Tutorial by:

Krzysztof Kobalczyk

Light
Painting

on miniatures
 light theory
As promised, I want
to show you a tutorial
about how I approached
painting the Esthel
bust from Nocturna
Models. I will show
you how I interpret light
and my way to transfer
it in a realistic way
to a miniature.
2
My main inspiration for this sort of painting are artworks
of different artists and materials for making studio
photography. They are always painted on a flat surface
but you can see that by using light you can achieve
a three-dimensional look and there is always one main
light source and always one or more weak secondary
lights that fill the represented character and add
perspective. The main light source is generated by the
sun, a window, a lamp or something that illuminates
the character and gives a basic mood. This light
influences most of the character and has impact on
the colors, their saturation and placement of shadows.
The secondary light sources are mostly generated by
light reflected from close surfaces. You can also use
weak light sources of a different color that come from
behind the character and change the mood.
Below you can see a representation of light and how
it interacts with a sphere. It’s important to have this
in mind when painting a miniature and to treat it as
a geometric shape. For most surfaces, a sphere is
sufficient but you should keep an open mind and don’t
focus to much on the details of the miniature. In my
opinion, one of most important things is the placement
of core shadow and I always try to start with this and
then I paint halftones and highlights. After that, I come
back to paint the reflected light and you will see this
on how I approached painting Esthel.
 light theory
My first step is to look at the
miniature and find an interesting
side where I can focus the light and
use the sculpt. For this bust I made
some photos under my painting
lamp to see how this works. Here
you have some photos of the pure
mini. The first one is just the central
front view from where the light will
fall on the character.

On the second and third picture,

you can see the side and I didn’t
change the position of the
miniature regarding the light
source. It’s helps to make photos
to have a quick reference when
painting so you can see how
the light falls naturally. It’s very
important to look at lines of core
shadow that can be seen on her
right cheek and the shoulder.

3
 light theory

My next step was to make a sketch

using an airbrush to represent the
basic light so that it looks like the
earlier photos made under the
lamp. I started from a black primer
and then I added some grey and
a little white to mark the places
where there is more light. I have
done this to build a basic contrast
that I will use adding colors with
glazes. Bright colors are more
intensive on bright basecoat
and they lose intensity on dark
basecoat and this is very visible
in case of primary colors such as
red and yellow. Blue tends to be
intensive on darker basecoats.
Here you have two photos of how
it looks at this point.

At this stage, I have also added the

secondary light source falling from
behind to fill the dark places and
add a 3d feeling to the miniature.
This light source will be also visible
from the front as the rim that you
can see on the image of the sphere.
In my opinion, it sets the miniature
in its own reality showing that
something is happening around
the miniature and that it is part
of its surroundings.

4
 adding color
My next step was to begin coloring
the miniature. Here you have
a photo of the paints I used. I use
mostly Scale 75 paints from their
Scale Color line. I like those paints
for their consistency, covering
value and strong pigment. As for
the white I like using the Createx
Airbrush Color paint because it's
very strong and bright

Using an airbrush, I covered my

sketch with colors so I will have
a base to paint with glazes. For
this I used a thin layer of Scale 75
Pink Flesh and then a layer of Light
Flesh and Pale Flesh just focusing
on more lit places according to the
earlier sketch I have made.

Then I started to color the whole miniature with very
thin glazes mixed with a little of airbrush thinner. I add
the airbrush thinner because it makes the paint more
fluid and more easy to blend. It’s especially good with
scale 75 paints because they have a dense consistency
and heavy pigment. With paints such as Citadel or
Vallejo you should be ok with only water because they
are a little glossy and the thinner would give them even
more gloss. To add fluency and to make the transitions
more easily.

Here you have a photo of my wet

palette and how I mixed the colors.
I always do this in such a way
because the paint is very thin and
normally all the mixes would melt
into one big puddle if they were
too close on the palette. The paint
should have a milky consistency.

5
 adding color
Here you can see some progress photos on how the whole surface with dark paint the basic light effect
I painted the mini. Painting different areas, I always will be ruined. Having this in mind try to use the base
start with shadows and I covered them with color only as a guide for placing highlights and shadows.
in places that I wanted to, because if you would paint

6
 adding color

After painting the whole base

skin color, I started to add the
violet back light to fill the whole
miniature and add some cold
colors to further mark the primary
light source and focus the attention
of the viewer.

To do this I mixed all the colors

I used for her skin with violet
because that’s the color of light
I have chosen to fall from behind.
I used some thin glazes of blue
to mark the light reflected by the
material from her left breast.

Here you can see the process

of adding the additional light
source. It’s very important to look
ifthe light works when viewing from
different angles to make this work.

7
 adding color
OK, here you have the final photo of the skin. I hope If you like this tutorial, and would like to leave
this will help you to better understand how this was a comment, you can reach me on my facebook profile.
made and what I had in mind painting this bust.

COPYRIGHT 2017 REDART KRZYSZTOF KOBALCZYK

Model: Esthel
Company: Nocturna Models
Revision: Shane Rozzell
Layout: Marta Slusarska