Alrighty then my most excellent chums, I just spent the morning playing with osl effects and I though I’d share the results with you. I’m going to be covering three different colours in three different situations, green plasma guns, red eye lenses and blue power swords. Each of these effects are easily interchangeable so if you want blue plasma just follow the guide for the plasma gun but use the colours listed for the power sword instead, savvy?
Before we begin we need to think about how light moves. It travels in straight lines don’t it? So, when we light up our mini, the colour is only going to hit the surfaces that face the glow. Have a good look at what you’re about to paint and decide where the light will realistically touch the rest of the mini. This can save you some head aches later.
Ok, here we go. In all cases the osl effect is the last thing you add to the model. Start by re-undercoating the area to be lit up with chaos black. All of the following techniques were painted in the same way; each stage involves a highlight and a wash using the same colour watered down with a load of water to the consistency of ink, and are finished off with a sharp edge highlight to the areas closest to the glow. This isn’t the only way to get this effect, just the one I’m most practiced with. Others use dry brushing to light up their models, I use washes.
GLOWING GREEN PLASMA
Colour list; goblin green, sunburst yellow, skull white.
Begin by base coating the area with goblin green. Wash the area surrounding the glow with goblin green
Next, carefully highlight the plasma coils with a 1:1 mix of goblin green and sunburst yellow, and wash the surrounding area with this mix as well.
Highlight the coils again with a 1:1:1 mix of goblin green, sunburst yellow and skull white. Use this mix to selectively wash the sharp edges of the surrounding area.
Lastly, use skull white with a tiny amount of the last highlight mix to pick out the very edges of the plasma coils and the sharpest edges near by.
GLOWING RED EYE LENSES steady hands needed!
Colour list; scab red, blood red, blazing orange, sunburst yellow.
Begin with a base coat of scab red applied to the lower half of the lens, wash the surrounding area with scab red.
Blood red is applied to half the area the scab red was applied to, and is washed onto the surrounding area.
Repeat the step above with blazing orange, making sure the highlighted area is smaller still and the wash is only applied to the hard edges.
Lastly, use sunburst yellow to add a very thin line to the bottom of the lens and to hit the hardest edges of the surrounding area.
