Hi Shawn Classroom #1 for OSL... TAB

[Shawn R. L.]

That\'s some great stuff.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

@TAB - I was going to try to give some more critique and the last photo you posted is now blank. Shoot some more and mabey try having the usual blue/white background this time. I\'m struggling a bit with taking all of your scene in and comming up with advice. It is comming along well.



Is there anyone else that would like to join in and try doing OSL? I like doing this and would be happy to keep it going with whoever wants to post some WIP\'s and questions.

 

[darkartminiatures]

I\'m still here. After seeing Tabs amazing work i have thought of something else i want to do rather than the single chaos marine with bolter fire. I shall post pics when i have something. Thanks again shawn for leading this lesson.....i just dont have as much time as I\'d like in order do alot of work on it. Commissions have taken a front seat again.

 

[TAB Studio]

Hi Shawn
I had to wait on a camera battery but it is here now and I will today take shots for you to see a bit better ... that missing picture must have been a hic cup thing with photo bucket cause it is back now as I look.
be back in a few with the goods
Cheers
Tarcy

 

[Tony Manero]

O_O

 

[vincegamer]

Wow, Tony, nice example.

Okay, I\'m about to dive into this because of something on Wyrd. If I can\'t find a pic of this mini on the web I\'ll post one tomorrow.
The basic concept is a dwarf miner with a candle on his head. I expect it means dramatic shadowing on his face in particular.

 

[TAB Studio]

I am going to edit add as I get the rest of the crew photos etc.

 

[vincegamer]

give us some side photos of the crew please!

 

[TAB Studio]

Been there done that. I placed them above with the other photos for you Vince.

 

[darkartminiatures]

That\'s really beautiful Tracy. I love it. I got to do some converting before i can start this lesson. Unfortunately i shall have to be a part-timer for a while...but i will still be here....i hope everyone else is still around by the time I\'m ready to show you anything.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

HI TAB - How far do you want to take this piece...how much detail? I\'m willing to keep going if you are. Sorry to ask for more photo\'s but this is somewhat of a learning experience for me as well. If when you shoot each mini you could do it \'out of context\', by it self with the MEDIUM BLUE to white background and try to light it evenly that would go a long way to helping me know what\'s going on. To your credit, what is getting confusing on my end is that you have painted OSL style and in the photo I have a hard time telling what is OSL and simply the \'real\' light. I downloaded the last set of shots and will put some arrows and such in it in Photoshop and repost with some tip\'s.

Glad to be back at it.
How\'s the new job?

edit - The shot without the fig\'s really helped.

 

[TAB Studio]

Well you got it
Keep refreshing for the new ones i am uploading via edit

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Wow, you\'re quick. Let me gather my thoughts and I\'ll get back to you in a day or so. The lighter background REALLY helps.




{edit}
A quick tip. On the LIGHT side of each mini, there is too much contrast in the outlining. The outlines are too dark. That cancel\'s out alot of the light.

If you keep posting, I\'ll keep commenting. Just say the word when you have had enough.

 

[MClimbin]

OK Shawn, I have finished my commissions for now and am ready to start, if you are willing and have time. This is the mini I want to work on, it\'s the elf sorceress by Reaper:



Should I paint it up as normal and then get back to you? It will probably take me a few weeks to finish it, I\'m rather slow and only have an hour or two a day to paint.

I want to do the crystal as very glowing, but don\'t want to make it as extreme as TAB\'s. That is, I don\'t want the shadows to be completely dark, I want quite a bit of color left in them, and just have a soft brightness coming off the crystal. I think I want the light to be off white, perhaps a little yellow? Not sure, white would be ok too...

I have not worked out the color scheme yet, but I\'m assuming darker colors will be best to create contrast. Maybe blues and purples?

Think you\'d be willing to help me pull this off? You\'d be getting yourself into a lot more work, as I\'m not nearly as accomplished as TAB. I\'m really interested in understanding better how light works , that\'s the main reason I want to do this (and cause I think it will look cool!). Looks like the main light will be hitting the hair, which will be a challenge for me for sure.

For your trouble I\'d be happy to pay you in Zinfandel (from Napa only, of course, none of that inferior Sonoma swill!)

Michael

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Sonoma swill..................hmmm. If I understand how the \'grape business\' goes you can have a bottle of wine that has juice from grapes from all over the place. Not all but some. Some may sniff at it but I have had some real good wine from Trader Joe\'s. The 2 buck Chuck aint that bad. Heard that in a blind taste test it held it\'s own with some of the much more expensive wines (notice I didnt say better wines). I\'ve had Chuck and I have had 90$ a bottle stuff and really dont find the extra 88$ to add anything.........anyway...........

Of course I would like to help you. That looks like a good mini to start with. Have you read the article? That\'s a good place to start

 

[Marmoset]

Tracy, congrats. That whole scene is simply breathtaking. :wow:

 

[Shawn R. L.]

@TAB - I downloaded the latest pic\'s you posted into Photoshop, put alot of little circles and arrows and letters, THEN Photoshop decided it wasnt going to cooperate and crashes everytime I go to save. Soooo, soon as I get that problem hammered out I will get back on track.

