In this video I'm going to show
you how I paint simple glow effects Hi everyone and welcome to
another Brushstroke Painting Guide I'm Brushstroke and as you
heard from the intro there, this video is going to be looking at
adding simple glow effects to your models. Now, this can be anything
from a pair of glowing eyes, to magic rune symbols,
power weapons, even lit up keypads
and what this can do is bring that extra interest and
visual impact to your miniatures. So what this guide is going to do is to
show you the simple steps it's going to take to create those glows and even how you
can choose the color that you want them to be. Now before we begin, I really want you to get
the most out of this tutorial, as throughout it may refer to various techniques or processes
which aren't covered in detail in this video. So to help you out I've created a series of videos
which cover these hobby fundamentals in detail. Covering a whole host of hobby topics from
preparing your minis for painting, through to how to thin your
paints, how thin is thin? brush care
wet palettes washes
and more. So, if you'd like to know more
about that series of videos? Please click this link above or you can
check it out in the description below. I also get a lot of people
asking what paint brushes I use. Now thanks to the amazing guys at Artis Opus
I now have a Brushstroke paintbrush set. Which includes all the brush types
and sizes I use in my tutorials. Making it super easy for you
to use whilst painting along. And! not only that, they also
come in a beautiful, exclusive presentation box with the Brushstroke branding :o)
So if you'd like to know more about these brushes? Then please do click the link above
or check out the description below. And finally, in this video I'm going to be
applying the glow effect to pre-painted models, in this case Necrons, now if you'd like to
know the recipes I use for painting them? Then you can find those out by clicking
the link above or in the description below. Okay, so let's make a start on some painting!
And as you can see I've painted the majority of my Necron already and I've
just left the glow effect to add. But before we dive in, I just want
to PAUSE and have a quick think about what it is we're trying to do.
And break it down into steps, so that it makes it easier for
you to replicate onto your models. So really. if we're going to be painting a glow,
there's just two areas that we need to consider; there's the area which is
going to be CREATING THE GLOW and then we need to consider the area
which is going to be AFFECTED BY THAT GLOW. So let's take a closer look and the first
area that I want to give a glow effect to, is going to be this symbol on the chest.
Now to make it look like it's glowing we obviously need to make it nice and bright and light.
So we're going to paint that in in white, but painting something white alone is not enough
to give it the impression it's a light. You also need to show that the areas around it are
being affected by that light source too. Now this is where your first decision
comes in because you need to decide how intense you want your light source to be?
So for this example I'm going for a bit of a soft glow, so I don't want it to be super bright, like
it's actually Illuminating the whole of the model. I want it to be a lot more contained
and feel like it's just Illuminating the area around that light source.
So if I take the symbol on the chest as the center of my light source of my glow and
I imagine a circle of light radiating from it. The bigger the circle, the more intense
that light would be because more area would be affected by that light.
So if I keep it quite small and contained anything that falls within that
circle is going to be something that I need to show is being affected by that glow.
So in this example that's going to be the inside edges of this rib cage,
the underside of his chin, all the edges around the symbol thing itself,
perhaps even the endmost edges of the collar bone bit here,
and maybe because this tube is quite shiny it might catch the topmost
edges of this down at the bottom here as well. Okay so that gives us a good idea as to
the areas which are going to be affected if this center symbol was was glowing.
So let's do the same process now if we wanted to give this Necron some glowing
eyes. So obviously the light sources are going to be the two eyes themselves,
and then we don't want it to be super intense so we want it just be a soft glow.
So the radius from them is going to be quite small and quite contained.
Which will probably mean that the only areas that we need to worry about being affected are
going to be the edges around the eyes themselves. Okay so I think that gives us a plan and something
that we can refer to, so let's see how we can translate that into painting onto the model.
Starting off with painting in the areas which are going to be glowing.
So, like I said, I'm going to do that in white and for this I'm going to use the best white
I know which is White Star from Two Thin Coats. So starting off then with the eyes.
Nice and easy. I've thinned the paint with a
little bit of water on my palette. I'm just going to paint in each of these eyeballs,
so that it looks a nice clean bright white. Now you should find that the coverage for this
paint is absolutely brilliant but you definitely want to get a really crisp bright solid white.
So do make sure that you apply thin layers and build up to that solid finish, because it's really
important for the final effect that we're after. And then, when those eyes are painted in, I'm
now going to paint in the symbol on the chest. And exactly the same process again.
Nice and thin. And build up to a nice solid crisp bold white. So with those light sources now painted
in, we can move onto the next part, which as you remember is going to be the areas
which are going to be affected by our glow. Now you'll be pleased to know, that the
chances are you've already painted these in but basically what you need to make
sure is any of the areas which are going to have that glow effect on them, you have
a nice sharp edge highlight already applied. So for example. I've left the edge highlighting
on the area around the symbol here, which is a black panel, and it should have a nice sharp
gray edge highlight around it. And as you'll see later that's important because we're going to
tint that to the color of the glow that we want. So this stage is all about checking
against the plan, that you made before, to make sure that all the edges that are going
to have that glow on them already have a nice edge highlight in their respective colors.
