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Me making this suggestion will surprise precisely zero people, but Contrast really is magic in a bottle for flesh tones. Guilliman Flesh is the pale-end tone, and if you keep the coat thin (and/or, slightly more advanced mode, thin it with contrast medium) you can keep it paler. One coat and you're done, no further shading or hightlighting required.

Thanks Dave, great advice as always.

I want to try Vallejo paints but I am not adept at selecting highlight colors. Does anyone know of a chart showing which paints to buy as nature highlights? Looking for something similar to what GW has.

I don't really know what to recommend for simply choosing colors off the shelf other than "choose lighter colors."

But I figured something out recently that I should have figured out years ago, and that's to mix your paints. Just put down your layer, using whatever color you want to use. Then on a wet palette, mix in some of the highlight color. Since the result has some of the original layer color, it's hard to make it look completely out of place. Then I usually push it one step further and add more of the highlight, so your mixture would then be mostly highlight color.

I do the same thing with the base color if I'm going to try-hard, so the process is basically:
- base color
- base + layer mix
- layer alone
- layer + highlight mix
- layer + more highlight mix
- possibly very small points of pure highlight

The part that's difficult for me is how much of the surface to cover with each layer. Obviously you should start by covering everything with the base color, and end with very small bits of pure highlight, but in the middle where you transition it's difficult to recognize how much coverage looks natural. As a general rule of thumb, I guess the more towards your highlight you get, the smaller area you should cover.

For default paints to mix into your layers, I'd recommend a sandy-tan color or an icy-grey-blue color, depending if you want to go for a warmer or cooler feel. Pure white usually ends up just making your color desaturated.

Hope I was able to help

+1 to what Prim said, with an "yes, I've been telling you so for years" added on. Whatever your base colour is, plus a pale sand or pale blue grey for highlight, and in the other direction, add deep blue or deep brown for your shadows (if you go brown for shadows, use blue grey for highlight, and vice versa.) Honestly, highlights are just the bits of the model that get hit more by light, and since said light is almost never pure white, there's pretty much infinite scope for what you can add as a highlight colour. Where things really start to get interesting is when you add different shades/highlights on different parts of the mini. eg shade cheeks by adding deep red to your base, shade under the neck with a bit of dark blue. And then there's the transitions where you're using both deep red and dark blue in the shadows...

Oooh. Light....

Taking a good, long look at classical paintings is a really good way to work on this, btw. Just ask yourself "what would I mix into the base skin tone to get that exact tone in that exact spot there?" Heck, you can even actually do this by printing off a picture onto photo paper and seeing if you can colour match. I have to do this kind of thing whenever I do a magic card alter. It's pretty fun

me_in_japan wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:22 am

+1 to what Prim said.

I didn't say anything.

Primarch wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 1:15 pm

me_in_japan wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:22 am

+1 to what Prim said.

I didn't say anything.

how very odd. I coulda sworn that Grant's post was yours. Sorry about that.

It's me age, I'm tellin' ya...*MiJ wanders off, mumbling to himself*

Lion or leopard

Are you asking which looks better?

If so, I'd say they're just different. Lion gives a more prideful and noble feel while leopard gives a more stealthy and tribal feel. In my opinion anyways.

No, no, those were my two color suggestions. Lion or leopard. It's a joke son, a joke!