NMMAlong Mar - April

[thorny oasis]

Feel like you need a LEG up in the hobby? Sprint on over and join the Non Metallic Metal Along.
This PAL is all about make belief, where you trick you and everyone else's eyes to make something look Metallic and shimmery.

Fake it till you make it!
Technique semester part 3

[thorny oasis]

@crude mist @floral mason

[slow rivet]

And me 😝

[thorny oasis]

Yay!

[floral mason]

Thaaaaaanks

[short mist]

I'm in! 😄

[tired narwhal]

Did yall just do a paint along for like every advamced paint technique?

[thorny oasis]

Well we did 4. Basically but we could keep it going later on if people want

[floral mason]

We're going to be PROS

[crude mist]

We are trying to learn and improve our craft!!!

[floral mason]

https://tenor.com/view/power-aladdin-disney-unlimited-cosmic-power-genie-gif-5266474

[narrow quartz]

Count me in

[crimson surge]

I'm here for this

[wanton isle]

Gimme them free points.

[thorn thorn]

"paint a model without using NMM" would've been a challenge but I'm fine with easy so I'm in ^^

can't say if it'll be good NMM or not though 😂

[wanton isle]

I just paint it all like a cartoon so hopefully that counts :)

[slow rivet]

If only this was Cell-along 😂

[crude mist]

Then join the cell along! Lol

[wanton isle]

Huh, I guess I need to find a different word for it.

I wouldn't call it cellshaded

[crimson surge]

Stylized NMM

Like Rackham

[wanton isle]

Yeah :)

[ashen void]

I'd like to give this a shot.

[crimson surge]

Get it!

[thorn thorn]

looks like I'll be painting this badass:
https://bigchildcreatives.com/store/product/iron-heart-3/

is it cheating to start working on it before march to actually be able to finish it on time? 🥹

[tired narwhal]

Yes. If you want extra points your cannot move past assembling and priming until the start date

[thorn thorn]

alright... well, we'll see... haven't reported points in years anyway, doing it mostly for the funsies 🙂

[tired narwhal]

Thats the most importan part us enjoying the hobby. Not imaginary points. But yeah you can check the pins in #paint-along-organization red just pinned a message reinforcing the participation rule for paintalongs

[thorn thorn]

thanks!

I currently have a miscast that I'm getting a replacement shipped for, maybe I'll just start messing around with that to get an idea of how much time I need and if I think I need more time start a bit ahead, not claim points and just join you guys in spirit

never painted a bust or painted NMM at this scale so I have zero clue what I'm getting myself into

but it would be fun to be done around the time you guys are 🙂

[thorny oasis]

Oh i think you'll have fun. I really enjoy painting busts or larger models right now. But yes please feel free to practice on your non entry piece for practice😊.

[thorn thorn]

I've been wanting to try for ages but they always just felt so expensive, was so happy when I opened this xmas gift 🙂

[meager nacelle]

omg this is a thing

i have no choice now

[thorny oasis]

Welcome

[meager nacelle]

thank you for having me....

[ruby nebula]

lets go!

[floral mason]

I'm already training in my head

[crimson surge]

boop

[floral mason]

!

[meager nacelle]

NAN DOES PAINTALONGS?!

[tender plover]

he joins them

not unlike myself

[crimson surge]

this one I will definitely do as I will be starting an NMM model at Adepticon in a class

[ruby nebula]

such pity that i cant visit it

[thorny oasis]

One day we will go

[tender plover]

boop

[crimson surge]

Sniff

[mental hound]

Mind if I give Hashomer a go for this one?

[tender plover]

you don't have to ask

[mental hound]

Sorry. I suppose this is my way of registering or something. 🫤🍻

[tender plover]

😁

[thorn thorn]

Hmm... so... do I paint my second iron heart bust? That is the real question 😄

[mental hound]

You’d have a good idea of occlusion shadows the second time around. 😉

[echo charm]

I am currently practicing NMM so I think I will try this if I have time.

[thorny oasis]

https://tenor.com/view/jonny-creepy-heres-johnny-the-shining-jack-nicolson-gif-14049643

[crimson surge]

Farts

[floral mason]

https://tenor.com/view/evil-smile-jack-nicholson-yes-nod-gif-14306654

[echo charm]

I’m painting Sif @floral mason

90% effort on the blade

[floral mason]

Hot!

I had lots of choice, my friend basically let me pick from his dark souls boardgame

But they all had way too much texture

Which really sucks for painting

[echo charm]

Generally hate my dark souls mini

Shitty quality

[floral mason]

Qualify looked good to me

But way to much detail lol

[crimson surge]

I did Sif and Arty, not a fan of the models

[ruby nebula]

will hop with bestiarum rouge, want to try Damascus steel patter

inspired me today

also want to try oils for gradients

[echo charm]

How do you even paint that?

