Sunday 19 April 2015

NMM Gold

I would like to take credit for this but this was created by he who is the NMM god to all painters, Tommie Soule of Golem Miniature Painting.
I saw a rough Step by Step which i have worked through and here I want to share how I work through it with my own colour choices. I have added a little extra to the original.

The Colours required are as follows
Games Workshop Snakebite Leather
Games Workshop Dark Flesh
Vallego Model Colour Ivory
Vallego Mode Colour Black
Games Workshop Liche Purple

Here is the palette

All the paints have been thinned to varying thicknesses and to assist with glazing I have used Vallejo Glaze Medium

First thing first I have applied a solid coat of GW Snakebite Leather. You see about three coats here to give that look.
Never do a basecoat in one coat - NEVER. Thin you paints.
We need to discuss the colour choice here. Snakebite Leather is essentially a yellow based brown - that is integral to the final look.
This is an old paint as with the other GW paints listed. 
Here I have applied the base in three coats to get a nice smooth solid colour.
Having set the base we now start to work the highlights
Mix 60% Snakebite Leather with 40% Ivory to make a just translucent and apply this as a highlight to about 30% of the surface area.

Now mix 40% Snakebite Leather to 60% Ivory, again just translucent and apply this over a smaller area of the highlight, about 15% of the surface area and inside the extremities of the first highlight.
Can you see how this is starting to change ?

Now lets start the first sense of shading.
In the extremities apply some Dark Flesh.
No need to work any blend as we are setting a base for further blends.

With this down now apply pure Ivory to the centre of the highlighted area.
Have it thinned and apply in 2-3 coats.

More shading now.
Create a glaze of Dark Flesh and apply this to start to push the shading. You will see the Ivory start to stand put a little more, we want this and we will work to push this.

Add a tip of Black to the Dark Flesh and work this into the extremities. we are pushing the shading further and as these are glazes we can work the blend between the colours.

With that done we now mix up a thin glaze of Snakebite Leather.
Remember this is a glaze not a wash.
Now glaze over the area in all but the extremities as that area we want to keep dark.
The glaze will be applied in the number of cats you see fit and also as to how thin you have made up the glaze. Don't have it too thick, it will ruin everything.

You can now see the blends working together nicely, a smooth transition between colours but we need more contrast.
First thing is to re apply your pure Ivory in a small dot

We re apply the Dark Flesh and Black in the darkest areas. This being the extremities and also the underside edge of each feather

And a final glaze of Liche Purple in the darkest areas finishes the work.

Following application of the base coat, it is a good idea to mix up all your paints first before starting. This way you can work your blends backwards and forwards until smooth.
As you get more used to the technique you will find you are getting better with your applications.

And finally
Here is the finished figure.

Thanks for looking and I hope you find this useful.

4 comments:

  1. Try to more blend colors. For a TT it looks very nice but if you want to paint for showcase you must try to blend it more ;)

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  2. Thanks Mally, how do you make the glaze out of the paint?

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  3. A glaze is just a very thin paint. I tend to thin mine with Vallego Glaze Medium and water - 1 paint 1 medium 1-2 water. You want to remove most of the paint from your brush and do a test stroke on some paper. You should notice a slight change in colour on the paper, that's how thin you go.
    You have so little paint you virtually see it dry as the stroke finishes.
    Play around with this and see how it works for you. A word of warning, it takes practice, practise and practice.
    I will look to doing a short tutorial to cover pushing dark and light colours and using glazes to help your blending.

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