Now don't worry I know it sounds complicated but it is really simple and it'll make so much
more sense when you see it in the later stages. But just before we get to that I just want to do
one more part and add some more glow effects to this Necron and that's going to be for his weapon.
So I'm going to run through exactly the same process that I did before with the main
body and just identify where I want the source of those glows to be and any of the
edges that will be affected by those glows. So let's just run through it.
I'm going to start off with the power element here. So I'm going to paint
those in white and then the surrounding edges would be affected by that glow
and then maybe do this tubing and any of the edges that
will be affected by that glow and then the orbs along the barrel
I'll also make those glow and then obviously pick out all of the edges which
are going to be effected for those glows, as well. Okay so that's my plan.
So now I'm going to start off by painting the hose.
Now I thought it might be quite cool to not only have it glowing but have a variation of intensity,
like it's glowing from the middle, and to do this I'm not going to paint the whole thing pure white.
Instead I'm going to paint the whole thing a gray first and for this I'm going to use
some Celestra gray from Games Workshop. so nice and straightforward this stage. The key thing really to remember is
to make sure that you thin your paint. Because you want it to be
ultra smooth and ultra clean. So I've added some water on my
palette and I've thinned it down and I'll apply several coats
to build up to a solid finish. And with that gray now painted in,
I can go ahead and paint in all my light sources using the same white as before.
Which is some White Star from Two Thin Coats. Which, following my plan, means I
paint in the power elements here. Making sure that I apply multiple layers
to build up to a nice solid finish. And then I can move on to the orbs on the
gun barrel and as always I've thinned it with that water on my palette and it's
going on really cleanly and smoothly. Making sure that I apply multiple
layers to build up to that solid finish. Now I know I'm repeating this but it's really
important for this light effect that you do get a really solid bright vivid white so do make
sure that you build it up using multiple layers. And then finally I can move on to the hose.
Now, as I said before, what I'm thinking of doing is having a difference in intensity so
I'm going to paint a bit of a stripe along the inside curve here of the hose where
I want that glow to be at its brightest. So I'm thinking something
that looks a bit like that. Okay then so quick recap I've painted in
all of the light sources for my glow in white and I've made sure that all of the
edge highlighting is done for everything that's going to be affected by those glows.
So I'm going to call that my "BASELINE" and now comes the fun part,
where you can add in your colored glow. Now I'm going to show a few examples in
this video but let's kick off with blue. And for this, I'm going to use some Talassar Blue contrast paint thinned down with some
contrast medium from Games Workshop. So I thinned the Talassar Blue down with
the medium to a ratio of around 50:50. And for this stage I'm looking
to apply it as a heavy glaze. Which means I'm not wanting it to pool up in the
recesses to add shadow but instead I'm taking advantage of the staining property of a contrast
paint, so that I can tint the surface blue. But I've thinned it down enough now so
that I can still see the paints underneath. Which means, as I'm painting this onto the
surface, I'm not losing any of those shadows and highlights that I've already painted.
But instead, all I'm doing is tinting them the lovely blue glow color.
And it's dead simple to do. All you need to do, is paint it over all the
areas that you've painted white for that glow effect and any of the edges which are going to
be affected from that glow according to our plan. Now don't fall into the trap of
thinking that you're trying to paint this so that it's a solid color.
All you're doing is tinting it remember. So just apply it over the white areas and
the edges and make sure that you get a nice blue tint but don't go too over the
top trying to make it a really rich blue. It's far better to apply
too little, than too much. So if you do find after the first application
of this that it's not quite blue enough, then you can always go back and add a
second coat but do be careful that you want this to be quite subtle. And you still
want to make sure that you can see the paint underneath to get that true glow effect.
So now I'm just going to work my way around all the areas that are going to have this
glow effect and paint in that blue tint. Also, not forgetting, because we're
applying this as quite a heavy glaze, it will take that little bit
longer to dry. So do give it plenty of time and make sure it is FULLY
dry before moving on to the next stage. And when it is fully dry, you should
now have something that looks like this. Now if you're anything like me you
may find that on some of the edges, where you're applying the tint, you got a bit
carried away and you've overdone it a bit. So now's a good time to go back
and tidy those things back up. So in this particular case I'm
using the Runelord Brass that I painted the Necron in and I thinned
it down so it's quite transparent. And I'm just going to go over those edges
where I want to make it less intense, for that tinting, and it gives a nice
smooth transition between the two colors. So when you're happy that you've
neatened everything back up again and it's all looking how you want it to,
it's time to move on to the next stage. And that's going to be adding another layer of
white to all of the light sources for our glows. And for this I'm going to carry on
using the same white as I did before, which is White Star from Two Thin Coats. This time though, I'm not looking
to paint the whole area white again, but actually what I want to do
is keep some of that pale blue tinted area showing around the edges. And
just paint the white within the middle. So for example on the eyes here I just want
to put a little dot in each of the center of those but keep the blue around the outside.