With the squiggly circles

[floral mason]

Glazes

And patience

[ruby nebula]

my bet is gradient -> pattern-> glazes

i will try grey blade then pattern and then oil filters

[floral mason]

What astonishes me the most is the regularity of the pattern

[mental hound]

Is that from MinuatureDen? Vincenzo, I think his name is? Saw something similar on dude’s twitch stream the other day

[floral mason]

Not the pattern itself, the transparency of the paint

Like it's so even

[ruby nebula]

Our local store reposted pic, tbh i dont know original source

[mental hound]

Oh, cool. Such a great effect. Can’t wait to see what you do with it

[ruby nebula]

i have never tried oil nmm and patterns, thrilled to try!

but waiting for white to cure for two days

https://tenor.com/view/hedgehog-hedgehog-chew-chew-happy-hedgehog-gif-25050858

horrible

[mental hound]

Truly watching paint dry at that point 😂

[tender plover]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpDGwsNNE9R/

miniaturesden

WIP of Daybreak fromgoing for something I've personally haven't seen before in miniatures, damascus nmm! How's it looking?
I'm working on this model live on my, link in bio!

Likes

1858

Instagram

In case anyone was looking for that 👆

[mental hound]

His twitch channel is miniaturesden. Yeah, thought so. It’s so cool

[thorn thorn]

I hear this one is pretty good for NMM, got one more to paint
https://bigchildcreatives.com/store/product/iron-heart-3/

😂

[mental hound]

You can do it! Paint bravely! 😂😉🍻

[ruby nebula]

my entry

[floral mason]

Mine

[ruby nebula]

todays progress

oils are fun!

[ruby nebula]

trying nmm with strokes

[echo charm]

Looks very nice

[ruby nebula]

weapons almost done

[echo charm]

I did this as a practice piece earlier.

[tender plover]

https://youtu.be/P7gMkiOPSeA

[lavish ocean]

I think I'll run this guy for NMM along

[short mist]

Progress for this week

[ruby nebula]

lovely!

[floral mason]

Okay I'm gonna pick another one 😂

Need another mini 😂

[floral mason]

It's Gold nmm now lol

And I'm done I think

I hate 28mm 😂

[ruby nebula]

moving on

only base left

[ruby nebula]

done!

[floral mason]

Hot 🔥

[trim rover]

Very convincing nmm. Great looking paintjob.

[ruby nebula]

thanks!

would love to hear c&c here or in dm!

[trim rover]

Allrighty c&c

I love the high contrast in the nmm to really sell it. Also the direction of light seems to be observed very well, the consistency making it all work without it breaking the illusion. (Both things I have a lot to learn in myself). I also like that there is material texture painted all over the figure, also making the various materials stand out from eachother. Lots of contrast everywhere, but never more then in the nmm. Which sells it even more. It gives it all a realistic gritty look.
Also all the colors (relative limited pallet) fit together nicely and tie everything well. Colors come back all over. Not to many colors and with enough contrast still to make it not a boring colorsceme.

absolutely love the base. Very natural with colors making it match the figure and enhancing it instead of taking attention away. The little bit of water and the flowers make the whole base seem like a part of a bigger landscape, adding to the natural feel. Again helped by the various textures.

The yellow reflections (bit random for that)/rust (bit to yellow) on some parts of the silvercolored metal seem a bit bright to me or a tad random. Also his face falls away a bit. Then again he is wearing a hood.

[ruby nebula]

really appreciate such detailed feedback, orange dots are indeed rust, i thought that it would collect in lover part of armour and recesses

yet again i am flattered with compliment and excessiveness of your message

[trim rover]

Ex-teacher, thats what you get when you specifically ask for feedback. Its like an automatism haha.

[ruby nebula]

with base i tried more artistic approach doing dotting of different earth and forest colours to make it look like forest floor

[ruby nebula]

that is a rare and absolutely glorious trait to have

also idea behind lil rust was to create another textures contrasting between cold nmm and warm rust + break the pattern on empty spaces of plates like on bracer - there are only two reflections but rust kinda hides it

@trim rover will be waiting for your entry on this PAL!

[trim rover]

I think the brightness Saturation) of it is perhaps a bit overdone. It being there and the placement is fine.

[ruby nebula]

also i might have oversaturate piece during photoshoot because mini exposed to two bright light sources, on natural light they are far less pronounced

[trim rover]

No nmm entry from me here. I simply do not have the focus and time (blaming work and an 8 year old) to pull it off. Good nmm needs you at the top of your game. Right now i am painting just for fun and not to focussed. Means i see many flaws in my work that i could avoid and improve, but not quite willing to put time and effort in at the moment. Not to mention the awefull photography with my crappy phone haha.

