Extreme Object Source Lighting HOW??

[supervike Find all posts View Profile Close supervike]

Dearest smart people.

I'd like to paint a character for one of my projects that represents a shadow demon of sorts.

The thing is, when he is in the 'light' he just looks like a regular person. It's only in the dark where he becomes etheral and scary.

I plan on having two versions of this character, one as a human, and one the shadow creature.

But, with the human, I'd like to paint him like he really has a bright light or spotlight on him. Like maybe he's standing in a dark corridor, and someone opens a door from a really bright room.

So, ideally his front half would be brightly lit, while his back side would be still in darkness. Really stark shadows and bright light.

I hope I'm conveying this idea well enough.

SO....to cut to the chase.

HOW do I paint that? Any tips, or techniques, or color suggestions, or even pictures of other minis similar to this would be greatly appreciated.

[Darklord Find all posts View Profile Close Darklord]

OSL is actually more about shadows than the light.
Ive done lots of OSL but a couple have the shadows more involved (mainly as they are dioramas and often a normal mini base doesnt lend to shadows.



Both of these were Iron Painter entries actually! The Denethor one is too extreme in terms of colour but gives a good idea of the contrast needed. The dragon is more subtle but all the shadows on there are painted on purposefully to create that sense of contrast

some tutorials I found really helpful are by Shawn RL over on cmon. quite in depth but really makes sense.

[supervike Find all posts View Profile Close supervike]

Oh man, I forgot about that Denethor you did. Awesome stuff!!

I'll check out Shawn's articles. He was quite the guru on that wasn't he? He's a very talented artist on canvas as well.

Thanks!!

[truename Find all posts View Profile Close truename]

Not quite really bright light, but a while back now I did a monochrome problem child alice from hasslefree (as seen in my wamp gallery, here: http://www.wampforum.com/gallery/ima...toid=3055&wat=)

Iirc, once primed I lit the miniature either from the window or from a lamp and took a photo to have as reference for painting.

If you know exactly where your light source is coming from, you'll probably be able to use something like airbrush zenithal priming.

[Darklord Find all posts View Profile Close Darklord]

A good to is prone the mini some a light from desired angle then take a pic. Go into gimp or photoshop or something and boost the contrast up. It ll help show where light should fall and its a. Handy reference point

[nerodine Find all posts View Profile Close nerodine]

Great points above. Also, if you don't have GIMP or Photoshop, use your mobile phone. Take a photo when it's in-progress, flick the image to black and white mode, as that should help to demonstrate where more contrast is needed.