NMM cylinder struggle, seek advice

[boubi]

I am back on my ogre army, after some break on other minis.
So i tried (again) NMM on cylinder, i achieved to do some in the past but was always really far from perfect. So this time i tried to take my time, to put layer by layers, but on a cylinder it is really tricky. So i tried wet blending quite difficult on a cylinder too. I end up basing it again and again and starting over.
At the end i just took my airbrush and tried. The result was not bad but no sharp contrast with color transition on small area. So i added some layers by brush having already a good base done with the airbrush.
I end up with the below results, i would like to get some advices:

What should i add? Remove? Modify?
How do you proceed with a cylinder NMM?

 

[Dragonsreach]

In this instance your shadow should continue all the way underneath as the light point is only going to be from above not from the ground.
The exception should be the circular orifice of the barrel where there would be a slight NMM echo on the lower section in line with the light point on the top.
Shadow from the 'projectiles' notwithstanding blocking out the light.

 

[Avelorn]

The ground reflects too but much less. I think the bottom part is about right for a brighter NMM, just build contrast on the top part. If you want a darker metal, take Mikes advice and tone the bottom down. Add some specs of light as well.

 

[boubi]

Thanks, I will try tonight and keep you updated.
I will darken the bottom part a bit, and add some specular light points/edges.

Few other questions:
Should I add more red in the mid tones? on the top part before to go to leather/ivory colors? Should the transition be faster?

 

[Einion]

My no. 1 recommendation with this kind of thing will always be references - real metal as well as painted minis done in NMM (either as inspiration or to copy the effect wholesale).

Einion

 

[Curis]

Congratulations on fairly smooth and consistent blends so far. You've avoided the normal blotchiness pitfall.

Adding in some thin bands of brilliant white across the dark areas would really sell it as NMM.

 

[boubi]

My no. 1 recommendation with this kind of thing will always be references - real metal as well as painted minis done in NMM (either as inspiration or to copy the effect wholesale).

Einion

I have spent lots of time to find references, I took one of my tool with a cylinder metal handle and put it under light for reference. It is quite difficult to achieve similar results, especially the blending process on a cylinder surface, to adjust the color transition on the right transition area.

Congratulations on fairly smooth and consistent blends so far. You've avoided the normal blotchiness pitfall.

Adding in some thin bands of brilliant white across the dark areas would really sell it as NMM.

I spent lots of time to get right blend, but still a bit off. I am not sure that adding straight bands of white in middle of dark area will look better. What I realized is that you need a really fast color transition from one color to another on a really small area. And that's not easy to achieve...

 

[RuneBrush]

I have spent lots of time to find references, I took one of my tool with a cylinder metal handle and put it under light for reference. It is quite difficult to achieve similar results, especially the blending process on a cylinder surface, to adjust the color transition on the right transition area.

Take a photo of it (without flash!) and convert it into greyscale so that you can see the reflections in a single colour range.

 

[Einion]

I have spent lots of time to find references, I took one of my tool with a cylinder metal handle and put it under light for reference. It is quite difficult to achieve similar results, especially the blending process on a cylinder surface, to adjust the color transition on the right transition area.

I know the kind of thing you mean. Partly this will get easier with practice (not just because you're better at painting but because you have more confidence, which can make a huge difference) but there are many levels of reflections depending on the degree of polish, and then of course the surroundings can also greatly change how something looks.

It seems you've picked the effect you want to replicate though, in which case it's just practice from here on.

Einion

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Hope these help as reference material.



View attachment 15493

View attachment 15494

View attachment 15495

 

[boubi]

Thank a lot for the reference picture Shawn R. L.
It will help me a lot. I will also try the greyscale conversion of a real picture!

Will keep you posted on the results!

 

[stefanhws]

would try it in that way

 

[boubi]

would try it in that way

[/QUOTE

Wouah, that's right, look much better! You just convince me to start over after the time I spent on it!
Thanks for taking time to make the drawing, it is nicely done! How did you do it? photoshop?

 

[stefanhws]

GIMP 2

free software -> http://www.gimp.org/

 

[boubi]

Thanks for your advice and pictures.
I have re-done it one more time, first with airbrush then with brush for final highlight, here the result. I think i will stop here for the cannon. I will maybe add some verdigris oxydation, what do you think?