haasje dutchairbrush
Air-Valve Autobot!
As this seems to be a reoccuring theme I thought it might be handy to have a place to refer people to when the start out with "true fire". It's not intended to be a step by step as there are more than enough of those around. Most step by steps and movies are done by the "pro's" though and they generaly make it seem very easy as it is something they did a gazillion times before. This post is intended to sumarise the stuff that is generaly not mentioned in video's but which is pretty essential to get a good result.
Feel free to post your own tips and tricks here .
For those starting out with flames, the video's make it look a lot easier than it is and resign yourself to the fact that it will take some practice. There are a couple of methods to do true fire these are some tips that should be generaly true for all of those.
Tips & Tricks
-Keep some references of flames close by and study the shapes and forms of flames. When watching video's it often looks like they just spray down some paint and it magicaly becomes a flame. These people have studied flames and know how a flame is shaped.
-Make sure your flame licks have a shape and form, they originate at some point and have an ending. Also the tend to fade, going from bright (yellow/white) to dark (red)
-Don't "flood fill" your work with flames. To get some depth going you'll need to have the bckground shine through.
-Unless you are doing details keeps some distance from your work. You get flames by creating transitions between your colors so overspray is your friens. Going too close creates "spagetti" flames.
-Don't overdo the masks. Certainly when beginning it's often better to do it just freehand. Overuse of masks creates the cheese effect . Only use a mask to accentuate the hot and bright parts of the flames or do detail where neded. Again when watching video's it looks liket they just randomly hold their shields against the canvas and flames magicaly appear, theyse guy's know exactly why the use the shield and where they use it though.
-As you want transitions from light to dark (yellow for the hot part to red for the cooler part of the flame) you want overspray when doing flames. Unless you do detail keep the brush at an angle (especialy when spraing across mask)
-Never ever re-use as shape on your mask. In nature you'll never see the same shape twice in a fire. Repeating a shape on your mask will about instantly kill any realism you have going on.
-Keep your masks clean
-When using candy keep in mind the "bleed*". Especialy red waterbased paint has a tendency to turn pink when you do the hot spots in white in the last layer when it has been applied in a thick layer. The bleeding is something used with candies to get the nice transitions so it's not a bad thing, you will need to get a feel for how the different collors react with each other though.
*It will react/mix with colors applied later on
-When using candies it's probably nice to know why you are using them . The trick with cany is that you lay down a layer of opaque paint followed by a candy that is darker than the opaque. This will "blend" the opaque into any layers applied before them which creates these nice natural looking transitions in the flames.
-Flames tend to be brighter at the bottom (point of origin) so you can do lots of bright yelow and white at the bottom but make sure to have some fades to red at the top
-As you want to have fades you will generaly do less with each layer (this depends a bit on the method used)
Feel free to post your own tips and tricks here .
For those starting out with flames, the video's make it look a lot easier than it is and resign yourself to the fact that it will take some practice. There are a couple of methods to do true fire these are some tips that should be generaly true for all of those.
Tips & Tricks
-Keep some references of flames close by and study the shapes and forms of flames. When watching video's it often looks like they just spray down some paint and it magicaly becomes a flame. These people have studied flames and know how a flame is shaped.
-Make sure your flame licks have a shape and form, they originate at some point and have an ending. Also the tend to fade, going from bright (yellow/white) to dark (red)
-Don't "flood fill" your work with flames. To get some depth going you'll need to have the bckground shine through.
-Unless you are doing details keeps some distance from your work. You get flames by creating transitions between your colors so overspray is your friens. Going too close creates "spagetti" flames.
-Don't overdo the masks. Certainly when beginning it's often better to do it just freehand. Overuse of masks creates the cheese effect . Only use a mask to accentuate the hot and bright parts of the flames or do detail where neded. Again when watching video's it looks liket they just randomly hold their shields against the canvas and flames magicaly appear, theyse guy's know exactly why the use the shield and where they use it though.
-As you want transitions from light to dark (yellow for the hot part to red for the cooler part of the flame) you want overspray when doing flames. Unless you do detail keep the brush at an angle (especialy when spraing across mask)
-Never ever re-use as shape on your mask. In nature you'll never see the same shape twice in a fire. Repeating a shape on your mask will about instantly kill any realism you have going on.
-Keep your masks clean
-When using candy keep in mind the "bleed*". Especialy red waterbased paint has a tendency to turn pink when you do the hot spots in white in the last layer when it has been applied in a thick layer. The bleeding is something used with candies to get the nice transitions so it's not a bad thing, you will need to get a feel for how the different collors react with each other though.
*It will react/mix with colors applied later on
-When using candies it's probably nice to know why you are using them . The trick with cany is that you lay down a layer of opaque paint followed by a candy that is darker than the opaque. This will "blend" the opaque into any layers applied before them which creates these nice natural looking transitions in the flames.
-Flames tend to be brighter at the bottom (point of origin) so you can do lots of bright yelow and white at the bottom but make sure to have some fades to red at the top
-As you want to have fades you will generaly do less with each layer (this depends a bit on the method used)