results that I'm covering that up, essentially starting over. Now I know a better method for future reference! : >
Glad to help as always, sorry I couldn't be a little earlier.
Hi Vince ,
Hope this message finds you well .
So great you reply to old vids.
Q, I want to follow your method using a universal shader ( Payne's grey) for the cool shade with a warm highlight (sunny skin tone) on my 28mm's . Watching this vid ,I was thinking maybe I could zenithal with Payne's grey , light rust and a Aged White , so I can go from cool to warm from the beginning with the zenithal. What do you think ?
Yep, it will work just fine and help to build cold into the shadows of a warm paint job.
I do something similar, I start with Hull Red, then build up zenithal preshade with lighter flesh tones. I then glaze with Fire Red. I've found you can then push the contrast further with Menoth White Highlight, followed by a pure red just on the tops of everything.
The first time I tried this, I actually stopped breathing for a bit, it was so bright.
Yep, I love hull red as your deep base. it's such a wonderful shadow tone for warm shadows.
Vince Venturella agreed. It doesn't have too much purple in there, unlike a lot of deep reds. I'm really not a fan of shading with purple and highlighting with orange, it doesn't look real.
I followed this tutorial for a figure I am painting. All of it went well however once I began to use my brush to smooth out transitions and hit details, I found that the airbrushed paint was pulling right off the miniature. This was after it had tons of time to dry. I used a war colors red/orange ink for my highlights through the airbrush.
Sometimes that can happen based on humiity and other factors, to prevent it, you can always lay down a quick varnish after the glazing point, then move to your brush work.
I am interested in why you chose sepia instead of a warmer brown. Can you elaborate on that?
I have a week off of work and am binge watching you're videos. You have a good coverage on topics I am interested in. Also, you are a very good teacher!
Thanks, glad the videos are helpful. I wanted a very dark brown for the shadows with a hint of green (complimentary color), that being said, you could certainly use a lighter brown and that would be fine as well. :)
So I find this a little puzzling-I guess it's a case of paint colour physics being different from light, yet I can't quite grasp it. The reason I say this is that the (daylight) off-axis illumination from the sky should be quite blue. I get that trying to add blue via a subtractive process is a bit doomed, so using blue in the zenithal scheme is not going to work as you'd hope under ‘warm’ paint, but it still seems odd that you're successfully using an off-axis highlight that is actually redder than the on-axis-which would seem to model what you'd see on a planet with a blue sun. Have you any insight? (Of course, I'm already grateful that you are showing us a method that works!)
The sky is blue, but the source of the illumination reflects quite warm and yellow. True daylight is actually a good mix of both, but when it comes to warm colors you are painting (reds, etc.) it's more a question of the paints. If you want a rich red, orange or yellow, you should start with a warm undercoat.
What youa re really painting is the temperature of what is going to shine through and not clash with your layer over the top. If I then wanted to this to shift into a cold light, I would actually then use the brush for additional highlighting in a more blue toe and bring it back in through that so the shadows are still warm, but the highlight is cold.
Hope that all helps.
@@VinceVenturella It really does, thanks. Being me, I'm still going to have to find a way to translate this into maths, though :). Colour theory-or rather the causes behind it-is really quite complicated.
It makes me want someone to invent a zenithal varnishing technique, some paint that is opaque but can be turned transparent by some sprayable agent (or a UV light, though then you'd also need a fixative step). [Stephen wanders off to Google some film chemistry because why not…!]
…Yeah, colour slide film processing is interesting, but the materials are a lot less edible than acrylics ;).
Great video. Thanks!
Happy to help as always. :)
If I don't currently have the airbrush paints for this and wanted to use up some brush on orange paint. I zenithal highlighted (dark grey, light grey, and white) and glazed with FW Sepia Ink. How would I value sketch from this point? Glaze with a rust color, and value sketch highlights with a bone color, then glaze with a my mid-tone (FW Flame Orange mixed with GW Troll Slayer Orange) ?
