Bailey03's WIP
- Thread starter Bailey03
- Start date
Bailey03
Well-known member
Thanks, Kretcher and Milosh.
So I mentioned I was working on a tutorial. Here's a bit of a sneak peak on how I did the metal...
First frame - Black Brown base then thorough coat of Old Bronze mixed with Black. When mixing the black with the bronze it takes a lot of black to get it dark enough. On the palette it looks almost black, but when the light hits it on the model you can see there's still some bronze color to it. The matte black will take down the shine of the metallic so we have more control over the shadows.
Second frame - Working in several layers (each with less black and more bronze) up to pure Old Bronze. By the time I get to pure bronze I'm treating it more like an early highlight, so applying it in less places than I would the mid tone
Third frame - Now working with a mix of Old Bronze and VMA Gold. For the areas where I want gradual transitions I work up to maybe a 50/50 mix. Then I take pure VMA Gold and hit some of the edges... the edge of the visor, the details below the crest, the raised line right above the visor, edges of the check guard, etc.
Fourth frame - I've gone over it with some controlled washes/glazes of black, green, and blue (always pushing the brush and paint towards the shadow). The changes are subtle, but I adjust some of the shadows and blends. Those metallic paints can get very light very quickly, so it's easy to lose your shadows. Several layers of washes/glazes can help redefine them.
View attachment 24984
View attachment 24985
Aside from the Vallejo Model Air Gold, all the paints I'm working with are Reaper. But really any dark to medium bronze would work. Matte black and black brown from any line are fine. The VMA gold isn't really like other golds. If you don't have or want VMA Gold, some silver with some bronze mixed into it would probably work as a substitute.
(The images are pretty wide, so in my browser they are shrunk to fit. If you adjust your window you should be able to see the larger version)
So I mentioned I was working on a tutorial. Here's a bit of a sneak peak on how I did the metal...
First frame - Black Brown base then thorough coat of Old Bronze mixed with Black. When mixing the black with the bronze it takes a lot of black to get it dark enough. On the palette it looks almost black, but when the light hits it on the model you can see there's still some bronze color to it. The matte black will take down the shine of the metallic so we have more control over the shadows.
Second frame - Working in several layers (each with less black and more bronze) up to pure Old Bronze. By the time I get to pure bronze I'm treating it more like an early highlight, so applying it in less places than I would the mid tone
Third frame - Now working with a mix of Old Bronze and VMA Gold. For the areas where I want gradual transitions I work up to maybe a 50/50 mix. Then I take pure VMA Gold and hit some of the edges... the edge of the visor, the details below the crest, the raised line right above the visor, edges of the check guard, etc.
Fourth frame - I've gone over it with some controlled washes/glazes of black, green, and blue (always pushing the brush and paint towards the shadow). The changes are subtle, but I adjust some of the shadows and blends. Those metallic paints can get very light very quickly, so it's easy to lose your shadows. Several layers of washes/glazes can help redefine them.
View attachment 24984
View attachment 24985
Aside from the Vallejo Model Air Gold, all the paints I'm working with are Reaper. But really any dark to medium bronze would work. Matte black and black brown from any line are fine. The VMA gold isn't really like other golds. If you don't have or want VMA Gold, some silver with some bronze mixed into it would probably work as a substitute.
(The images are pretty wide, so in my browser they are shrunk to fit. If you adjust your window you should be able to see the larger version)
Bailey03
Well-known member
Thanks, Zab. I'm actually using the VMA gold, not the VMC gold. The Vallejo stuff can be a bit confusing. In my opinion the Vallejo Model Color metals (acrylic) are fine but no better then GW, P3, or any of the other popular brands. The Vallejo Model Air, on the other hand, are designed for the airbrush so, even with a regular brush, they seem to just flow so much smoother than other acrylic metals. They are some of my favorite. Their range of white metals (silver, steel, gunmetal, etc) are great. Their range of yellow metals is limited to gold... and an odd shade of gold at that. But it's great for highlighting the yellow metals of other ranges. They've also got a metallic red and blue which I haven't seen in other lines.
To complicate things further, Vallejo also has a range they call liquid metals (like liquid gold) which are alcohol based metals, not acrylic. Alcohol based metallic paints are some of the best out there. I've got a couple Mr Color Super Metallic paints. Fantastic stuff. Unfortunately alcohol based metals are also a pain in the butt to use. Any water and your paints will rust right there in the bottle. So no mixing with other acrylics. You need an alcohol thinner. And ideally you'd have a couple brushes that you only use with alcohol based paints.
Thanks, 10. I may go back over it and add some battle damage when I weather the rest of the figure. I haven't decided how much I want to do yet... really messed up or just a little wear and tear.
To complicate things further, Vallejo also has a range they call liquid metals (like liquid gold) which are alcohol based metals, not acrylic. Alcohol based metallic paints are some of the best out there. I've got a couple Mr Color Super Metallic paints. Fantastic stuff. Unfortunately alcohol based metals are also a pain in the butt to use. Any water and your paints will rust right there in the bottle. So no mixing with other acrylics. You need an alcohol thinner. And ideally you'd have a couple brushes that you only use with alcohol based paints.
