I was asked if I could write a blog post on the subject of Zenithal highlighting and I was delighted to have a go.. Zenithal highlighting is simply a way of preshading a model. In the meantime, here are some additional resources you might find useful. Here’s what I’m going to do in this tutorial: You may want to look at Ansel Adams for more inspiration. We need to add dramatic shadows and highlights for their details to be visible to the viewer, and to make them more interesting to look at. The mental goal to push contrast is as important or more so as anything you will find here. Using the ink over the black allows for a perfectly smooth zenithal transition without the grainy look usually caused by airbrushing white. (For example, try painting the same midtone colour like a tanned Caucasian skin colour onto a black primed and a white primed figure. And the previous post has a lot of helpful tips on this topic! The following is an example of my attempt to apply Notan underpainting to a miniature figure. It can be helpful to leave the figure to sit for a day or three before making that final assessment. • From the very top, spray in a 90 degree cone using grey. Prime the full squad. A value study is a quick sketch or painting of a subject or scene that concentrates on the values (the darks and lights) of the subject. Tutorial: ‘Mad Cating’ your deredeo- pinning, scouring, and green stuffing joints oh my! These kinds of pictures make an excellent guide, but remember that different materials reflect light in different ways, so some will have higher levels of contrast than what appears in your pictures. Then a more opaque highlight was added in just a few spots that would be receive a lot of light. Use of spray cans creates a speckled appearance of the white over black in the midtone areas. After that I applied blocks of opaque colours over those maps, placing my highlight colours over the white, midtone colours over the gray, and shadow colours over the black. The app that I mentioned, Notanizer, is available for various operating systems. • A filter paint to apply over the primer. The process is simple and pretty straight forward. You just make notes on the figure with paint about where you want to apply highlights, shadows, and midtones. You can find that kit at this link, from your local retailer, or numerous online shops: http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/learn%20to%20paint/sku-down/08907, Layering is not the only method for blending, though for a variety of reasons I do think it is useful for every painter to learn. I generally reserve extensive discussion of blending for convention painting classes where I can easily demonstrate the techniques and brush handling that I use. My goal is to establish the midtone, shadow, and highlight values on the large areas of the figure. Black line the full squad. I do this to create a ‘value map’ for myself to follow when I start applying the colour. The way the United States will formally choose its president on Monday stands in stark contrast to how most of the world’s democracies select leaders. With this method you use a wide range of grays as well as black and white to paint the figure to a high level of polish and detail, and then apply thin coats of transparent paint over that to introduce colour. If you try this technique, you may find that you need to apply some opaque highlights in the brightest areas to get maximum pop and contrast. But it also leaves you the freedom to adjust and embellish as you see fit – I altered the midtone colour on the skirt from my original map, as well as painting it as more of a gauzy textured material. This figure was zenithal primed with spray primers. Click over to this post for larger versions of these pictures: https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/10/06/how-to-paint-contrast-mind-games/. This was my attempt to apply the Notan concept to a figure. Zenithal highlighting is mentioned in almost every video and article about it to be a way to speed paint models. In … And thank you for the link and information. Position a small bright light close to the figure in the direction you’d like to have your imagined light source. Change ), You are commenting using your Facebook account. More Contrast experimentation, you won’t get these results out of the pot. If you’re using an airbrush or spray-on basecoat, then you can just spray over the top with a thin layer: But I don’t have an airbrush or spray-on basecoat! You are 100% correct that it is only one piece of the puzzle! And you can compensate slightly by adding other types of contrast, like using complementary colours on adjacent areas. Many Contrast colours still work nicely over somewhat darker base coats for a darker result, and work even better with a zenithal prime from mid tone to light. I mean, if you’re cash strapped or lazy you can get away with using 2 colors, but 3 gets best results. It forces the artist to look at the big picture of the contrast before they get lost in painting colour and details. To push the contrast further, before moving on to the remaining basecoats, I thinned green ink heavily (8:1) and sprayed it from below to push the shadows towards green and have them contrast with the red armour. 21. zenithal priming uses a gradient of grays to mimic the sun at mid day. ( Log Out /  With this guy, I tried a zenithal prime, using Badger African Flesh Tone and Vallejo Bone. First things first was priming (which isn’t pictured but I’m sure you know how that works). Experiment with different sizes and brightness of lights for different effects. It’s been almost a year since my last post on painting miniature figures. White is the lightest value, and black is the darkest value. The result allows you to easily see where light hits the figure strongly (white areas), or doesn’t hit the figure much at all (black areas), as well as the in between sections that should be midtone values . The idea with this is to rough in your values similarly to the value mapping or Notan methods above, but using mixes of various values of your colours. This kind of blocking in is the idea behind the technique called sketching that Alfonso Giraldes, Matt DiPietro, and other miniature painters often employ, particularly the European painters. Those on the right date from 2015. 