I have been experimenting. It his hard to get a clean orange with the paints I currently have a available. I glazed with an FW Flame Orange ink. Still looks dirty. When I finish I want to apply some weathering like the new Tau GW army. The dab of Brown works on white armor. Not sure how to make it look good on orange. Dark grey like the primer or sepia?
Thanks again for all your help. My skills are definitely improving, albeit at a slow rate. Lots of techniques and not enough time.
I think that would be a good plan, I mean the simplest answer depending on what you are aiming for would be to give a good drybrush of an ivory (or place the color if you want it more careful) and then work your orange over the top.
@@VinceVenturella Thanks for help Vince. Congratulations on placing with the chibi miniature.
Super weird timing Vince!!! -last week I zenithal painted some bloodletters: army painter chaotic red(brown) and corvax White -then yellow game ink, followed by the same red as you. Old school GW orange and yellow highlights, followed by another coat of red game ink. Thinking of using a dark green to pin wash the deepest shadows?
Dark green is a great color for shadows on red. Sounds like you had a great set of steps to get there as well and I am guessing you have wonderful rich orange and yellow tones in the reds as well.
thanks man!
it feels a bit like you made it for me lol
(because i asked you a couple of days ago about that topic)
Now i feel special. :D
It could be, I pull from a list and I know I added this when someone asked - then decided to pull and do it. So happy to help I guess. ;)
Just curious, how would you zenithal before something like a more blueish red. By that I mean more like S75 Bloodfest Crimson. I love that color and would like to try zenithal highlighting before glazing with it. But I'm afraid that since it's not exactly the warmest of reds, this technique (sepia, very orange/brown, bone) may not work as well. That said, it's still red & therefore more transparent than other colors. Is this (crimson colors in general) the one color that needs a special color scheme for zenithal highlighting over first (i.e. neither sepia/orange-brown/bone or black/grey/white but some triad as of yet not mentioned), or would a more traditional black/grey/white scheme be better suited? I'd guess maybe something like a burnt umber ink/VMA hull red/VGA Alien Purple (or even Alien Purple / Bone mix for the third color) might work, but I haven't tried it and I admit my knowledge of color theory isn't 100%. Not trying to be contrarian and find the ONE use case that doesn't fit the mold; I just really like this color and would like to not HAVE to rely on basecoating and layering in typical GW fashion if I can indeed zenithal and glaze to get 90% of the work done. As always, great video!
No issue, so crimson/magenta is an interesting color, it can be warm or cold, so the answer is you can sort of use either. Now, here is what I will say. It works best with a dark purple as the low town and then either cold blue/white (if you want cold magenta/crimson) or ice yellow/white/ivory) if you want a warm crimson/magenta.
Hope that helps.
@@VinceVenturella
Sorry I was so late to reply back with a thanks. For some reason this didn't show up in my notifications. Isn't UA-cam censorship wonderful? I could see dark purple/cold blue/white for the shadow/midtone/highlight respectively working for a colder crimson, but why would you use white for the midtone and ivory for the highlight for a warmer crimson? Should ivory be the midtone and white the highlight for warmer crimsons? The last idea makes the most sense, but I was just trying to make sure I understood what you were saying correctly.
On a related note, given that I'll probably go with the colder crimson scheme, what in the VMC line would work best as a cold blue that still is lighter than the dark purple? I currently have 55 : "Ultramarine" & 52 : "Blue". I also have Andrea Blue and Dark Prussian Blue, but the first is too light while the latter is too dark IMO. That said, I am looking to pick up some more blues soon. Would you recommend something other than 52 or 55 or would one of those work? I'm personally thinking 49 : "Oxford Blue" would make for a good cold blue that isn't as dark as the Dark Prussian Blue. I need to acquire Oxford Blue anyway given how many people I've seen successfully use it for painting eye shadow on female models.
So to clarify.
What I am suggesting is Purple/Grey/White Blue or Purple/Grey/Yellow-White
Ice Blue is the color you want in VMC.
