Painting tutorial: Object/Source Lighting.

[hairyyahoo]

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.

[hairyyahoo]

GLOWING BLUE POWER SWORD

Colour list; regal blue, skull white (yep, that’s all!)

Basecoat the sword regal blue and wash the surrounding areas.



Mix up a batch of 1:1 blue and white and highlight the sword, and wash the surrounding areas. Leave some of the regal blue on the blade as shown (greymatter implosion prevents me from describing what I’m trying to say )



Repeat the step above with a 1:2 mix of blue and white, making the highlighted area smaller than the last step.



And again with 1:3 blue and white. Start picking out those sharp edges at this stage.




Lastly hit the hardest edges with skull white mix with a tiny drop of the last highlight mix.

[Mart007]

+ Rep, exellent and thank you Hairy, this is the kind of stuff we need, nice clear steps, I think a lot of people will find this helpful.

[hairyyahoo]

glad you like it mart, although i'm not happy with the red lenses, they might need to be redone.

[Mart007]

From a tut point of view it's fine, I think because the effect on white it maybe needs to be thinned a bit, but my first impression I liked. Actually looking at it maybe the source on the ridge on the helmet above the goggles is unnessasary?

The plasma gun and the power sword are spot on.

[edit]

That sword is fab-tab-u-lous!!!

[Gregor Xenos]

Nice.... Very nice!!!

[hairyyahoo]

Originally Posted by Gregor Xenos

Nice.... Very nice!!!

your turn

[Gregor Xenos]

Originally Posted by hairyyahoo

your turn

All painted up currently on anything i'll need to OSL..... not to worry tho; monolith and parrys in assembly now.... so youll see it soon.

(the mono probably wont be OSL as such... besides crystal n rodz; but all the cracks will have OSL properties)

[Ides]

hmmm, perhaps some perspective shots from a distance so we can see the models in context? other than that, its all wonderful...

[Lord Commander Erus]

I like the effect, but i've never been a fan of OSL on my own models. Just like NMM. It can look great, but it takes faaar too long for my impatience! But I tend to do less 'mid battle' type poses than most, so I can sdee the use!

[Ides]

actually, now that I think of it, the last step of highlighting should only be done on the sword, as the areas being lit up shouldn't be as bright as the source...

[Lord Commander Erus]

Originally Posted by Ides

actually, now that I think of it, the last step of highlighting should only be done on the sword, as the areas being lit up shouldn't be as bright as the source...

Actually, given the fact of how the field of the light is produce, and the vicinity of the object to the lighted area, I think it would. Power sword produce an electrical type field. Which basically makes it a 2 foot ling and faily wide lightbulb. It'd have some brightness to it.

[Ides]

unless that fabric is really shiney it wouldn't be, it'll be bright enough, but only a smidgen darker than the lightsource, on the same line, more of the face should be lit up as well...

[iNsOmNiAc'S dReAm]

Nicely done yahoo!

Just some friendly advice, to bring out the "glow" from your source lighting you need to keep your base colors dark and exagerate your shadows just a bit.

Also remember that not all surfaces reflect the same amount of light. thin down your highlights just a little bit, and tone down your highlights some what. That will really give it a nice subtle glow.

Otherwise you are definiatly on the right track and over all everythings looking great.

[SteveBerenyi]

Wow hairy, that power sword wielding commisar is just great!

[hairyyahoo]

Originally Posted by iNsOmAnIc'S DrEaM

Nicely done yahoo!

Just some friendly advice, to bring out the "glow" from your source lighting you need to keep your base colors dark and exagerate your shadows just a bit.

Also remember that not all surfaces reflect the same amount of light. thin down your highlights just a little bit, and tone down your highlights some what. That will really give it a nice subtle glow.

Otherwise you are definiatly on the right track and over all everythings looking great.

good point, well made. i wasn't completely satisfied with the glow on the rest of the mini but i wanted to post it up anyway. what can i say, i crave attention . i'm still experimenting with this trick so i'll incorperate your suggestions in my next try. thanks dude

[iNsOmNiAc'S dReAm]

Well it looks like ya pretty much know what you're doing lol just need to do a lil clean up.

Source lighting has always been a bit of a pain in the arse for me so I tend to avoid it myself If I have time later I can try to do some examples if ya like

[iNsOmNiAc'S dReAm]

Well I had some free some, so I did a lil something on one of my canonesses and by lil I mean really little



The light source is the little blue light thing on the front of the plasma pistol. I tried to keep the lighting some what subtle by using just the 2 medium tones from the light source and just a tiny little bit of the highlight and really blended it in so that the brightest thing was still the light source.

Eventually the " power coils ? " on the plasma pistol will be glowing too, along with the tips of the iron halo, and of course the lava base.

Sorry if the pic is a little blurry, Im afraid im not much of a photographer . Anyway, I hope that helps and happy painting.

[hairyyahoo]

thanks man thats great, much more on the subtle side than i opted to go but, wouldn't there be some light hitting the recesses as well as the high edges?

[Ion Raptor]

I think we should all give each other's tutorials a try, then post our results on the same page.

When I get back to my workstation I'll pick out something and OSL it.

[Krom_stormbrow]

I gotta find the OSL I did on the pistol of my wolf scouts. A very subtle version, using a light drybrush of each of the sucessive highlights. The final k-ching highlight runs just around the rim next to the coils.

Pics to come hairy.

[iNsOmNiAc'S dReAm]

Originally Posted by hairyyahoo

wouldn't there be some light hitting the recesses as well as the high edges?

Good eye Well Im guessing you're talking about those air vent thingys on the side? Hmm I suppose it would all depend on how " bright " your light source was.

I figured that it wasnt bright enough to wrap around all the way to the top edges and that far down the sides. I also intend to make those coils on the sides glow really bright later, so I didnt want that tiny light in the front to draw that much attention.

Man painting Source Lighting is sooo much easier on canvas. Its less complicated when you are dealing with a 2D surface. With mini's youre dealing with " implied "shadows and " implied " light sources compared to " actual " light sources and vice versa, etc..etc... and they say painting is suppose to be relaxing

[Rellik]

awesome man