[trim rover]

Yeah that feels a bit more in line. Pictures can distort of be to flipping brutal in pointing out little things real life does not

[ruby nebula]

i guess i tortured myself with only nmm for 13 months now and it became far easier to paint but general mindset of constant improvement is hella demanding

can relate

[trim rover]

Ill do my Confrontation PAL in nmm. Two birds with one stone. Has gems too. And plenty of them. Havent painted gems in 15 years

[ruby nebula]

gems are pleasure to paint

[short mist]

@ruby nebula looks like you've master the nmm technique! Nice job

I'm not on that level yet, right now i'm trying to do gold nmm with some shade of green / orange in it.

[thorny oasis]

The explicit filter hates me tonight

[trim rover]

I guess it it one heck of a sexy thumb.

[thorny oasis]

It sure is 🤭

[thorn thorn]

Maybe an odd choice but really felt like painting this mini and will be doing nmm armor and sword with osl influence. So far just prepainted with airbrush.

[ruby nebula]

great choice tho, a lot of interesting textures and metals are rather small so you can go all out on them!

[thorn thorn]

First wip, no metals yet though 😅

[thorn thorn]

Enough for today

[trim rover]

Really like the warm cold contrast. I would expect to see some warm lightsource on the base though, between skull big and small rock. The cool light also feels more overall cold moonlight and not (yet) sourced from the sword seeing both upper leg parts are equally light. I do love it in that setup though, in a fire from below, moonlight above. Though that might not be at all what you intent to go for. But you sure have a good startpoint for it.

[thorn thorn]

the cold light is meant as moonlight from above while the warm light is a virtual bonfire in front of the base (so "off camera" so to speak)

but I think I need to make the warm light shine a bit more on the right side to make it look ight

make it a bit rounder so to speak

[trim rover]

Well works
i love the effect. 😁 the brightness of the yellow on the big rock with the pillar felt brightest, hence me missing the lightsource there as it almost feels like the source would be there instead of off base. Assuming the bases ring will be painted black.

But it is nitpicking on a work in progress. I definitively doubt if i could pull it off this well. I dont have an airbrush so just with a brush i find it hard to keep the lightsource consistent and complete. Sure an airbrush isnt a magical tool but I assume it helps a bit in this regard.

[thorn thorn]

the yellow actually ended up a lot brighter than I initially intended. the airbrush sketch wasn't so bright, but it got really bright when did a brush pass on it. That's why the round shape of the light got lost so it's hard to see where it's coming from

[thorn thorn]

it helps for sketching but to get the real punch you really need to do brushwork, highlight + contrast paint is a marvel for this.

You can see in the first image how it looked after airbrushing, the rest is brush.

[thorny oasis]

me trying to channel my inner Gentle MothMan

[floral mason]

Love the blue

[thorny oasis]

This is kinda where I ended last night

[halcyon fulcrum]

Started today

[tender plover]

looking good!

I also really love the fur texture!

[thorny oasis]

Ty

[thorn thorn]

Finally got around to some nmm

The big question is… do I need to make his skin look lesslike nmm? 😂

[thorny oasis]

He looks cool as NMM skinned

[thorn thorn]

damnit >_<

[thorny oasis]

Did you... undo his nmm skin 😭

[thorn thorn]

not yet..

want it to look like a pale vampire in moonlight, not like chrome though :/

but we'll see, need to get all the other area painted first

[thorny oasis]

Totally fair. I'm.sure he'll look amazing

[thorny oasis]

Decided to print a new base 🤣 because who doesn't want to do more NMM lol

[thorn thorn]

painting more non-NMM, painting a rock pillar grey.

[thorn thorn]

starting to feel like perhaps I should be posting this in the OSL PAL instead 😂

(didn't know there was one running until I happened across it)

esp since the NMM is feeling like one of the weakest parts of the piece

[thorny oasis]

Don't stress too much we aren't forcing any minimum amount of NMM versus the rest. But I totally understand your sentiment

[thorn thorn]

ah.. I'm not stressing, just feel it maybe is more interesting to ppl in there 🙂

I could probably dig up something else to paint NMM on 😂

[mental hound]

Do you have a bust that has a really big sword? That might work. 😉😂

[thorn thorn]

I do but I think I need a palette cleanser... I'm not even sure I'm finished with the last one 😄

actually... maybe one of the cursed city heroes could be fun

[short mist]

Slow progress, didn't have much time this week. The purple cloth is a nightmare to paint 🫠

[mental hound]

Can I shift gears and do this one, instead of Hashomer?

