Edge Highlighting explained in 5 minutes

Edge highlighting is one of the essential miniature painting technique, which every miniature painter should know. If you want to learn how to edge highlight your miniature, this short tutorial is for you!
There is no true shortcut to getting precise, thin and consistent edge highlights that you can see on warhammer box arts. If you want to paint that very similar eavy metal style that you can see there (which suits space marines for me, honestly) you will have to practice edge highlighting as much as you can - for which space marines and drukhari are actually great!
This video will definitely help you with fundamentals of edge highlighting, but as mentioned, it all comes down to deliberate practice (when I do not count quality brushes). You could also choose to paint everything with drybrushing, sure, but with that you will not achieve that eavy metal look - but this can still look great on your miniatures.
These videos are essential watch if you want to improve:
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Painting Non Metallic Metal: • Non Metallic Metal exp...
These hobby tools are a MUST if you wanna improve: • 8 Tools I Wish I Had W...
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I am painting miniatures for warhammer, age of sigmar, marvel crisis protocol, D&D and much more! Whether it is superhero miniatures, heroic characters or space marines, I will paint them! If you are looking for some sweet miniature painting tutorials or warhammer hobby content in general, this is the right channel for you!

[@Zumikito]

This video took me around 50 hours to put together when I include filming, editing and painting the Incubi miniature. Due to some covid issues, I had a delay, but if you wanna support what I am doing here, consider subscribing to my channel and SMASHING that thumbs up button.👍👌

[@SmallSoldier]

Hey, your preaching to the choir man. I understand spending 50 hours filming and editing. It's because we're perfectionists and want to make our videos as entertaining and educational as possible. Your content is excellent... KUTGW! Cheers, Scott

[@Zumikito]

@@SmallSoldier appreciate it man!

[@SmallSoldier]

😉

[@jdakiss]

Awesome as always

[@judasgoat179]

Subscribed! great content!

[@grimmriffer]

I need to get some makeup brushes, but... Girl in boots: so what effect are you trying to achieve? Me: highlighted armour on Space Marines. 😆

[@Nihinus]

This comment... is non-metallic metallic gold! :D

[@AHRavnsborg]

Proud to be part of the 26.1%

[@Templarzealot89]

Same here man. He deserves to have more

[@dinkosaurusrex7746]

Absolutely

[@warlocksunited2e580]

Glad to not be

[@AbadonBIack]

2y late but same! This guy need to hit a million, there's lots of talent on KZbin, but he's my favorite teacher.

[@-Diop-]

Looking at this guys minis it feels like he is what eavy metal needs to make his miniatures look realistic while keeping its classic style, keep it up!

[@SubSonicEctomorph]

That side by side with the dry-brushed model was very helpful ❤

[@KarhamPaints]

I love your style, I love how your videos are straight to the point, very brief but explaining very well, and ofc I LOVE your humour! Thumbs up, as always! I recommend you to whoever asks me to have some tips for painting

[@Zumikito]

You are way too kind, thank you!

[@elkaput]

this 5 minute how to´s are realy awesome! keep em comin!

[@Ronald_08m4]

Bringing smiles to you in the most casual way.

[@keithburden7191]

Brilliant video, I've been painting for a while now and never knew about the edge highlight variance using different areas of the brush! Everyday is a school day. I love your videos, funny, quick and professional. Well done. :)

[@alejandroballesteroshernan1678]

Nice ! I would also add that using the tip just like you would use the belly results in super thin, elegant edge lines, but as you said, it then becomes more of a matter of patience! Great video sir

[@DMXKonCur]

Man, I swear, my KZbin notifications are sabotaging me! You like one of 4 channels I have notifications turned on for!

[@Zumikito]

It is also a weird day to upload, I don't blame ya!

[@jherazob]

KZbin notifications are effectively useless now

[@tylermcflyer3061]

I like how everyone’s models like bigger and easier to work with than mine

[@SirBuffton]

And yes brushes are important for this technique! Those brushes will make it so much easier. For general painting, I love Raphael 8404 but these guys look good for E H.

