Painting Reds

Have you ever painted a vibrant red cloak only to realise that, once you varnish and photograph it, half your highlights have disappeared? Where did they go, you ask? I don't think anyone has answered that question. Some people believe they are eaten by the varnish monster, others believe they cross over to another dimension, some simply believe they never even existed in the first place and they actually painted the cloak blue. Those people are crazy. Let's not talk about them.

Ever heard someone say, "well, I can't highlight any higher or I'll be painting orange. What do I do? Oh what do I do?" ?  
I have. Ok I haven't really, that last bit was a little dramatic, but you get my drift.

The answer is simple:
Don't highlight...

Ok, ok, I can see you sitting there thinking "what the hell is this crazy woman on about?!", so I shall explain myself.
Instead of over-highlighting to the point where you start painting orange, just start with a darker shade.

If you are one of those painters who starts with a dark tone basecoat, instead of starting with a basecoat of Scab Red, start with a basecoat of Scab Red + Black and highlight from there.
If you are one of those painters who starts with a mid tone basecoat, then start with Scab Red, but shade all the way down to Scab Red + Black.

In the photos to the left, you can see that I have started Kharn with a very dark red basecoat of Scab Red + Black. I have then highlighted through Scab Red to Bloody Red, then as a final, and very small highlight I added a tiny bit of yellow to the Bloody Red. Kharn's helmet is a very good example of this highlighting method. Though the final highlight is actually slightly orange, it's so small that you don't notice. It tends to just look like really bright hot red.

Anyway, I hope this short tutorial helps you in your Red-Painting endeavours.