I recently completed a model for the Reaper Challenge League. I painted exactly the same model as two other painters. This particular model carried a lantern in their hand held high. Bergamot the halfling rogue strikes me as an individual who works under low light conditions.

Now the model had to be the same but each of us painted him in our own way. It appears to me that Bergamot is wearing heavier armor, at least over his legs. I actually saw him more as a soldier doing his evening/night patrol, protecting those he loves and his country. Since this was going to be an OSL (object source lighting) situation, I started off with a black primer, followed by a light dry brush of white on the front portion of the model.

From there, I chose the colors I wanted to use for this project. I knew his profession, what he was doing, and rough time of day. At this point, I needed to decide a more precise time. I chose dusk, mainly because I wanted to keep some color in the back of the miniature but still get some of the OSL effect.

Next I decided the light source would be an oil lamp, mainly to introduce a bit of yellow to the color palette. With the colors chosen, I set about making the back half of Bergamot darker in shade than the front half. In contrast, most of his back half would have been black had I chose a night scene instead. If this was a day time scene, there would be little to no OSL as the sun is much brighter than any artificial light source. Using OSL in the wrong context can make a miniature look off or out of place.

Above is the finished model. Overall, I’m pleased with the results, but see some things I could improve on. Making the back half darker would improve the effect, as well as using different colors of grass to help indicate the darkening effect. My non-metallic metals could be better but that will come with more practice. Till next time.