[@darkhighwayman1757]

great video. That incubi is amazing. I need to figure how to do horns like that

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! The horns were mix of ice yellow and silver grey as basecoat and then I glazed upwards some rhinox hide and black. Edges of the horns were picked out with silver grey

[@yuliydubovyk3080]

You're one of my favorite painting channels if not THE favorite, and I was just searching youtube for edge highlighting wishing you had one. And sure enough I got a notification 5 minutes into my search. Looking forward to learning more from you. Thank you for your efforts brother!

[@Zumikito]

Lmao, now that is a coincidence! Well, hopefully this will help

[@shrike2598]

Good Video as always! Very High quality and straight to the Point, thank you!

[@UK-patriot-Cooper]

4 words " You are a master"

[@danpsyker6122]

Thumbs up! Keep up the good work my friend 👏

[@boreos3499]

Great video! Really helpful. I love how respectful of our time it is. It's not here's 30 minutes to explain a relatively straightforward technique. Clear, succint, and well illustrated. Thank you!

[@hepaintsslowly]

Just rediscovering painting after many years and your videos are superb. Best tutorials I've found. Thank you!

[@tristansweden2136]

Hey mate. Just wanted to complement the preciseness of your tutorials. The perfect level of simple detail and advice. Absolute legend!

[@Zumikito]

Thank you!

[@TashiMortier]

I love you! I t hink this is just the video my friend needs right now.

[@TashiMortier]

KZbin GODS, recommend this video to everyone! :D

[@Rogelio_007]

"Is there edge highlighting on my sleeve?!" lol! Great vid, informative and to the point. Cheers

[@skarsnikkraka5210]

Excellent video! Thanks for the inspiration :)

[@raffaelemargara578]

Great video as always!

[@thattabletopguy]

I'm about to embark on painting an entire chapter, yes, chapter, of Iron Hands, so this tutorial was a huge help for me. Now I just need to get better at selecting the right colors to use for highlights so the edge highlights look less cartoon-ish and more natural.

[@mikepearse5196]

What really helped me was moving to an 18/0 synthetic. Much easier to use when you get used to reloading and not fighting thr paint. There are only two brush strokes needed as well. A right to left movement with belly and a pu back with the brush tip. If you rotate the model you will never need to make any movements. When my buddy showed this to me it made a huge difference.

[@minimishapsgames894]

I love drybrushing white edge highlights for snow effects. I am still super new, and am working on the control for small edge highlighting, but drybrushing lets me get a similar effect and not be too hindered by my brute strength.

[@dantasticlife6286]

Thumbs up for sure! I really appreciate your videos, they are concise, to the point, and very informative. Add to that they are well edited and the subject matter examples are gorgeous! Keep up the excellent work!

[@Zumikito]

I really appreciate how you provide me with such a great feedback, thank you!

[@slickers]

Thank you. Now take my subscription!

[@crayzeewhorse]

Rosemary and co series 33 are really good as well

[@Dmitry_Solid]

I really Like your content. this format of videos is very cool. Keep it up💪💪💪

[@Zumikito]

Thank you!

[@loganstafford249]

First video I have watched on your channel, excellent stuff, I shall subscribe now

[@sw33n3yto00]

Thank you for putting out short simple explanations, rather than the twenty minute videos of someone highlighting one edge of a cape.

[@joshrice4709]

Man, I love your stuff! Ever since I saw your video on painting volume, you're my go to for explanations. I'd had layering and glazing explained to me at least 4 separate times before that, but the way you lay stuff out just makes it click that much better for some reason!

[@Zumikito]

That makes me quite happy! Thank you for your kind words

[@chenkai3275]

Great tutorial! I just started painting minis and was stuck with mindset of sharper tips so I used 00000 for highlighting and it didn't go nearly well as I imagined, if it weren't for this vid I wouldnt even bother thinking about 1 for that!

