Zenithal Highlighting Secrets: My Favorite Tools, Tips & Tricks 

Do you zenithal highlight before you paint? Why or why not?

Great video! That white ink is definitely a must! White paint just doesn't cut it! I love the example of Rembrandt it clearly illustrates your point!

I never used to, but I've grown to love zenithal highlighting.

Hi James! Loving all these helpful tips. But also just love watching your painting process

I always learn something new watching your videos. Great stuff!

Great video as always, the blue tack method looks really useful! Keep putting out great videos!

My first watch of your channel and I’ve learnt a lot already. Thanks!

I discovered Lyla's channels a few months ago and although I've been painting minis (not anywhere near THIS level) for 30+ years, I always pick up rock-solid tips and information from her. I really appreciate that she's positive and encouraging and not hammering home the ONE WAY TO PAINT!!! Excellent infotainment from a nice person! Thanks.

Thank you. This one is going straight into my playlist

Love the daler rowney ink, makes white highlights a breeze. Ty!

Started with zenithal highlights some month ago and never stopped since. It's such a great way to understand volume. If I plan to paint a model in red or orange, I recommend to prime in brown. orange and off whites.It makes painting so much easier as the black will show through the red (which is very translucent) and the cold white with red over it often reads as pink or gets desaturated.

Zenithal highlighting really changed my painting and I love it.

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

Very excited to watch this!

Silly question: how do you seal an ink layer?

This is super handy and just in time! Nicely done

Love the vids keep up the awesome work. May I ask what the mini on the thumb pic is?

After watching "some" videos from Vince Venturella, I don't think I can ever do without some form of underpainting anymore. Sketch or zenithal, and then inks or contrasts over it looks amazing and is also a lot of fun to apply on minis for some reason

Contrast paint is great over any sort of zenithal prime, and better again if you use an airbrush to apply it. Can be super quick to get a lot of models painted or you can be as detailed as you like with it along with some of your tips in this video

Hi there, I'm really appreciating your videos! What is the hook part of your painting handle for?

Hi there, thanks for the great vid. One question though? what do you use as a sealant?

Thanks for this one Lyla I honestly have never used a zenithal highlight 0.o

Awesome and very useful video

Great video as usual. You should look into Golden "high flow" acrylic paints. I've been fucking around with them... They have fluorescents, super translucent colors for shading/tinting, but also more opaque color for basing... But all of them are more translucent than most thinned hobby paint. They're firmly between hobby "airbrush" acrylics and inks imo... You might like them, and I'd be interested to see your opinions on them! Either way, can't wait for the next one!!

Great tutorial! I have been doing the Zenithal priming but than obscuring it with later coats of paint. I will try more inks and see how it goes. Just got a full set of them from Nocturna

One of my main reasons for Zenithal priming is simply to help see the model better. Sometimes I'll use the effect in the final (glazing, etc) and sometimes I'm fully opaque over, but the ability to see what I'm doing is worth it regardless! Another way to keep white ink from pulling up after it's dry is to add a drop or two of airbrush medium to the cup. The extra binder keeps everything in place.

That's great advice and also thanks on confirming, that you don't have to do highlights zenithal but the light source could be anywhere you want. I was wondering why everybody was doing it from above (as I think it looks a bit unnatural) and if there was a good (painting) reason. Apparently, there is not? (Of course i get that "the army stands on a battlefield at noon thing, but my armies like to fight in the afternoon, thank you... that means, that I need to keep light coming from the same side for my army (e.g. upper right), but it doesn't have to be from above.) Correct me, if I'm wrong.

Just started air brushing. What psi should I use for building up the zenithal coats?

Hi husband James. Great video. Now I need to get some inks.

Got at 75mm scale model coming in from Black Crow Miniatures that I’m going to try the Rembrandt lighting you mentioned 👍

What would you consider an adequate drying time for inks in high humidity environments? I live in New Orleans (7' below sea level avg humidity 75%)

You can add a link to the video addressing what to do after Zenithal Highlighting (to the empty spot you point to in the video). Thank you for both of these videos.

This video makes me want to learn to airbrush! Just so I can do this on my own instead of asking my hubby to lol

Please tell me how you paint the eyes that neat! KDM mini is so tiny, I had a very hard time painting it and was very frustrated atm!

sso what do you seal it with after applying the white ink? a varnish?

Do you recommend ink for the shadow color too?

silly putty is a great substitute for blue tack, plus it works with silicone friendly molds and epoxies.

More great work! And I love zenithal highlighting.. But.. I paint armies not minis.. So I can rarely be bothered..!! 😭

Hi James!

if possible, in some cases you can also use petrolium jelly in place of blue tack.

