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A Beli’al
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O Scourge of Worlds, Lord of Cynder, Last
N remaining of the Shadow Kings
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O “Outcast for his treachery, Beli’al was banished for eternity to
V the molten Caverns of Cynder. From there he sends shards of
E himself through the portals in search of a way to escape his fiery
J prison.”
O ©2016 Flying Frog Productions, LLC
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A Since posting pictures of our Beli’al giveaway, I
have had a lot of requests for going over my color
A selection for this model. A few questions that
R were asked were: What was your thinking behind
O each color and what was the reasoning for the
location of colors? How did you achieve the
N contrast in this piece?

Some of the choices are obvious and others

L are more subtle but they all work together to
O make the final piece. Let me first go over who
Beli’al is and the world that he lives in. This will
V give us clues as to how I chose to paint him the
E way I did.
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A
Here is what we will cover:
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R - Initial Color Selection
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N - Adding Environment
L - Different Types of Contrast
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- All the Small Things (Details)
E - Final Paint
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 Since Beli’al was banished to Cynder, I wanted him to have a special base
that resembled some of the tiles from the actual game. To the left you
can see a small picture of a gaming tile. There is also a blown up version
so you can see some of the details.

A There is a lot of lava and lots of symbols and glyphs that makes this
environment fairly unique. It will also help set the mood and tone of the
A piece. Since the colors of the base are already selected for us it will
R dictate the colors used on the model itself. At the bottom left, we have
O the blueish grey of the stones and the red/orange/yellow from the lava.
Usually I choose the colors for the base based on the colors I used in the
N model itself, however, this time the base will dictate the colors used on
the mini.

L To the right , I added lots of

O sculpted symbols and such to
the stone structure to match
V the game tile. The base will be
E our first visual clue that he is in
a hot, steamy environment.
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 First off, we need to figure out what direction ©2016 Flying Frog Productions, LLC
the initial light is coming from. Technically, he
is in a dark cavern where the only light is
coming from either lanterns or the lava
A below. So he should be all dark on top. This
is the first spot that we are going to have to
A fudge on a little. I want him to be lit from
R above. I want you to see what color clothes
O he’s wearing and such. We are going to fake
it and say that he is lit from above and to the
N left hand side a bit. This will give us some
dramatic play with our light. Just like on a
movie set!
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 ©2016 Flying Frog Productions, LLC
To further compound our color options I
needed to match similar colors to the concept
art supplied by Flying Frog (the producers of
A the game Shadows of Brimstone). Since I was
painting the studio version of Beli’al for them
A at the same time as the giveaway version, I
R wanted them to be the same. As you can see
this is a “general” picture of Beli’al. For all we
O know he could be at the beach or on a
N mountain top in the snow. There are no
visual cues that lead us to believe he is in a
lava filled cave. Here are the things I ask
L myself:
O a. How do I bring harmony between Beli’al’s
colors and the colors on the base?
V b. What visual cues can I give that tell you
E what type of environment he is in?
c. How do I tie this all together without
J becoming a hot mess?!
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 Let’s start at the wings…
©2016 Flying Frog Productions, LLC
I had the luxury to talk with the artist,
Brian Snoddy, who painted the concept art. I
asked him if the wings were grey or black and
he said….”YES lol.” So, I’m going to go with
A black…blueish black to be exact! Black is a
A little more evil and menacing, and will also
help to frame the lovely tan robes that Beli’al
R is wearing. Plus, that black will look sick with
O some OSL (object source lighting) red light
coming from the lava on his base!
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For his robes….I’m not worried about
them at all. Tan is a neutral color which
L typically means it can go with any color. In
O this case, it’s a yellowish tan (ochre) which
makes it even better. Yellow is a warm color
V which will 1. Enforce the fact that he is in a
E warm environment and 2. help create our
first obvious contrast against the cooler
J blueish black color of the wings. Not to
O mention, yellow likes to hang out with almost
every other color in the rainbow so it’s a solid
Y choice!
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 ©2016 Flying Frog Productions, LLC
The metallic paints are easy. I consider silver
to be grey and gold to be yellow just to locate
them better on the color wheel better. Both
A colors will work with my color scheme and
A are reflective in nature. This way I can add
OSL effects to them from the lava on the base
R and reflect some of the other elements
O around them. Thus, tying everything
together visually.
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The green ribbon around his waist will be
L tricky because green and the warm red from
the lava on the base don’t go together as well
O as you think. I know what you are
V thinking…green and red are opposites on the
color wheel, right??? They will work
E perfectly, right????
J WRONG!!!
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 In fact, a lot of colors you think go together,
actually don’t! Take a look at the color wheel
to the right. Our warm red color (7) from the
lava is directly across from not green…but
TEAL (26).
Green is actually more suited to go with a
A cooler, darker red (11), magenta (13) or even
A purple (16).
So, how am I going to fix those green
R ribbons flying around Beli’al’s body??? I’m
O going to make all the shadows teal! Only the
N highlights will be a more greener tone. This,
coupled with the fact that I will put blackish
blue symbols all over the ribbons, will help
L make them fit in with the really bright warm
reds that are coming from the base and
O reflecting off his body.
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 Let’s take a look at our tannish yellow color of
the robe. It is directly across from dark blue.
This is why this color combo between the
blackish blue wings and the robe works
A perfectly! Looking at the color wheel, it’s so
close to dark purple, we can also incorporate
A dark purple into some of our shadow areas.
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Take note of the contrast between the robe
J and the wings. How many different forms
O of contrast can you find?

