How to use Fluorescent Paints - HC 369

In this Hobby Cheating Tutorial, I take you through the tricky fluorescent paints, which ones you should use, how to use them and some special tips and tricks for them. Hope you enjoy!
0:00 Intro
1:12 Paints
3:00 Examples
4:01 Undercoat
7:15 Highlights
10:00 Popping Colors
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[@spencerarmstrong258]

"There's probably not much call for hot pink Skaven, but I think there should be." I'm adding this to my Vincy V's words of wisdom, right after "never be too good to drybrush a rock." Thanks for the video, this one is timely for me, I've just started messing with these.

[@RookieBrushes]

I could have painted for one thousand years and never thought of underpainting with fluorescents! Thank you for everything you do, Vince.

[@VinceVenturella]

Happy to help!

[@ger5956]

I found a great use for fluorescent blue, recently I was painting up an ultramarines character and found I’d really desaturated the blue after I’d done all my blending/highlights. It looked way paler than I wanted but I was really happy with the blends, I ended up making a thin glaze with AK Fluorescent blue and it really saved the paint job and added much needed saturation and really made it pop.

[@crashingatom6755]

The AK fluor blue is looooovely.

[@Born_Stellar]

I keep grabbing the ak flor blue as a super saturated highlight.

[@clinch4402]

Ultramarines 🥱

[@p_serdiuk]

Fluorescence and glow-in-the-dark effects are very useful for cyberpunk-ish settings.

[@FrancosteinSA]

Dear Vincey V: A cool recipe for some toxic ooze is to mix the golden fluoro green and vallejo still water effect. The water effect adds viscosity and gloss. Incredibly easy 80s cartoon monster ooze

[@VinceVenturella]

Thanks for sharing :)

[@MadShamanLodur]

I've used the Fluorescent blue to help punctuate frost effects, frostbite on winterized miniatures, and to punch up accidental desaturated blues by glazing it over the top. In particular I've had the most luck with this with Golden High Flow.

[@Gherontius]

If you mix fluorescent blue into white, it makes a good "glowing white" effect. It's a solid choice for lightning effects or a holy magic or psychic power indication depending on your setting

[@113Josef]

Hey I’d love to see this effect, do you have any photos?

[@Gherontius]

@@113Josef Now I feel bad. I wish I could help but my phone is the only camera I have, and it's not just potato quality, it's an ancient potato quality. I'm not sure it could capture paint details on a car, much less a miniature.

[@FigureFortress]

I love these paints!!! It's kind of become my style. Almost everything I paint has some kind of glow or neon effects.

[@questgivercyradis8462]

Fluorescent red is also useful! I actually don't have any of these - I use fluorescent inks out of an airbrush usually. They blow out so nicely.

[@pistol0grip0pump]

If you ever want REALLY fluorescent, bright paints with good opacity check out Culture Hustle, they're also the ones with "The Blackest Black", their paints are really good, check them out! 🙂

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

I just KNOW Vince would love their "Pinkest Pink"!

[@Lex60]

I realized that blue does not have the punch of other fluorescent colors by itself, so I mixed a little with my highlighting blues and purples to make them pop a bit. Also, thanks for the tip on using pinks, I always had trouble with them and wanted to check on ideas before using them on my 80's schemes.

[@tamsinp7711]

I've used Vallejo fluo blue for engine glow on tiny starships - it works well for that, but the fluorescence is definitely weak compared to the other fluo colours.

[@danielschwarze781]

Titanium White is also fluorescent. And omnipresent in everything supposed to be really bright white, like printing paper or t-shirts.

[@Sherlock_Hulmes__]

Thanks for the feedback✍️✍️ Happy new year ✅✅ Expect more videos very soon🔜🔜 Send a direct message💌💌 I have something for you

[@Wijkert]

For people that are looking for a red fluorescent paint, try mixing magenta will yellow or orange fluorescent paint. Even mixing a fluorescent magenta with for example a regular warm yellow ink gives a pretty decent although a little less poppy result. Glaze such a mix over your red runes/fire/light etc for extra luminosity.

