cursive lily
Started work on a Custodes fella and decided I’d try to push myself as hard as I can and improve my NMM skills by painting everything here in NMM.
I pretty happy so far compared to previous efforts, but I know it could be better and struggling to really get that reflective look.
Any advice to help make this really stand out/general things I can improve on?
(Even if I don’t apply them to this model I plan on doing 3 more for a playable kill team)
urban dragon
You have good contrast and it's looking metallic to me.
I think what jumps out at me the most is making sure that surfaces the primary light source is consistent.
The belt is making me think the main light source is coming from the top left, but the helmet, feet and chest are mainly telling me other light directions. Making sure all surfaces with the angle that reflects the primary light direction are bright really helps the overall impression. Bounce lights etc are nice if they are consistent but it's less important as the brain puts less stock in them and has a harder time reading them analytically.
I'm not sure what can be made out by the naked eye, but some of the paint coverage looks a bit sketchy. If you're going for a very polished look you'll need very solid paint coats so make sure you have solid coverage before moving on to the next level. Alternatively you can intentionally add texture, making the metal look more rough, beaten up or brushed (depending on what brush motion you're using). This interference will trick the eye, making it a lot more forgiving with regards to coverage and blends.
Some of the edge highlights could be a bit neater, if they are it will increase the shiny-effect. Often a way to improve this is to have a dryer brush and rubbing it along the edge more times so you get a solid but thin highlight. This is really nitpicking though.
I hope that helps!
cursive lily
I hope that helps!
That’s great, thanks!
You raise a really good point about the light angle. I was so focused on contrasting light I didn’t even notice I switched the angle until you pointed it out! I can go back and reverse the chest/helmet I think.
Dead right about the crispness of highlights too, I need to get a few more clean coats down and stop being impatient. This will be the longest I’ve painted a mini to date so still getting to grips with that!
urban dragon
Oh, one more thing... it's less of a "fix this" and more of an overall tip when working with a model that has this much filligree...
On areas with a lot of detail, make sure first that the larger volume is lit consistenty and that's reflected through the whole shape before you start highlighting/shading the details. If I could for instance see a consistent light and reflection going through the helmet which basically is a sharp sided cone, the NMM for the helmet would sell more. After this is established you can start doing the regional lights and darks for the smaller details.
I've made this mistake myself so many times, it's so easy to get blinded by all the small detail and forget the grander shape.
so when painting a lion's head. First paint the sphere that is the lion's head, then go in and make the adjustments where the detail differs from the sphere, putting spot reflections on raised points, darks under them, edge highlights etc.
Dead right about the crispness of highlights too, I need to get a few more clean coats down and stop being impatient. This will be the longest I’ve painted a mini to date so still getting to grips with that!
It's fine to sketch though, you can always go back and fix them later. In fact, it's often helpful with NMM I feel to get some paint everywhere and have roughly the right lights and then go in and refine later.
Another tip there when you're sketching, move the model further from your face and squint your eyes now and then. That will cause the brain to fill in the blanks and it'll hide the rough blends so you can see if your light placement is on point or not.
which is nice to know before you go deep end super refine mode on the blends 🙂
cursive lily
Thanks for the help! I’ll go back in and see what I can fix up!
urban dragon
glad to be of assistance! NMM is an amazingly fun thing to paint after you get past the first hurdles 🙂
cursive lily
glad to be of assistance! NMM is an amazingly fun thing to paint after you get p...
I’ve spent hours on this so far and yeah, really enjoyed it! I could do with investing in a new brush or two as well as experimenting with some other paint brands. I love my scale 75 but do find it hard to get smoother layers sometimes.
urban dragon
yeah, you definitely look like you're past the first hump... I think for me it took like 10 models or something before it started looking like metal
before that I was determined but quite frustrated at times
fervent topaz
to my mind it os looking rather metallic on leg department, body look decent but little feathers could be done with more care. Main thing is light source consistency - you can make small mistakes but if it is readable it is all good. For gold nmm i also can recommend using red browns for basecoats to make gold warmer if you wish.
also practice make it perfect, this is my refined gold nmm recipie but it is still rather clunky. each mini push you forward. this technique is a lot of fun, good luck!
