Jump to content

My Reaper BONES kickstarter has arrived!


Recommended Posts

 

So looking at the little red ball of fire and "wall" of fire minis, I don't think I even want to paint them. I have a sorcerer in Pathfinder who could use those right away, just the way they are, and I don't see how painting them would improve them over their starting red color.

I think I'll just put a few yellow highlights on them, should look good with minimal work. Here's the WotC 'flaming sphere' I own - mi20060824a_flamingsphere.jpg

I'm thinking something like that, only transparent.

Keep in mind that that'll be backwards: fire is hottest, and therefore brightest and yellowest, at the center, and then gets darker and redder towards the tips.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 1.1k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

 

 

So looking at the little red ball of fire and "wall" of fire minis, I don't think I even want to paint them. I have a sorcerer in Pathfinder who could use those right away, just the way they are, and I don't see how painting them would improve them over their starting red color.

I think I'll just put a few yellow highlights on them, should look good with minimal work. Here's the WotC 'flaming sphere' I own - mi20060824a_flamingsphere.jpg

I'm thinking something like that, only transparent.

Keep in mind that that'll be backwards: fire is hottest, and therefore brightest and yellowest, at the center, and then gets darker and redder towards the tips.

 

Except that isn't always true. Fire is very fickle, and changes greatly during a burn. Hotspots can and do occur throughout fire events, and move dramatically from moment to moment. Look at this image. The lightest, and hottest, spots occur around the outside, presumably caused by the availability of and interaction with oxygen. FYI, this particular firey moment is caused by a fire breather, so it is about as close as we get to a red dragon's exhalation.

800px-Flame_of_fire.jpg

 

Here's another image of fire, showing the hottest areas are to one side, presumably on the side facing the breeze where it gets the most oxygen.

 

fire-intro-pic.jpg

 

Some more images, making a painting determination even trickier:

 

FIRE%202%20GENERIC.jpg

fire.jpg

fire-resistance-quiz1.jpg

 

Wood fires, especially large ones like forest or house fires, definitely tend to share the properties you mention, with the hottest, whitest flames in toward the bottom and center, but liquid and gas fueled fires tend to burn hottest and brightest around the edges where there is more oxygen to interact with. I'd imagine a magically conjured flame would share more properties with this type of flame due to their ephemeral and ethereal nature. Of course, since we are talking about magic, you can write your own rules and have flames look and act however you like.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Understand that in the case of a "fire breather", he's actually spitting the fuel out and most of it is igniting well away from his body. That is, the point of ignition is very close to the brightest part of the image.

 

For a dragon, is he breathing/spitting fuel and having it ignite outside his body or is he building up heat and spitting the superheated gases out of his mouth? Your decision should inform your painting.

 

In the case of a fire elemental, my prejudice is for the creature being made of heat, which will cool as it gets farther from the core, so start bright and go to dark at the outsides.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doug, in a creature made of heat where is the core? I mean as a human you a made of a mixture of different cells that make different tissues, which make organs, which make systems, which make you. But like your elemental is heat you are cells. There isn't a "core", sure there are non-critical systems, but even they are made of cells which are fundamentally the same as all your other cells. Further in the grand scheme of things red flames are pretty cold, wouldn't a being composed of heat be hotter? Blue or white hot?

 

We paint minis with red flames because those cooler flames are the ones that are most familiar, if the eye reads the mini as fire does the positioning of the yellow vs the orange really matter?

 

Personally I mostly see Bunsen burner flames so either blue or yellow with little other colour, but that would read bad on a mini.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doug, in a creature made of heat where is the core?

 

It's in the middle. Remember that we're talking about "my prejudice" here.

 

Paint any way you like; I prefer (most of the time) to have the middle or base (depending on the subject) be the hottest part of a flame. If you want your flame creatures to be more like the sun, where the corona is the hottest part, go for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, this thread is WAY off topic.

 

I thought it would be about people getting their stuff. But its actually about. . . what ever comes to mind I guess.

Welcome to the Reaper forums! Off-topic is more than just a slogan, it is a way of life.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Wow, this thread is WAY off topic.

 

I thought it would be about people getting their stuff. But its actually about. . . what ever comes to mind I guess.

Welcome to the Reaper forums! Off-topic is more than just a slogan, it is a way of life.

The other unofficial motto of the Reaper Forums.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...