[@watermelonhelmet6854]

I wouldn't just dismiss the "glow in the dark" part. I recently painted a Doctor Strange display mini using paints that fluoresce under UV. On the shelf it just looks like a pretty normal mini, but being able to make the spell effects glow like the movie when I point a UV light at it is pretty cool. Yeah, it's a gimmick, and over-using any gimmick can be a bad thing... doesn't mean it can't also be cool.

[@aberodriguez4149]

Cool colors I liked the instructions on how to get the paint to show its best effects. Thank you.

[@DingoPaintsMinis]

Love this video. I had no idea we could use fluro colors this way. Thank you

[@prickswithstix1113]

Coooooool!! Going to play with it as an undercoat!! Great video. Thanks!!!!

[@chrisbarrett1006]

Nice I've never thought of using a fluorescent paint to pop a highlight . I'll have to give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

[@krzysztofmathews738]

This is great! I wish someone had told me these things years ago when I first tried a box of the Testors Fluorescents and concluded that they were just a disappointing gimmick..

[@j453]

Thank you Vince, very cool stuff.

[@bignerd7825]

Lol I thought Vince was talking to me! I just finished A Hot Pink Miami Vice themed Skaven Bloodbowl Team. They are obnoxious! I love them! Fast and Flashy!

[@Irongutsman]

Such a fantastic video- I am definitely in the camp of "tried to use but gave up" so was great to be able to resolve that problem. Cheers Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

Happy to help buddy.

[@Hushai1979]

Vince, you are a “ Encyclopedia of Valuable information… you cease not to disappoint me by watch your tutorial… I love your show. from Aiken, South Carolina.🎃

[@VinceVenturella]

My pleasure!

[@lectric]

Using fluorescent magenta as an undercoat for red, what an amazing trick.

[@JakeDogg-RIP]

Teach me Master Technomancer Vee! 🙌🥰👌🐶

[@nils466]

great video! will try to pop the red of my next mini like this!

[@Wijkert]

Undershading with fluorescent is something I have not tried yet and will experiment with in the near future. Great idea!

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@shanewalker3427]

Great video! I recently painted a Scarlet Witch with magical effects. I did the effect in Magenta then highlighted to white then airbrushed fluorescent pink and finished with a thin airbrush of red ink. It came out really bright. I'm going to try your approach of using it as an undercoat on a few other projects I have coming up to see how that works out for me! I don't own fluorescent blue yet (only one I don't have) so I think you just saved me $5.

[@chucklamb3496]

Very informative, thanks Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@alexandrefernandes6286]

Vince... once again, super content! You're great, thank you for these awesome videos you make.

[@VinceVenturella]

My pleasure!

[@bobjordan9385]

So glad you put blue in the bin!

[@DrParka]

6am? I guess it's true early birds catch the worm. Thanks for the video Vincent!

[@Mag0ne]

I've got some DRG Glyphids to paint and I'll definitely be using some of these techniques for them!

[@laam999]

Disappointed to hear blue is no good, but Ty for saving me the money, I thought it would make nice lenses.

[@MisterTingles]

florescent turquoise might be an option

[@1989eol]

Nice Video as always! Gave me some really nice ideas. Hope you are feeling better!

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@bigopeefish9800]

Man I value your videos!

[@tinataylor4203]

Thanks for the tips on using this paint, appreciate it.

[@VinceVenturella]

You bet!

[@jonathanvega4007]

Woah, Vince. It’s been a bit since I last watched a video. Awesome to see quality of videos still getting better.

[@VinceVenturella]

Welcome back!

[@BinxyBrown]

Thanks I'll experiment with those understanding tricks this weekend, hopefully pink works as an undershade for purple

[@markgnepper5636]

Great stuff friend 👏 👍

[@s33n34]

90k subscribers! Congratulations & well deserved! :-)

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you so much 😀

[@joerie.houthuijsen]

@@VinceVenturella Is that the greenstuffworld wet palette you use, and didn’t you find the sponge to soft when mixing?