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Originally posted by funnymouth
i am having some trouble with red osl coming out pinkish (not nearly menacing enough for the undead). how do i fix this? i have heard adding yellow or orange helps - but wont that make it look orange?

@funnymouth - Look at the link below. I think the eyes have a fair amount of menace and might be good reference material. As I said below, have the rest of the mini be darker than the eyes.

First, paint the eyes and the area surrounding the eyes pure white. Blend the edges into whatever is there.

Next, think of a bullseye, the center being the actual light, in this case the eyes. Paint the eye itself and a bit of the surrounding area with a good bright cadmium yellow. Again, blend the outer edge. It dosent have to go all the way out to the very edge of the area you painted white. DONT mix white with it. I\'ll explain later.

Next, outline the eye with a good bright orange (think orange peel) and blend both inside and outside edges.

Now, this is where it really starts to scream. Get the absolute brightest red you can find (I use cadmium red) and outline the orange and go to the edge of where you have undrecoated white.

Go back now and put a fairly large dot in the center of each eye of pure white.

Look at the mini I posted below and see how you can have areas where the eyes have cast a glow on things around them. Do this in a DULLER warm color. Burnt sienna works well and on these areas it is ok to mix them with white. Not color but tone - light and darkness of the colors - have the lit areas match the background TONE or be lighter, not darker.

Why not mix white.....This has always puzzled me, why this works this way but I know it works anyway. If you paint a color over white you will get a very bright, vibrant look to that color. If you take the exact same color and the exact same white and mix them they will turn out pastel. You can see this on a tree leaf. If the sun is comming THROUGH the leaf there is a vibrant green but if I look at the same leaf from the other side the color will, in most cases, be duller. That\'s why the eyes you did were pinkish.

Try that stuff and post some WIP\'s. GOOD LUCK!!



@Mcclimbin - Seriously, is there much good Zin in Napa? Over here I think Dry Creek, Warm Springs and the Alexander Valley do some good Zin juice. Got any good brand names that arent too $$. I dont like em too dry.

OK, on to OSL - This link (the one below) is to a mini I did a while back that has OSL and dosent require a black background for the light to \'work\'. What I did is to take all the colors and dull them and darken them ONLY till they were darker than the eyes, which are the only place on the mini where I used pure white. That\'s one of the main trick\'s of OSL is that the light source MUST be the lightest - whitest - spot on the fig, even if only by a little bit.

This stuff might help explain what I mean -

One thing about OSL that is a bit of a trick is to understand tone. Some of the really mind blowing OSL (I\'m thinking of Eric\'s one with the blue fire) are done in pitch black. I have done it and it\'s a very dramatic effect. BUT pitch balck isnt necessarily the only way. There are shades/tone\'s/values of black. I can take a flashlight-torch that\'s a million candle power and turn it on at high noon outside. It IS pumping out alot of light. Because the ambient light is so bright you will get almost NO effect from the flashlight. If you were to aim it at something and take a picture every 30 minuets or so and look at them in sequence you would notice that FAR before total darkness the effect of the light would be visable. Look on a rainy or foggy day. You can see just fine BUT the car headlight\'s show up more and definately glow. That\'s because, while not black, the ambient light has been reduced to the point where the headlamps are putting out more light.

Take the mini you have and with some medium density washes simply put the colors you want into place. Dont shade or highlight. At this point you dont need to put in much detail, just fill in the areas.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/114300
]

 

[MClimbin]

Hey Shawn,

Of course I was just kidding about the \"Sonoma swill.\" I was just trying to bait you into making your usual \"Napa makes car parts\" joke. I\'m really not a wine snob, in fact those kind of people really annoy me. I\'ve met far too many wine pourers here in Napa who make fun of the White Zinfandel drinkers (you know, like my mom) and they just bug me (the snobs do, that is). It\'s situations like these that I like to quote the Cramps: \"I don\'t know about Art (or Wine) but I know what I like.\"

There are some really nice Zins here though. I just bought a bottle at Coppola\'s amusement park, it was as good as anything I\'ve tasted. I also have been known to appreciate the 2 Buck Chuck. Not a darn thing wrong with it. I use it for cooking a lot too. On the Food Channel the mantra seems to be, \"if you would not drink it, don\'t cook with it,\" but if you are like me you have no problem drinking cheap (cost) wine!.

Regarding the OSL, and your help, thanks! I have a question though. You say to use medium density washes, does that mean that I should not go for complete coverage? Just coverage in the nooks and crannies, lighter in the middle parts? I guess I\'ll understand why later but that won\'t keep me from asking now. Why?

 

[Shawn R. L.]

I got a chuckle from your Swill comment. A little good natured ribbing is fun. I too get a kick out of wine snob\'s.....\'hellooooo, it\'s just grape juice\' and it\'s just your imagination that there are hints of elderberries and apple pie.....puhleezzee.

About the washes. Being that this your first go at this such thing (an ongoing tutorial) there can be quite a bit of back and fourth, going over things many times, you dont want too much paint to build up. Nothing special, just get a good thin coat of color on.............on the mini, not the auto parts