[echo charm]

There are no rules about changing minis for pals

You’re free to change as you wish

[mental hound]

Noted. Was t sure if these things were like the board game and a list was kept. 🍻

[thorny oasis]

Nope we aren't as strict since we are only monitoring 1 mini versus where the BtD and AoW require a lot more manual review / intervention

[mental hound]

Well, then copper NMM it is

[crude mist]

Lol we trying to do all his armor NMM

Maybe the Mount too idk

Is it gonna be weird if the boar has steel chains

And the wolf has gold idk

[crude mist]

That’s where I stop tonight lol

[crude mist]

Reworking the NMM on pig irl

Pig ork *

[thorny oasis]

MY GUY THAT BELT

[crude mist]

❤️❤️❤️ lol it took some major reworking

Getting there

The end is in sight

[thorny oasis]

Yeess

[crude mist]

🫠🫠🫠🫠

[crude mist]

Donnneeee

[ruby nebula]

hip armour of this pine cone squirrel is looking good! but to my mind highlights on belt buckle is toо white

oh, final result is real good one! was looking at wip

[crude mist]

Lol it totally is a pine cone with a pork chop rider and thank you so much!!!!

[quartz flicker]

I'm in with my first NMM attempt with this mini

the axe is gonna be NMM'd

also it's my first paintalong

[ruby nebula]

good luck!

[quasi tundra]

I'll be doing this for the challenge

[quartz flicker]

so far

[mental hound]

Toes are in the water

[mental hound]

Sorry to spam post but I’m kinda proud of the results. 🎨🤓

[quartz flicker]

holy goddamn that's AMAZING

[crude mist]

As you should be!!!!! That’s so good!!!

[mental hound]

Thank you! 🍻

[mental hound]

Thank you! 🍻

[mental hound]

What does this need to read as copper? I’m not sold on it. Ideas?

[thorny oasis]

It does but it feels like too red?

Idk

[mental hound]

Why does it look weird to me?

[thorny oasis]

Is it because it's soo bright compared to the rest?

[mental hound]

Maybe too red, as you say?

[thorny oasis]

It's giving me crab shell 🤣

The longer I look at it

[mental hound]

So to de-red it, more dark, or mor light?

[thorny oasis]

I'd maybe do more brown/dark

Bur didn't red give you a like picture of it

In the godzilla channel

[mental hound]

Yeah, I tried to follow that

[thorny oasis]

Yeah your dude is waayyy too red

In comparison

But I'd say maybe tone er down a bit? And see how you prefer it?

[mental hound]

Ok, thanks for your thoughts 🍻

[mental hound]

Tad better? Maybe it’s time to take a break from it for bit.

[thorny oasis]

Yez!

I like this much better

Wow keyboard betraying me tonight but yes

[mental hound]

Yez works too

Thanks. I can work with that

[thorny oasis]

I'm so not in the mental space to paint tonight keep distracting myself with my.phone

[mental hound]

Maybe should’ve practiced on the foot first, instead something kind of important like the thing framing it’s face

[crude mist]

Add a little glaze of some green around the edges to get it that verdigris feel of copper maybe?

[mental hound]

Yeah, I’ll probably add that at the end, once I can get the recipe and process down

I thought silver was tough. Copper is hard to get right

Might try to put some TMM copper on another model and see how it reflects

[tender plover]

I feel like for copper you want more of a brown vibe for the darker colors then moving through to an almost orangey peachy color up to a whiter version of peach. Feel free to ignore though based on how you feel about these dudes 😀

[mental hound]

Yeah, I think that’s probably where I went wrong, too much red. Your pauldron is kinda what I am going for

[tender plover]

My guy also went through a too red phase. I also made the crab association at the time. I think very organic shapes already make us think of crabs or other families shapes whether we’re aware of it or not. Then add the “too red” factor and we’re in crustacean town.

[mental hound]

Think I finally found a reference photo I like. I can see the peachy colors in the light, then the reds on the other side of the helmet that’s in shadow with only secondary reflections

[tender plover]

nice! To me any reds here look very orange 🙂

[mental hound]

Burnt oranges, yeah I suppose.

But this is the color I am trying to get to

[quartz flicker]

more non-metallic metal work 💀

it took me like 2 hours to realize how reflections kinda work on these details

no joke

im gonna improve the reflections on the skull, I kinda am starting to understand how it works now that I see the photos

this is my 1st-2nd time doing NMM, it's lots of fun

[mental hound]

It’s mine, too, and its deceptively fun and engaging.

