How to paint fire
2017-08-25
Share the linkThe trick is to think backward. Normally you paint shadows in the recesses of a model and then highlights on the edges emphasising how the external light plays on the shape. Fire has a light of its own and so the roles are reversed and the deeper you go, the lighter it will be.
Fire
Note on colour: dependent on the substance being burned a fire can have different colours, like: red for wood, blue for natural gas and alcohol, green for boric acid or violet for potassium salts. Even in a realistic setting you can choose any colour you like. The lightest you can go is pure white for substances with high temperatures and uniform light emission.
- Paint the flame in a lightest colour you want to have. For a classic wood fire it is yellow.
- Put very thin layers of darker and more reddish colours on protruding flames. Classically orange and then red.
- Finish with thin layers of black on the parts most distant from the flame core.
See the pictures as separate pages: Fire
