Object Source Lighting tutorial

Hi all, this is my first time doing a tutorial, and I decided to take you through how to do some basic object source lighting (OSL).

                                                                         Martin 

 

 Object source lighting is where there is a source of light on/near the model that is in addition to the normal "daylight" or somesuch that is doing the normal highlights/shadows on your model. For example, a model holding a flaming torch, would have his normal areas of light and shadow, but also some fiery light shining on him from the torch. Because of this, when doing OSL, paint your model up as you normally would, and the OSL should be one on the last things you paint, because this is a source of light in addition to the normal light that it would experience, and the effects can simply be painted on top of what’s already there.

 So, here's the mini I’ll be demonstrating on: he's almost complete except for the base and the glowing bit on the plasma pistol, and he's been painted as I would any other model.

 

 Okay, so on this guy, the plasma pistol is glowing with power, and this is where the light is coming from. But this tutorial can apply to any object that emits light: torches, warpstone, magical runes etc.

 The intensity of the light decreases the further away from the source it gets. So the areas close to the source will be painted in the brightest colours, and the areas further away with the darkest, in the same way that you do your normal highlights/shade, except with colour, and in the direction of the light source.

 You can pretty much choose any bright colours to do OSL with, they’re all good. Just don’t use dark colours like regal blue, and especially nothing like brown or anything. This is because if you shine a light on something, it gets brighter. So if you paint the surface with dark colours, it will get darker and not look like light at all. 

 For this guy, I chose some green/blue colours. Hawk turquoise was my darkest colour, and for all the brighter tones, I added scorpion green and a little bit of skull white in increasing amounts. Whatever colour you choose; just make sure you have darker and lighter shades of it. For example, if you were to do fire as an OSL, use blood red as the darkest, orange as midtone, and yellow or white as the brightest.

PAINTING

 

Step 1

 Start with the darkest colour first. Get a very watered down mix of it, almost a glaze, and apply it smoothly on all of the areas that will be touched by the light. This is because it needs to be a bit see-through, so you can still see the colours underneath. By using very thin paints, it will look smooth just like real light should. You will need two or 3 coats to get a strong colour.

 

This will be the furthest reaches of the light (where it is dimmest), so i painted it on parts of the shoulder guard that were close to the plasma gun, and his elbow and hand, treating it like a highlight on the edges that are close to the gun.

Step 2

Then I added some scorpion green and white to my mix, but still kept it very watery. This time applying it only to the surfaces closer to the gun, putting only a tiny bit on the edge of the shoulder pad and elbow, but putting it over a broader area on close parts like the hand and such. Once again, just do it like you would normally do highlights, with the brightest colours on the edges, but just keeping in mind that they have to get brighter further in.

 

Step 3

 Repeat this process by brightening up your mix, and applying it to areas ever closer to the source. On mine, the third time it was on the edges of the fingers, and the edges of the pistol, and a tiny bit on the elbow.

Keep repeating this step by adding brighter colours closer and closer to the source, and stop when you’re only highlighting areas directly next to the source, or when you think it looks convincing.

On this guy, I painted the plasma chamber after I did all the lighting, but it's really down to personal choice when you choose do it. This bit was painted the brightest, because it's the source of all of the light.

 mike: We have first mistake in this step.Martin added some green pigment and he got too dirty effect. I guess that he didn't add enough water, but when you want to have green light, use green paint. Don't change light color in the middle coz it can look not good.

 

Step 4

If you get too dark effect, just add final, white highlight.

 Martin

mike: It is first Martins tutorial so I think your comments can help him.