[quartz flicker]

yeeee

it's challenging which is great too

very happy i bought this kolinsky marta brush kek

[thorn thorn]

To me the problem is mainly the brightest parts, there's too much that very high value even though they look like they are round shapes (which should have just one bright dot). Maybe I'm misunderstanding what should be copper, but the ornamentation on the brow and and around the eye read like some kind of matte sea shell because there's so much near white and I can't really get an impression of where the light is coming from as they seem to be white regardless of their angle to the camera. If one thing is at one angle and another thing is something like 50-90 degrees different shouldn't have the same reflection pattern or it'll break the illusion as it'll be highly unlikely they do. For example the area to the left and right of the center of the helmet*. If you chose one side of the helmet as brighter or shaded the round growths on his forehead more like spheres I think it'd read more metallic. There's also just too much bright, copper doesn't reflect as brightly as say silver does so it'll have way less areas with near white and more areas with a peach color.

I also feel the core shape of the helmet itself (which should be a sphere) is getting lost under all the detail. It's super easy to get lost in all the filigree, but in general I would say it's much more important that the big shapes (like the overall spherical shape of the helmet) have a clear and correct reflections and if you let the small details break that up it stops looking metallic.

Last thing... The gradients are pretty rough, giving the impresion that the surface is worn and beat up. Worn copper with usually have dark areas and areas of verdigris, so either adding those or making the gradients more clean will make it sell more as copper.

Sorry this is a bit all over the place, hopefully it's still helpful...

*another option could be to have the light come down front and center with a clear light light down the middle, but then both sides of the center need to have clearer bands of gradiental drops in value before they start going bright again.

to me it looks like this is the overall shape of the helmet (the green lines), but I don't see anything in the reflections indicating this. This looks like a rounded cone or a hemisphere but I can't tell where the main reflection of this shape is.

here as an example, you can see that the main reflection is that of a cylinder in the lower half with the top to down band but a sphere at the top (with a dot reflecting the same light source as the cylinder)

note also htere that even though there's a bunch of detail, it's reflections are way less visible than the overall shape.

actually, looking at @thorny oasis paintover above is a much better illustraion of what I mean 🙂

it's a really tough helmet to paint though, all that curving detail in a lot of directions...

[mental hound]

Thank you for taking the time to look and consider. Great feedback. This model is a strange pose in the sense that it has turned to look back over its shoulder, while ascending stairs, face looking down. There isn’t really a good optimal viewing angle. I decided to try and paint the light as if it’s looking back over it’s shoulder into a setting sun, which is above as bad in front of it. Thus the right side is brighter than the left. Yes, the image @thorny oasis posted was from red piano on a feedback request, which I was trying to copy. I see your point about the brights being too overwhelming. I can back those off. My initial struggle was indeed with the shape of the helmet, and how to treat the main shape highlight vs. the filigree and detail. I’ve not painting anything like this helmet before, and my NMM experience is truly limited to the steel that is on its arms and torso. So, this is truly a new experience for me. Not to mention trying to get the colors right to not be too red, too peachy, or too brown

[thorny oasis]

I can't take credit for reds design

[mental hound]

Here’s the full figure with the over exaggerated light source for reference

Yes, the gradients are rough, as I was getting frustrated and needed to step back

[thorn thorn]

honestly, my main tip for this type of filigree is like ignore the detail entirely, pretend it isn't there and then do some very fine dots and veeeery fine lines to pick out edges when the main shape looks decent.

[mental hound]

I’ve seen this done with scale mail, and did it myself with snake scales, but I guess this one just tossed me around like the noob I am. 😂

[thorn thorn]

to me, this is the most offending area with regards to volumetry.

the red and green area look like they're almost the same angle, yet they have very different value.

[thorn thorn]

honestly, I think it's what everybody does intuitively.

I made the exact same error here.

on the shoulderpads and arm guard things

...and hammer

[mental hound]

The green is an elevated detail, whereas the red part is a recessed part. But I suppose that’s what you are talking about ignoring the detail and paint as a whole

The Sun keeper is my second favorite class

[thorn thorn]

yes, but that's why it looks matte. because that's how matte material behaves. recessed = dark, raised = light. that's not how metal works, it really only cares about angle (unless you have like a cast shadow, but that's different and should be very small unless you have a very deep recess)

so having a thin dark line separating the recessed and raised bit is fine and to be expected but after that the gradient/volumetric reflection should resume

[mental hound]

or an occlusion shadow 😉 I jest, and not making light of your assistance, which is very much appreciated

[mental hound]

I see what you mean here, yeah, the slight down angle on the raised part, but then it would go back to the reflection

[thorn thorn]

shiny surfaces don't have occlusion shadows, only cast shadows 🙂

[mental hound]

as you can probably see in the full photo, the shoulder pauldrons, the bracers, and the shin guards all have these intricate designs on them

[thorn thorn]

yeah, looks like you have your job cut out for you!

[mental hound]

so you should have painted those as if the details weren't there, with perhaps a thin shadow line, and maybe some select highlights on the raised areas to differentiate, but not separate them out individually?

