Been working on my next necron model and attempted highlighting the blade but am having trouble. Will appreciate some feedback.
#Highlighting help.
tulip dew
vague goblet
Hello! Are you asking about the (orange part) of the blade?
tulip dew
Hello and yes.
vague goblet
I suppose you have 2 main possibilities: either treat it mostly as nmm (just orange instead of Grey's) or treat it mostly as techno-magical fire?
As nmm, it would need more gradients of colours on top of the edge highlights, and especially opposed gradients side by side
tulip dew
Would you say when building colours, use the light colours as a base or build off darker colours?
vague goblet
It is up to your choice in general as you will need both. For orange, it is such a transparent color that I think it is easier to place the highest highlights on white then go down in the gradient. (Otherwise you may need to include some white in the mix to lighten an area, then reapply orange on top in a new layer to get the flashiness back)
tulip dew
Okay I'll try and work on giving it a bit more life. I'll add some white and light yellows to mix it up
vague goblet
But in terms of texture, what inspires you more? NMM style? Trying to shape some flames like a magical fire?
Something else ?
tulip dew
I wanted to try lightning tbh
I had scrubbed the staff 3times attempting some nice looking bolts
vague goblet
I think there have been other hobby help posts about lightning
If you treat it like a free hand it can work
(and having a darker background like you have now can help)
tulip dew
Yeah been doing my research all over the place, and I think it's more my method of making orange that's causing the most annoying
Junkyard necrons are hard to perfect
vague goblet
Like this thread? #1115068215849140254 message
vague goblet
Yeah been doing my research all over the place, and I think it's more my method ...
Tell me more about how you paint it?
tulip dew
Yuriel yellow, very crisp and quite flexible
Once done, grab blood angels contrast and do a 50/50 with water
Creates a similar affect to that playground type wraps
vague goblet
I see
tulip dew
Layer it on usually 2 to 3 coats
vague goblet
To paint the lightning itself, you'll want to use a sharp brush and paint that flows off the brush, but is not layer consistency
You effectively want to paint small lines
My current favourite way would be to paint white lines, ex with a mix of white paint and white ink, and then apply some varying colours on it, using the transparency of yellow, orange and red to help
tulip dew
I see
vague goblet
The sword being already a gradient of colours, I would probably stick to yellow (varying intensities and a little orange here and there)
I would also re apply some white over some of the angles of the lightning to signify "more power here" and help trace them
As for any free hand / drawing, I would probably need to "erase" around the lines using the background colour (in this case the darker version to help the lightning pop more)
Do you feel like trying it?
vague goblet
The white will give you the lines