I have practically this exact same flashlight. It has 9 LED bulbs.
Will this work well for light painting?
If so, do I use it as is, or should I put something over the end to soften the light?

actually every source of light will work for light painting. the stronger the lightsource, the stronger and better your painting gets. such led flashlights usually work great.

Oh ok, thanks.
Just wasn't sure if it having 9 LED's was a problem or not.

Of course it will work

Every light source will leave a trace

Have any of you guys tried light painting?
Seems neat, so I want to try it out.
If any of you guys have tried it, are there any tips you came across that will limit the amount of fails I'll have?

If you can turn off the light, you can put empty space between figures.

I used to do a bit of light painting. It can be fun.

I have two friends that are REALLY good at graffiti, so when they come home for winter break from college we're going to try to replicate something like this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/biszign/5200403402/in/pool-lightpainted

I just hope I can get it to look good the first time we start shooting so I don't have to go upload them and find out they're all terrible.

O that's awesome.

My biggest problem, aside from having no experience in light painting and working with 2 people who don't have any experience either, is I don't have a external flash to light up the subject :[