[thorn thorn]

honestly the detail on that model is terrible, but yes I should've painted them first as if they weren't there and then tried to figure out where I needed to add dark and light to pick out the details

[mental hound]

I've had the fleeting thought to punt and break out the metal color copper, and go for some TMM...but I've started NMM, and now have to finish. Besides, as I like to say, it will build character

[thorn thorn]

I applied this lesson on her red girdle thing

[mental hound]

the fact that you made Sunkeeper look that good is a nod to your skill. Those models are bad for painting

[thorn thorn]

thanks, the sunkeeper is one of the less bad ones

but there are some areas where the sculptor clearly just poked around a bit because they couldn't be bothered to actually figure out what should be there

[mental hound]

I've even thought to do something like you did with the red girdle thingy, kind of like a lacquered/painted metal, with the copper being the detail

[thorn thorn]

so.. the gold on the right side of her girdle is mostly just dark brown

in fact, most of the whole thing is

except for the top of the thing

because it's facing down

then I went in and did what's basically glorified dots, making sure to only hit the tops of the filigree to show the light from above bounding off them

[mental hound]

but you sold the effect of the details that way, which is appealing, and which might work for this old boy better, at least for my current skill levels

[thorn thorn]

most of those areas have maybe three values, the dark brown, a light brown/yellow and then the bright dot

[mental hound]

Here’s an image with the steel parts

[thorn thorn]

they're looking spot on

for some reason elrond comes to mind

[mental hound]

do you think if I pivoted to your girdle effect, that might sell it better than trying to do the whole thing as copper? My wife suggested gold, but I'd run into the same issues, I think

[thorn thorn]

honestly, I don't think the color metal matters

[mental hound]

he will be holding a wind goblet in his left hand when all is said and done

wine

[thorn thorn]

I think it's all the shapes

or do you mean make his helmet like painted and then only have some copper details?

[mental hound]

and this photo is a good one of the ideal viewing angle, and the light angle as well

[mental hound]

yes, this, like you did with the girdle. It kind of looks like it's almost there already, minus tweaking the highlights

[thorn thorn]

it could work, but I'm not sure it's going to be easier.

I didn't mean to show the red part, I meant more along the lines of how the gold part was lit 😂

what I mean is... I think you'll still need to solve the raised details not looking metallic

[mental hound]

I got some good advice from someone else in another server to take the rest of the metal to the same level, then reevaluate. Which is a really good idea. If if changed direction, with that in mind, I could approach it differently

[thorn thorn]

yeah, that's probably sound advice

always better to leave things crap and get everything else in order first

if you get stuck

maybe you don't even want a copper helmet when all the other stuff is there 😂

[mental hound]

I'm stuck, yeah. jumped off into the deep end

[thorn thorn]

you could just make the whole thing look verdigris and corroded and then just have some shiny copper in spots where it'd be worn

[mental hound]

I've thought about that too. He strikes me as a dapper, debonair nobleman who wouldn't dare let his armor become corroded. I thinks its the body language that is giving me that impression. 😂

He's no common skeleton or lich

[thorn thorn]

but if you do that, you still really make sure to follow the volume of the helmet, but just hitting the worn areas. so you can trace the light line through the piece

[mental hound]

tracing that light line is the key. and that is what keeps tripping me up, but I think ignoring the details and just painting it as a regular sphere on top and cylinder on the sides, that might help. Keeping the viewing angle and perspective in mind too, so it is consistent and makes sense.

so many things to consider

[thorn thorn]

it's more obvious when the detail is smaller

but like how it's like the whole helmet is painted as if the detail wasn't there but then the dark is added in the negative space of the detail

[mental hound]

in this photo, the top part would be treated as a flat surface, correct? with the middle sphere and then the ridge as a cylinder?

[thorn thorn]

the right on the top of the crest is a cylinder

the brim of the hat... ugh... don't know

the crest is a flat surface

there's something fish about the lighting on the this thing though

I think there are multiple lights

one from the left and one from the right

[mental hound]

yeah, the two main reflections on the sphere

Thank you, @thorn thorn this discussion has been really helpful. Thank you for taking the time

[thorn thorn]

np. I really need to sleep now though. ugh...

getting up in 5h likely >_<

if not earlier

[mental hound]

ugh. have a good evening

[mental hound]

@thorn thorn, @thorny oasis , everyone, here’s a VERY rough sketch of the copper with a slightly different color palette. Ignoring the details for now, as we discussed last night, but I think it’s getting close to what I envisioned. Thoughts?

[quasi tundra]

Doesn't really look like NMM but I guess I've learned an important lesson not to paint while I'm on hangover

[thorny oasis]

That looks freaking real

[mental hound]

Brave person, painting like that. Didn’t that hurt your head or eyes more?

