Need help highlighting with the tip of the brush.

[DEL 707]

I'm trying to do a 2nd highlight on my my Blood Angel, but I'm struggling. It's my 1st attempt at trying to paint this thin.

 

 

 

Trying to do some of the bigger, easiest parts of the model at the moment, but there are already bits that need cleaning up.

 

It's not so bad when I can use the side of the brush to do it, but it's when I need to use the tip of the brush.

Either I get nothing or a nasty uncontrolled blob.

 

Any tips on how to make the paint flow better when using the tip?

Edited October 29, 2021 by DEL 707

[LameBeard]

My friend, that looks great to me - I have nothing to teach you, I’ll hang out here to learn myself.

[andes]

Two things that I've found that help: thin the paint a bit more than you'd think to, flow is king when edge highlighting (can always go back over if coverage isn't what you want), and use a decent quality sable brush with a nice tip and a fat belly.

[Bryan Blaire]

In addition to andes’s good comment on thinning and being able to go over the highlight again to increase the coverage, remember that you can also go back over your highlight areas with your base coat color to thin down your highlights as well, in case you get them too thick.  I do this pretty regularly to get thinner lines near the edges of my armor panels.

 

Thinning down the paint some and keeping the brush with a good point will both help you get more fine lines.

 

What do you find yourself having to use the tip of the brush, rather than the side, on most of the time?  Maybe there’s something that can be shared on highlight that specific area or areas that could make it a little easier on you.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I suppose the obvious one is to get some flow improver (something like Winsor & Newton Flow Improver or Liquitex Flow Aid, although read the instructions as both of then are "concentrated"), as this will make it easier to get the paint to leave the brush. The other thing is to wick off any of the excess paint on the brush, so that when you touch the brush to the model, you don't get an initially thick line,

 

Also, never underestimate the efficacy of "cheating" (tidying up with your first highlight colour to make the second highlight look thinner).

 

It's probably obvious, but being able to see exactly what you're doing helps, so consider getting a magnification device if you think you might benefit, and also make sure you have a decent light (an Ikea desk lamp with a 10W+ LED that produces roughly 6500K light is fine)

 

Otherwise, Trovarion, Vince Venturella, and Zumikito have good videos on the subject...

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2021 by Firedrake Cordova

[Grotsmasha]

In regards to magnification, go to your local pharmacy / drug store / whatever, and get a pair of non-prescription reading glasses, I prefer 3.5x. Don't use them all the time just when you really need a clearer picture up close.

[Magos Takatus]

I frequently hop between reading glasses and a purpose built magnifier with light. The glasses are more comfortable but the magnifier's light has frequently let me keep rolling through evening paint sessions where the light in the room is too difficult to paint by. It's amazing when you have a good brush, a magnifier and some patience how much better your painting can become! I prefer to paint without the magnifiers but if I run into trouble it's nice to know I can zoom in and identify the problem.

[DEL 707]

Thanks for all the replies and help!

 

Despite my initial reaction to go "**** this" and quit again, I've carried on.

 

 

 

Lots of tidying up to do, kinda lost my patience when I was doing the back of the legs...

 

I think most of my problems come from having too much paint on the brush and maybe making the paint too thin. I'm always worry about making my models into 1 big blob of paint like I used to back in the 90's.

 

I'm starting to work on his powerpack now and I'm getting slightly better results.

 

What do you find yourself having to use the tip of the brush, rather than the side, on most of the time?  Maybe there’s something that can be shared on highlight that specific area or areas that could make it a little easier on you.

The main area I was concerned about was below the knee pads.

 

Additional question though, should I have made my 1st highlight of Evil Sunz Scarlet thicker?

[Emurian]

TBH Your to harsh on yourself. This looks clean. As others said you could use a previous colour to make the highlight thinner. I do the same with my UM when I made mistakes. Don't worry to much about it, we all make slipups and mistakes that we tend to correct afterwards.Its also not bad imo if some parts have a thicker highlight (around the feet) then others (elbow) 

Regarding your kneepads, looks totally fine. The only thing I could tip is the kneejoint (black area right leg) could use a small U shaped greyish highlight. (Hoping pics below show this somewhat) 

[DEL 707]

Well, I've gone as far as I'm willing to go with this model, painting wise that is. Need to do the decal and the base still.

 

 

I love and hate him.

 

Sometimes, especially near the end when I was working on the bolter, I got the paint *just* the right thickness and *just* the right amount on my brush. It was soooo damn smooth, but I had to hurry before it dried.

 

The Fire Dragon Bright highlight though, I think will haunt me for years to come.

 

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'm going to try to improve on the next model.

Edited November 11, 2021 by DEL 707

[andes]

Sometimes, especially near the end when I was working on the bolter, I got the paint *just* the right thickness and *just* the right amount on my brush. It was soooo damn smooth, but I had to hurry before it dried.

 

He looks great! Good job

 

As far as maintaining paint consistency, are you using a wet palette? If you aren't, give it a try... they really help keep paint 'wet'. I like to add a few drops of water on mine so I can quickly dip the brush tip to add a bit of water to a paint if it starts getting too chunky.

Edited November 11, 2021 by andes

[Firedrake Cordova]

Sometimes, especially near the end when I was working on the bolter, I got the paint *just* the right thickness and *just* the right amount on my brush. It was soooo damn smooth, but I had to hurry before it dried.

Liquitex Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder is your friend (and a wet pallet)

Edited November 11, 2021 by Firedrake Cordova

[NiceGuyAdi]

When you examine a model that close there’s nowhere to hide, but really you’ve done a nice job there.

 

With the fire dragon bright, any little mistakes look more obvious because there’s a strong contrast between that and the red base.

 

If you’re finding control on fine edge highlights tricky (I know I do), then you can make something of it by exaggerating the inconsistencies: a couple of dots, a steak and some breaks showing the base colour along an edge will give a chipped look. Less Eavy Metal, more weathered/grimdark

[DEL 707]

Thank you for all the replies!

 

 

Sometimes, especially near the end when I was working on the bolter, I got the paint *just* the right thickness and *just* the right amount on my brush. It was soooo damn smooth, but I had to hurry before it dried.

Liquitex Slow-Dri Fluid Retarder is your friend (and a wet pallet)

 

 

I started using a wet pallet for this model.

 

 

You can see I went a bit overboard thinning down the paint sometimes.

I've been using "Tamiya Color Acrylic Paint Thinner X-20A" rather then water on this model. Since I bought a bottle of it a few years ago when I tried to start painting ago.

With the final highlights, I tried using "Winston & Newton Acrylic Flow Improver" but I can't say I noticed any difference in how the paint handled.

[Firedrake Cordova]

I've been using "Tamiya Color Acrylic Paint Thinner X-20A" rather then water on this model.

Just an FYI that also includes a drying retarder, although I also think it's alcohol-based? (I seem to remember Tamiya's acrylics are alcohol-based, which is one of the reasons why they airbrush so nicely)

 

With the final highlights, I tried using "Winston & Newton Acrylic Flow Improver" but I can't say I noticed any difference in how the paint handled.

If I'm right about Tamiya X-20A being alcohol-based, then it'd also act as a flow aid, which would explain the lack of difference noticed. :)