This is to try and give the impression that the light source is more intense in the
center. Likewise on these power elements here I'm just going to paint the top ridge which
will then give that extra focus and intensity. And likewise on the glowing orbs on the
barrel, I'm going to paint a center dot onto each of those orbs keeping that
tinted blue showing around the outside. And then finally on the hose I'm going
to do exactly the same thing and try and paint a white line within that pale
blue tinted line that I painted before. And then, as a final touch, just to bring
that white and blue together I'm going to apply a thin glaze of my thinned
down Talassar Blue over the top. And it really is just a light glaze.
All I'm looking to do is just to wet the surface with the thinned down Talassar Blue and
that will be enough just to, ever so slightly, tint the white and blend it into the other blues
beneath and give a bit of a soft transition. And again do make sure that you
give it plenty of time to dry fully. And you should end end up with
something that looks like this! Okay, so that's the end of the
process of how to paint a simple glow. But I thought it might be quite useful
to you to show how you can take that process and adapt it to paint different colors. So let's take a look now at a
recipe for painting GREEN GLOWS. So what I've done so far is I've
already painted in my glow baseline. Which, if you remember, was painting in all the light sources in that bright white and
making sure that the edges that are going to be affected have their respective
edge highlights painted in as well. So I'm now ready to add in in the green
glow and for this I'm going to use some Tesseract Glow thinned down with some
Lahmian medium from Games Workshop. And the ratio I've used for this again is
a 50:50 mix just to thin that down and make it a little bit more translucent.
And I'm going to apply in exactly the same way as I did with the blue.
So I'm going to apply a heavy glaze over all of the white glow areas and all of the edges which
will be affected by the glow giving them a nice bright vivid green tint while still retaining
the shadows and highlights they had before. And again for the hose here I've painted
it in the gray first and then the white highlight so that when I add the tint over
the top I'll get that two-tone effect. And just as before don't forget to give it plenty
of time to dry before moving on to the next stage. And, if you remember, that next stage
is neatening things back up again. So as usual I've overpainted in a few areas.
So I'm just going to go back in now with the Graphite that the Necron is painted in and
make everything look neat and tidy again. Okay so I've neatened everything back up again
and now it's time to move on to the next stage. And if you remember, that stage is going to be
adding a layer of white to all of the glow areas. And for this I'm going to use some
White Star from Two Thin Coats. Not forgetting of course to still leave some of
that green tinted area showing around the edges Now all I need to do, is finish
it off with a light glaze of the thinned down Tesseract Glow
all over those white details And when that's done you should have
something that looks a little bit like this! So hopefully now you're starting to see that the
process of painting these glows is exactly the same and to change the end color all you need
to do is change the color that you glaze with? So let's put that to the test and do one more. And let's do a RED GLOW.
Okay so just as before I've painted in my initial glow baseline, which
if you remember was painting in all the areas I want to be glowing in that bright white and
then I've made sure that all the areas that are going to be affected by that glow have their
edge highlights in their respective colors. So I'm now ready to add in the red
glow and for this I'm going to use some Angron Red Clear thinned down with
some Lahmian medium from Games Workshop. And the ratio I'm going to use
for this again is a 50:50 mix. And I'm going to apply it in exactly
the same way I did with the two previous examples. Which means I'm going
to apply as a heavy glaze over all of the white glow details and all of the edges
which will be affected by those glows. And again for the hose here I've painted
it in the gray first and then the white highlight so that when I add the the tint
over the top I'll get that two-tone effect. And just as before don't forget to give it plenty
of time to dry before moving on to the next stage. And if you remember that next stage
is neatening things back up again? So as usual I've overpainted in a few areas
so now I'm just going to go back and neaten everything back up again with some of the
Vallejo Gold that the Necron was painted in. So with those corrections now
made I can move on and add that white layer to all of the glowing details.
And again I'm going to use my White Star from two Thin coats and of course making sure to leave
some of that red showing through around the edges Now all I need to do is finish it
off by adding that light glaze of the thinned down Angron Red
over all of the white details and when that's done you should have
something that looks a little bit like this! Now I'm hoping that gives you a
good idea of how easy it is using that same process to get different
glow colors and different results? So why don't have a play around yourself? See what colors you can create simply
by changing that glazing color. And that brings us to the end of this tutorial. Thank you so much for watching this video.
I really hope you found it useful? And of course a massive thank you to
my channel members, whose names are going across the screen now, your support
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out the DESCRIPTION below, where I'm going to list all of the paints
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