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Lightning Effect Tutorial- Hobby Basics

By Rob Baer | November 6th, 2011 | Categories: Chaos Space Marines, Hobby Hacks, How To Tutorial, Warhammer 40k

Well I’m still out at The Feast of Blades Grand Tournament in Denver Colorado, but I wanted to post up this great how to on painting lightning effect by Dan the Deamon.

Recently I posted up some of Dan’s amazing Night Lords on here and his lightning effects are top notch to say the least.

So I grabbed this tutorial from his forum thread to share with everyone. You can checkout more of his work from this blog here.

From Dan the Deamon,
I took some quick pics to show the process. Those seriously interested need to check out Nihm’s Lightning Tutorial. I used this this. There are some things that I had to find out the hard way though.
Thin your paints a lot
You want all the paints going on almost translucent. If they are too thick your lightning will be harsh and chalky.
Above you can see (left to right) enchanted blue watered down, enchanted blue watered down further, and ice blue watered down extra.

When mixing the colors on your pallet you want them to be thin enough to receed back into themselves after you’ve moved them around. It’s hard to describe but there is a sweet spot.

Enchanted

Ice Blue

Skull White
These are some crappy pictures to show you how translucent the paints must be. Follow Nihm’s guide and keep each color inside the one before it. 
Also notice the base of the figure during the ice blue/skull white phases. I wiped the excess paint off on the base and practiced keeping the colors inside the lines before I applied anything.

The last thing you want is to attack your wonderful models with ice blue before you know just what your brush is going to do.

Da Finished Product;

Seems easy enough? I know I leaned a lot. -MBG

Oh and if you can leave Dan some works of encouragement to keep up the hobby, he’s been drifting as of late, and well everyone needs a few kind words now and then right?

About the Author: Rob Baer

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Rob Baer

Job Title: Managing Editor

Founded Spikey Bits in 2009

Socials: Rob Baer on Facebook and @catdaddymbg on X

About Rob Baer: Founder, Publisher, & Managing Editor of Spikey Bits, the leading tabletop gaming news website focused on the hobby side of wargaming and miniatures.

Rob also co-founded and currently hosts the Long War Podcast, which has over 350 episodes and focuses on tabletop miniatures gaming, specializing in Warhammer 40k. and spent six years writing for Bell of Lost Souls. 

Every year, along with his co-hosts, he helps host the Long War 40k Doubles Tournament at Adepticon and the Long War 40k Doubles at Las Vegas Open, which attracts over 350 players from around the world.

Rob has won many Warhammer 40k Tournaments over the years, including multiple first-place finishes in Warhammer 40k Grand Tournaments over the years and even winning 1st place at the Adepticon 40k Team Tournament.

With over 30 years of experience in retail and distribution, Rob knows all the products and exactly which ones are the best. As a member of GAMA (Game Manufacturers Association), he advocates for gaming stores and manufacturers in these difficult times, always looking for the next big thing to feature for the miniatures hobby, helping everyone to provide the value consumers want.

While he’s played every edition of Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy (since 5th Edition) and has been hobbying on miniatures since the 1980s, Titans of all sizes will always be his favorite! It’s even rumored that his hobby vault rivals the Solemnance Galleries, containing rulebooks filled with lore from editions long past, ancient packs of black-bordered Magic Cards, and models made of both pewter and resin.

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