Learning how to paint a fire effect with OSL doesn’t have to be hard, check out this painting fire tutorial to get your miniatures on point!
Galharen has some amazing hobby content and if you need some sweet tips, you should follow him to get up on all your painting and conversion techniques!
This time around he paints up some awesome flames with the OSL effect added and doesn’t even use the airbrush. It’s a pretty easy way to get a really cool effect without a ton of effort. Let’s get into the tutorial!
How to Paint a Fire Effect With OSL: Galharen Tutorial
He’s going to make the model on the left look like the right! Let’s see how he does it.
Step 1:
He starts with Liquitex White Ink and paints all of the flames, but then also where he wants the OSL to be. With the paint being more saturated where the strongest sources of light will be.
Step 2:
Next, he breaks out Orange Fire from Vallejo. For the OSL areas, he dilutes the paint, but for the main flame, he does not dilute it at all. Just be sure to use good thin layers instead of thick coats. Next, he takes a very watered-down version of the White Ink to fill the recesses of the flames. Then on the areas of the OSL, where the brightest parts are, he highlights with the white as well.
Step 3:
For this step, he mixes Sun Yellow and Gold Yellow from Vallejo. He then goes over all the OSL areas where he painted the white highlights in the step above. As well as on the main flame. Next, he breaks out Flat Red and darkens the tips of the flames. He tries to keep it smooth by doing this more like a glaze.
Final Step: Painting Fire on Miniatures
For this he uses Black and paints the very tips of the flames, again using the mid colors as glazes.
Finished Model
There you have it! Some great-looking effects without that much trouble!
Click Here To Follow Galharen on Instagram or YouTube
Have you tried to paint fire OSL yet- what do you think of this painting tutorial?
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