[@tacoversustaco]

Very insightful as always. I'm going to try that red>pink today and see irl this very interesting idea. Reds are such a pain sometimes!

[@VinceVenturella]

You can do it!

[@Izzyspaintingworkshop]

Great video as always!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@Kit942]

I only just got into model painting recently, so I'm still learning which paints work nice and smooth at what consistency, and was discouraged when the fluorescent paints I got were testing so thin and transparent. I assumed I was doing something wrong. But watching this and realizing they work much better as a glaze/highlight paint because of that transparency was an immediate "duh!" moment for me haha. Extremely helpful, thank you

[@VinceVenturella]

Great to hear!

[@edpacca]

Came here to learn about fluorescent paints, eagerly clutching my new fluorescent blue 💔

[@M0U53B41T]

really interesting - they're not a paint that I'd even really thought about using before now

[@ovan2190]

Every time I see florescent paints I want to get them but I never know how they'll work so this helped answer a lot of questions :) I'm wondering if you have any tips for how to paint in a cyberpunk or synthwave style, I've seen a lot of videos but I never feel like I get a good explanation on how to start or what to focus on that doesn't involve an airbrush and with your style of videos you always cover the key steps and show the technique if it can be done with a brush which is very helpful. These videos are great Vince :)

[@dlvnmedia]

I’ve tried forever to get the blue fluorescent paints to work for Tron style FX - glad to hear it’s not just me who hates these

[@oleww50]

Me “I wonder if there’s a good tutorial video about painting fluorescent pink”… Vince saves the day once again! 😁❤️

[@VinceVenturella]

😁

[@thelonepainter4760]

Awesome job!😊

[@VinceVenturella]

Thank you! 😄

[@IIItiberius]

very helpful!!!

[@dennisfoulds3941]

Thanks Vince.

[@jakessofa8187]

perfectly timed given a mate and I were looking at fluorescent paint use. A suggestion, if ever possible an interview with El Miniaturista would be awesome, he really seems to be on top of the fluorescent game as well as awesome painting

[@VinceVenturella]

Great suggestion!

[@duskern]

I would love to see something about creating magical effects or glow using fluorescent paints out of an airbrush. I've done some with mixed results. I'd love to get a more stable approach into my repertoire ;) Great video btw!

[@gregoiremallet5751]

Hi thank's a lot. Nice Video a lot of interesting points. The last one is terrific

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad you liked it!

[@Fredster9984]

Thanks Vince! I came to use white under all of my fluorescents, but I never tried to undercoat it. Nice tip!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad I could help!

[@Wijkert]

One important thing to add is the crappy light fastness. Make sure no model with fluorescent paint on it gets exposed to prolonged periods of sunlight. Tested this and they fade almost completely within a year of 2 hours of (sun)light a day (so including days of overcast weather). Most regulair paints are pretty lightfast (although I would not expose them to prolonged periods of sunlight either). There are special varnishes that can protect fluorescent paints against UV light (Golden has one), but there is no fluorescent paint on the market that is lightfast.

[@b0untykill3r]

gloss white underpainting even increase the glow effect

[@SigurdDecroos]

I use Vallejo Mecha Fluo Magenta together with a reddish skin tone to add a blush effect to female faces.

[@Sherlock_Hulmes__]

Happy New Year Thank you for the great love and support to my KZbin channel Inbox ✍️ me on Telegram I have a package for you!!!

[@dougsundseth6904]

One important thing to realize about fluorescent paints: "Fluorescent colors by their very nature are dye based, they are known to be fugitive and cannot withstand the negative effects of UV light like most pigments. This pertains to all fluorescent colors and has nothing to do with a professional or student range of art materials." - Liquitex They can be very pretty while they last, but don't expect them to last forever. To extend the life of the pigment, store the minis in the dark.

