Hi All,

I am new to painting and well war gaming full stop and I am going all in. I have put a base primer on half of the storm troopers and Vader. I have then painted Vader black and that's where it has stopped for now. What is the best way to highlight it for a noob to painting? I was thinking of getting a dark ish grey and dry brushing over him to pick up the raised edges. I have seen a fair few videos but I feel like they are a little over my skill level just now.

Just for info I am using Citadel paint's, if this makes any difference?

Thanks in advance.

If you drybrush but take it too far then give it a wash with GW nuln oil. Drybrushing will give quick results but will look very 'painted'. Id try some simple layering. It takes time but its more rewarding. Otherwise you'll be looking to start vader all over again when your skill improves. Even a simple grey highlight along the raised edges will look good.

So using a fine brush and highlighting the areas if the best way rather than a dry brush? when you say gone too far is that if it's too light? I have Nuln Oil

I found this while searching for black highlighting option a while back, seems like a good option if you're not wanting to go crazy but want to do a small highlight.

The other option since you say your using citadel is follow their system for black armor.

Shade system to the left of Abaddon black, Drybrush to the right. Just search citadel paint system to see the full chart.

Awesome thanks buddy.

How often should you clean your brush between painting?

I clean it every time I change colour.

1 hour ago, Cornwolf said:

So using a fine brush and highlighting the areas if the best way rather than a dry brush? when you say gone too far is that if it's too light? I have Nuln Oil

If it looks too light yes. Highlighting with a fine brush is the best method really. You'll learn the most. The guide above for black is handy

What does Nuln oil do? Does that dull a paint?

11 minutes ago, Cornwolf said:

What does Nuln oil do? Does that dull a paint?

It also runs into the crevasses on a model and makes the areas that should be darker...look darker (on many colours).

It gives the impression of more depth and essentially makes your painting look loads better than it is often (its great).

If you get more into the hobby, other shades for other colours help loads too (such as Agrax Earthshade for brown areas...and many others)

Shades are a brilliant way to help.

Awesome thanks for all the tips guys. Such an awesome community we here

16 minutes ago, Cornwolf said:

What does Nuln oil do? Does that dull a paint?

It’s a wash, so it’ll darken whatever you use it on, and it fills the nooks, crannies, and recesses of a figure to help provide contrast.

An easy way to do a moderately dark cloak would be to paint it with something like Mechanicus Standard Grey, then wash it with Nuln Oil. You’d use the wash on the whole cloak and let some of it “collect” in the folds. When it dries, the folds would be the darkest and the “peaks” of the cloak would be washed but be a little less dark.

This is a pic of two minis primed white and washed black with different products. Nuln Oil was used on the mini on the right. Badab Black was used on the left.

So you can see that going from white to a bunch of Nuln Oil can really darken a mini. You can thin it to reduce the effect, you can do a lot of highlights to bring some areas back to white, etc. Lots of options.

Not sure if you have finished painting Vader yet, but go to Youtube and check out WarhammerTV's channel. They put up a quick tutorial on how to paint black armor last week. I highly recommend this method, I've used a variation of it myself in the past. Quick, easy, and effective.