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PAINTING·WHITE DWARF 495

Hobby Hangout: Zenithal Highlighting

December 2023·pp. 32–34

THE SHORT VERSION

Emily Ridding explains how a light undercoat sprayed over black can establish the direction of illumination before coloured paint is applied. Thin Contrast colours preserve this gradient, while more opaque layers obscure it; short bursts and restoring black to the deepest shadows help control the result. The demonstrations deliberately compare different light directions rather than treating zenithal spraying as a single fixed recipe.

AT THE PAINTING DESK

Paints in this article

Every named colour below is searchable across the archive.

Chaos BlackWraithboneGrey SeerWhite ScarCorax White

Only explicitly named Citadel paints and mediums are indexed; unnamed colours and third-party products are not guessed.

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Zenithal highlighting Spray undercoats Contrast

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Find this article in White Dwarf 495, pp. 32–34.

This is an original summary. Refer to your magazine for the complete article, rules, images and painting steps.

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PaintingWD 495 · pp. 20–21

Slidecrown Warbands: Narkit’s Stikkas and Warpaint

Andy Thomas-Clark develops Narkit’s Stikkas around the grotesque Manky Eye and their unwholesome origins in the Foetid Crack, accompanying the background with recipes for their dark clothing, green flesh and yellow details. Lyle’s Mancrusher Gargants demonstrate a different finishing problem: masking warpaint before spraying the flesh leaves clear blue patterns, which receive lighter blue highlights afterwards.

Age of SigmarGloomspite Gitz11 paint colours
December 2023Read summary
PaintingWD 495 · p. 33

Zenithal Highlighting: Flesh Hound

A Flesh Hound receives light from below, reversing the usual overhead zenithal pattern to create an infernal glow. Red and purple Contrast colours preserve the undercoat’s shadows, with separate treatments for claws, teeth, the collar and the rocky base. Selected conventional highlights strengthen the face and raised details without flattening the unusual lighting.

Age of SigmarWarhammer 40,000Daemons of Khorne18 paint colours
December 2023Read summary
PaintingWD 495 · p. 34

Zenithal Highlighting: Space Marine Infiltrator

The Infiltrator demonstration uses an overhead grey-to-white undercoat beneath green Contrast armour. Dark equipment and pale straps are blocked in separately, then metallics, lenses and restrained edge highlights restore definition where needed. An alternative white drybrush offers another way to produce the underlying gradient when spraying is less convenient.

Warhammer 40,000Space Marines16 paint colours
December 2023Read summary