[@jacobauvinen8261]

First… thank you for your content! Incredibly helpful as you make the concepts a bit easier to understand. Thank you! Thank you! Second… one of the things that I’ve started to do is keep spare to practice on (necron arms for nmm, banners, shields, etc). I’ve found that I can still practice the techniques on these and making them look as well as possible and more accurately on the surfaces that will be on the full miniature. Not sure if this is common practice or not, but it’s helped me a lot.

[@colintamiya]

... Or is it? (Michael Stevens appearing on screen) ... This alone is worth subscribing, apart from being very informative, very well shot and SHORT!

[@benannen2431]

Great Videos Mate! Really helpful and cool. Greetz from Cologne

[@radekkriz263]

Další perfektní video. Moc mě pomáhají. Děkuji 👍

[@kjnash4149]

I’ve shared your videos about a bit with a couple mates now who should share it too! I’ve decided to bin off 99% of other videos and religiously follow your advice now man, unreal content

[@Zumikito]

Omg thank you so much! It is truly appreciated :) I wouldn't discard other content, there is much that I didn't cover and there are great people that can teach you plenty of stuff (I also learn from Vince Venturella and Trovarion for example)

[@kjnash4149]

@@Zumikito I only started a couple weeks ago, but I’d love you to see how far I’ve come on since watching your stuff (even bought the brushes you use man 😂) I’m hoping to use your sisters of battle scheme for my tau now, hopefully I can get to a nice level to do my commander Farsight some justice 🙏

[@Zumikito]

@@kjnash4149 send me your progress on instagram!

[@kjnash4149]

@@Zumikito I’m not on any social media unfortunately man, but thanks for your help 🙏🙏

[@dedsetproductions9262]

Great video! Just started Warhammer all together, jumped in with Blood Angels and got some Death Company Intercessors! Base paint completed and trying to decide on dry brush or edge highlight

[@Coriandr]

Great video, helped me to decide how todo highloghts on my Necron miniatures

[@somecrapname1]

Love your videos! Keep up the great work.

[@Zumikito]

Glad you like them!

[@retiredveteran6812]

Terrific video, super informative and I’m constantly honing my painting skills, Thans to all of the videos posted from your part of the world ! You folks are great at airbrushing along with your extremely helpful Tips & Tricks ! Cheers ……

[@Trochudoprava]

Paradni videa, keep it up 👌

[@oliverp3545]

I've found that brush circumference is also really important as larger brushes are more likely to split when you apply some pressure.

[@ProrokLebioda]

Edge highlighting. The greatest thing was to learn that I don't need to edge highlight every single edge on chaff infantry. Keeping good consistency of the paint is also something to try to achieve. Oh, and the last thing, that I usually don't do out of laziness, is to paint broader edges in midtone before doing a fine edge highlight with final color. That helps with adding depth and highlights don't look so harsh.

[@snowfightstudios541]

These videos are great. Well done.

[@gomezzara_creative]

Freaking Nice! Something that i learn from Darren Latham is that a lot of the time the Eavy Metal Style is the mix between a "Glaze Edge Highlight", that would be interesting to check out! Once again friend, thank you so much!!

[@Zumikito]

Oh yea, pretty much the final edge highlight on the incubi was super watered down almost a glaze!

[@wannaride738]

Warm greets. Great as always. Well done.)

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@Magnus_Zorel]

Thanks bro, excellent content

[@kevinkiehn826]

Great video. I only just started watching your videos last week and you offer very detailed and descriptive advice. I have since subscribed and look forward to watching more!

[@Zumikito]

I am glad that you find the content helpful! More is coming :)

[@JaySwag77]

These videos are just fantastic, thank you so much for making these!

[@gtx332]

great job mate!

[@AG-yl2iv]

My biggest edge highlighting cheat; watercolor pencils.

[@pinkwolf6407]

A super helpful video, thank you!

