Last week, I had an open call for guesses on what techniques I was using on my latest display project and to my surprise and delight, a couple people correctly guessed the main idea which I took as a positive sign. I was hoping to make a lot of progress and really show off that technique a bit more but painting this week hasn’t been as easy as I had hoped. I’ll explain more in a bit.
First off, I want to briefly mention what I’m trying to accomplish. Everyone who paints miniatures has at least heard of zenithal highlighting. In fact, its how most people paint miniatures for wargaming and its pretty common in display painting too. Its pretty easy to figure out and its realistic looking. If you ever look at busts and larger scale miniatures, but especially busts, painters do all kinds of crazy and impressive things with lighting beyond zenithal. I would go so far as to say, that it is key to painting those kinds of miniatures at a high level. So for this miniature, I thought I would try and paint nadir lighting which is the exact opposite of zenithal. It means that light is coming from below instead above. This kind of lighting is great for something horror themed or anything dark and moody. Here is a photo that illustrates it pretty well.
Image courtesy of Pinterest
There is a big reason why I’m doing this type of lighting which I won’t spoil until I get to the base but I think and hope it will be really cool as I’ve mentioned previously. So far nadir lighting has been tricky. I took pictures to see where the light hit the miniature before starting but I made some mistakes as I’ve painted and I’ve had to frequently double-check my work as I go. I’ve caught a couple of plans where I got it wrong and had to go back and fix them. Before I attempted this, I wondered, why do I not see many people try this kind of thing? And now I know, its because it isn’t easy and takes patience. That’s enough preface though, let’s finally look at the miniature.
In my head, I thought and hoped that painting the gold on the front would really sell the lighting. It definitely helps but the miniature still isn’t where I want it to be. I was a little dismayed a day ago when I realized the miniature wasn’t looking as good as I expected, I put some more work into one of the areas I wasn’t happy with and got the gold looking much better today. I’m using a much simpler but new gold scheme from NRMpaint and so far, I think I like it better. It is working pretty well on this miniature anyway.
I’ve got a choice to make whether to paint the rest of the helmet which will really bring the nadir lighting to life, I think and hope, or to finish off some of the less interesting bits, including the gold on the back first. We’ll see which route I go down and if I can keep my motivation up this upcoming week. I’ve been splitting my time between this and some terrain that is about 80% done at this point so who knows, you may see that finished for next week. This year’s Season of Scenery Challenge has been really good for me and actually got me knocking out some terrain for once and I’m happy and thankful for that.
Kuribo's Painting 
Looks great Jeff! Neat to see what you’re trying to achieve. It’s always a struggle to sell these effects out of context, but so satisfying when the model is all together with the base and things suddenly look right.
I’ve never tried this type of nadir lighting, although I’ve done some strong source lighting in the past. Should make for a very striking model!
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Thanks, Nic! I completely agree that its hard to make sure that you’re painting things well in the early phases. Its not easy to stay patient until you get to that point where everything is starting to come together either as it turns out.
I think most people do OSL instead of actual nadir lighting in wargaming because there has to be a sun or moon somewhere. The environment that I’m going to create is going to be pretty dark so I’m hoping that will help it work. Only time will tell!
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Great work so far Jeff, keep referring to your picture constantly, as you need to override what your brain will be telling you, for normal lighting. Changing the light source from normal can be tricky but I’m sure you can make this work. Look forward to seeing the next piece of scenery you are working on.
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Thank you, Dave. I am definitely finding those photo references to be invaluable so far. I may take some breaks on this project whenever I’m feeling a bit tired or frustrated with it and when I do, I wouldn’t be shocked if I shift my attention towards terrain since I’m on a roll with it.
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Coming along well, Jeff, some bits obviously easier than others! 🙂
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That’s usually the way of things, isn’t it, John? 🙂
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Looking good mate but I think things like OSL and nadir lighting do not really come together until the piece is nearly finished. The trick is to stay on course until you get there. Looking forward to your terrain!
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In my experience, that tends to be true. Sometimes its hard on these slow moving projects to stay patient and let the results come. Since my impatience and dare I say, grumpiness, things are going better and I’m making some real progress again so your words of encouragement are timely! The terrain isn’t anything too exciting but its getting me closer and closer to being able to play Fallout and that is something to look forward to.
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Loving what you’ve done so far, Jeff! I never realised that zenithal from below was called nadir lighting, so I’ve learned a new thing today LOL!
As this is a Khorne mini I’m guessing you’re going for a lava base?
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I learned it recently myself. I think zenith means top and nadir means bottom if I remember correctly so I’m sure that’s where the name comes from, which is a good thing because who doesn’t work nadir into general conversation haha.
To answer your question, the base isn’t going to be lava but you’re not too far off from what I’m thinking either. Hopefully you like it when I get around to it!
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Ok, no lava base…so it definitely has to be a disco ball!
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Haha!
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That’s coming on great the gold works well to my eye.
And I do the helmet, if you get that looking good it will inspire you to work on the rest!
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Glad to hear it, mate and I took your advice and have been working on the helmet so we’ll see if that helps get me through the less exciting parts.
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I agree that it must be tricky to override the brain which probably wants to do a normal light source. Good luck with getting the affect you want. I like the way it looks so far. 😀
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So far it certainly has been that way. You have to be a little extra patient and be okay with making mistakes. I’m glad to hear it and hopefully as it comes together, you’ll like it even more!
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That’s what I like about your blog, learning about new techniques and seeing figures/games that are new to me.
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I’m glad to hear it! I do try to make things as interesting and as useful as I can to others. If everything goes to plan, I think next weekend I’ll have something a little new and different to talk about as well.
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Ooh, interesting! So you’re looking to light as though from beneath? Like a lava base or something? You have my attention 🙂
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That’s good to hear and a couple people have guessed the lava base which apparently would have been a popular guess. I have something different than lava in mind here so we’ll see if you like the final result or not!
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Great to finally see a picture of you on your blog! Though I admit you look more like the Joker, than what I had pictured! 😜
I didn’t know they were coining that as “nadir highlighting” but makes sense as zenithal basically means above.
He is at that sort of ‘oh god, what have I done?!’ stage at this point, but I have no doubt you’ll have pushed through and made it good!
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Haha, very funny! I don’t often have to wear a tie though I’ll take the Joker thing as a compliment all the same 😉
I wasn’t aware that people did Nadir highlighting either but I was happy to give it a try for this project. It definitely took a while to get the lighting worked out with this project but I think it came good in the end.
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