@@VinceVenturella
I'm pretty sure Ice Blue (a.k.a. "Glacier Blue" now that they've renamed it) is a Game Color and not a Model Color paint. I know it's the same company, but I really am not fond of Game Color (although Game Air seems to be just fine oddly enough) namely because of the resin used in that line. I've heard it's usually more of an issue with the darker colors, but the one Black in that line I tried was enough to turn me off from it. Judging by the hue/value of that color though, I think VMC 66 "Deep Sky Blue" would probably be comparable. So I'll give that a try. Thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware it was only the highlight color that'd change depending on whether warm or dark crimson was the end goal. Not sure I understand why a neutral grey is still the midtone in either case, but I guess I'll give it a shot and find out.
Great video and just in time - I've ordered 1000 points of Khorne to join my 1000 points of nurgle.
Excellent, I am always glad when the vids align with projects. :)
I was watching the "preparing for your best paintjob" video, where you took an additional step of using a wash and then a drybrush. Would that work in this process as well, and would we use a dark brown wash?
Yes and yes. :)
As I'm about to be painting a lot of red, yellow, and beige, this should be very, very helpful. One question, though, if after getting this sort of vibrant red or yellow, I wanted to dull it down, how would one do that? I plan on painting a lot of medieval figures, and while the men-at-arms will be nice and bright, I want the commoners to have similar colors but faded and dull.
Well, depends how fast you want to be be with it. The easiest method would be to use different undershades (i.e. alter the colors underneath). If you used black in the mix with your darker tones, it will naturally destaurate the colors as they will be weaker. If you use darker browns, the red will be weaker. The brighter and more aligned the undershade, the brighter the color over top.
The other option is to mix the color itself with some of the complimentary color to desaturate it (i.e. have a very small amount of green in the red), that will also make the color less powerful.
Thanks a lot, Vince. You're really doing Slaanesh's work making all these beautiful armies throughout the world, driving us all further and further in the quest to perfection.
I have primed a couple of crocodiles black and am wandering what the next step could be. I am planning to paint the belly a sandy color and paint the top different kinds of green tones. Maybe a reverse zenithal highlight, but should I still use grey and white or do different tints make more sense. Maybe start with a layer of green ink before grey and white? Any advice would be much appreciated.
With something like those colors, I would go more warm tones, into ivory. I would also check out the video I did on the highlighting unusual animals and shapes (including things like underbellies which are brighter).
Hello! Awesome tutorial!
What happens if a warm highlight is used for painting greens?
I have done some mini's in a traditional zenithal highlight and I would like to "warm them up". Would you suggest going over them with brown ink or skin wash ink from Vallejo (maybe thin it down some) and use a airbrush to speed the process up?
Yep, that's an easy way to kill the black and grey, a good all over glaze with something like flesh tone or a seraphim sepia etc. will warm up the whole thing and make further warm colors very easy.
@@VinceVenturella Thanks for the quick response! Follow up question: would you thin the ink or use it straight out of the bottle.
@@Wijkert Probably thin a little. You can always do 2 layers, you can't take paint off.
I can’t wait for my airbrush paints to arrive so I can finally get started too!
I want to build a pastel pink Space Marine force, so I wan wondering if these colors work too, or should I use purple for the first color? Or do these 3 work well with pink too?
For pink, I would use Purple, Grey and a subtle warm white.
+Vince Venturella Thank you very much! I will try that :)
Great video as always, and really useful. Quick question: when I see pictures of the GW flesh hounds they are generally darker on top, almost purpley black, with a rich red underbelly. To achieve that would using this technique “upside down” work? I mean literally turn the model over so the light rust and aged white were directed at the belly. Or would that end up with the shadows in the muscle folds being all out of whack, and if so how would you approach it?
Many thanks, really enjoying these videos
So the trick here is you don'tneed to stop with the zenithal or be a slave to the format.Zenithal is simply undershading. Reversing it fully wouldn't work, as that would move all your hidden recesses into light (which isn't what you are going for, i.e.a muscle grouping on the side is still casting a shadow below). Remember, you can be targetted. So I would do the dark brown all over, some light medium brown at the 45 degrees from above, and then I would do the white on the sides (legs), Face and across the underbelly carefully, essentially, you are placing the ivory where you want the bright red. I would still focus the ivory to be the most intense on the top of the leg muslces that are red and the front of the underbelly and face area.
