Help With Highlighting Red

[RJSuperfreaky]

Hey everyone. As an experienced painter, I have pretty much got all the basics covered, as well as most advanced techniques. However, I still have a problem highlighting red! Every time I do, it ends up looking muddy. I have tried drybrushing (ugh), highlighting with blazing orange, etc. but none seem to work as well as my other colors. Any help would be appreciated greatly. A steady hand is NOT a problem for me.

Thanks in advance

[Calonderiel]

I find red the most difficult colours to work with (the other is white).

Here is how I do red: start with red gore or the other dark red paint, I don't remember the name, then blood red (leaving the creases dark red), then Blood Angel orange, then fiery orange, then sunburst yellow (usually very light). Then I pass a wash of mixed orange and red ink, then depending upon the effect looked for, I sometime put abit of sunburst yellow again on the highlights.

I don't go for brushing on red unless I want a "dirty" effect, say for khorne berserker. If you want a clean effect on red, you must use a lot of blending...

[Hard A**]

I find red the most difficult colours to work with (the other is white).

I must admit, highlighting white is a bit of problem for me too!

Actually, with some of these colours the secret is not to try and find a 'lighter' version of the colour for the highlighting (edges etc.) but to use a slightly darker version of the colour for all the surfaces BUT the edges.

So for Blood Angels, basecoat the mini with a mix of Blood Red and a little Scab Red and do the edges pure Blood Red itself. For White Scars, mix a little blue/Grey into White for the main coat, and have pure Skull White for the edges...

This is legitimate in the 40K universe, as most of the armour/costumes are many years old and will have picked up a patina of grime, cordite residue etc.

Don't forget to always use a white undercoat, unless the mini is mainly in Black or very dark.

[Calonderiel]

The main problem I've got with red is that it ends up not red enough to my liking when I want to have a nice "shiny" red... Back in the days of yore, I tried to make a Saimhan army... I wanted a nice, flashy red... Ferrari like you know... Never managed to do it to my liking... Painting World eaters or evilsuns is easier though, since I'm going for an old/dirty look.

With white, the problem is lazyness

On a white armour, the least imperfection shows glaringly, thus you've got to be extra extra careful when doing it. When I try for white, I usually use Space wolf grey base then highlight in whatsthename lighter grey, then final highlight in white. If the crease are especially deep, I'll put a light touch of shadow grey in them.

[gundamfan]

BUt if you use grey and then highlight white, then you're painting grey, not white! :o

[Calonderiel]

Hmmm... Actually... yes...

Except I do very large highlight... Anyway the point is quite moot since I don't have white minis in my armies