Lightning Effects on Power Swords

Hi there, fellow Wizards and Necromancers!

Happy Friday!

Today I have a very interesting tutorial for you - it’s about painting lightning effects on your power weapons.

Let’s get started:

1. First we will prepare the surface before we add the lightning effect. Add two highlights with Macragge Blue, glaze consistency (paint mixed in a 1:3 ration with water). Add this to two random places on the sword’s blade.

2. Next, add an edge highlight with Fenrisian Grey mixed 1:1 with Macragge Blue. Also outline the power cable on the darker side of the blade.

3. Now onto the lightning effect itself. We will start with adding the effect with a 1:1 mix of Fenrisian Grey and Macragge Blue (so the same mix as in the previous step). To avoid making the lines looking thick - remove the excess of the paint from your brush. This can be done by wiping the tip of your brush on your thumb, for example. The paint has to be layer consistency, so mixed 1:1 with water. It has to flow of your brush easily but again, you don’t want the paint to be too thin as you usually just get one shot at every lightning string. The technique of adding the lines themselves has to be precise and random - chaotic. The lines can’t have round edges. They are sharp, they break, not bend, if you know what I mean? Practice with drawing some lightnings on a piece of paper with a pencil first. Then try the same thing with a brush. Then try it on your power weapon. Practice makes perfect!

I think it’s important for you to see the process so I’ve decided to include more progress pictures:

More lightnings:

And more:

Yes, MORE!

4. Once you’re done with adding the lightning effect - edge highlight with Fenrisian Grey.

5. The last step will be painting the power cable - we can just paint it with white - edge highlighting the tip of it with pure white paint and then drag a glaze with white towards the middle of the cable. When the glaze is dry - edge highlight the cable from both sides and you are all done!

And that’s it!

Here is the collage for you to follow the process easier:

I know that this might seem very complicated and you might get discouraged after the first try or two…. I did too! But you have to practice. It’s like that with everything in life. But I believe, that with my guidance, pictures and examples, you will be able to learn much quicker than I did and other people do. Just keep your head high and please don’t worry if you can’t copy it exactly like that from the first try. Keep up the great work, my fellow magicians!

Thank you for supporting me, that really means a lot 🥹

Cheers,

Mamikon