Ethnic Skintones


Okay, before I even begin with any info on this delicate article, let
me say a few things:
I have no intention to seem racially insensitive, so I’ve lightened up
on any kind of humorous remark.
If I unintentionally offend someone, please excuse my ignorance and let
me change the offending remark.
We are all one people of this earth, let’s try to get along!!

Intro:

Okay, so here’s how this is going to work, I can’t make a mini for
every ethnicity I cover here (mostly because there are none.. let’s get
some more ethnic minis manufacturers!!). So, what I’ve done is scour
the web for pictures of a typical person of that particular ethnicity.
I’ve given a picture of a man and a woman, because in pretty much every
culture, women are lighter skinned than men are. Below the pictures,
I’ve made some color swatches. I’ll try and convert them to Vallejo
mixes (sorry, GW people can’t come up with these with only around 6
flesh colors!!), but you can also just compare and contrast. Also, I’ve
tried to give enough swatches so that you can select three consecutive
swatches to choose your own range, because variations in skin color can
be seen even in families.

Now, you may wonder why different people’s skin is different colors.
Well, there are only certain factors that control skin color.
Everyone’s skin is basically the same, but what colors it is a black
pigment called melanin. Again, everyone has melanin in his or her skin
(except those who suffer from Albinism) but genetically people are born
with more or less. Melanin is released by exposure to the sun and
hormones, and it is concentrated in freckles and moles. Obviously, if
you were to look at a map of the world with color swatches in certain
areas you’d see people in cloudy climates have lighter skin, and people
in sunny areas have darker skin. This is because more melanin helps
absorb the sun, so it should come as no surprise that people with dark ...

Painting Precious Stones
Yes, my prrrreccciouses... Ahem.. Oh.. How long have you been there? Crud. Anyhoo, you may wonder about the name of this article because it's basically an article about painting gems. Why didn't I call it "Painting Gems", then? Several reasons: others have made tons of articles about painting gems and I didn't want to confuse people, secondly: while this article DOES teach how to paint gems, I count "gems" as fully or semi transparent and this article covers several stones that are opaque. Thus, precious stones is a better name, but even THAT gets confusing, as pearl is counted as a precious stone and it's not really a stone as we think of it.. Well, that aside, let's ...

Still Thinking about NMM....


No, I haven't forgotten the NMM article.... totally. Other things come up, y'know, little things: painting miniatures, going to the GD's, planning for conquest of Draenor.. you know, tiny little things that add up.. :P

So I decided to give SENMM it's own article, as it's really tricky. The NMM article is also a good read before this, but hey, read them in any order you like! For those of you who don't know, I've written several other articles you might wanna check out. I try and get you to know everything I can, but if it seems confusing, look at the pictures and you might get a better understanding..

Now we go on to tackle that every elusive:


Sky-Earth NMM


For those that don't know, Sky-Earth Non Metallic Metal (or SENMM) is making the sword, armor, whatever looks like it's mirroring the things around it with opaque color. This ...

Hello all, the CMON webtoon's been up for a bit, but I've been messing around with the page layout and such Chern gave me. I'm shooting for updates ...

Hello. Good day, I am the Chrispy one. If you are reading this you must be like me, asking "WHY NON-METALLIC METAL?". Well, I ask "Why not?"

What is NMM?

People explain it different ways, but to me, NMM is what regular, 2D artists have used for years to make realistic looking metal. Obviously, Da Vinci
didn't have metallic paints. It would look wierd and unrealistic. SO NMM is just painting metal with opaque paints. I have had to learn how to do this,
as I am an art student, and expect to be e Graphic/Game Designer... Now, as I make this tutorial up, PLEASE stick with it, at times I may seem
crazy (which I am ) but this is the gosh-derned truth! Oh, and here is the ever-present Elfwood link on reflection:
Elfwood FARP Reflective Metal


You Think that's Air you're Breathing?


The thing about NMM metal is you must know your shadows and values of grays, how are you ever going to blend blue when you think White, Black,
and Gray are colors... Yep, that's right White, Black and Gray, even though many stores sell them in bottles/spray paint/sodas/whatever, are not truly
color. Let's to Light to Dark (Yeah, Good to Evil!): White is the lightest value, all colors together. What the human Eye percieves as color is the light
reflected off an object. All colors make White. Pue and Simple. Thus, Gray is actually a tint (if lightening an actual color), or a shade (if darkening a color)
Black is the darkest value, it does not reflect any color, it absorbs light (Try putting a white and black sheet of paper out in the sun, which is warmer?)



What are these "Values" I keep referring to? Values refer to the tint/shade of the color. That means, if it is darker, it is said to have a low value,
...

Raiding the Spice Rack
        Hello, good day and welcome to another one of Chrispy'S
Crazed Articles (tm). Today, I'd like to spend a bit on basing, which can be just as important as the painting of the miniature
itself.. However, if you're like me and you absolutly refuse to pay $5 for a teeny weenie bag of flock which is, in essence,
usually painted sawdust. Lately, I've tried to find a cheaper, more common alternative to some basing supplies.. As many
of my articles have started out, I was on the shoutbox and we were discussing basing materials (it began with snow, then
went into more common types of areas. Someone, I believe Sintricat (thought you'd get out of this, eh? :P), asked about a
really ...

Airbrushing Basics

Hello, It’s me again, you resident crazed artist, Chrispy. So, obviously people have seen more and more vinyl figures and garage kits nowadays. Some might also think, “That’s impossible to do with a paint brush!” You’re right. It is. Because... it’s an Airbrush.

              Through this article, I’d like to go over some of the basics of airbrush selection, care and basics. Hopefully, this will make you want to go out and buy some large scale kits and try new and different things. (Before I get started, let me say that most of the graphics were made on the computer, so do not get discouraged if it doesn’t look 100% the same. I’d like to update this article later on, as well as add more in-depth tips and tricks...)

Airbrush Selection

               So, if you want to paint with an airbrush, you are going to need an airbrush. You will also need to get a compressor, but those are so varied and there are so many adapters, almost anything will work. Any compressor can be found in a major hardware store.



Single Action Airbrushes





              Single actions are usually cheaper than other airbrushes. Nowadays, hundreds of companies are putting out single action airbrushes it’s almost like the airbrush is a disposable item like a pen! Single action airbrushes as the name states, have one action; press the trigger down, you get paint. That’s it, no funny stuff. Of course, this isn’t really very good for airbrushing minis with, as you would have to physically move the brush away from the piece, and you ...