[@canton7180]

They use chemical compounds which are classified as optical brightners, this as you stated will degrade over time, I’m a paper maker specifically communication paper ie print paper and we used the same chemicals to whiten and bright the appearance of paper and we run across the degradation over time, the liquid blend has a base fluorescent hue made in 1500 gallon batches.

[@briarsandbantams]

Preach the esoteric truths of the technomantic arts of painting, Grand Master V!

[@hobbithubby5076]

I use fluorescent green and yellow for plasma & nurgles rot effects on my plague marines. Then ruined the effect when I varnished the minis. Take note, use the fluorescents after varnishing if using an ultra matte.

[@teamkeogh]

This is great. Cause I’ve been ignoring these paints.

[@p_serdiuk]

I now wonder how the fluo pink undershade trick would work on Blood Angels. It's always a challenge to make them live up to their name.

[@jeanclaudevanslamme]

This week I played around with using the pinkest pink as an undercoat for red and can confirm it's much more red.

[@alejandroballesteroshernan1678]

I used fluor red pigment from GSW (thinned, airbrushed) over white and that is crazy

[@manoloaguirre7159]

Great video. I felt particularly vindicated when you mentioned the blue fluo, as in the past I was incensed by its inability to function as a proper fluo (it didn't even do the gimmicky part and glow under a black light). What's the reason for that? Why do we have a "fluo that isn't really fluo" in the first place?

[@dafruk1]

Golden is liquidity, warcolours is gummy and the AK is... *Me screaming at the screen* "JUST RIGHT"

[@gregorde]

There are also fluorescent inks. You can just glaze with them.

[@Hasbeen-si6or]

Great video! On a related note, I would love to see a video about the possibilities of flourescent pigments, have you looked into those?

[@VinceVenturella]

Yes I have, I will have to do a video on those for sure.

[@Mikey__R]

Hey Vince, have Vallejo been in touch about getting you a review copy of the new VGC formula? It looks like all of the colours have also changed hue as well as consistency, going off the PDF chart they released. I'd be interested to see your review of them.

[@VinceVenturella]

Not yet, but I'd love to take a look.

[@duskern]

Also Vince. What do you consider to be the best brands of colors of the ones you mentioned in the video? Like what's a good magenta, yellow, orange, green and so on?

[@VinceVenturella]

For Fluorescent paint, yeah, Golden High Flow are my go-to.

[@docbun]

Thanks for the video and advice! I was wondering about them too. I thought I'd use them more as a glaze over an existing color on the highest highlights, but didn't think of using them as under-shades indeed. How wide-spread should they be to allow for a smooth transition?

[@VinceVenturella]

If you mean how much of the area is the the fluorescent color, just your highest highlights and then mixed from there.

[@docbun]

@@VinceVenturella Thanks!

[@maximumbob350]

Hi Vince, Great advice, as always; I will definitely try using the pink for underpainting red. On an unrelated topic, I've recently acquired some spaceship miniatures and I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to tackle the canopies (particularly the bubble canopies). I was wondering how you would approach it. Do you have a tutorial that covers painting glass areas of vehicles?

[@VinceVenturella]

I don't but that should certainly go on the list. Short answer is you "prime" it with a varnish, prefereably satin or gloss, then paint a very transparent layer over it, in general, for the best results, you want to use an airbrush to do this.

[@maximumbob350]

@@VinceVenturella Thanks very much for the advice; I shall give it a go.

[@nameisbad]

Blue isn't useless, I love you vince, but you wrong on that. It makes for a great effect on undershadows. the fluorescent factor of it is subtle, it does exist tho. Fluorescent needs to be vividly colorful, but colorful has two meanings, blue covers the second exactly, the first meaning is bright which the others cover. For blue I love scale 75's. Tho you convinced me in an older video about fluorescent paint of GSW's which I love their lime green for very specific uses. The only real issue fluorescents have (outside if you try to paint them normally or use them for the wrong thing) is I honestly feel like they need a MSA Varnish over them to make sure they don't fade.

