# Info or tutorial for using creating paintings under blacklights?



## tomanderson (Dec 6, 2007)

Since this is such a popular technique for Halloween decorating, I bet a bunch of people here will have many tips and tricks for you! Here's a few of mine:

Use day-glo paints, otherwise known as fluorescent or UV paints. These are available as tempera colors in many art supply stores, at LOW COST. (More expensive colors like "Wildfire" are available, but the budget versions at the local store work well if you're on...a budget!)

Since tempera colors are water-soluble (they will wash off with water after they dry...generally not a good thing for outdoor displays!), you can make them into "acrylic" paints by adding a little acrylic medium. This will allow you to layer them, waiting for each layer to dry before applying the next. You can build up an intensity of glow that way, layer by layer. I suggest applying a titanium white acrylic paint under-layer first, because it will cause the blacklight colors to reflect more (i.e., it will give you more intense glow). Buy a small bottle or tube of titanium white paint, the cheapest you can find, and try this out in conjunction with your blacklight colors. This can increase the luminosity of your effect by 200-300%. And since you are creating an effect that is meant to be seen and noticed, anything that makes your effect brighter is a plus! 

If you have a ghost head, for example, I would dry-brush all the high points, overall, with the white. Let that dry. Then add your blacklight colors on top of that.

An advantage of making the temperas into acrylics is that you can layer different colors on top of each other. Your ghost head might have blue or green highlights, for example. But you can punch up certain highlights with a dab or smear of yellow here and there. Or you can add red veins. As long as you allow each acrylic color to dry before you add another, you can keep the color applications separate, and they will not blur or smear into each other and ruin your effect. You can have clear, distinct red veins on top of a blue head, for example, with no smearing.

Do all your painting under a blacklight, since that's the only lighting under which your audience will be viewing the work.

The ghost below was a 99-cents-store purchase. It is a vacuformed face with some plastic fabric hanging off of it--pretty much as cheap and flimsy as you can get. But I felt that with some adjustments, it could be something stunning. I put some wire inside to suggest shoulders--just a little hot glue and aluminum wire. Then I dry-brushed the face and the fabric--just the high points, though--with white acrylic paint. I then added 3-4 layers of day-glo blue mixed with acrylic medium. The more layers I added, the brighter the glow became. I glued on two small day-glo red dots for eyes (not shown here) and, well, it looked pretty scary to the trick or treaters!

Most importantly, have fun!


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## horrorman (Oct 29, 2008)

http://www.halloweenforum.com/tutorials-step-step/91122-painting-chromadepth-3d-wall-panels.html

This is a great tutorial by Halloween Forums very own Terra. It is a fantastic how to.


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

Love the ideas tomanderson had. A good cheaper alternative to WildFire. I use WildFire because of the intense fluorescent look you get but he's right - it's some seriously expensive paint: http://www.blacklight.com/cat?openview&RestrictToCategory=Wildfire+Fluorescent+Paint There is another brand that the pro's use that's a bit cheaper called Day-Glo: http://www.dayglostore.com/catalog_browse.asp?parNbr=570


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## z_thinman (May 9, 2009)

Greatly appreciate all the advice! I have a nice big area in our screened-in porch I'd like to place a large painting this Halloween, which can't come soon enough. I'm a bit of an artist, but have no experience with blacklights and paint, this will be experimental. The day-glo will suffice this year since I like that word "cheaper". Are their any recommended ways to direct the blacklights directly on the painting? Maybe a reflector or cone?


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## Terra (Sep 23, 2007)

I use cheap Lowe's double shop lights with T8 blacklight bulbs. Mount them as high as you can. You can also angle them using some string if you can't get them high enough. Here's a picture of the type used:


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## z_thinman (May 9, 2009)

Terra said:


> I use cheap Lowe's double shop lights with T8 blacklight bulbs. Mount them as high as you can. You can also angle them using some string if you can't get them high enough. Here's a picture of the type used:


Thank you Terra! I can't wait to try this out in the near future. I'll try to post some pics after all is done, unless of course my painting is lousy.


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