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Hey guys, so im attempting to paint flames with my air brush and im following this tutorial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Y6TlMIYXWw

now it looks pretty easy, just need to practice the technique a bit but im running into a prblem

after i use white to get the base of the flame i switch to red, even after clearing my airbrush, and cleaning it

My reds still come out much to light and are almost a pink color. So what can i do to get a darker color?

should i add black to it? or a few drops of khrone red?

More coats of red. You will probably need to build it up with several passes, especially if the red is thin. Allow each coat to dry before putting the next on - this means managing your paint flow so you don't flood, and each layer is thin enough to dry fast. A hair dryer can help.

I brush paint my red on, but I darken it with a wash of Devlan mud. Hope this helps.

I'd agree that you probably need more passes with the red.

Looking at your post count says you already know how much of a pain in the neck it is to work with red, so keep to it. If you can't get it a nice deep red after 3-4 passes (or at least on it's way to being what you want), then try darkening your paint.

add a purple shade, a dark green or blue.

Ashton

 Redfinger wrote:
add a purple shade, a dark green or blue. Ashton

Absolutely. If you add black you just end up with dirty looking paint, not a darker shade.
What color do you prime in? When working with red I base white if I want it bright and poppy and black if I want it deep and morose. (Hard to explain the difference unless you see it yourself.)

Airbrushing realistic fire works best with 'candy pigments' which are highly transparent, and do more of a tinting effect than a block colouring. When you lay them down over black/white, they should only show up on the white, something which even good glazes and transparent paints can struggle with.

You will at the very least want to be using glaze medium, and paint that is already transparent (so not basecoat paints with opaque binders) perhaps not even citadel paints, Using some intensely pigmented acrylic inks, such as Daler Rowney or Liquitex mixed with some glazing medium should give a good effect allowing you to build up a bright enough red withotu dirtying up whats on the black.

'True flames' as its called is a tricky one though, people get paid thousands to do it on cars and motor bikes check custom car tutorials for it for other people wording things in other ways

 Boggy Man wrote:

 Redfinger wrote:
add a purple shade, a dark green or blue. Ashton

Absolutely. If you add black you just end up with dirty looking paint, not a darker shade.
What color do you prime in? When working with red I base white if I want it bright and poppy and black if I want it deep and morose. (Hard to explain the difference unless you see it yourself.)

I prime, with army painter black then do a base coat of chaos black from the air brush. i never though of purple as a darkener.


What paint would you recommend for a "candy red" paint.

p3 Red Ink. Works through an airbrush, has great intensity, and has some nice transparency as well.

Ashton

I don't airbrush so I wouldn't know the color options I'm afraid. For brush I use layered Mephiston Red with a white prime for candy red.

 Boggy Man wrote:
I don't airbrush so I wouldn't know the color options I'm afraid. For brush I use layered Mephiston Red with a white prime for candy red.

That's Ok. The translucent paints and such can be brushed on as well to the same effect, with similar results (dependent on skill, of course).

For airbrush specific paints, I'm a huge fan of:
http://www.createxcolors.com/products/airbrushcolors/transparent/index.html

 Backspacehacker wrote:

What paint would you recommend for a "candy red" paint.

Well actual candy paints are concentrated dyes mixed into clear laquer. The easiest way to get a hold of them is probably Createx's Auto Air paint range,I believe they have a candy range but most of the cusotm paint discussions I've read suggested House of Kolor to be the big daddies. Using them will require you to have the appropriate thinner and reducer too, generally theyre not cheap paints either.
For a hobby application they might be a little innapropriate perhaps, it would be necessary to spray an intercoat clear over any work already done on the figure, and for you to lacquer the candy in before working over the top. Because they are dyes, they tend to bleed through unless sealed between 2 coats of lacquer.
All those bad points said, Candy's offer the most intense, vibrant and bright transparent colours possible.
Extremely thin artists oil's might compare, I know some people do oil washes with intercoat clear either side for their mini's.

The effect can be done with regular 'Transparent' grade paints, but these will not allow for very many layers before a colour is visible over black unlike actual candy paint which lets rather a lot more light through. Try it out using glaze medium and a transparent red/yellow.
The white being laid down underneath should also be transparent white rather than opaque for the true fire onto black base effect. (It can change drastically on different basecoats due to all the transparents)

I don't really agree with the names for these paints as the ones that get called 'Transparent' are actually more Translucent. While Candy's are genuinely transparent.

Theyre a bit like washes, but with incredibly intense colour when layered up over a bright basecoat with sunshine allowed to shine through, they would appear deeper darker colours in lower light conditions. A common one that you might be able to picture in your mind is 'candy apple red' which is the classic pimp mobile cadilac colour and is reminiscant of a toffee apple from the fair ground.
You might be able to make something good using the well known 'les's wash recipe' of acrylic ink + matt medium, but using glaze medium instead of matt, or a mixture.

These two brands of acrylic ink may work well. Liquitex also do a very good acrylic glaze medium (and all other mediums to be honest)
http://www.liquitex.com/Ink/
http://www.daler-rowney.com/content/fw-artists-inks
You would want to play around to find a good ratio of ink to medium that gives you a bright enough colour once layered up, but still lets you overspray onto black without making too obvious a cloud of dingy colour.