[@logawnio]

this is another case where solvent paints far exceed water based paints. both in effect and ease of use.

[@Gorbachoph]

Thanks Vince, great video. I had a question about edge highlighting. If I am edge highlighting an area with volume, should my edge highlight color change as my volume shades change? Cheers.

[@VinceVenturella]

Yes, when you move into areas of deeper shadow, your edge highlight needs to move down in value as well.

[@Gorbachoph]

Thank you.

[@MentoliptusBanko]

Super useful advise. Thanks Vince. You didn't show Vallejo fluo paints. What do you think about them? I have only those and the blue is trash, and the yellow is more green than yellow. But I like the orange and green a lot.

[@VinceVenturella]

The Vallejo ones are pretty far from my list sadly. They are just kind of the weakest in most of the key areas.

[@MentoliptusBanko]

@@VinceVenturella Thanks. Then I should try some other brand. I miss the pink one so I'll buy that first.

[@paulausten5786]

Great vid Vince, how does it go over say Vallejo gloss white? Was planing on getting the scale 75 fluorescent set, but now thinking I only need the Pink, Orange, Green & Yellow. Was thinking these would be great on Night Haunt.

[@VinceVenturella]

Glossy is the challenge there, the glossy surface will cause it to apply somewhat unevenly unless you're doing it through an airbrush.

[@stephenwood6665]

This is great thank you. If I jump into fluorescent which brand would you recommend I pick up

[@MisterTingles]

you could look up Barbatos Rex here on KZbin, he does paint and gear reviews and has a dedicated video on florescent acrylics. generally a good idea to look up some videos if you want to find a specific hue, since the manufacturers sometimes suck at depicting their own paints accurately **cough** Green Stuff World, even though I like a lot of their stuff **cough**

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

Depends on if you like mixing straight pigments. If not, I'd agree with Mr. Tingles, but if you're up for the tiny challenge of using pigment, Culture Hustle has a fantastic line, you can find lots of reviews and how-tos. Their 4 fluorescents sell for $20/set of 50g of blue, 50g pink, 50g yellow, and 50g green, or $5.99each, orange sold separately, which is pretty average compared to a lot miniature paints, BUT you'll put in a bit of labor to mix your paint (with water, unless you want a glaze, then you do need some medium), each time you use the paint (not recommended to make it all at once, just as-needed) so do keep that in mind.

[@DaHobbles]

Mucho bueno 🤌🏻

[@saschabernhardt5269]

Is it important for an optimal glow that the colours around the glow efeckt are not glossy? I ask because I love to paint with a high gloss black. Thank you for your great videos I enjoy watching them so much. Most I like themes about speed painting armies. Maybe you could show more content like this.

[@VinceVenturella]

The other gloss colors will detract some from the fluorescents ability to stand out, but something like black shouldn't be as bad.

[@joerie.houthuijsen]

Is that the greenstuffworld wet palette you use, and didn’t you find the sponge to soft when mixing? @Vince Venturella

[@VinceVenturella]

No, it's the exemplar wet palette from Game Envy, I love it.

[@Squeaks-ii]

your going to have to redo this video once the new scale 75 neons come lol

[@smoothbrush4722]

👍

[@ShockinglyLiterate]

Hey Vince! I've been brushing fluorescent paints on using your tips and love the look. But I'm curious if you have advice for using them through an airbrush. They are so translucent on their own, but they're also pretty thick and goopy (I have a set of the war colors fluo paints). Do I need to do anything special to thin them for airbrush use to avoid ruining their vibrant effect, or do they thin down just fine like any other paint?

[@VinceVenturella]

The answer is different paints, those are terrible at airbrushing. You need some golden hi-flow Fluorescents. Those are a dream through the airbrush.

[@ShockinglyLiterate]

@@VinceVenturella thank you!

