Trying to get better at NMM

[pez5767]

The title pretty much says it all... I'm trying to get that "metal" look to my NMM.

This is pretty early on, but that's the idea with a WIP right?

Please help!

View attachment 6029

Thanks

 

[feanorthenoldor]

you need to bring up the contrast in the darker areas and the lighter areas or you'll get that dreaded concrete look, it looks like concrete because there is not a large transition between the light and dark, especially on the edges.

 

[pez5767]

This is hour #2 on the model.

I pushed the shadows and highlights a bit farther and added a glaze of military blue.

I think the collar bit looks like it's shaping up quite nicely, but the rest is pretty rough still.

What do you see?

thanks.

View attachment 6030

 

[Savanttheory]

I think you're on the right path here. The neck guard/plate is starting to pop from the other pieces.

 

[Wicksy]

The chest piece below the neck is really starting to look nice. Its pretty impressive considering its only two hours in! It took me an hour to paint about an inch of chain on a 29mm scale terminator. Keep it up!

 

[bodie]

what colors are you using? I dabble in NMM very little because its so time consuming, and im terrible at doing the whole light source stuff.

 

[pez5767]

what colors are you using?

I'm using Reaper Master Series Paints:

RMS grey liner (darkest shadows)
RMS Cloudy Grey (mid tone)
RMS Misty Grey (mid highlight)
RMS Ghost White (brightest highlights)
RMS Templar Blue (blue glaze)

I've been working the first highlights up from 50/50 cloudy grey and misty grey.

I hope this helps.

 

[pez5767]

For those in the know, why is it that the collar piece looks so much better than the other areas?

Thanks.

 

[nels0nmac]

The collar piece looks better than the rest because you are seeing all of the contrast head on whereas most of the other pieces of armour you are only seeing some of it. The leg pieces look good but what you need to do to make them pop is to white line the edges of the engraved detail where the light would be reflecting ie towards the bottom left of the individual engravings. That would suggest that the light is being reflected off those edges. At the moment they are flat suggesting a dull surface.
The hip plates would probably benefit from being painted so that the light bars run vertically and are more noticeable - such as this example from AlexiZ - http://www.coolminiornot.com/88650 - try not to give up hope if you haven't already seen it.LOL think of it as inspiration. Looking at how other people highlight armour with NMM is a great way of working it out on your own minis.

A small benefit to show the armour better would be to base colour the areas of the mini that are not going to be metal so that there is a more noticeable difference.

You're doing a good job so far, keep it up.

 

[pez5767]

@nelsOnmac: No worries, I'm familiar with the elite painters around here so thanks for the suggestions and link.

Hour 3:
View attachment 6041

It's odd, things are smoother now, but at this point I feel like I've moved backwards... what went wrong?

Thanks for the help!

pez

 

[Torn blue sky]

Bring it right up to pure white in places, helps that contrast.

 

[olliekickflip]

Paint some of the other parts...ie the face and any clothing....right now I'm not getting a good sense of what it will look like in the end. Start looking at lots and lots of other peoples nnm...it will sink in eventually!! Right now though it lacks contrast...light and dark are what sell nnm. Its just a matter of putting it in the right spaces!!

 

[pez5767]

Thanks a ton Ollie. I'm going to take your advice and others suggestion and start blocking in some other colors.

I appreciate the feedback from everyone!

 

[pez5767]

okay, hour 4 has the other colors blocked, and lightly highlighted and shaded.

what say you?

View attachment 6087

 

[feanorthenoldor]

wow, honestly that is really really good, you really pushed the contrast with the dark and light, exactly what you need for realistic metal!

keep up the good work

 

[Chrome]

okay, hour 4 has the other colors blocked, and lightly highlighted and shaded.

what say you?

View attachment 6087

That just went from "meh" to effing close to awesome!

 

[SkelettetS]

That just went from "meh" to effing close to awesome!

that's exacly what i felt. sweet job pez!

 

[Torn blue sky]

Yeaup echo'd sentimonies. The blocking in made it pop. Too much of it was the same colour before =P

 

[pez5767]

Uh? Thanks. While I really do appreciate the praise (especially after having been around CMoN a good while and never getting much, if any feedback) I'm surpised at the positive response because...

I'm actually pretty unhappy with it... I'm seeing it as 'grey' and not metalic at all. I'm also struggling with defining the shapes. A lot of the details look really rough to me.

So, thank you SO MUCH for the positive comments, I really do appreciate those of you who took the time give them!

Any suggestions on how to continue (especially with the NMM) would be great!

Thanks again,

Pez

 

[Chrome]

Now, I'm no expert in the area, far from, but in my experience NMM is kinda like PHP(web design), you can tweak about with the elements however you want but it's not until it's published that you see the true result. Now I know this isn't the complete truth but Nmm do tend to look a LOT better in pictures than in reality unless done by someone highly trained in the arts, This does look extremely good compared to the prior pics but none of us said it looked finished, the blends do still need some smoothing out and the highlights need to get thinner but a that is aftermath, you've completely nailed the base work in my opinion.