Preshading/Underpainting/Zenithal highlighting

[StreetBushido]

I've recently come across mention of a method of painting which seems pretty neat.

I'm not sure if preshading, underpainting and zenithal highlighting all refer to the same thing, but I have seen all these names used in different places to refer to what seems to be the same thing.

Basically, it consists of priming a miniature with (at least) two colours: first one dark (usually black), and then a light colour (usually white or gray) to create contrast. When this is done it seems to be most commonly done with airbrushes or spray cans, with the lighter colour being lightly sprayed on at an angle.

The next step of the method is to paint on very thin layers of the actual basecoat so that the previous steps are visible through the basecoat. This uses either heavily thinned paints, washes or something like that. When done right this can give very nice and smooth gradiant without having to do any blending or go through the usual steps of basecoat-highlight#1-highlight#2.

Does anybody here have any experience with this method? Is it any good?

I've noticed that I've over time become a bit bored with my old method of painting (or maybe painting in general) while I still enjoy to build things. Finding a new, quicker way of painting (that still delivers decent-to-nice results) would be great.

EDIT: Something like this http://handcannononline.com/blog/2013/05/01/painting-with-secret-weapon-miniature-washes/

[DivisMal]

I tried it, and while I now don't consider it the holy grail of quick painting anymore, I still use if frequently and like it.

My technique is the following: white primer then one or two layers of good (!) black ink/wash, then 2-5 layers of drybrushing with different shades of gray until I reach white.

Every layer should be ligher applied than the last, i usually swithc also brushes to achieve this. The white is finally applied with a size 16 brush.

(I've read that it alos works with blue and brown as a base, but I haven't tried that yet).

Then I use thinned down paints, lazes and shades to paint the model.

[DivisMal]

This is how a model looks fully shaded. Takes only a few minutes and you can easily do 3-5 at a time, even more when they don't have so many useless details as this GW chaos warrior from the AoS set.

[DivisMal]

This is a WiP of two Oldhammer models.

[DivisMal]

And another WiP of an old Confrontation Ork. This one only needs a few details and a nice base.

[StreetBushido]

Looking good!

What paints have you used? Any homemade washes, or just straight out of the pot?

From start to completion using this method, how long time would you say you need per mini?

[DivisMal]

It's difficult to keep track how much I actually spend per model. I use this method to get actually anything painted with my current job: on Monday morning I leave, on Friday evening I return home and spend time with my wife. There is not much time for painting as you can assume.

However, since I discovered this new method (on Darkling's excellent website), I can spend let's say half an hour to prime and ink and brush a few figures or take a few mins to actually do some painting.

The Ork I painted on a Sunday night in about 20ish minutes from the highlihted version.

Experience does a lot for you, too. At first I used mainly Vallejo and GW's huge collection of washes, inks, shades and glazes. GW while expensive is really top notch.

Nowadays I also like to use thinned down paint or Vallejo's line of "transparent" colors which really work very well under an undercoat with shades.

It also works well to do a thinned down base color over the shaded basecoat and then adding a GW shade. Possibilities are endless.

Just don't rush too fast. After my first successes I tried to much going for too large groups of minis, that killed the fun.

And: always work from deep to high surfaces and from light colors todakr ones. If you make a painting mistake let it dry and paint white over it, otherwise dark colors will always shine through light ones.

Happy painting!

It really works well for those with limited time and also limited timespans for painting as you can pretty well do it step by step!