Non Metallic Metal - My first try - An introduction to NMM
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ต.ค. 2020
- I am trying to paint gold non metallic metal for the first time while introducing the concept of NMM. Non Metallic Metal is just one of those things that start to haunt you after painting minis for a while. This is the start of my reckoning.
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52 Miniatures - My tabletop gaming journey - I am by no means a miniature painting expert, or a crafting wiz. On the contrary - these videos are a collection of my initial miniature experiences. Most of the time, what you see, is me trying something for the first time. I hope these videos might be of inspirational use. Oh, and a certain basic knowledge in irony might be required by the viewer.
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'If you like what you see when you're painting, then you're right.'
Hey 52! These are words to instill confidence in doing this hobby - thanks again for such an excellent video!
HB
Thanks HB! I think in the end that was my main reason to do the video. Try something difficult, the result might be mustard but you’ll have fun, and in the grand scheme of things.. mustard ain’t to bad.
You are criminally underrated. This was probably one of the best nmm videos I’ve seen.
Well thanks! I still think the result is kind of mustardy. Someone gave me tip of adding a very thing layer of yellow ink on top, to get a bit of gold feel to the mustard. Might be worth a try on the next mini I attempt this on :)
You have this extraordinary way of bringing your audience along as you learn. God bless.
Thank you, I very much appreciate your comment. This kind of stuff keeps me going.
The mustard scene made me your patron. Thank you for sharing all of this knowledge and witty jokes!
Ha ha! Thank you Eduardo, I appreciate the support. Welcome to the channel and welcome to the Patreon :)
Definitely a top tip to step back from the close up and look at the bigger picture, spot on! On my second sculpt I remember working this goblins head for hours working on his ears and teeth it was masterful until I stepped back and realised that it was twice the size it should have been! 🤦🏻♂️
Yeah, stepping back is a good thing.... Especially on table top paintjobs. Is my army a brown puddle? Or not :)
One thing I find very curious, is all of these terms and 'techniques' in miniature painting for something that in any normal painting class of a subject on a canvas, people would just call 'painting'. I first learned painting on more traditional canvas, paper or whatever, and trying to paint.. stuff. NMM is just 'How you paint reflective objects' in the rest of the painting world. Wet blending is just ... 'How you mix colors'.
Inventing our own terms and methodologies to address how many miniature painters approach their work is good (many seem to be much more analytical and procedural, as compared to a traditional oil or watercolor landscape painter, for example), but I think it's also important to remember what this really is. The conventional painting world has been painting reflections on objects since the first pigments were put to.. something. There's troves of information to be had on techniques, tricks, ways to speed things up, and ways to more easily conceptualize it that could likely help in painting NMM. Granted, we have an additional bit of complexity: We don't control the environment our 'metal' is in and it's reflections, as pointed out. This does cause us to make some concessions, simplify, or force a certain environment. But perhaps you can build that illumination and environmental context through creative use of color elsewhere on the miniature and even in the base. I've even had good results mixing metallic pigments subtly into my normal paint colors to allow it to better pick up and reflect ambient tones and hues from the real world. It makes a primarily 'grey' mini somehow look like it's actually in the environment when placed on the tabletop, picking up green from surrounding tree terrain pieces, for example.
Anyway, another great, thought provoking video! So much better to see how one conceptualizes the process of trying to paint a mini you are happy with, rather than just showing us a list of instructions they follow to paint their Golden-Demon winning mini.
This is true, but I just think we humans like to put labels on things. Especially within hobbies like this... it does make things a little more approachable I guess, and simpler to find appropriate tutorials. But I'm definitely with you that all the names and labels can create boundaries. Like, "layer painting" is the "best" way to paint a mini..." Instead of "painting a mini is the best way to paint a mini". When it comes to painting... I'm not sure if we have accepted the fact that that is what we are doing.. We are actually painting, not just spalling on paint on a miniature. All of us would learn a lot by just painting anything, not just minis. And I know personally that I would become a "better" miniature painter if I took some "regular" painting lessons. But we humans seem not only to like labels but also boundaries. It's like the fact that for some reason, there are paint brands for painting scalemodels and then there are other brands we miniature painters like to use. Or that scalemodelers have been building dioramas for a lot longer, but we rather reinvent the wheel instead of just looking at their tutorials. We are both painting toy soldiers for petes sake...
I love this one! I had the same thinking it looked like mustard
At least I was sort if the right colour spectrum, would have been worse if it looked like ketchup.
You're by far the most soothing mini ytber out there. I like your videos, not necessarily for the techniques used and their explanation, but just because your thought process and humor is relatable. You bring subjects with ease in a clumsy but right way, very pleasing.
Well thank you A! I truly appreciate it.
This is an excellent video and approach. I am glad I found your content. Calming and relaxing. Thank you for the video!
Thank you Stepan, and welcome to the channel. This was a fun paint job :)
I absolutely love your choice of colors, great esthetics. Can feel it too in the way you are filming and lighting your scenes when you speak in other videos. Keep up the good work !
Thank you E! I appreciate it.