[@nunyahbuidness7959]

Not what you are going for in your painting maybe, personally I love it when I have a well painted mini and everyone is looking at it, then I shine a black light on it and the eyes/weapons/magic light up. I also do this primarily with Blue.

[@Sherlock_Hulmes__]

Thanks for the feedback✍️✍️ Happy new year ✅✅ Expect more videos very soon🔜🔜 Send a direct message💌 I have something for you📦📦

[@DMWaldo]

So if you're going for a similar technique for blue osl or glow, where you have a value sketch underneath and paint over top it, what kind of blue do you use? Do you make a glaze from a light blue? Inks?

[@VinceVenturella]

Generally, just the very intense blues that are highly saturated over a very bright white yes. Inks can be good for sure.

[@DMWaldo]

Thanks, Vince!

[@bodotrenaud7441]

I think sound is off by 2-3 seconds when presenting the products

[@gealgain2420]

I'm looking to start a fluorescent/neon chaos daemons project. Is there any good blue/purple that you can reccomend? I'm thinking I may need to go with contrast paints for good coverage.

[@VinceVenturella]

Not really, but Golden-Hi Flow is probably your best starting point.

[@pete_the_bak]

I'm struggling to justify the outlay for the Golden ones when I'm not sure how much I'll use them. Do you have any preference between the Scale 75 and AK Interactive ones? Or are the Golden ones significantly better?

[@VinceVenturella]

The golden really are my favorite for the versatility. That being said, the Scale would be my choice between those two.

[@pete_the_bak]

@@VinceVenturella really appreciated advice thanks! Is there something in particular the Scale ones are weak for that makes them lack the versatility?

[@tamsinm]

Could you use fluorescent white under blue? (It glows blue-ish under uv better than fluorescent blue does)

[@VinceVenturella]

Sure, but you’d likely need normal White first for coverage.

[@SNDKNG]

I know a lot of people use pink to underpaint yellows - does using flourescent pink work for that too?

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, sure does. :)

[@Erzas_Art_Atelier]

Florescent paints are generally pretty fugitive. Would using them as an underlayer beneath a more lightfast color preserve the color or would it still fade?

[@VinceVenturella]

It will help.

[@MarieAvora]

aww I was hoping to use fluorescent blues for power swords :(

[@VinceVenturella]

The key is, you don't really need a Fluorescent for those, just a bright blue/green and you're all set, I have previous videos on power swords in the playlist - (It's a very old video, I apologize for the quality from the early days, but the information is correct and in the color you want - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aaiwhomHpaZ2l7M&pp=gAQBiAQB)

[@DrDuck7700]

I saw some flourescent pigments that looked really neat but have no idea what application they have. Has any1 used them or found a neat application?

[@VinceVenturella]

I have them, I am going to do them separately in the future as a review.

[@organicod2438]

Hey Vince, I came back to this video because it's topical: I've been using Vallejo Fluorescent Orange and diluting it with flow improver and airbrush thinner and water and each time it separates and blocks my airbrush with small clumps. Have you experienced this? I opened the bottles up, stirred them and with two agitator balls on the vortex for 10 min. Still seems that the pigment falls out in any dilution. I noticed this with all my Vallejo fluorescent paints. Any way to salvage this bottle of paint? Did I leave them too long resting? Thanks in advance.

[@VinceVenturella]

The Vallejo Fluorescents are just bad, they are very prone to that behavior. My honest advice, if at all possible, is get the golden hi-flow fluorescents. It's money, but you won't run into any of these challenges. I have see what you're describing happen repeatetedly with Vallejo Fluorescents and there is no saving them (and they are pretty bad to start).

[@organicod2438]

@@VinceVenturella Thanks, mate. I had my fears. Appreciate the time to respond.

