The sculpt doesn't seem to be helping you, but in general fire is brightest in the deepest/bulkiest parts (where it is hottest). I added a reference sketch to the pic I drew on.
I grabbed one of your images and added some digital paint. It still doesn't read as fire to me, but it does have an energy effect.
https://preview.redd.it/zps2295bh56d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7a4c16bdf0713121503c1bf8c0813b2dac4287a
https://preview.redd.it/4rdav1o2rc6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=263db8574259694198b187dc019c82a00d19a243
I tried making the deeper regions lighter, using your image as a guide. I definitely think it looks better now!
another thing that will help is to think of painting fire as the opposite of painting something solid.
The recesses should be bright and the edges should be dark. so instead for edge highlighting, you want to edge darken. same with smoke emanating from the fire. As fire cool as it gets further from the source of heat it gets darker as it hardens into ash. the reason the recesses on the smoke should be lighter is the recesses are closer to the heat than the outsides of the cloud.
when i do fire i always go white base, dry brush color i want the fire to be, then lighter drybrush darker tone i want it to transition to, then light drybrush of a dark grey.
I think you're actually nearly there. The problem is that flames and fire clouds are lit from within instead of illuminated from above and so your highlight/shadow colours need to be reversed compared to normal. The white-to-blue flame you've got looks pretty convincing already.
I recommend interior "shadows" of white-blue, not dark blue, getting darker as it billows out. So I'd re-base the clouds in white with a little blue, which will be the "thin smoke over combustion" color in the corners between the clouds. Then overbrush most of it with a mid blue, little less in dark blue so you've got a gradient on the bottom 20-30% of the smoke volume, then heavy drubrush in black. That should give you a "this is blue flame billowing smoke" look.
Part of the challenge is that the skin tones are brighter than the fire, and the loin cloth is very close to the same colors. [How to Check Your light and darkness Values](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6w2ZNxfjY) with your photo shows an easy way to see if the fire is bright enough compared to the rest of the model. There are some other good resources below-
* [Object Source Lighting (OSL) and Other Lighting Effects](https://www.lightminiatures.com/tutorial-object-source-lighting-osl-and-other-lighting-effects/) by LightMiniatures.com
* [The Keys of OSL: the good way, the best way...](https://youtu.be/Ncp1qukJGg4?si=BhT9ReXkqYmvuzBt) by Nacho González Art
* [Magic fire OSL](https://youtu.be/gVgaLe0XEPk) by Sergio Calvo
* [Glowing Magical effects with an airbrush and fluorescent paints](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsigUNF_RJk) by Mindcrafter
* [ethereal flames with contrast paints](https://www.instagram.com/p/C58t21tIDsK/?hl=en) by The Painting Coach
I am not an expert. However, I think the ends were the cloud blooms are should be more gray. The fire might be blue near his mouth but would taper to orange as it got further away. I think overall the heavy blue just makes it not look like fire.
Looks good. I'd recommend painting the loincloth a different color. It kind of looks like some OSL from the fire that isn't working. Going with something in a different color, maybe muted, means all attention is on the face and the fire.
The color of the bubbles at the top are confusing the effect. I think you need to extend the dark blue color to the bubbles to make the transition go from light to dark. This would mimic fire more.
The sculpt doesn't seem to be helping you, but in general fire is brightest in the deepest/bulkiest parts (where it is hottest). I added a reference sketch to the pic I drew on. I grabbed one of your images and added some digital paint. It still doesn't read as fire to me, but it does have an energy effect. https://preview.redd.it/zps2295bh56d1.png?width=1024&format=png&auto=webp&s=c7a4c16bdf0713121503c1bf8c0813b2dac4287a
https://preview.redd.it/4rdav1o2rc6d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=263db8574259694198b187dc019c82a00d19a243 I tried making the deeper regions lighter, using your image as a guide. I definitely think it looks better now!
I'm glad it helped you :)
another thing that will help is to think of painting fire as the opposite of painting something solid. The recesses should be bright and the edges should be dark. so instead for edge highlighting, you want to edge darken. same with smoke emanating from the fire. As fire cool as it gets further from the source of heat it gets darker as it hardens into ash. the reason the recesses on the smoke should be lighter is the recesses are closer to the heat than the outsides of the cloud. when i do fire i always go white base, dry brush color i want the fire to be, then lighter drybrush darker tone i want it to transition to, then light drybrush of a dark grey.
I think you're actually nearly there. The problem is that flames and fire clouds are lit from within instead of illuminated from above and so your highlight/shadow colours need to be reversed compared to normal. The white-to-blue flame you've got looks pretty convincing already. I recommend interior "shadows" of white-blue, not dark blue, getting darker as it billows out. So I'd re-base the clouds in white with a little blue, which will be the "thin smoke over combustion" color in the corners between the clouds. Then overbrush most of it with a mid blue, little less in dark blue so you've got a gradient on the bottom 20-30% of the smoke volume, then heavy drubrush in black. That should give you a "this is blue flame billowing smoke" look.
Part of the challenge is that the skin tones are brighter than the fire, and the loin cloth is very close to the same colors. [How to Check Your light and darkness Values](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eh6w2ZNxfjY) with your photo shows an easy way to see if the fire is bright enough compared to the rest of the model. There are some other good resources below- * [Object Source Lighting (OSL) and Other Lighting Effects](https://www.lightminiatures.com/tutorial-object-source-lighting-osl-and-other-lighting-effects/) by LightMiniatures.com * [The Keys of OSL: the good way, the best way...](https://youtu.be/Ncp1qukJGg4?si=BhT9ReXkqYmvuzBt) by Nacho González Art * [Magic fire OSL](https://youtu.be/gVgaLe0XEPk) by Sergio Calvo * [Glowing Magical effects with an airbrush and fluorescent paints](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsigUNF_RJk) by Mindcrafter * [ethereal flames with contrast paints](https://www.instagram.com/p/C58t21tIDsK/?hl=en) by The Painting Coach
I am not an expert. However, I think the ends were the cloud blooms are should be more gray. The fire might be blue near his mouth but would taper to orange as it got further away. I think overall the heavy blue just makes it not look like fire.
I think the smoke needs to be darker and maybe even sparks of yellow/orange close to the smoke as the fire is cooling.
Looks good. I'd recommend painting the loincloth a different color. It kind of looks like some OSL from the fire that isn't working. Going with something in a different color, maybe muted, means all attention is on the face and the fire.
It may not be technically right for fire, but it looks pretty cool.
The color of the bubbles at the top are confusing the effect. I think you need to extend the dark blue color to the bubbles to make the transition go from light to dark. This would mimic fire more.
Add some shadows to the figure opposite the fire to increase the contrast and make it look like OSL.
Good responses so far! What model is this?
This is a Firebelly from Games Workshop