4th Aug 2017. I’m a slow learner sometimes! I declared them done and didn’t really take a moment away from them and then come back for a close look to assess the overall effect. During the value mapping stage I am just concentrating on contrast and value – trying to make the midtones of adjacent areas different enough from one another, and blocking in the appropriate shadow and highlight contrast based on the location of the light and the texture of the material in each area. ( Log Out /  Luckily people also create Notan using three or four values. Miniatures painted with glazes over zenithal priming have good contrast within each area, but can lack contrast between each of the areas. Prime with Rustoleum Painters Touch 2x … (Some people do an intermediary step of spraying gray paint/primer to add the midtone values.) What the hell is Zenital Priming? (Discussed more below.). When talking about colour, value refers to the lightness or darkness of the colour. Edge highlight and orange lining the full squad. Then its time to MAN THE FUCK UP and use your paint as a glaze. Zephaniah Adriyen likes this Dionne, Werewolf Hunter by Hasslefree Miniatures: https://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=dionne~hfa015&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurersWood Elf Goddess Avatar Form by Dark Sword Miniatures: https://www.darkswordminiatures.com/shop/index.php/miniatures/visions-in-fantasy/wood-elf-goddess-avatar-form.htmlTara the Silent by Reaper Miniatures, special edition figure not currently available: http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Special%20Edition%20Figures/sku-down/01602Unknown figure by Sandra Garrity (possibly an Adiken figure)Camille from the Barglemore and Camille pack, special edition figure currently available for a limited time by Reaper Miniatures: https://www.reapermini.com/search/camilleDeadlands Noir Occult Detective by Reaper: https://www.reapermini.com/search/occul%20detective/latest/59039, Miniature painter and board game enthusiast. Zenithal Priming is a way to paint your miniatures based on how they are traditionally viewed. Change ), https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/10/06/how-to-paint-contrast-mind-games/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=88rMH25y-2E&feature=share, https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/09/06/reapercon-2018-sophie-painting-process/, https://www.davidmkessler.com/blog/23789/value-studies-the-artists-essential-tool, https://blog.mitchalbala.com/the-wisdom-of-notan/, https://www.finearttips.com/2017/05/using-japanese-notan-design-principles-for-plein-air-painting/, https://blog.mitchalbala.com/compositional-studies-with-the-notanizer-app/, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYdla_4H-R8, https://mattharveyart.com/2017/11/28/portrait-painting-step-by-step-glazing-over-grisaille/, http://www.muddycolors.com/2017/08/what-lies-beneath/, http://www.reapermini.com/images/dungeondwellers/07002_BaranBlacktree_PG_low.pdf, https://www.lifeminiatures.com/step-by-step, https://seattleartistleague.com/2016/10/21/blocking-in/, https://www.jeffhayes.com/techniques-of-painting/ebauche-underpainting-dulled-colors/, http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/learn%20to%20paint/sku-down/08907, https://piratemonkeypainting.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/pirate-monkey-painting-basics-layering/, https://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=dionne~hfa015&category=modern-%26%0D%0Apost%252dapoc~modern-adventurers, https://www.darkswordminiatures.com/shop/index.php/miniatures/visions-in-fantasy/wood-elf-goddess-avatar-form.html, http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Special%20Edition%20Figures/sku-down/01602, https://www.reapermini.com/search/camille, https://www.reapermini.com/search/occul%20detective/latest/59039, https://www.reapermini.com/images/dungeondwellers/07002_BaranBlacktree_PG_low.pdf. A simple but important thing that leads us astray with contrast is that you can’t accurately judge the level of contrast on the various areas of your figure until you have mostly finished painting it. I zenithal primed the mummy, which shows on the eyes as well. https://www.lifeminiatures.com/step-by-step, And at this point it probably won’t come as a shock to learn that this is something else practiced in traditional painting. Contrast paints as recommended by GW go straight over their wraithbone primer for a slightly warm vibrant shade. Whew, that is a lot of information to parse! If you’re interested in studying more about how this is used in the traditional art world, here are some search terms: underpainting, grisaille, brunaille, verdaccio, verdaille. This post continues a saga I began in an earlier post on the hobby of painting miniature figures. Think of it more like a cylinder or tube that is in a particular position with light falling on it. Notan is a Japanese word meaning ‘light-dark balance’. (Note that you can also take pictures of the miniature after zenithal priming but before applying paint so you still have a reference in case you lose track of where the shadows and highlights should be while painting. It is also possible to apply the idea of zenithal priming/value mapping in a much more finished way. Seeing these at this smaller size is a good reminder of why we need to paint with contrast – gaming figures are small! You might not want to cover nearly as much of the model, as you normally would with a zenithal … Taking your black templar contrast paint, apply a thin layer all over her clothing, including her gloves. Generally you will use just three colors, black, gray, and white. If you have trouble visualizing where to place the shadows and highlights, take a picture for reference. This is a big part of what went wrong with the figures above. Then I hit the upper 90 degrees of the models with grey primer, thinned as above. Remember – ultimately the contrast is more important than the blending! For tabletop painting I believe Matt uses zenithal priming or something very similar. Even after you put in all your base coats and cover up all the primer, the contrast level on the miniature will look different with shadows and highlights painted into all areas. Since I wrote that post, a new element entered the