14 replies to this topic

[Dominus Ex Machina]

Hi everybody. Quite a few people have contacted me lately asking how I paint green glowing lenses for my Space Marines. So quite a while ago I made a tutorial and everyone who has asked me via PM has received a link to it. Somebody suggested I post it here on the B&C forum as well to save them the trouble. So well here it is (alternatively you can go here for the latest and best looking version, found in the Librarium) :

Glowing lenses, green glow.
What you need:
-2x detail brush
-Dark Angels Green
-Snot Green
-Scorpion Green
-Vallejo Game Colour, Livery Green (if you only have access to GW paints use Scorpion Green with a bit of Skull White in it)
-Skull White

First paint the glowing part and add the light it gives away later (at least, that’s the way I prefer to do it).


Start by painting Dark Angels green on the lens (source of light) itself:



Then mix Dark Angels green and Snot green 50/50 and apply over the DA green:



Next use pure Snot green:



Now mix Snot green with Scorpion green and add some water or glaze medium to the mix so it is easier to blend on to the lens, this is when it gets important to leave some of the darker colours showing through the paint:



Follow up with pure Scorpion green, again blend it on to the lens but now only sparingly towards the edges, we want to keep the darker colours:



Next use livery green (or mix some Skull White with scorpion green), again only cover the edges of the lens:



Finish the lens by adding a wee bit of Skull White to the very most extreme edges of the lens, only a tiny, tiny bit!


Now the lens is finished, time for the glow! It is easier to get the glow right than the lens itself in my opinion, so don’t worry, if you managed the lens this will be nothing to worry about. I start by painting a thin line of scorpion green around the light source, remember that some areas will not be hit by the light (like in this case, or any other space marine helmet, above the eye lenses, since there is a small rim protruding there which hinders the light to cover that area, same goes for this skull helmet, the “eyebrows�? prevents the light from reaching his forehead but there is nothing stopping the light from reaching his chins). The darkest colour used here is Scorpion green, don’t worry to much about blending it nicely, I’ve discovered that simply painting a thin line around the lens works well, but of course, if you are good at blending go ahead. Finish by highlighting the edges closest to the light source on your Scorpion green line with Livery green and you’re done! Sometimes I go one step further though by adding a tiny bit of skull white to the areas that are very close to the light source (I did on this chaplain). Easy!

(Note that some stronger Skull White was added to the eyes)





Good Luck! Comments and criticism is much appreciated!

Edited by The Angelus Sanctus, 13 July 2009 - 01:13 PM.

[Raziellycas]

I've already saw this tutorial on another forum with also other special effect and it was immediately saved on my pc... really useful and clear I'll wait other tutorials from you

[Master Chaplain Astador]

Good tutorial mate! I didn't know you were making it while painting your chaplain!

[Phal Brannon]

That looks sweet!

Good clear tutorial so much so i'm gonna try it!

[Merik]

Seems easy enough. Ill try it on some red lenses.

[HellChyld]

would be a nice tutorial for the librarium

[SCC]

Another excellent tutorial is added to the Librarium! Excellent use of headers and colours in the article itself too Dominus Ex Machina

And thanks to Nephren-Ka for the heads up, good call adding this to the Librarium mate

[Aerixis]

Awesome!

I was hoping as I clicked the link that there'd be some OSL here!

Fantastic!

[Grand Master Tchezzarus]

Just a little add-on as someone revived this tread :
In the last step add 1/3 to 1/2 of "Glow in the dark medium". It won't change much the final aspect, but as soon as your mini is in the shade... it's eyes will glow like your watch does!
you could find this product here :
https://www.decoart....ory_Code=DS-2oz
On a side note, this compagny got some other interesting mediums like the perlizing one wich give an irridescent efect to acrylics.

Tchezz.

[Gorgerak]

I have an extension for this topic.

As part of an objective marker I'm making I am having a coffin and I want it to be "hovering" above the ground with a green glow coming from underneath it to show the magic holding it up.

Do you have any other tips for doing this tutorial but on a bigger scale??

cheers guys

[Highborn Mergula]

Hi everybody. Quite a few people have contacted me lately asking how I paint green glowing lenses for my Space Marines. So quite a while ago I made a tutorial and everyone who has asked me via PM has received a link to it. Somebody suggested I post it here on the B&C forum as well to save them the trouble. So well here it is (alternatively you can go here for the latest and best looking version, found in the Librarium) :

Glowing lenses, green glow.
What you need:
-2x detail brush
-Dark Angels Green
-Snot Green
-Scorpion Green
-Vallejo Game Colour, Livery Green (if you only have access to GW paints use Scorpion Green with a bit of Skull White in it)
-Skull White

First paint the glowing part and add the light it gives away later (at least, that’s the way I prefer to do it).


Start by painting Dark Angels green on the lens (source of light) itself:



Then mix Dark Angels green and Snot green 50/50 and apply over the DA green:



Next use pure Snot green:



Now mix Snot green with Scorpion green and add some water or glaze medium to the mix so it is easier to blend on to the lens, this is when it gets important to leave some of the darker colours showing through the paint:



Follow up with pure Scorpion green, again blend it on to the lens but now only sparingly towards the edges, we want to keep the darker colours:



Next use livery green (or mix some Skull White with scorpion green), again only cover the edges of the lens:



Finish the lens by adding a wee bit of Skull White to the very most extreme edges of the lens, only a tiny, tiny bit!


Now the lens is finished, time for the glow! It is easier to get the glow right than the lens itself in my opinion, so don’t worry, if you managed the lens this will be nothing to worry about. I start by painting a thin line of scorpion green around the light source, remember that some areas will not be hit by the light (like in this case, or any other space marine helmet, above the eye lenses, since there is a small rim protruding there which hinders the light to cover that area, same goes for this skull helmet, the “eyebrows�? prevents the light from reaching his forehead but there is nothing stopping the light from reaching his chins). The darkest colour used here is Scorpion green, don’t worry to much about blending it nicely, I’ve discovered that simply painting a thin line around the lens works well, but of course, if you are good at blending go ahead. Finish by highlighting the edges closest to the light source on your Scorpion green line with Livery green and you’re done! Sometimes I go one step further though by adding a tiny bit of skull white to the areas that are very close to the light source (I did on this chaplain). Easy!

(Note that some stronger Skull White was added to the eyes)





Good Luck! Comments and criticism is much appreciated!

really awesome dude everything looks great and i do wanna know how did you paint theese lightning claws? awesome stuff

[kaz.]

Nice tutorial...i will try this tomorrow.

[Lestat]

Nice tutorial - just saved this to my computer so I can print it out later.

Great work!

[miniaturepainter]

Been a long time since I've been on B&C and been looking all over the 'net for this step by step. Thanks for the post, I saw it back in '07 and thought wow, thanks again bud.

[EtriX]

I am gonna try this on my Termies later tonight.