Vince Venturella Thanks, that makes perfect sense. I thought the shadows would be all out of whack if I inverted the model.
Taking this one step further, what sort of zenithal would you do on a mini that would ultimately be in black armour, e.g. black templar or deathwatch Marine, or would you not bother with zenithal?
Thanks again for taking the time to reply, I’ve learnt so much from your videos
Great Video. Can you get the same effect putting the red on by brush? I don't have the room or set-up for air-brushing. Also, do you share glove-buying with a left-handed painter?
Yep, a thin red glaze paint will do the same (albeit slower). I only keep the left hand on at all times as the right hand needs control for the brush itself. ;) - Saves money too.
Quick question - did you do any other priming other than the German grey on this model?
I’ve been learning so much from you and other mini painters, Vince. Thank you!
That was the only primer, everything else was paint from that point.
Hey Vince, very helpful video as always, thanks for sharing! One question: if i want my ogres paint with a brownish skin tone (game air Barbarian Flesh) is it a good ide to use a flesh-like ink instead of sephia at the beginning?
This is going to sound crazy, but especially with Barbarian flesh (which is very red/pink) - Dark green is the answer. Green is what 2-D artists use to undershade flesh. It will work complimentary with the pink/red to create rich shadows.
I'm contemplating to zenithal my Land Raider. I'm thinking grey primer (because of the micro filler to smoothen the surface), cavalry brown, vermillion red, orange fire, and bone white (all Vallejo). I'm also thinking about appling a preshade with a dark red (e.g. bordeaux). I'm not quite sure, if that step's actually too much.
does this sound feasible to you?
Sure, if you haven't already, you may want to watch the video on Panel modulation. The key with zenithal on something that large is to break up the lighting on the surfaces and use the natural break points to your advantage.
Thanks Vince this is a technique I really want to try on some witch elves for my upcoming DoK army. Would you have a recommendation for adapting this technique to paler skin tones?
So here would be my advice if you were doing this for skin tones.
Grey black primer
Warm Grey 45 degree angle
Dark Green glaze all over
Ivory from above
deep pink skin (maybe with a little magenta)
Lighter pink highlights.
Hey Vince,
Would it make a big difference if I primed my Blood Angels in Vallejo Grey rather than Vallejo German Grey? I guess I'd need to lay down two coats of FW Sepia then?
Also, does any brown wash work for this? GW Seraphim Sepia, Vallejo Dark Brown?
I think it would be fine, you would just want to make sure you had some deep brown in the deep recesses.
Would something like a thinned burnt umber be good as a substitute for the sepia ink?
Yep, it would be perfect.
@@VinceVenturella thank you so much for the help, I really enjoy your work and your tutorials.
Question: can you do zenithal highlighting with color primer? like army painter's color primer? if so maybe a video on it?
I assume you mean a rattle can? Yes you can, you would want to pick a darker color in the range (they have several dark browns) and then prime it normally. Then pick a lighter color (they have an excellent bone primer) and pull the can wayyyy back and do a light dusting over 2-3 passes. I know both Victor Ques and Tabletop Minions have videos on Rattle Can zenithal priming, so you may want to give those a look. Hope that helps.
@@VinceVenturella watched both of them, I think one of the problems I'm having is after doing red with red, although the look isn't bad I'm less sure highlight, wash, dry brush afterwards. instagram.com/p/BqDNYo1n8Vj/?igshid=12okgysn1kauz
When doing things like this red color could you use a dark red primer? I recently picked up Vallejo's German Red primer (I think) after seeing how badly it was to get mephiston red to cover over black.
Sure, if it's dark enough red, you could start with that and do the lighter ivory over top (and then reglaze as I do here) to create the bright red.