For a beginner to zenithal qudstion: for shadows, does it need to be black or can it be another very dark colorr, ex purple or blue?

That’s a lot of great advice :) if I may ask a question: when you mix paint with inks do you also use an airbrush thinner, or does the ink thin down the paint sufficiently?

Pre Lyla's in narration suggestion, "Hi James!"

Great advice, thanks! I've never been very good at zenithal highlighting with subassemblies, so I'll give the poster tack idea a try. Another trick I've learned is to mix in a bit of clear coat with the ink. I've found it really helps control the speckling, as well as increases the durability of the ink so you don't have to clear coat it again before painting further.

I do not own an airbrush but I would like to create a zenithal highlight. I saw that it should possible with drybrush. have you ever tried this way?

Hi James! Just a little question (to the Mini Witch I guess), when using your ink, do you use it straight out of the bottle, or do you dilute it with water/medium?

A better alternative, IMO, to masking with BluTac is of all things, Silly Putty. It doesn’t have the sticking issues BluTac does. Just FYI

I leave white ink overnight to dry. I've never had to use any kind of seal or ever had colours muddy together

👍👍

I like to prime in enamel before painting with acrylic. I fine the primed undercoat is much tougher. So I start with covering my whole miniature in black, then air brush with a light gray at a 45 degree angle. (I like model master light sea gray as it has a little more green and less blue in the paint.) And then I do white from a 90 degree angle. Let it cure overnight and you're basically ready to paint. I got the idea of using enamel primers from Christy Beall of War Games Soldiers and Strategy. (If you haven't checked her out--she's an amazing lady, excellent teacher, and very talented.) While she doesn't zenithal, for me, using a zenithal highlight when priming just gives me a map of where I want to put in your highlights, already laid out for me before I even begin painting. Depending on what I'm painting, I may cover them up in my initial base coating or not. For figs in flowing robes, say from reaper, the zenithal is very useful. It's also very useful when I'm working with figs like my Warlord and Steel Fist and Artizan landsknecht soldiers for my fantasy army. It's not as useful when I'm dealing with figs in full metal, say foot knights in full plate harness or in mail where I wind up undercoating them with an almost blue-black metallic before moving into my mid tones and highlights. This way I don't have go go back and line the armor with paynes gray ink... this is if I'm careful and manage to maintain good brush control. My girl friend and I are currently embarked in a Covid project of painting up roughly 3000 miniatures, and we may be a third of the way done by now. Then we'll be building out a display on three four by eight foot tables. So your videos are truly helpful for us. We were both bare beginners when we fist started on this. Best and cheers!

What do I do after I zenithal highlight? Usually it involves coming up with excuses procrastinate painting again.

does anyone know what model holder our gal is using?

I was using liquitex white ink for my priming the other day and was very speckly, way more than paint. It is my first time doing this though and I may not have thinned it enough. I was wondering if it was that specific brand that doesn't work or what. I should note that it was not just with the white, but with the other colours too. I did thin them the same amount though.

can you link to the site you got that squid.cthulhu looking bust? i am always looking for mythos minis/busts

What spell did you cast on James? He doesn't appear to be breathing..... Awesome way to show lighting's diverse options!

The order of operations in this video isn't clear to me. Is the order: Prime gray, black from below (or other angle per your light discussion), then white from above? I've learned elsewhere to prime black, spray gray from ~45degress all around, then spray white from a tight cone from above. What do you recommend?

Could you please let me know what you mean by sealing the model before you apply the inks.

How do you "seal" the white ink in order to paint on top of it?

First!

Hi James. Are you the Witcher?

Wish I could get an airbrush. #PoorBoiSquad

just use contrast paint over zenithal

I find after the white ink is laid, you might want to varnish it with matt varnish. Otherwise I found paint doesn't always stick to the surface. Love a bit of zenithal, then go over with some texture or highlights in white, then use contrast paints. Speeds things up for large numbers of figures.

sounds extremely advanced. Are there any basic tutorials for absolute beginners? Also, youtube autotranslator keeps writing genital highlights. Surely you meant something paint-related, right?

So this is an extreme nitpick, but as a would-be writer I can't resist it: the term zenithal highlighting is only applicable when the light is coming from above, also known as the "zenith." Any other lighting should probably be referred to as OSL.

Love it..people not wearing plastic gloves while airbrushing. They like painted fingers 😂

Very helpful, thank you. Seems to be something in your nose though. 🙂

If you’re reading this comment you should go like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm 👍🏼

The white ink that I release? Should go on my miniature? Ohhh yeaaaa

Thanks, useful video! A quick advice, try to be more "natural" when emphasizing words...you sound forced sometimes.

No cat acting evil? Dislike and Reported