how do I highlight from here

[proper talon]

so i'm not sure what look you're going for, but you've already used some super bright colours on the model so i'd actually shade some areas rather than brighten them if you're goal is to add more contrast. but the skin for example already has a nice amount of depth

[trim pendant]

I can definitely give it a shot

[proper talon]

i mean it's up to you. is your goal to add more depth/contrast to the surfaces? because either highlighting or shading does that. or are you specifically interested in brightening it, because they're nothing wrong with that

[trim pendant]

Honestly, this is why I’m stuck. I don’t know what to do to really bring it home. This is where I always get painting. My entire farstalker team needs contrast, but anytime I try it looks like shit and I end up stripping the model or giving up.

As of this message, all my farstalkers have just one skin tone because I just don’t get it.

[proper talon]

alright, so looking at that image, i'd recommend spending a bit of time improving the white skulls and the orange hair. i think a darker tan bone colour looks best for skulls, but then make sure the highlights are bright so they stand out. the way i'd achieve that is by taking a thinned down khaki colour and applying to the whole skull, but avoiding the raised areas which should be brighter. this will add some nice depth. if you want to take it further you could take an even darker brown khaki for the deepest recesses. bones are one of the easier surfaces to highlight since they can be worn and scratched, so you could practice stippling if you wanted, which is an easy way of adding depth. you basically take your highlight colour and make little scratches and dots on the model. if you want to keep the white as the highlight colour and just darken the recesses that's fine, but if it's easier to darken the whole area then you can add in some highlights afterwards

[storm ingot]

One thing to keep in mind while painting that what "pops" or looks bright is determined by the other colors nearby on the model

so when everything is highlighted, nothing is

now you don't have to pick a "dark" color to offset this. If you go with a dark brown or black to try to push more contrast you're going to have a huge jump in brightness that'll look funky

but if you go just a couple shades darker, that'll help

[trim pendant]

Okay, so what you're suggesting is not actually highlighting, but instead downplaying areas to brighten up what is already there? Did I interpret that correctly?

[trim pendant]

I'm not sure my hands are steady enough for stipling, I want to try for sure, but I can be a bit jittery at times for ultra fine details. You'll notice the patches I put on the eyes are not exactly straight (although, if he's a crazy clown would they be straight anyway? who knows). I'm getting better at precision and keeping my hands calm, but I think I'm still a bit away from stiple.

[wooden dust]

I think that would help. Like said before if everything is bright nothing stands out. It's also why i do some blacklining (or as i prefer... Darklining as it does not need to be black) to give definition between parts of the model..i also think some shading in certain places would help.

[wooden dust]

Quick photoshopped example on your own picture. I changed nothing save adding darklining in places to help sepperate areas and darkening the blade in the lower half. And the only "highlighting I added was adding rough example yellow highlights in the hair (instead of white as white can make it look washed out, where yellow highlights and keeps vibrancy and adds collor intrest). Just as a visual example to explain what I mean.

and one where I did actually highlight the what I call upper parts and sticky outy bits. so I do not highlight everywhere. just on certain areas. Hope this is an some way useful to you. Not saying this is THE way to do it. Just how I would do this

[storm ingot]

Yes, you can only go so bright on a model before everything blends otgether. And it's easy to go "I want a bright color so I use w/e the brighest colors I have". The problem is that there's actually a lot of variation in real life, and those ultra bright intensive colors are often that way due to contrasting their surroundings rather than being really that bright.

So toning down as Orticia has shown (or just similarly) would telp a lot

[storm ingot]

You don't actually need steady hands to paint. The important thing is that you don't use muscles that are designed for other kinds of motion

so rest your elbows on a table, or your hands against something else so the only muscles being moved are the ones in your hand. This prevents muscles from straining, and makes your hands "steady"

It's not an innate quality of having steady hands or not, its knowing how to use your body well to paint

[trim pendant]

Oh nice. That is much better looking. Definitely makes things pop out

[proper talon]

Fair enough. I not sure that I’d consider stippling to be something that needs a ton of precision though. It’s making lots of small dots, but they don’t need to be in any precise place.

[trim pendant]

Thank you everyone for your advice, I will try it out this week.