I have a bloodthirster still in its box on my shelf. If you were painting one for competition how would you go about painting the skin? I was thinking use this technique then do something similar to your video about painting Caucasian flesh but with reds instead of flesh.
Yep, I think that sounds exactly like what I would do. If I were painting it for competition, this would be my starting point, just to get the colors set and a nice zenithal for lighting volumes. From this point, you can do basically anything you need. :) - Hope that helps.
If a model is predominantly one color (e.g. nurgle daemons, khorne daemons, plague monks, etc.), would it be an option to instead just zenithial with a dark tone, moderate tone and light tone of that particular color instead?
I am guessing the advantage of the "zenithial undercoat + single glaze" method is that you guarantee that the final color gradient is all comprised of the exact same hue with three increasingly light tones of the same green, as opposed to the lighter one potentially being slightly more yellowish and the darker one slightly bluish, or whatever?
Correct, if the model is mixed at all and you don't cover those areas, it also still sets you up to quickly complete those areas. For stuff like Red, you also get a brighter red, as res is so translucent.
What about a green-yellow armor? Which paints could I use to undertone it?
Sam things honestly, the brown to ivory will work well here.
Would you recommend this instead of black, grey, white for a figure that will have a lot of gold armour and white like solar watch custodes?
It won't matter for metallics, but if you were in those tones with matte paints, yes.
Just found your videos and these are great. Do you have any tips for doing this on "Black" armor?
Unfortunately, black is one of the most difficult colors to paint to a high level, as it needs very careful color control to read as black, but here is the best thing I can give. Use a standard Blak/Grey/White zenithal (as per my most recent video), then mix a 5-1-1, Thinner/Payne's Grey Ink/Black Paint (i.e. a very thin dark black blue ink/paint glaze), then spray through your airbrush very lightly and directionally up toward the shadow. It's probably something that deserves it's own video, so I will have to add it to the list.
I hope that helps and thanks for watching. :)
@@VinceVenturella Thank you very much!
So I'm about to paint a crazy amount of bloodreavers. For predominantly flesh tone models, would you still use the light rust or something more geared just towards a mid to light flesh tone?
Bonus points if you can list a citadel substitute, as that is currently what I own for now. Any help would be much appreciated.
I would look at the speed painting flesh video and do that. The rust will likely be too brown, some purple/crimson underneath it would give you the colors you are looking for.
here is the video I referenced - ua-cam.com/video/PCQXQT9SRdQ/v-deo.html
Awesome tutorial! Does the ink take a long time to dry (like hours)? I just tried to wash part of a model and the ink seemed to come away revealing the zenithal underneath?
In general, it depends on the ink. Some inks more easily reactivate with water, so they really never fully cure. In most cases though, it shouldn't be more than 10-15 minutes to get dry if they have the normal amount of medium.
Would hull red be fine as a base prime, then the ornj and bone?
Also would this work for cloth just as well?
Yep, that would work.
@@VinceVenturella Just want you to know it's appreciated to see that you DO seem to respond to most questions. That is very cool. Thanks.
@@relativeparadox9567 I always read every comment every day. :)
Could I use this for painting a warm white as my final color (like a bone/cream color - Citadel Screaming Skull) if I thinned it down and airbrushed it over the top?
Sure, you are probably going to want to stop at like an ivory, or something fairly warm, the more white you get, the dryer the pigment and the less smooth it will be.
@@VinceVenturella I'm going to give that a shot. I think I'm also going to plan my next army scheme around glazes that maximize this method to make my life easier. Thanks for taking the time to write back.
This looks amazing Sir!Would this Work also With ghost tints, instead of the thinned down ink?
Yes, it would be great as well. I would still thin it a little and go for multiple thin coats.
Vince Venturella
Thank you for the fast response.I will give it a shot on my cthuluwars project (mostly big naked Monsters) :-).
I guess regular thinner on alcohol basis (like x20A) should work?
I am not familiar with that thinner, I use standard Vallejo Airbrush thinner and always found that to work. One final note, Ghost Tint's have a slightly glossy finish, so I would prepare for a final coat of dull cote to smooth it out.
