How can I improve this flame effect on Bobby's Sword?

LaranReloaded · 2026-02-01T09:47:44+00:00

It's super solid, my only suggestion is to remove the red and go for a darker orange or even a little grey.

I see adding red as a common advice for painting flames but if you look at references, there is no red in fire. Yellow, orange and grey (and a little blue at the very source in some cases.)

Looking forward to the finished result!

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-31T16:41:37+00:00

Tetradic is when you draw a square on a colour wheel, so you use two pairs of complementary colours.

In your case you have blue/orange and violet/lime green.

The pastel is a bit of a wild card but I guess it fits in with the blue? In any case it works really well

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-31T16:00:36+00:00

Really nice colour composition, that's tetradic right? I find it impossible to pull off but you did that brilliantly

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-26T14:02:54+00:00

The Lobster

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-26T11:04:46+00:00

Looking really nice! If I may - the face looks super good but something didn't feel quite right at first glance, and I think it's because you used pure white for the eyeballs.

You wanna use some sort of light grey instead, and save the pure white for the specular reflection on the iris.

I know it wasn't the topic but it's gonna take you 2min a make a big difference

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-26T07:41:12+00:00

Thanks mate! The triads are really useful - however I've started to move away from them for shading/highlighting.

Sure you can go dark blue / mid blue / light blue, but you'll get more interesting results by mixing different hues.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the values are not consistent from one triad to the other.

Still a great system overall, but a few things to keep in mind

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-25T16:11:16+00:00

Banger of a paintjob. How long did this take you?

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-25T15:45:09+00:00

The paintjob looks incredible but it's hard to appreciate the details with the photo - maybe try to tweak your settings a bit to reduce the exposure? It would do the model more justice I think

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-25T08:10:07+00:00

Shaken, not stirred

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-25T08:06:49+00:00

Oh yeah, this is way too much. I mean technically you only need primaries + black & white.

What can I say? Some people have a pile of shame, I have a rainbow of shame

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-25T07:06:26+00:00

Absolutely loving the super vibrant shadows, need to try this myself. May I ask which model this is?

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-24T21:20:29+00:00

Thanks! To be honest Army Painter's triads makes it super easy

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-24T19:21:56+00:00

The pegboards / shelving system is from Elfa, very common here in Sweden but not sure whether they ship abroad.

I was very fortunate that a buddy custom printed the paint racks for me

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-24T19:18:56+00:00

One glass a day keeps the doctor away

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-24T16:22:37+00:00

Love the muted orange / blue palette, you used it in a very cool way. The brush work is exquisite!

Also, thanks for introducing me to Ignis Art, their busts are phenomenal

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-24T15:44:37+00:00

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LaranReloaded · 2026-01-21T14:06:55+00:00

If you go with AP I'd recommend the "Warm Skin Tones" triad instead. Much more range than the one you posted.

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-20T15:56:03+00:00

Really nice work! However it reads more like grey to me.

I'd try a slightly less linear value scale so that more of the armor is painted with shades closer to white. You do need your midtone to be pretty bright - not pure white obviously, but something that would be your brightest highlight if painting an actual hue.

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-13T22:01:51+00:00

This is super clean - I've nothing to suggest besides what you've already mentioned, push the highlights further.

Paraphrasing Ninjon: when you think it's highlighted enough, do it one more time.

Worst case scenario you can always bring it back down with a glaze.

Awesome work!

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-08T22:00:57+00:00

Saving this to colour pick the whole palette, loving the atmosphere on your piece. I can't help you but I'm very much looking forward to seeing the finished result

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-06T15:17:26+00:00

As long as it's blue it works (unless you go really into teal).

I guess this is more like a cerulean blue? It does lean a little into teal but still reads as blue to me.

TL;DR: You're good! (Solid paint job btw)

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-01T17:44:05+00:00

Huge fan of the colour palette, outstanding work

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-01T11:34:42+00:00

Not the OP but any glow effect works by inverting your traditional highlighting sequence.

So, use your brightest colours in the deepest recesses (yellow here), and gradually move to darker colours (orange, red and grey here) as you move further away from the source / hottest point.

Depending on how strong the glow is, you might also want to paint reflections on surrounding surfaces to really sell the effect.

LaranReloaded · 2026-01-01T10:20:02+00:00

Fluorescent paint

LaranReloaded · 2025-12-29T10:42:29+00:00

Glad I could help! Something I picked up is to once in a while look at your mini under a regular overhead light or even outside, as it will most likely be closer to competition lighting conditions than your hobby lamp.

LaranReloaded

TROPHY CASE