[mental hound]

Thanks for your feedback

[thorny oasis]

Did you submit this for the pal? I think you may not have gotten the full points

[quasi tundra]

You're right, I forgot to mention that in the request, thanks!

[thorny oasis]

No worries you can reopwn it by commenting in it

[quasi tundra]

Eyes, but not from the hangover, but from looking at how imprecise I was at applying paint

[mental hound]

Kinda happy with this

[quartz flicker]

so sexy

i wish i could do NMM this good 😭 💀

[mental hound]

Thanks! The details are making this incredibly difficult

[mental hound]

You can! I’ve learned it boils down to patience

Here are some references Erik Swinson posted for NMM in his discord.

[thorn thorn]

Nice, like I wrote on FB, looks like you really nailed the volume this time around 👍

[mental hound]

Had no idea that was you, but it makes sense in hindsight! Nice to know you 🍻

[thorn thorn]

hehe, yeah.. only way is to recognize the minis 😄

you've probably also noticed the discrepancy in hue between erik's copper and yours? I personally think it's more important to paint the color that works with your mini's composition than nitpick exact hues for various metals but copper does tend to be more pink or orange depending on the lighting. This could just be copper under a very warm light though or with some slight alloying so nothing to worry about if you like that color better.

It's kind of like every time I paint "nmm gold", I'm really usually painting something that looks more like brass if I'm completely honest 😂 (gold is probably incredibly impractical for armor too anyway)

being soft and twice as heavy as lead

(sure, it could be plated)

[crimson surge]

it is such a fine line between polished brass and gold too

[mental hound]

The copper image strikes me as highly polished, and I’ve also seen dull copper that is more muted. It almost pushes to bronze at that point.

I may very well have come up with a new hybrid material made from dull copper, tarnished bronze, carved wood and leather. 🍻

[crimson surge]

cheers hahaha

I do think it looks like beat up bronze/copper

[mental hound]

I’m putting verdigris tears in the eyes to represent my pain in doing this

[mental hound]

Thank you! Means a lot to hear

[crimson surge]

the lighting is spot on so it really sells the effect

regardless of tone

[mental hound]

I think I’ll need to paint some TMM armor after this just for a mental break. 😂

And bad TMM at that, just because

[crimson surge]

but that's just as much work lol

[mental hound]

To do it right, yes

But badly, base, wash, highlight, go

😂

[crimson surge]

so, not TMM

😂

[mental hound]

Fair

[ashen void]

This is the figure I'll be making my first ever NMM attempt on.

[mental hound]

The pins have some good info

[mental hound]

I love this model, it’s my mini boss fight, as it were. It’s hard, but I’m gonna win by attrition, dammit. 😂 got so much to learn. 🍻

[thorn thorn]

fair enough 🙂

[mental hound]

You are right, though, in the major difference in hues. And you are also correct that this is really hard

[thorn thorn]

tbh, I think it works better with the rest of the palette you have, with some verdigris it's going to be sick

it's easy to overdo it though so be careful 😅

feels like you're getting better for every part of him you're painting too btw

[mental hound]

Yeah, I’m gonna add some verdigris as tears around the eyes of the bracer and pauldron for my pain. 😂

[mental hound]

Thank you! I’m trying to be very aware of lights, reflections, etc.

[ruby nebula]

decided to share my progress on unfamiliar way of oil nmm, struggled a lot but this is the fate of this black templars - to always challenge my skills and see how i improve

first two iterations

[woeful wraith]

I will keep it simple and try to start with this small dagger for my first shot at nmm...

[mental hound]

Just the helmet, goblet, and base to go.

[mental hound]

My heart weeps for you

[mental hound]

He done!

[floral mason]

Absolutely awesome! Love it

[mental hound]

Thank you for your suggestions and feedback! 🍻

[floral mason]

Always mate! Looks like it worked well on the shoulderpad

[rocky tide]

Original at Erik Swinson’s workshop pre-paint and the current WIP 🙂 Nan can vouch for me that I started in March 😉

[crimson surge]

sure can

[ashen void]

So this is my first attempt at NMM. It's not going well and this is after 1.5-2 hours of adjustment. Any idea what I'm doing wrong or advice?

[ruby nebula]

try to spread reflections more, for example i like then left and right parts if the sword have different map of reflections, you got nice result at top of blade because you have great contrast and difference between sides, also you can try to decrease amount of white because brightness is relative to surrounding s and less whites means more shine

[ruby nebula]

or more faitfull for your paintjob

i am still learning this style of nmm so i might have screwed it up a bit

[ashen void]

Any better?

[ruby nebula]

definitely better then before, i would have slightly adjust left big reflection to make it duller on the sides of highlight

good job!

[rocky tide]

All done!

