Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I've tried my hand at painting some OSL. This is one of my first attempts and I was wondering what you guys think.

I'm sorry about the picture quality they're from my phone. I'll try and get some better ones up tomorrow. So any tips and pointers would be great.

Thanks guys

Pics are out of focus, they have the background in focus rather than the mini which is in the foreground.

not sure as the pics arn't the best but shouldn't the reflected light be a bit more translucent? it looks a bit thick...

How do I fix that? Put a screen behind it?

I really don't know.... come on dakka someone who knows what they're talking about help us out?

Give it a plain background so the camera only has your jetbike to zoom / focus on.

Take it with brighter light so its less grainy.
Using flash will wash the color out.

Phone pictures are fine :3

And take it from a distance, like where your paint pots are, since your camera reads the letters rather well.

cant really see anything to comment on it, post some better pictures and people will help you.

Ok, I got some better photos in the op now. Sorry about the rubbish pics at the beginning.

That's not a bad start but the light would give a tint to the whole area, you just have it reflecting on certain surfaces. I would go over it with very thin layers of paint to get a little bit of green everywhere in the glowing area.

pics are much better now...

So far what I can see is that there is no transition with regards to the light. It's pure green, then pure blue (or whatever color the part of the model the light hits). Light wouldn't change an object's color 100%.

So how do you get the lighting effect to show without covering the colour underneath 100%?

Do you use washes/glazes ?

I use mostly thinned paints, then blend it with the original color. Sometimes I use inks or washes to tone down the highlight of the OSL if it's too extreme.

Blending the paint is your friend. Completely covering the original color destroys the purpose of the OSL.

Ok, so I've tried mixing the greens with the purple and all I get are strange brown to red-ish colours.

Do I paint the "lighted" part in this?

You only want a very small amount of the original color in the mix. 1:10 original color to the color of the light is probably a good starting point. It really shouldn't change the color too much but enough to be noticeable. This will help the transition between the colors appear smother and less abrupt.

Primarily what you're going to be doing is painting on REALLY thin coats of paint and letting the paint's natural transparency work for you. As you get closer to the source of the light you want less and less of the original color showing through until its not there anymore.

Ok, I had ago at doing some more. By mixing the paint with the base colour what colour do you start the light with? Do start at the very darkest of the 'glow' colours and work up to the brightest or do you start with the lightest?

Anyway here are my attempts, please could you tell me which is on the right track? If none please tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Darkest to brightest remembering to keep the source as the brightest. The thickness and how far the colour of the OSL spreads determines its strength.

Ok I've decided on these two osl's.

Which do you think is better?

Thanks everyone for the help so far

The edges of the light on the second are better, too sharp in places on the first.

When you're applying the paint for the glowing effect how thick/thin should the paint be?

Is there a ratio?

And are you trying to cover the previous layer or let it show through?

Thanks everyone

I would imagine you want it to show through... Have you thought about placing a colored lightbulb in a lamp and shining it onto various objects in a well lit room to study the effect in still life format?

I haven't seen ron pop in here yet, so I'll pimp his blog for him :p he posted up a series on how to do OSL a while back that I found really informative (it's a long read, but it's worth it). the first of three is here: http://fromthewarp.blogspot.com/2011/01/painting-glowing-powerfist.html

miniature mentor have a lot of tutorials using very thin layered paint that could be applied to OSL. Might be worth a look.

http://www.miniaturementor.com/