[@jtwernbold]

Vince, have you found a solution to the poor color-fastness of fluorescent paints? The pigments in fluorescent paints from any manufacturer tend to be the LEAST colorfast (that is, they'll fade or change very quickly, often in just a year or two), so I'm wondering if UV-protective varnish would solve this problem. Or would the fact that such varnish blocks UV radiation mean that we'd lose the "pop" of fluorescent paints?

[@VinceVenturella]

I haven't seen much of an issue from many of them, but it is a challenge. The newer Fluroescents, the hi-flow from golden especially, seem relatively durable. I haven't found the solution for true long term like we would expect from normal paints.

[@sirbobulous]

Question not really related to the topic of the video. Where a model has a wide brimmed hat or a helmet or a hood or something that would put the face into shadow when lit from a generic 'diffuse above' do you suggest still highlighting the face? The face is a fairly natural focal point for the human brain but if it's in shadow compared to other parts then your viewer is being drawn away from their natural response when looking at the model with they eye toward the brighter areas.

[@p_serdiuk]

The light from above still reflects from the ground and into the face.

[@andrewamann2821]

@@p_serdiuk This. Ditto for hoods. There's an argument to be made for increasing the range of brightness in the colors used, to better sell the shadows, and the shadow and highlight placements, themselves, as well. Wide brimmed hat? Paint in your shadow tones towards the top of the face, but double down on the spot highlights tracing the nose, cheekbones, jaw, and chin. This will keep the area recognizable as a face, and kinda give you a really sinister vibe, especially when you're running a cool-to-neutral shadow tone, like a purple.

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

One thing I might recommend to help with questions about odd highlighting is to take your mini, once base-coated, and stick it in a dark room with one bright lamp where you want your lightsource. Take a picture with your phone, increase the contrast, and put highlights where they appear. It's not always the perfect trick, you'll need a few modifications to sell the effect, but in my experience it's a good starting point that helps me see where a few highlights I wouldn't have thought of should go.

[@sirbobulous]

@@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies This is generally what I'll do when I am painting a fancy project (rather than the 3rd dude from the back in an army project) and a lot of the time models with hats and such are ending up with deeply shadowed faces and just a touch of light on their chins and noses. But yes, this is a good idea as a starting point to just work out where your lights and shadows go!

[@VinceVenturella]

Yep, agree with much of the advice here. I would say you can certainly play with cast shadows (a whole different topic), but in the end, you want to take the artistic license here often and apply more highlights and such to the area.

[@tonyamcnair5987]

I need to paint parts of a painting on canvas with "neon" colors. Help!!? I bought "neon" acrylic & it took 8-10 layers, drying each, to get the affect!!!

[@VinceVenturella]

Neon acryllics are very transparent. Generally you want to put a bright layer of something near white down and then put the fluorescents over the top, that will help up the intensity.

[@Swooper86]

Okay, but... why do fluorescent blues (and purples, and reds etc) kind of suck? Is there a chemical reason we can't make properly glowing blue paint?

[@RochelleHasTooManyHobbies]

While there ARE really gorgeous blue pigments that would make for lovely fluorescent paints... Some of them are fairly toxic and non-toxic ones can be wickedly expensive due to rarity. That mostly leaves Cobalt teal blue, Phthalocyanine cyan PB17 blue, and Indanthrene blue. Cobalt teal is pretty, but as the teal suggests, it's got a green hue. It's also a bright color... But not particularly florescent. And pretty transparent. PCC PB17 is BEAUTIFUL, but dark. It's what they use to make ultra-marine blue. There are a few artist-grade dry pigments out there that use it to make a near-fluorescent ultra-marine, but... Still not what most are going for. Indanthrene is... Well... It's denim colored. Personally, that's one of my favorite colors, but fluorescents it does not make. So most companies default to Cobalt Teal for fluorescent blue, and that just leaves a lot of people unimpressed.

[@VinceVenturella]

Rochelle had the perfect explanation. :)

[@Zakon673]

For what it's worth, I used vallejo fluorescent blue over vallejo metal color aluminum for my Grey Knights force weapon glow effects and was decently pleased with the result.