How to paint Sonnia's Fire

[CrouchingMoose]

so im wondering how to paint the fire in the sonnia avatar picture and was wondering if someone could give me a tutorial on how to replicate that effect.

for reference here is the picture

http://www.wyrd-games.net/Display/SonniaAv.jpg

[osoi]

Best advice I can say is that you want to start with a white undercoat and then a light yellow over everything. from there you 'highlight' with darker colours so working to an orange then red then darker reds.

Jessica Rich has a more detailed explanation in Wyrd Chronicles vol3 with her article "My Bishops on Fire'

If you just think flames get cooler and therefore darker the further out you go and thin your highlights so they blend into the previous layer you cant go too wrong.

[harbinger]

Not much to add as osoi hit nail on the head. Your just basically reverse highlighting, going from a light color to dark. Biggest issue I see is keeping the yellow parts "clean." Yellow can be a pain in its own much less layering with it.

[Omenbringer]

Here is a great site for methods of painting realistic fire Hot-Lead Advanced Techniques

[Culven]

I would actually advise against highlighting up to reds, especially dark red. It just won't look right. Start with the white undercoat and apply the highlights in thin coats working up to an orange at the edges of the flames.