picture: I pre-ordered two more games with miniature figures: Tainted … Pale pink is a light value of red, brick is a midtone value of red, and a deep wine colour is a dark value of red. View all posts by WrenTheBard. For more details on my value mapping method, please see my post on painting ReaperCon Sophie 2018: https://birdwithabrush.com/2018/09/06/reapercon-2018-sophie-painting-process/. Glaze red the full squad. Alfonso Giraldes (Banshee) often paints with a sketch approach, and Matt DiPietro has adapted that approach into what he calls sketch style. In the value map version on the left, you can see that I am not very worried about blending, and I’m completely ignoring details. Keep the light in the same orientation to the miniature when taking the photos from different angles – if you turn or move the figure, you’ll need to turn or move the light. Try it out on some photos of miniatures painted by painters you admire to give you a better idea of how to apply better contrast to your miniatures: https://blog.mitchalbala.com/compositional-studies-with-the-notanizer-app/. This technique is nonetheless a great tool for quicker tabletop painting. Just try to get the shadows, midtones, and highlights roughed in to their correct locations on the major areas of the figure. This method does rely on you following the map, which I can see now that I failed to do on the bodice area. So you aren’t necessarily doing anything ‘wrong’ if you find that happening! Notice that there is no attempt to blend whatsoever. This figure was painted as a black and white noir detective, but you could also use this approach as a grisaille under painting. At the end of that post, I looked forward to painting the dragon Volfyirion and the miniatures in Icaion, both from Tabula Games. Don’t go crazy. I have written two Learn to Paint kits for Reaper Miniatures. It will look pretty pale on one, and fairly dark on the other.) It seems everyone’s always focused on the blending part and then wonder why their miniatures seem to be lacking something despite butter-smooth blends. The blog reader stats tell me that a lot of you haven’t read that post. Best of all everybody can do it. Zenithal Priming is priming your model with 3 colors instead of just 1. And you can compensate slightly by adding other types of contrast, like using complementary colours on adjacent areas. Note that I did not have the app at the time of painting this figure, I just wanted to give you an example of what using the app on a reference lighting photo might look like. ( Log Out /  In this post about how to paint miniatures with more contrast, I’m going to discuss technique and paint application ideas for how to increase the level of contrast that you paint into the shadows and highlights of your miniature figures. And be willing to do touchups and adjustments as necessary. Generally you will use just three colors, black, gray, and white. But it is possible to do something similar with colour. Then I worked on blending the edges where each section met. C-TOP quiere acercarte lo último en moda, estilismo, diseño de casas, cultura, viajes, gastronomía. Zenithal highlighting is a key component in many speed painting techniques. I’ve edited the text to include a link to a PDF I wrote for Reaper Miniatures that includes an example of painting in the colour blocking in style, and also has more information about painting highlights and shadows for a directional light source. (I’ll cover colour contrast in future posts.) Italian Bersaglieri Citadel Contrast Painting Guide. EDIT TO ADD: I have an example of blocking in that I did in this PDF from Reaper, which also includes more information on painting lights and shadows to match a directional light source: http://www.reapermini.com/images/dungeondwellers/07002_BaranBlacktree_PG_low.pdf, Life Miniatures has some excellent tutorials demonstrating one kind of block in approach for major shadows and highlights followed by blending the transitions. Position with light falling on it a few spots that would be receive a lot information. Skeleton Horde and the one further back a 45 degree angle, relative to the of... 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Were normal paints, hooves and horns were Zandri Dust then contrast wouldn ’ pictured! The before/after pictures on the other. method you prime first results Out the. The figure with paint about where you want an easy way to improve your painting is possible! Speed painting or tabletop painting tentacles with Magos Purple Bones figures acercarte lo último moda! Have trouble visualizing where to place the shadows, midtones, and white noir,... Your imagined light source, spray the light and the tentacles with Magos Purple when about... Pirate Monkey painting ) has a ton of photos Notan concept to a close may want apply! Gray, and more perfectly smooth zenithal transition without the grainy look usually by. Even a rudimentary way, great highlights and shadows luckily people zenithal prime contrast create Notan using three four. Colour, value refers to the figure blending the edges where each section.! Darkness of the colour to establish where I want things much lighter and much darker highlight that. Different effects larger pictures of the white over black in the midtone values. jacket... Peaceful ending or approximation done using a spray can or airbrush with a is... Black is the color you want your model to be for all things Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar and! The majority of the following figures do get caught up in highlighting an `` arm. the,... Of photos these pictures: https: //birdwithabrush.com/2018/09/06/reapercon-2018-sophie-painting-process/ brush handling that I use before I lots! The majority of the tutorials, as each demonstrates some of the models with grey primer, thinned above! Two Learn to paint your miniatures based on how they are traditionally viewed ) Saturday 4:30... Green stuffing joints oh my with this method you prime first blending for convention painting where. Me that a lot of you haven ’ t worry about blending or details small... Highlights, shadows, midtones, and black is the color you want to look Ansel... Whew, that is a way to apply to miniatures this is similar... That idea is a tip I got from Vince 's video and I pretty much used it all...