Struggle with a Balrog - painting advice needed

[Severian]

He's coming together very well - the darkened armour works a treat.

Not quite sure what to suggest re the skin tone; it might be that a few highlights and perhaps a wash of some sort would do the trick? If you're concerned about it looking too human then maybe some blue or purple in the mix??

Your choice of figure wasn't at all what I had expected, btw; but it's a great idea! Looking forward to seeing where he ends up.

[Cubs]

You have got me there.  What is OSL?

Object Source Lighting. Basically, rather than just standard highlighting, you consider where your light source is (and also what colour it is) and then highlight accordingly. So, someone holding a lantern with a yellowy flame will have a strong yellow highlight close to the lantern, fading into a dimmer orangey highlight further away.

In this case, the flaming hair will be throwing out orangey highlights on the shoulders and face and then fading out to reddish tints further out along the arms and down the body. There are some nice OSL tutorials on YouTube.

[Hobgoblin]

Now with darker armour (with hint of green), darkened ends to hair (very slight), darkened whip and starting to work on the skin tones.  Possibly the skin is too human looking?

The darker armour's looking good!

For the skin, I'd be tempted to go down the route Spooktalker took with his fire giant: jet black skin with no highlights at all. You could then paint the inside of the mouth and the eyes with a white-hot fiery glow, and you'd be guaranteed a good contrast with the mane and with the armour.

That might also help emphasise the Balrog's nature as a spirit rather than an animal: a being of shadow and fire rather than just a big monster.

Anyway, just a thought!

[Argonor]

Object Source Lighting. Basically, rather than just standard highlighting, you consider where your light source is (and also what colour it is) and then highlight accordingly. So, someone holding a lantern with a yellowy flame will have a strong yellow highlight close to the lantern, fading into a dimmer orangey highlight further away.

Sorry for the slight hijack here, but basically, then, there are 3 main ways to highlight? As in omni-light (normal highlighting, light more or less equally from all directions), mono-light (light from a single direction, like in a painting or photo), and OSL?

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Hobgoblin, you are right.  In going for the brown skin I was trying to make sure I had something that was distinct from the armour.  In doing so the Balrog was more beast than spirit.  I have gone back to black (now the third lot of skin he has had - black, brown, black again).  To give a lift from the armour (with a hint of green) I have used a hint of red in the black skin.  I will see how this looks in the morning under natural light.
The mouth is now a firey orange blending into yellow, blending into a central white. 
I will need to watch some videos on OSL before I attempt this.  I am getting near the end of my endurance for this figure and risk losing interest soon, so the OSL may or may not happen.

Again, thanks for all the input.  This seems like painting by committee!

[area23]

I might steal these ideas! 

[FierceKitty]

I'm not a fantasy gamer, but I like your ideas. I wouldn't mess with that chap.

[Cubs]

Sorry for the slight hijack here, but basically, then, there are 3 main ways to highlight?

Pass, it all sounds a bit to technical for me.

[Ethelred the Almost Ready]

Still not finished,, but current state of things

[Diablo Jon]

looking good the hair and whip really pop. He certainly looks like a creature of shadow and fire now.

[beefcake]

Agreed. Very nice colours