A Short Intro into OSL
OSL (Object Source Lighting) is a colouring technique whereby one of the parts on the miniature or on its base emits some kind of light that is lighting that same miniature. With this technique, the contrasts are great and are usually differently coloured than the rest of the subject. I decided to create a diorama where the pirate / sailor is sailing on a boat and sirens are coming out of the sea. I have decided to use the sirens as sources for my OSL. I made the body of the sea using two pastes produced by AK Interactive and that can be obtained easily in Croatia via Carta Magica or Cro Hobby. The paste I have chosen is Pacific Blue Water Gel and Transparent Water Gel. Since I wanted the boat to be dirty with algae, I needed extra texture along the waterline so I used Corrosion Texture from the same manufacturer. I painted the boat with various brown shades.
When the colour was dry, I placed several layers of green "glaze". Glaze is a colour with very little pigment, in fact, it is what is called "filter" in plastic modelling. By adding more thin layers, colouration is obtained by the gradual pigmentation of certain parts. After the glazing was dry, the slightly raised parts of the texture were covered with a thin layer of light green just to add some contrast. I basecoated the sirens white and shaded them with couple of glazes. I used Citadel colours - very diluted Nihilakh Oxide and Guilliman Glaze. After I glued the sirens in their places, I started to be paint white the first layer of Pacific Blue Water Gel. I used a diluted white acrylic colour. For diluting, I used Citadel Lahmian Medium (what other companies call "flow improver"). I tried to simulate a glimmer inside the water with a brush. Also, after painting the sea, I started adding OSL effect to the boat. In this step, I've added pretty rough transitions, just enough to get the feeling of the reflection of the light. In addition to Guilliman Glaze, I used Citadel Midnight Blue and Skull White. After the colour cured, I mixed two gels (Pacific Blue and Transparent) and covered the entire surface. While doing this I made sure that the surface of the sea was not straight, I tried to imitate the waves.
When this layer of gel cured, I added a layer of pure Transparent Water Gel. With careful modelling, I tried to get the waves made by the boat, but also from the sirens by jumping out and diving into the sea. When the gel was almost dry, I decided to finish OSL. By carefully mixing the colours and diluting the mixture with Lahmian Medium, I got gradual transitions from dark to light on the hull of a boat.
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