Painting at night..

Ok, slightly odd topic I know but I'm just looking for ideas. Due to young children, most of my painting gets done in the evening when they have gone to bed and it is getting dark outside ie no natural light. I'm finding that painting under lightbulbs is extremely difficult in terms of seeing what I'm doing (especially with a black undercoat) and I often finish what I think looks ok, only to see really obvious gaps or missed details when I look again in the daylight.

I was wondering if anyone else experiences this (I'm almost certain many have) and how you get around it. I'm thinking a desklamp with a daylight bulb in although I've tried a lamp before (with a standard bulb granted) and found the shadows thrown by it almost as problematic.

I'd love to hear anyone's ideas/experiences/solutions to this problem, good or bad!

I use kitchen & bath bulbs 

You need white light bulbs basically.  So kitchen strip lights for example.

I kept an article regarding this.  It's not in English but the pictures speak for the selves. 

http://www.coloureddust.com.pl/2012/09/desk-working-lamp-velleman-vtlamp6.html

Getting a light like this has been on my to do list for awhile.  (It is currently still unticked sadly.)

Hope this helps.

Kind regards Zolas.

I am the worst person to ask about this kind of think because I do everything exactly the wrong way that it should be done and see to get away with murder!

Like you most of my painting is done at night (or even dead-of-night by the time I get home from work) at a desk with a lamp. I use a clear 40watt halogen bulb as I can't be bothered to get one of these daylight bulbs. I am a lazy cheapskate! The bulb I have, though normal looking, is like the kind you have in a kitchen or bathroom spotlight.

I am lucky enough to be able to touch-up stuff first thing in the morning if it's really bad, but in the main this set-up seems to work ok.

Like I said, I am the worlds worst for advice on this sort of thing. If there is a wrong way to do something, then that's the way I do it! I keep my brushes wet by licking/ sucking them, I never used to water down paint (though I have got better at this TBH), I paint blind; which is to say I can paint a belt, lets say, on an ogre without actually looking at it properly or turning the model as I do it.
I often paint stuff that I know "is there" rather than actually paying attention to what it looks like.

I think the latter comes from really (really) looking at the model before I start painting it so I know what it looks like then just kind of get on with it. I use washed allot...like allot. They bring out detail that I then go back and paint again or highlight. Under a lamp the wash dries uber quick too...this can be good and bad depending on what you want it to do. If you want it to run down the model and pool in recesses then it wont so much, if you want to use it like a watered down paint then you will be on the money because under a hot lamp that is almost exactly what it is like.

Where the ergonomics of the bodies goes, I tend to look at something from the point of view of it's function and paint it accordingly. For example if I am painting an ogres bent arm, I look at my own arm bent look at the shading the light makes on it then just transfer that (using the models contours) onto the model.

the latter has helped allot when doing bits of Greenstuff work as it helps me to see something in a workable form as it would be on a real person so the end result doesn't look to unnatural.

Anyway, I doubt any of this helps much, so sorry. I would suggest a bright lamp for night work, just watch that the paint doesn't dry out too much if it is stood under the lamp. Them GW pots are very small and very costly to keep replacing.

G_H

Y'know, for US$10 at Ikea, I found an amazing spotlight desk lamp with bright white LED's.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

Easily the best thing I've ever worked with. It has an easily adjustable neck, so you can relocate the light to practically anywhere you need it. It's LED, so it never burns out. And it's a small, but VERY powerful, lightsource, so you can focus in a dark area and have really bright, clean light to see what you're painting. Also, it's really cheap, at only US$10!

Pretty much every single one of my photos that you see that I've posted are underneath that lamp, and you can tell that it's a really good light, IMO.

Hopefully this helps!

Thanks everyone, it looks like a lamp is the best way to go. I don't live in the states but there's an ikea down the road and I'm sure I've seen a lamp like that in there before Sazel. I think as probably the lowest cost option I'll try it out first (plus the wife loves a trip to ikea so I'll score points for suggesting we go for a look around!)

Also, what's wrong with sucking your brushes G_H, I always do that, supplements my diet nicely!! it's a bad habit but I can't help it either!!

I personally use 2 lamps.. I find it helps to keep the annoying shadows that make you turn the model in ridiculous ways to see at bay. I'm far from the best painter, but I've found this helps. Especially if you're like me and your house isn't incredibly well lit in the first place. My desk looks like a lighthouse in the living room 

This is a good topic, I am in the same situation as you, although I just have one small child. I have tried a variety of lamps but found the heat too much not only for me but also those pesky paints drying up. LEDs or daylight definitely the way to go, a slight step up but not massively are the daylight hobby lamps from hobbycraft or the range (uk but I'm sure similar elsewhere) these can get pricey but there are a couple for about 20quid that do the job. It took me at least a year struggling with just the light overhead on before I finally got a little lamp (kept thinking it would be better to buy more models) but it was definitely a good investment.

Spike_akers has the best solution.  Two lights, eliminate each others' shadows.  $20 total from ikea.

From someone who lights people as a fulltime job.

White light is the way to go. I've got a relatively standard desktop light with light strips inside it (the ones that curve at the end to make a U-shape. I think it's from Ikea

However, like bear_killer and Spike_akers said, two lamps is the way to go. I've been meaning to get the second light for quite a while now, but every time I'm in a shop that sells the right type I forget

- Loran

Thanks for all the interesting and informative ideas guys. I have persuaded the wife that a trip to ikea is the best option, she can get yet more storage boxes (anyone else have a partner obsessed with these!) and I can get a 'budget' option to try. I'll pick up a couple of lamps if they're not too expensive (ikea so I doubt not..) and report back how I get on with them. Hopefully I can crack on with my painting then!

Just a quick update, I invested in this bad boy from Ikea



It works well, can be powered from a plug or USB (so I can have the stronghold open on my laptop when I paint  ) and is LED so it offers a good bright light without a great deal of heat. It is also positionable so I can angle it against the lights to avoid excessive shadows. A steal at £12!!

Just took a loot at the website and I can't find this fella at all.  Where did you find it or how did you obtain it?

Kind regards Zolas.

Interesting, although I'm not sure ikea puts everything they stock on there website. I bought mine in store at the ikea in Bristol, they had hundreds of them in the lighting bit. Mine is a more manly black though

Lovely!  I live in Bristol and pay day is soon so I'm gonna get there soon!  Thanks very much Villan.  Could you put up the name of it by any chance?

Kind regards Zolas.

Ah never mind I found it.  For some reason it doesn't come under the LED light section even though it is LED.  Go figure!    It was under Work lamps for those that were looking for it.

Kind regards Zolas.

now there's a question, I think mrs villan chucked out the box! I believe it's called Harte (with some kind of small o above the A) LED work lamp. I think it's here on the mobile website in pink (I can recommend the black though, it looks better and I'm sure it was a couple of quid cheaper!!)  http://m.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/art/90269112/

Edit: You beat me too it!!