Highlighting Painting Techniques You Need to Know

So you have been printing and painting your minis for a while, and you want to take it to the next level. If you already have a good grasp of the basics and are looking for some new techniques, highlighting is a good start. There are several ways to do it, from the most basic to some really advanced, and you will surely find some you like. So let’s jump into highlighting painting techniques you need to know.

Dry Brushing 

The highlighting technique most people learn first. It’s based on loading your brush with paint, removing the excess until it looks like there’s almost no paint left and then applying it to the areas you want to highlight. Remember this can be done in layers, and look closely to see if your desired effect of light and shadow is being achieved. It’s one of the greatest highlighting painting techniques for stone terrain or to show weathering on some materials.

Edge Highlighting

When you want to put a special focus on an object, your best option is doing some edge highlighting. Aside from using the side of the brush, and using the right amount of paint (we suggest ⅓ of your bristles covered), we suggest you put the brush at an angle against the edge and drag it lightly. After you get the desired amount of highlight, clean it up with your base color and apply layers or blending as you wish. It’s a great way to highlight swords, edges of an armor or vehicle and so on.

Zenithal Highlighting

One of the most famous highlighting painting techniques is zenithal highlighting, a technique to highlight your minis from above. The usual way to do this is using an airbrush. Some good tips are: keep rotating your miniature and use little paint and lots of air on the airbrush to build thin layers, so you can have a lot of control over your final results. One of the benefits of this is you can use other highlighting techniques to correct places where it gets too bright as you brush it from above.

Other Highlighting Painting Techniques

We dabbled a little in the most famous forms of highlighting for miniature painting, but there are several other tricks and styles you can learn from the mini painting community or searching the web. As a miniature painter, you can also create or discover your own ways, maybe using more layers, trying other types of paints, primer and so on. If it works for you and it’s keeping you interested in the processes, keep on grinding and share your results. 

Loot Studios can help you paint highly detailed minis, statues and props. Choose your favorite bundle from our previous releases or sign up for Fantasy or Sci-Fi to receive a new bundle every month. You can also check out some tips at our YouTube Channel.