[@Retyus6]

Díky moc za takové videa. Hodně oceňuji že přímo vysvětlíš a ukážeš co a jak. Doufám že budu umět alespoň z půlky barvit dobře jak ty :)

[@Zumikito]

Dekuju! Kdyz budes dyl barvit tak to neni problem, pak je to jen o casu, ktery stavíš s miniaturou :)

[@mitch3384]

Every time I see someone in a video drybrushing a Space Marine, in my head I'm hearing "Ow! Mom stop, no! All my friends are watching.. quit it!"

[@Kojak0]

Yeah, it's a nice technique, but the reason to why it was invented by the Eavy Metal team was this: they painted their models to become box art, so the models needed to show off as much detail as possible. It is however not applicable to real life/realistic models - hell, how many edge highlights do you think say a car modeller make? Not one. Or tank modellers? very few and very subdued, since most of the details come from weathering. Personally I think edge highlights and those extremely dark outlines everywhere make the model look cartoonish, which is fine if you want that but me personally, I want my models to resemble something that could be found in real life, even if the subject is fantasy or sci-fi. That's why I approach say a space marine the same way as I would a tank for example - any highlights are those made by light on an otherwise (in real life terms) matt painted metal surfaces facing upwards or towards a light source; since the armor is matt (most real life working vehicles or tanks are actually semi-gloss, but nvm that now) there are no edge highlights. None whatsoever. Since I don't paint with these extreme highlights, my figures will never win any prizes, but at least they look better than the cartoons in 3D.

[@TheRigger92r]

I'm a beginner painter and watched way too many videos on how to paint. I'm working on my first army (warhammer 40,000 orks) and have found that edge highlighting is too difficult for me. The main reason for this is because my hands are not trained or steady (shaky hands). I have found that dry brushing allows for a beginner to learn where models natural edges are and get decent results without focusing on too much detail. The ork models are very forgiving for this style because they are not sharp and look good when they are done in a dirty way (in my opinion). Thank you for your content. Shorter how-to videos are much less intimidating and easier to absorb.

[@Zumikito]

Yea, works great for orks in my opinion! well, I am glad that you found what suits you my friend! Thank you

[@OmegaDestroyer99]

Great video! 👍

[@Zumikito]

Thank you :)

[@jeffreyrichey6039]

Still helpful and relevant

[@ra1d3r9]

Always appreciate your vids, awesome work.

[@Zumikito]

Thank you!

[@SmallSoldier]

Some rockin' good advice man! Do you ever find parts of your minis in that epic beard? LOL!

[@Zumikito]

Yea, I am using my beard as a brush holder too lol

[@SmallSoldier]

Yeah, I'm sure it's very versatile. 😉

[@Zenmaster_0-0_]

Great video bro

[@abalorias333]

Thanks!

[@stevenslawson8926]

Subscribed just for the beard.

[@ger5956]

Remember to like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm 🎅👍🏼

[@Zumikito]

Lol dude, that was fast

[@THE_MR_MAN]

Wow thank you

[@Rider-pv6yd]

Damn those models are good!!! Great info and visualization. Maybe show in a later video on how to properly load a brush with paint especially for edge vs full coverage highlighting? Happily subscribe 😊

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! It differes from paint to paint though, but I will add it to the list of ideas :)

[@ericfrank4991]

Great channel, I have not painted a mini since 2013 and watching your videos are great refresher. I subbed too… btw, I never heard of slapchop painting, that the new way to paint?

[@HilmarG93]

You should do a video on, how to do a insane good looking incubi helmet like that one!!

[@Zumikito]

I think that only very small amount of people would appreciate such guide though!

[@HilmarG93]

@@Zumikito I understand, do you mind then just do me a small favour? And sharing the colour on the eyes?:) they are just outstanding

[@Zumikito]

@@HilmarG93 sure, caliban green base, then mostly moot green with added ice yellow until I was happy with it, after that a white dot to the eye corner

[@ziomalZparafii]

The whole 5 minutes series is the best introduction to miniatures painting I've seen so far and it earned my first sub on this topic. Thanks! Btw, 4:55 Filip Sikora sounds Polish, are you from Poland by any chance? Cheers

[@peterche3099]

Нou are breathtaking! Мideo just in time for my frieтd XD

[@Zumikito]

As Keanu would say: No, you are breathtaking!

