BloodFather's Axis of Chaos

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Other than cleaning up some sloppiness here and there, me thinks I might be done with the face and hair. Tried something new with the all white hair. I did it in a sort of sky-earth style. Starting from the roots it's dark gray to light gray, then then off white, then pearl, then stark white, then darkest gray to lightest gray and so on. Not sure if I like it. The alternative would be to simply wash a dark gray (or bluish color even) into the cracks, base it in off white and highlight with stark white. Tell me you thoughts.

I am happy with the face. It's got the whole range of contrast and it looks good in person. Here are some WIP shots.

 

[Stewsayer]

Its a bit hard to tell with the hair from these pics mate. A bit closer in on the head would help. The face looks pretty good.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Right. I am always guessing how big they appear on a computer screen. Always afraid of over doing it. Additionally, it can be quite difficult to distinguish different shades of white on a fully white primed figure. Also having trouble finding a good angle, which leads me to believe I should scrap the white hair altogether. I know I could go with a dark blue black and have much better results. Guess I'm just pushing myself with the white here. Another reason white could be a problem is the armor is going to more or less be different shades if black gray and white-just like the hair. So it may blend in too much. Perhaps this will work well if I can show a sharp contrast between a highly saturated base and an unsaturated figure. But I doubt this will work as planned. Perhaps then I'll keep it til the entire project is complete, then make a decision. Anyway, talking out loud again. Here is a closer shot.

 

[Zab]

Don't scrap it. You can always change it after everything is painted since it sits on top of all the other details. See how it looks once you get the other colors filled in. It's easier to paint over white than go the other way if it turns out you want after all.

 

[Stewsayer]

A much better photo mate. As you say the white primer on the rest makes it hard to see what is going on with the hair. As far as I can see it looks good at this stage. I'd keep it until you have made some progress with the rest and can see what it looks like alongside that.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Ty Stew. Agreed with the hair. I will likely change it, just because it's my belief that if I have to ask people if it looks ok, then it likely does not. My instincts have been correct up to this point, anyway.

I took a few closer shots of the face. Need to fix around his left eye a bit. Some of these were so zoomed in and resized that they look worse than they do on my photos. But, for my own good in posting these.

just noticed that I need to darken the spot where his lips come together and highlight the lower lip.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

So now it's on to my favorite part. The reason I bought this mini. The NMM surfaces. Very confident that it'll look good. So stand by for some WIP shots!!!

 

[Webmonkey]

I need to learn how to do NMM. I've tried a couple of times but can't seem to pull it off. I think it's because I can't seem to figure out gradients. No matter how much I thin my paint, I always end up with a "step" in the colors,... instead of a smooth transition. I'm probably missing something simple, but can't seem to figure it out. I've had some marginal luck with the airbrush, but doing it with a bristle brush is beyond (so far)

 

[Zab]

I had good luck using this one on my sleeping chibi piece.

basically block in your colors and then mix them in different ratios and glaze or wet blend over the areas in between. Takes practice but is a good starting point

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

I need to learn how to do NMM. I've tried a couple of times but can't seem to pull it off. I think it's because I can't seem to figure out gradients. No matter how much I thin my paint, I always end up with a "step" in the colors,... instead of a smooth transition. I'm probably missing something simple, but can't seem to figure it out. I've had some marginal luck with the airbrush, but doing it with a bristle brush is beyond (so far)

How can this be true? I've seen your work, and you know how to blend quite well. There really isn't much more to it. Other than knowing where the HL and shadow placement should be. And if that's the problem, well, I can point you in the right direction there. I realize that NMM can be less forgiving if the gradient doesn't look smooth, but from your body of work I don't see this is an issue. Also, maybe I am mistaken but on one of your cyborg type minis it looks as if you may have done it NMM.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Right, just for an idea of where I am headed with this guy's armor...brightest highlights are not included. Especially those edge and spot highlights in pure white that really make it pop, so just try to imagine those. Also, some areas are just base coated so again this is a rough rough idea-comments encouraged:

 

[Webmonkey]

How can this be true? I've seen your work, and you know how to blend quite well. There really isn't much more to it. Other than knowing where the HL and shadow placement should be. And if that's the problem, well, I can point you in the right direction there. I realize that NMM can be less forgiving if the gradient doesn't look smooth, but from your body of work I don't see this is an issue. Also, maybe I am mistaken but on one of your cyborg type minis it looks as if you may have done it NMM.