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 Contrast can take many different forms:
1. You can have contrasting colors. (Colors 2. There is the contrast between cool and
on opposite sides of the color wheel.) warm colors (cool wings, warm robe.)

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E 3. The contrast between smooth and rough
surfaces. Notice the wings are textured
J and the robe is smooth.
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 4. The last bit of contrast is in finish (matte vs.
shiny). I used inks in the shadows on the
wings. Teal, purple and dark blue.
This gave a shiny finish, which visually looks
A darker and contrasts nicely to the matte finish
A of the rest of the wing.
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The contrast of finishes (matte vs glossy) gives me a
much needed depth to what can be a difficult color to
L make look right. Think of your matte colors as if they
reflect light and your more glossy colors as if they
O accept the light. This is why many airbrush artists use
V inks in their shadows because it creates a darker,
richer look. Keep this in mind when you are painting
E shadows! As a quick test, brush a little water on a
J shadow area of a model you are painting. This will
O simulate a glossy finish to that area. What
happens??? It looks darker, doesn’t it?!
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 Alright, let’s move on to the OSL
effects from the lava. OSL is “object
source light”. Light that is not
from the sun, it is created by a
lamp, lava or some magical effect
A that is affecting the model. In
A reality, since he is in a chamber full
of lava, there is a good chance that
R everything would be tinted red.
O But since I want you to actually see
what he looks like I am toning
N down the red light quite a bit. I
took some time and really looked at
L the model to see where I thought
light would actually hit when
O coming from the bottom. Keeping
V in mind that the stone platform he
is standing on will block a lot of the
E light from hitting certain parts of
J his body as light only travels in a
straight line. The red light also
O helps set his hot and steamy
Y environment.
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 Not only did I focus on the main (obvious) areas where I
thought the red light would hit. I then further refined
smaller pockets of red light reflecting onto other parts of
the model. Less is more here…if you do too much
A everywhere you end up with a big red wing and that’s not
what I want.
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Note the small reflections of red light on the
L underside of his robe and his metallic armor.
These are little things that you may not even
O notice when first looking at the model, but
V definitely adds to the “reality” of the piece.
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 Check out the OSL on the key around his neck. Things like this
are important because if you don’t continue the lighting effect
on the small areas you lose the “believability” of the whole
thing. This also adds a bit of interest to a small detail of the
A model that might otherwise get lost.
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R Pay attention to how the
light reacts on different
O materials. Here to the
N right, the red glow travels
all the way up the edge of
the metal armor even
L though where the light hit
O was at the very bottom
edge of the armor plate.
V Where as on cloth the
E light tends not to travel as
much. Its contained just
J in the area where the light
O hit it. It is almost diffused.
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 One last thing you might notice is that I
added a glimmer of red light inside the
A hood of Beli’al. This isn’t so much an OSL
glow effect as it just looks cool. Always
A remember that if you follow the rules for
R light and color enough, you can then add
O elements to your paintjob that are not
“realistic” but that add artistic merit to the
N piece. So, in this case…light would not hit
there the way he is standing, however, I
think it looks cool so I did it. Breaking the
L rules is fun! I do it all the time to make a
O model more visually interesting. Just be
sure to follow the rules most of the time so
V when you break them it doesn’t seem
E weird.
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The last thing that really sets the “environment” of the piece, is the base itself. I wanted this to look hot. I
L mean REALLY hot!!! The Lava is so hot, it’s boiling! I did this by putting bubbles in the lava and using bright
O yellow, red and orange colors. I also stippled in yellow, orange and warm red colors on the side of the step. It
makes it look like ash and embers flying up into the air. This gives a sense of movement and further adds to
V the drama of this active lava pit! The base truly is the “environment” of the piece. Everything else just
E enhances and reinforces what is going on in the base. The base says, “I am hot!” and Beli’al says, “Yes, it is
pretty hot up in here!”
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 Here is a different view of the base. I
A added some “hot spots” in the symbols
A carved into the stone structure.
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O You can also see from this angle that the
lava is textured similarly to the sides of the
N stone step.

L I added bright red to the edges of the rocks

in the lava pit. One more thing that adds to
O the “heat” of the scene.
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 Alright, I hope you enjoyed this little article. This is
A something that we will be doing regularly for our
A Valedictorian pledges. Especially when you guys have
R questions or are wanting a little more insight on how we
O achieve different effects and techniques. I have added a
N bunch of pictures on the next few pages of the finished
Beli’al.
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O We are so thankful for your support and helping to spread
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the word about Miniature Monthly!!!
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Enjoy!!
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