Thanks, 10. I may go back over it and add some battle damage when I weather the rest of the figure. I haven't decided how much I want to do yet... really messed up or just a little wear and tear.
Thanks for the step by step piece, really nice metals there. I also agree around Vallejo Air series are really great. The only thing is that the gold one sometimes can be too light in colour and more towards silver. I sometimes mix in a bit of yellow ink/colour too get it more "gold" looking.
Keep up the good work and looking forward too your next post.
/Kretcher
Keep up the good work and looking forward too your next post.
/Kretcher
Puts Old Fart Pedant head on: If anything TMM or metallic paints are the New fad.Maybe we are finally seeing the end of this ridiculous NMM fad...
Don't see metallic paints on canvas painting much before start of 20th Century.
Don't confuse Gold leaf on canvas a la Klimt as paint though.
NMM/TMM both worthwhile techniques in their own right.
Old Fart Head off now. :clap:
Demihuman
Active member
Hmm, I guess you're right.
You must be old if you remember Klimt
I have considered using foil on a model like the Airplane guys do, just not gold foil. Might look nice on an Eldar vehicle or one of the Tomb Kings Mega-Sphynx things. Okay, I will put "2500 point gold leaf deco/expressionist eldar army" right here on the end of my list. I suppose the expressionist Eldar would have to be Dark Eldar... ooh Deco Harlequin might be nice! They could fight Bauhaus Space Marines and Cubist Chaos Cultists...
Bailey03
Well-known member
Well, if I could do NMM as well as people like 10 ball or Sproket you can be pretty sure I'd do it every chance I got!
Getting real close on the hoplite. The main figure is almost finished, just need to add some weathering and maybe a few tweaks here and there. I painted the crest on the helmet and his clothing... then decided I wasn't happy with how it all went together and redid both. Now it's time to focus on the shield and details for the base. I'm hoping to post more pictures soon!
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Getting real close on the hoplite. The main figure is almost finished, just need to add some weathering and maybe a few tweaks here and there. I painted the crest on the helmet and his clothing... then decided I wasn't happy with how it all went together and redid both. Now it's time to focus on the shield and details for the base. I'm hoping to post more pictures soon!
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Bailey03
Well-known member
Thanks Canny. Yeah, TMM seems to go better with historical figures. There are some painters who can do NMM and it looks completely realistic. If you can pull that off, I don't see any reason you couldn't do it on historical figures. For fantasy/sci-fi I think you have some more freedom to do stylized NMM.
I've been busy, got a second update for today. I finished the shield so this guy is almost done. I have some more freehand work planned for the base, so it might take a little while to finish that up.
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For the shield I painted Chrysaor, a winged boar who's the brother of Pegasus. I wasn't familiar with Chrysaor but I was looking through Greek pottery images for shield ideas (google image search is very helpful) and found the picture below. It was different and I kinda liked the idea. After a little more searching I found another image on an ancient coin which I based the shield design around.
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I've been busy, got a second update for today. I finished the shield so this guy is almost done. I have some more freehand work planned for the base, so it might take a little while to finish that up.
View attachment 25122 View attachment 25123 View attachment 25124 View attachment 25125 View attachment 25126
For the shield I painted Chrysaor, a winged boar who's the brother of Pegasus. I wasn't familiar with Chrysaor but I was looking through Greek pottery images for shield ideas (google image search is very helpful) and found the picture below. It was different and I kinda liked the idea. After a little more searching I found another image on an ancient coin which I based the shield design around.
View attachment 25127 View attachment 25128
Bailey03
Well-known member
Thanks, Krule and Demi.
With the figure just about finished I painted up some accessories for the base today. I'm picturing this guy sacking some city. There was a lot of conflict between different Greek city states, his side won and now he's looking for some loot. So I painted a couple Greek vases that he might find in the city. My dad bought these at a toy soldier show. They had some awful textured paint on them so I had to sand and strip all that off before I could redo them. I snapped a few photos of actual vases when I was at the Met last month, so the two smaller ones are based on real examples. The figure is there to give you a sense of their scale.
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With the figure just about finished I painted up some accessories for the base today. I'm picturing this guy sacking some city. There was a lot of conflict between different Greek city states, his side won and now he's looking for some loot. So I painted a couple Greek vases that he might find in the city. My dad bought these at a toy soldier show. They had some awful textured paint on them so I had to sand and strip all that off before I could redo them. I snapped a few photos of actual vases when I was at the Met last month, so the two smaller ones are based on real examples. The figure is there to give you a sense of their scale.
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Just a quick thought, he's bare foot running and fighting through goodness know's what, so for realism they should look scruffy to say the least.
SkelettetS
New member
awesomness :good: imo you need to dirty him a bit though, just a littlebit to clean.