Would using a literal glaze from GW out of an airbrush work? Or just thin down some paint? I ask because I have some GW glazes and I've barely ever used them lol
Sure, Bloodletter is wonderful for this purpose. The GW glazes generally require 2 coats from the airbrush, but they work wonderfully for this.
@@VinceVenturella HI again Vince! Thanks again for all your help, really appreciate it. Follow up question (I know I'm peppering you with them lol hope you don't mind)
So I finally decided to paint my Chaos Space Marines Kill Team the colors of the Red Corsairs. Now I have a lot of GW paints. I have Rhinox Hide for deep brown (I think it's the equivalent of Vallejo Burnt Umber), and Doombull brown, plus some other shades of lighter brown. I however don't have an equivalent to that Light Rust. Could I mix a brown with say a mid range orange or skull white for the second or top down coats??
@@VinceVenturella going to zenithal with my airbrush (got the light rust Vallejo paint) and glaze the GW Bloodletter with a brush. Need to be a bit targeted in areas instead of the whole model since I'm worried about excessive coats that may clog details. Would still work, yes? Either way I'm super excited. Going to mix a bone color with the light rust for the extreme highlight, since any near white always gives me trouble through an airbrush. I always seem to get that annoying speckling heh.
Is there any situation or painting style where hot colors over a greyscale may be desirable?
Red is probably the one that can really have some interesting effects, because that will definitely get a unique look and the blue darkest parts of black can inform a deep purple red.
@@VinceVenturella I managed to find Light Rust and just grabbed Charred Brown for the dark brown.
However, my local Vallejo stockist never carries Aged White, so had to go Wraithbone from GW.
What do you think would be the right ratio of thinner (Vallejo Airbrush Thinner) to Wraithbone (GW Base) for airbrushing that final top-down step?
Nice! Out of curiosity, what is the PSI setting you use for your airbrush?
18 PSI for 99% of what I do.
Ok Vince I found the venithal for red!
I'm looking to do Orks with red armour but I also intend to make use of the technique for their skin. Will this warm version lend itself to the green flesh of the Orks too?
It will actually work wonderfully for Orks as long as you want the yellow-green style of Orc skin (i.e. warm orks as opposed to mint green). You can do this and then put the thin green over the brown/ivory and it will turn deep green to yellow green.
Vince Venturella thanks for the response and for putting out such enjoyable content!
Thanks for watching and asking good questions. :)
I have all the paints necessary so I'm going to try this today. If I zenithal in this style for my Orks it will work well for the browns, reds and as you say; warm flesh tones. But how will I achieve a good black over this? Some shoulder pads and armour will be black with cheques.
Thanks for all the help!
Well, you have two choices. 1) Just paint black over them in the traditional style. It will still be faster because of the ease of work on the skin and armor. or 2) Use some thin black glazes pulling to the shadows and slowly bring it down to preserve the highlights. Hope that helps.
Thanks again for these videos! Can anyone recommend a citadel GW paint equivalent I can use to replicate this please? Thanks!!
As to the red, honestly your new contrast reds would be the perfect choice, they are really wonderful for this technique.
@@VinceVenturella thanks Vince! What about for the 3 zenithal colors? Also when you come in to glaze the red (or really any color) do you hit it from underneath too, or just straight on? If you have a traditional zenithal with a black, Grey, white, and I wanted to use a blue ontop, would you apply the blue from under the model as well to hit areas that would not receive the blue from any other angle? Thanks again!
Just out of curiosity Vince, do you do any traditional 2-D drawing/painting?
Other than the freehand on models, I do not. I loved drawing when I was young and took art throughout high school (though that was many years ago - like many). Models are just more enjoyable to me in general, perhaps the increased utility pushes me over. :)
I get that. The way you talk about color theory and everything made me wonder if you had a classical art background or something. Cheers!
Nope, just stuff I have learned and studied in miniature painting. I have taken a LOT of color theory courses from many great artists who are nice enough to offer them at the conventions I attend and I can't recommend such a thing enough if you have the chance.