Nah,.. just some straight blocks of color and some washes. If I am doing NMM blending, it's totally by accident. And it could just be that (as always) I'm my own worst critic.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Better picture. I could get used to this mini painting stuff. This is probably my 5th dimension entry. Take notice Skel!
Comments?

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Uber close-up to try to pick out sloppiness and smooth over some blends. Less flattering lighting. Critics welcome.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Some glare points and edge highlights for that ass...Somebody stop me!!!

 

[MAXXxxx]

I think you need stronger shadows. right now it looks really light without the contrast I think is needed for nmm.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Appreciate your feedback as always Max. There is quite a bit of very dark blue black on the model, in some cases touching pure white. What may be throwing you off is the pale blue gray mid tone I am using. This cool gray is contrary to a standard codex gray seen in a lot of steel NMM. I'm not sure how I can darken it further without compromising what I perceive as it's reflective quality. Thanks for the input though, perhaps I can apply a pure black glaze in the darkest areas.

Also it could be the lighting and angle of the pic. The first pic above of the three is closest to real life and it's MUCH darker than the other 2.

 

[BloodASmedium]

do not go back in repeat do not go back in IMHO and use anything to stark the shadows are perfect the craze on cmon is all the way up to white and down to black I am NOT A FAN of these huge contrasts when it comes to model painting yes we need to push contrasts that being said you've done that here and the face is great maybe a chestnut glaze to bring it down a bit and smoothe out the gradation but I've seen it a hundred times and am not a fan of extreme contrasts I favor eavy metals subtle style and this is code to it maybe a pure white(reaper) to edge highly the edgings and then maybe a universal blue glaze to bring all the armor together but shadows.. Those are done and looks gr8 . Subtlety is the key sprocket will tell you I will tell you smoothe finish and subtlety is what's been lost IMHO on these forums with a craze of a fancy techniques when the basics should be constantly masters. From what I see here this is what favor. No more no less. Sometimes in dark elves I use a purple glaze in the creases to bring out facial expressions. But it looks like a dark elf and that means overall cool results favored. Maybe a very thinned blue or pure glaze on the armor but that's a finishing up technique I use and ties everything together so it's more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. But again it's dark enough with the contrasting shadows. No need to mess what you feel is gr8.

 

[BloodFather of Kharnath]

Thx John. Yeah the shadows are very, very close to
black. In a very few places I plan to use pure black, like in the crease of the armpit, etc. I read somewhere to get away from using pure black as much as you can so that when you do need it for the deepest shadows it makes them look darker. I think maybe what Maxxx may have meant is that I need to make the surfaces overall darker. Not so much light area. At least I think this is what he may have meant. Another lesson learned is that I don't always have to go from my darkest to my lightest. There are some areas where I should have gone from darkest to just the midtone, for example. Not every surface is large enough for the full range of gradients so the effect can look contrived if you force it. Hope this makes sense to anyone trying to learn from this thread.

Glazing on a tone. Right, I am definitely going to do this. Probably use 10ball's orange brown for areas facing the ground, and a nice enchanted blue for skyward facing areas. Will glaze these on around the midtone area. Very , very light glaze. Kinda afraid if this but I'll never know if I don't try...

 

[MAXXxxx]

I favor eavy metals subtle style

the what???
like this image for example? Chaos Cultists (wanted something from the starter, looks like the DV box isn't there anymore)
They pretty much just paint in a base color, add 2 washes then edge-highlight in 2-3 steps to a really light one. And not only on metals, but everywhere.
'Eavy metal is all, but subtle.

Subtlety is the key sprocket will tell you I will tell you smoothe finish and subtlety is what's been lost

on clothes, skin, stone, etc you can go as subtle as you want, but NMM needs the high contrast to look good.
And it's not a craze or fad. Just study the painters from the middle ages, where they had no metallic pigments and they've done everything with NMM, the contrast is pretty high by them too, so it's not recent and not only for minis.

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Bloodfather, then it may be the pic, but there is not much visible from the dark colors. Only a little under the arm. (Also if you use a flash when taking pictures. I loose quite a bit when taking WIPs and such because of too much light killing my shades/highlights)

This cool gray is contrary to a standard codex gray seen in a lot of steel NMM.

, no idea since how long I use mostly blue-greys for NMM. Haven't touched cold-grey in ages. Most likely it's dried in the bottle.


for good NMM, just look at the WIP of AndyG: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums/showthread.php?49294-AndyG-WIP-(pic-heavy)/page73 I want that Clone