[floral mason]

Glorious

[ashen void]

Well I'm done. This was my first NMM. Definitely need more practice.

[ruby nebula]

looking great!

[sturdy jolt]

Hi, this would be my first PAL. Would it be ok to paint a miniture that has just one small sword? I want to paint my Colette Core Box for Malifaux using NMM for the first time. Cassandra would be my miniture of choice, because I just feel Like painting her as the first miniture of the box.

Cassandra is the third Miniaturen from the right

[thorny oasis]

HELLO! and of course. There is no minimum surface for nmm.

[echo charm]

Love me some Collette. Got all her keyword boxes sitting primed and I painted at home 😛. Was also thinking of doing Cassandra’s sword NMM. It’s a nice surface for it.

[quartz flicker]

so far with my first NMM

[thorn thorn]

wow, that's amazing for a first nmm... that's just worlds better than my first attempt 😂

[sturdy jolt]

The saber is my first try at NMM. I'm not really convinced I got ist right. C&c is welcome

[quartz flicker]

more NMM work!!!!! second time with NMM and im addicted as FUCK

[bright saddle]

How's the NMM looking?

The fist photo is further along...

[mental hound]

It passes my squint test, for what it’s worth

[bright saddle]

Haha

It's the first time I do high polish

[mental hound]

I think your work on the detail in the plume reads correctly

Can’t wait to see it done. I know you’ve said this piece is kicking you, but I say you are kicking it

[bright saddle]

Thanks. Every single part has been a big struggle and I need to go back in a lot of places to refine it.

[rocky tide]

Looking good!

[quartz flicker]

shield

[quartz flicker]

so far

[echo charm]

I don’t have time to finish anything for this one but if someone has any advice for me it would be greatly appreciated.

[echo charm]

Are you using the AK NMM steel set? The colours look very similar to it.

[ashen void]

Hmm, I didn't use a specific set but I did use mostly AK paints so maybe by accident I did.

[quartz flicker]

done done

[bright saddle]

This is almost done

[lavish ocean]

Not my best work for NMM (axe and kneepads) but life got in the way haha

[sturdy jolt]

I reworked the sword a bit and painted her base. I think it is completely ok for my first try at NMM. But Tipps and comments are welcome.

[echo charm]

I’m no expert but I think edge highlighting the lower edge of the sword would go a long way.

Basically, edge highlight everything.

[ruby nebula]

i will strongly disagree, lower edge wouldn’t reflect any light, highlighting everything is primary nmm mistake

you may try to do little edge highlight nearby lower highlight point to reinforce shape of blade but i think all over highlights will give cartoonish look

[echo charm]

If you look at something like this, there are at least partial lower edge highlights

But you’re right, it’s not fully highlighted

[sturdy jolt]

I will try to highlight the lower edge at the bright spot, when i am at the painting table again

[crimson surge]

Here's a rule for NMM - paint all the edges

You don't have to highlight them all to the same degree, that won't look right, but even a ground facing edge will be reflecting light

[crimson surge]

Paint em all

Fwiw too this is information taken from Erik, who's model Marsaac posted

[ruby nebula]

thanks fоr correcting me, nan!

[crimson surge]

Just gotta vary the intensity of em to be appropriate

[eternal harbor]

Maybe a dumb question but how do you treat a 3D model with NMM considering the multiple viewing angles?

For example, if you decide the front of your model is the ideal viewing angle, and potentially related to the light source, what do you do with the back of your model? Is it entirely cast in shadow? Or do you just choose another viewing angle + light source?

[mental hound]

For the death knight, I painted the back side dimmer with bounce reflections from the imaginary wall behind him, essentially in shadow. I’ve seen others take the approach of four points of light, and sketch the reflections that way, but I haven’t tried this

Here’s a pic of the back side. I probably didn’t approach it correctly, but just went to mid tone and no further

[eternal harbor]

Yeah! I was looking at your model in envy haha. Love the copper colours on yours and might try to emulate that for my detail pieces on my Arkonauts.

So basically imagined a reflection of the main light source so smaller amounts of highlights, and almost none in some places. Super cool.

[mental hound]

Thank you! Yes, that’s how I approached the back side of the metals.

[eternal harbor]

Thanks for the tips. I’m super new to the hobby so this discord has been an awesome discovery.

[mental hound]

Same for me. Great people in here and I’ve learned a lot

Check the pins in this thread. There’s some good references

[eternal harbor]

Wow! Your stuff does not look like you are new to the hobby - really, really impressive work!

[mental hound]

I’m new to display painting, but have been painting board game pieces for a few years now. Thank you for your kind words. 🍻

Apologies, should’ve clarified this discord was a good discovery for me, too 🙂

[eternal harbor]

Having a really tough time with Steel so switched to trying out more of a Brass colour.