Paints / techniques for a pastel "soft" fluo effect?

[Kastor Krieg]

I'm looking to achieve this kind of palette - a softened (not harsh 100% fluo) fluorescent mesh of colors, very vibrant, but not "100% solid", a bit pastel. I'm curious if any of you could advise how would you go about achieving this - techniques, specific paints?

 

[Kinstryfe]

Oh goodness, that looks ambitious.

 

What meager brainstorming I can manage, I'd recommend maybe looking at the citadel Edge colors. They all tend to be muted pastels. I would also recommend looking at other acrylic paints. Should be able to get the dayglo type colors you'd need somehow from a craft shop.

[Cpt_Reaper]

I'd imagine using an airbrush would be the way to go.

[Mileposter]

Definitely going to recommend the Citadel Edge paints. I did a "Kiddy Cartoon" model for a birthday present with them, gets that sort of color to them. Add in some of Citadel's paint Tints, and that should be able to give you the range of shades you need. For additional depth, can go over some of them with Citadel Glaze.

 

... yeah, i can only speak to Citadel paints, because that's all I use.

 

I might also suggest sponge-brushing on a layer of Lamian Medium between each color layer, too - helped give it that dull 'marshmellow' texture that the bio-luminescent type creatures have to their color. Did that with the Cartoon model, made it look appropriately pastel.

[Subtle Discord]

If you're really serious about this idea, consider doing some research into powdered Fluorescent and/or Luminescent Pigments. Fluorescent Pigments will create the 'day glow' effect of a varying degree depending on the amount you use, and the Luminescent Pigments will literally glow when 'charged' with a light source. Both come in a range of colours that can match the scheme you're going for. Also, I say 'if you're really serious' because this will be a product (or several) that you need to invest in and you'll need to add them to a bottle of paint, forever altering the paint. Naturally, you can mix as you go if absolutely consistent results aren't a big deal, but like any custom mixed paint, if you want consistency over time you'll need to make a whole bottle.

 

The beauty of something like this is that you'll have complete control over how intense of an effect you'll achieve. Start with a strong base colour of the shade you're interested in, add a modest amount of the corresponding colour pigment powder, and turn the intensity up to ten. Or, go all Spinal Tap on the paint, add a significant amount of the pigment powder, and crank that paint intensity up to eleven! "Why do our amplifiers have volume nobs that go to eleven? Oh, that's simple, because eleven is louder than ten!" If you choose colours that clash with each other (a vivid purple and green, for example) and put them side-by-side and you can make the effect even more intense, bordering on eye-watering to look at, if you do it right.

 

As a final word of advice, if you do consider going this route when you're done the paint job be sure to put a varnish coat on the model that offers good ultraviolet (UV) protection. In particular, the Fluorescent Pigments are very susceptible to UV light damage and the glow effect will fade considerably over time if not protected. As I've learned over the years UV light damage is surprisingly harsh on all pigments altering them significantly over time, even if the paint isn't exposed to strong UV sources like sunlight. So, even if the models won't be in a display case bathed in light 24/7, don't skimp on the protection. In your case, it's likely that most/all paints that you'll be using as a base will come with anti-UV additives already in the mix, but these pigments are so sensitive to UV that it's in your best interest to double-down on the protection.

 

Edit: P.S. The marine organism you've shown likely has some form of bio-luminescence going on, so it's literally glowing. Or, the photographer has added some 'black light' to the composition to intensify the natural colours the critter. It's going to be quite challenging to achieve really similar results with mere paint, but I think something within the same realm can be had if you're willing to do some experimentation.

Edited December 28, 2017 by Subtle Discord