[@mikereckhaus1139]

Hail to the youtube gods! You should do some merch. I would be the first one to buy a shirt. Maybe some marine with a beard (-;

[@Zumikito]

I was thinking of that! Not the marine though, dont wanna deal with gw lawyer team haha. Next year something will come

[@DukensteinA1]

Very late but I didn’t hear you talk about what colors you should choose to highlight with.

[@seiyikun1]

Thank you

[@Zumikito]

You are more than welcome!

[@87ggggyyyy]

Awesome

[@shruggingatlasminiatures]

Great video - belly >>> tip it seems! (Wish I’d known that years ago!). Also, you talk about ideal lighting - what lamp(s) are you currently using?

[@Zumikito]

Yea, but I am using tip quite often as well I have to say! My lamp is velleman VTLAMP6

[@shruggingatlasminiatures]

@@Zumikito Cheers - will have a look at that! Keep up the great work!!

[@karukkollectibles3681]

Thanks again for a good video.👍

[@Zumikito]

Cheers!

[@SuerWojtek531]

I would love to have edge highlighted t-shirt

[@Zumikito]

Yea man, same, would make for some cool design,🤔

[@nikitablack1568]

Special tip goes for the base reference 🙂.

[@fitnessandinjury]

epic bro

[@taco0991]

Do you have any tips for finding the "sweet spot" for the ideal paint consistency when edge highlighting? Definitely has been one of the harder factors to dial in for me. Absolutely love the content goodness! Thank you!

[@Zumikito]

It should flow smoothly, but not so it spills all over the part. Thank you!

[@SirBuffton]

Love the channel! For the algo!

[@dand1789]

So much time for creating a video! It is nice know what effort is flowing into these kind of videos. Appreciate this alot. Hope the "KZbin gods" will answer your call.Do you plan to release a new vid before Xmas? Happy Holidays!

[@Zumikito]

Thank you! Soon, I will test new format of videos to see if they will be well received, so there will be something before Christmas. I am flooded with schoolwork, so I am trying to figure out way to produce more cool stuff while maintaining the quality, will look forward to seeing feedback from my subscribers!

[@haha3455]

Nice video, really useful! 👍 Im currently starting to paint Drukhari and was wondering if you could give a run down on all the paints you used for the incubi? especially the highlighting colours. the finished product is unreal! 👌

[@glinkler1422]

Don’t know if you’ll ever see this or someone else will respond. Do you need to not thin your paints as much for edge highlighting? Or does it even matter?? Thanks!

[@johannisson77]

The great beard alone should make you all subscribe!

[@dukeluffy1549]

Hi i know this video was posted a while ago but got any tips on how you did the purple cloth on the incubi? it looks super smooth and pops really well. do you have the recipe or maybe another video on how to do cloth/fabrics?

[@Maartwo]

Edging to this atm

[@sliven21]

How do you keep the tip straight and stop it from drying? When I thin it, the lines come out very faint and its hard to control. And then when I use less water, the tip dries =/ Please help!!

[@DBOs_stuff]

Followed!

[@ckoetael]

братан, сразу подписался как только увидел бороду )) ролики суперские!

[@liamrossnoble]

What colours were used for the incubi edge highlights?

[@spy-v-spy1848]

Pauldron unless you are painting a mid 80s power suit...normally not that guy, but in this case it was like calling a codpiece a tampon.

[@jameshyden2622]

Eyes are why I paint nids. Wanna add an Iris to it? Black line baby

[@NerdLegionInc]

Have you ever tried Cel Shading? It looks cool as fuck especially on Orks. Would love to see you do a video on it!

[@mikesiemens7266]

Thank you daddy, Please do Sky Earth TMM!