how to make it look like a machine?

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farseerlum

New member
hey guys and grrls. was wondering if you could all put your noodles together with me and figure out how to make a machine look like a machine.

specifically warjacks. i see many well painted warjacks but they all seem a bit unreal. a huge bright red khador jack often fails compleatly to look like a massive iron machine and instead looks toylike.

so the question is what makes a miniature say \"machine\" instead of \"mini\"

dug up a few to illustrate what i\'m talking about.
here are some very well painted jacks that seems to miss the \"machineness\" but at the same time still be gorgeous minis.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Privateer Press/id/105842
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Privateer Press/id/89320
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Privateer Press/id/123994
the rest all have some aspects that make me think machine.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Privateer Press/id/116587
http://www.coolminiornot.com/index/whatm/Privateer Press/id/27454
 
freakinacage

freakinacage

Well-known member
Originally posted by Thecadian
i think its a case of grime and battle damage

chips and suchlike

james
Click to expand...

i agree, also if you want it to look more realisitc, less contrast can help (although this can make it less visually appealing)
 
L

Legacy Account

Active member
The one\'s you\'ve picked that make you think \'machine\' are both scabby, dirtied up paint jobs.

For me, Warjacks are often painted up to look pristine and factory fresh. They look dumb enough as it is, without drawing attention to them with a poncey paintjob.

On that Scrapjack I stuck to olive drab, browns and lots of glazes of paint (not ink!) over the metals to get them scruffy looking. Soot, chips and dirt would also be good.

Basically scruffy them up and perhaps add something to the base for scale purposes.
 
Shawn R. L.

Shawn R. L.

New member
I have enjoyed the sculpts of the Warjacks but couldnt agree more about the paintjobs. Big metal Teletubbies. Dull, colors, chips, oil stains, soot, mud, dust, rust is the way I would go.
 
F

farseerlum

New member
did everyone agree about my verdict on the machinyness of the minis?

and if you painted any of those minis i am in awe. please don\'t think of this as criticism in any way.

is it a case of me trying to pin down an ethreal concept?

i was wondering if it\'s a scale thing. you know how model trains have a nasty habit of never doing anything to scale properly, breaking the realism.

also would making sure all the visable working parts were sepereate and well defined help? minis tend to gloss over many parts, which is fine for organic stuff but may need to be attended to on machines. maybe we don\'t cut machine the same slack we would to something with non-unique/irregular features.

am i making any sence? :D
 
S

sheeba

Guest
Try going to a train store and getting a magazine / book thing on realistic engine or train painting. They realy nail the dirt and oil stains in those books.

Michael
 
D

DaN

New member
Also - how about some decals (Whether transfers or painted on)

Stuff such as warning stripes and safety signs:

\"DANGER: Hot exhaust\"
\"WARNING: Ejector seat\"
etc etc
 
Orb

Orb

procrastinator
think machine think battle damage.

Not just trains but the obvious source has to be Armoured Fighting Vehicles and there\'s plenty of websites with info on making a tank look less pristime.

Mig Jimenez is one of the leading exponents in this world. He\'s got a great book out but here\'s some old articles by him:
Rareties World
(it\'s a Spanish Thing)

and other nice works in the galleries
here

The stuff on GW\'s site is basic at best for really realistic weathering.... (IMHO) :D
 
P

provoke me

New member
ive always loved going to this site whenever i needed help with some harder painting techniques

http://www.brushthralls.com/index.php

browse around, they have some great stuff
 
Shawn R. L.

Shawn R. L.

New member
Originally posted by DaN
Also - how about some decals (Whether transfers or painted on)

Stuff such as warning stripes and safety signs:

\"DANGER: Hot exhaust\"
\"WARNING: Ejector seat\"
etc etc
Click to expand...

Sorry to be so vague but go to a good model shop and ask about some stuff to make decals lay down better. There\'s a couple of products - liquids - that REALLY improve decal adheasion and make them lay down perfectly flat. Well worth the money.
 
F

farseerlum

New member
ok then were all on the same page when it comes to worn in machines.

how would you make a pristine machine look less like a mini and more like a machine?

so far we\'ve got scale. putting stuff on the base to help the eye identify.

warning decals (good idea btw dan) to make you understand that it\'s not \"human\"

and less contrast. i\'m not sure why this works but it doesn seem to on the hunter i\'m doing.
 
C

Commissar Elvis

New member
Hmm, I was all set to follow the Brushthrall\'s \"Khador Boxed Set in 10 Days\" tutorial and now I want to paint my \'jacks olive drab instead of red!

So I\'m torn between practicing my skills in blending, shading, etc. and painting them to be grimy, military and well-used. Damn you, CMON! :p
 
Orb

Orb

procrastinator
Originally posted by Commissar Elvis
Hmm, I was all set to follow the Brushthrall\'s \"Khador Boxed Set in 10 Days\" tutorial and now I want to paint my \'jacks olive drab instead of red!

So I\'m torn between practicing my skills in blending, shading, etc. and painting them to be grimy, military and well-used. Damn you, CMON! :p
Click to expand...

to be honest, you still need to do all the blending shading etc before making them grimey and battleworn; It\'s still a scale miniature at the end of the day!

to pull off a convincing worn and battered machine takes a great deal of skill.........
 
D

dauber22

New member
I definately agree that a bit of grime, worn paint and dustiness are the way to go to make it look more machine-like. The one thing I was thinking about though is any piston-like moving parts. I\'ve always been fascinated by machinery and used to study it alot when I was little (yeah, I know. I\'m a little daft, but...) One thing I was always struck by was, no matter how filthy and grimey a machine might be, if it had any piston like parts, they were always bright and shiny like they were brand new.

An example: I used to spend a great deal of time at dirt race tracks. At the end of a long day, the entire car (and driver) were completely covered with dirt, some of it in the form of dust and others in the form of big clods. This was pretty much universally true with the exception of things like shock absorbers. The piston parts of these were nearly perfectly pristine and even shone because they are constantly being oiled with each in-out cycle. The same is true of things llike the hyhdraulic arms that move the arms of a backhoe or the blade of a bulldozer. I don\'t exactly know where this is going, but its just a little detail I always remember about machines. *shrug*
 
O

Ogrebane

Active member
Battle damage and weathering are the only way to go. Its like when people paint tanks that look brand new. They just dont look right.
 
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