Ogre blade NMM - seek help

[boubi]

I am constantly troubled by doing NMM on the single blade of ogre.
I never know where to place the highlight and shadow to have a nice NMM effect. I really look for advice for this type of NMM, when the blade is splited it is better by simply contrasting both sides, when side get dark the other side get brighter. But for a single blade how to realize it?

I have done 2 quick try, don't look at the quality of the blending was done quickly just for this thread. I used wetblending which is not as smooth as feathering.
First image of the blade i have most difficulties, i have made a brighter part at the center of the blade, it does not look so good:

If you have any advice on this i will be more than grateful

The second image is the 2 sides blade which is a bit better, at least i prefer it, i also add an additional color to see if it add bit effect to the NMM, mixed feelings about it:

Need some help in order to finish this first army, i will think twice to make a NMM army as a first try! A bit too challenging.

 

[AndyG]

Firstly it's good what you winging about!

Right in my experience don't wet blend it's a bitch, layer instead very very thin paint and build it up ever so slow make it smoooooth but it does take time. Add a retarder to the mix.

Also I think you've got way to much mid tone on this and this means you don't have the contrast have a look at this I'm not the best by any means but it might help. Essentially you need black........dark grey......grey......light grey.....grey white......sparkles of glinting white.....grey white.....light grey......grey.....dark grey.......black.

Here's a link to one of my attempts on nmm steel.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/308665

Hope this helps

 

[boubi]

Thank you AndyG, actually the wet blending was just to have a quick result to share on the forum and start this thread without spending hours.
I see your point but where to put the highlight and shadow on the first picture? According to you one larger brighter area should be done in order to have a smaller mid tones area, right? But is it the best to put it in the middle and crossing the blade as i did? Or put it somewhere else?

 

[kathrynloch]

When starting with NMM it's best to stay with basic over-head lighting. Get a flashlight and shine it straight down on the mini. That will help tell you where the brightest points need to be.

 

[boubi]

When starting with NMM it's best to stay with basic over-head lighting. Get a flashlight and shine it straight down on the mini. That will help tell you where the brightest points need to be.

Thank you Kathryn i will give it a try tonight. I like NMM and have the basic understanding on how to do it, but this ogre blades, i really start to hate them, i will look twice before i start a new army in NMM.

 

[Egrimm van Horstmann]

The second blade looks good to me. As you said yourself, the biggest problem is, that the blade has only one side, so can't counterblend. Why don't you invent the second side ? It does not have to be modelled. make a line one third from the top of the blade and predend, that this is the sharp part. Haven't tried it myself though. But I think, this might work.

Egrimm

 

[boubi]

i found some scimitar pictures for reference, i think i will follow these examples, what do you think?

 

[boubi]

The second blade looks good to me. As you said yourself, the biggest problem is, that the blade has only one side, so can't counterblend. Why don't you invent the second side ? It does not have to be modelled. make a line one third from the top of the blade and predend, that this is the sharp part. Haven't tried it myself though. But I think, this might work.

Egrimm

I followed your advice for my tonight painting session, it looks slightly better. Sorry i used wet blending to have faster results. Still ok for table top army.

What to improve now? Any advice?

 

[Egrimm van Horstmann]

yes, that should work. Looks metallic to me. I you want to improve further, take a look at your picture.
The sharp part of the blade is generally brighter than the flat part. You could try to imitate this.

 

[kathrynloch]

Looks a lot better! I really can't tell because of the angle of the pic, but generally the part of the blade facing the ground will have a small amount of highlight because of light reflection from the ground. And I agree with Egrimm I'd really pop the sharp edge of the blade and make it wider. And no worries - I wet blend all the time.

 

[boubi]

yes, that should work. Looks metallic to me. I you want to improve further, take a look at your picture.
The sharp part of the blade is generally brighter than the flat part. You could try to imitate this.

Looks a lot better! I really can't tell because of the angle of the pic, but generally the part of the blade facing the ground will have a small amount of highlight because of light reflection from the ground. And I agree with Egrimm I'd really pop the sharp edge of the blade and make it wider. And no worries - I wet blend all the time.

You are both right, I will make it pop up a bit more and blend a bit better. In a way I just want to finish this army but in the best possible way. I will be disappointed if after so much effort it looks so so. My first mini are already above table top standard and I would like to keep this quality level.
Thanks to both of you for your advice!

 

[RuneBrush]

I like what you've done so far - are you going to dirty them up a bit? They look really clean for Ogre weapons

 

[boubi]

Ok i just finish the main NMM also on the shoulder pad. Thanks all for your advice... I spent more time than planned but hopefully it worst it at the end.
It is quite clean ogres, i am not a big fan of blood effects on the blade... I rusted the blade a bit and will maybe add a bit more...

 

[Savanttheory]

Great progress from where you started!

 

[ozjohnd]

nicely done

 

[The Imperial Painter]

Amazing!!!!!