Thanks again for reminding me that I paint miniatures for my enjoyment and not to achieve some meaningless goal you are one of us not some condescending TH-cam “expert” 🤘
Thanks B, I mean... this should all be about us having an enjoyable hobby. That's kind of the point to hobbies. So whatever makes each and every one of us happy.
Really good video, just discovered your channel and you are quickly becoming one of my favorite.
Glad to hear it Simon, and welcome. Have a good weekend and stay safe.
Entertaining video Alex and good painting lessons in there as always! Great job! 🤘
Thanks Leif! Its the first time I had to strip a mini from mustard... 😂
How is possible I didn't know your channel until now? I love your painting style, your approach to the videos and the great narrative. Brilliant work.
Welcome to my neck of the woods! :)
Turned out great! loved this video.
Thanks Trainor!
Awesome! I think your NMM looks great. I'm just starting to get into this technique myself. It's nice to be reminded that there is no one right way to do it but that different approaches can reach a very cool result!
Thanks! Especially in the case of nmm I think there are so many techniques used... all of them most likely :) at the same time. I stuck to what I was comfortable with I guess. I like the result, although it’s still a bit more just highlighted yellow than it is nmm. Although whatever it is, I like it :) Good luck with you nmm!
Great stuff friend 👏
Thanks Mark 🙏
I really appreciate your work and your thoughts behind it. Thank you so much for your afford
Thank you Arne! I appreciate hearing this :)
@@52Miniatures your welcome buddy. I really love your way and the style.
Good reminder that in the end, we are only painting for our selves lol. Thanks!
Hey Josh! Doing all right? Yes, I think that’s a big point here and I’m glad that is what you took away from this. It’s also just fun to try new stuff, whatever the outcome. Stay safe!
Hey Josh! Doing all right? Yes, I think that’s a big point here and I’m glad that is what you took away from this. It’s also just fun to try new stuff, whatever the outcome. Stay safe!
@@52Miniatures I’m doing well! You? I needed a reminder periodically that the hobby is intended to be fun and rejuvenating lol. Your videos are good for that. Thanks!
Good to hear Josh. We are doing fine, been going through a round of regular colds that make life complicated during these times. But that’s snow under the bridge compared to what others are going through.
This was a very enjoyable video :)
What I like to do is to approach TMM as you would NMM. For shadows I use a mixture of dark metallic paint and dark colour which makes it less reflective, then use progresively lighter metallic paints (and their mutual mixtures), with highlights being painted with pure Vallejo Model Air Steel for example. If I want to push highlights even further I add white or off-white.
I hope this doesn't sound stupid - it is difficult to convey your thoughts in english - but think of metallics as a tool, not definitive answer :)
I definitely understand what you mean. And agree. I’ve been told as well that it’s fun to mix in regular paints to achieve different colors and duller metallic tones. I just don’t know what it is with me and metallics... at the moment I’m not to fond of the look. I’m sure that will change, I go back and forth a lot with this kind of stuff.
I do as well :) Started with NMM and then switched to TMM because I liked the contrast of highly reflective metallics and matt finish of Vallejo paints. I am glad that I tried both techniques but... I just like NMM more so I am slowly returning back to it :)
I heared a lot of people say that they had good results with mixing Citadel Contrast paints into metallics because they are transparent enough and shiny :)
This looks grand. Cool minimalist colour choices.
Thanks! The parrot kind of crashes minimalist party a bit but that’s what parrots are for I think.
New to your stuff by by God you really are good at this one of the best around. Very much enjoyed this one
Thanks Nick, and welcome to the channel :)
Now in my top followed. Will be trying the black armour very impressive.
@@guilliman1990 Lovely. Good luck!
I wish I had your attitude when I had done this. I just did a first time NMM video as well and I think yours turned out far better.
Well thank you, I’ll have to check yours out. I’ve only seen the thumbnail and your mini does look a lot more like gold that mine though :)
Love your videos dude.
Thanks JK!
@@52Miniatures I am just getting back into painting after a break of about 30 years. I'm inspired and have dug out my Citadel collection from the loft.
@@JK-zx3go Cool. Are they still usable?
@@52Miniatures the figures themselves are in good shape but the paint jobs not so much. Ill need to get some stripping done. I also have a boxed copy of "Blood Bath at Orc's Drift" (minus the carboard buildings and figure counter). I think my first goal will be to get the armies required to do that then invite over the guys I played with for a reunion.
@@JK-zx3go Nice :) Sounds like a good plan.
Will the next episode be called "How to remove mustard and other condiments from your miniatures"? :)
Excellent job on the NMM.
Tack! The great thing with mustard is that it strips real easy. Not sure about ketchup though... that stuff can get real tough.
@@52Miniatures Ketchup is great for cleaning silverware so maybe it can be used for stripping paint as well?
Really enjoyed this. Your mini looks great.
I'm stuck in the drybrush, knock it back with a wash, re-drybrush, hilight I developed as a teenager. Everything looks like a matte cartoon or something.
Yet to approach NMM myself. This video has inspired me tho.
Hey Jay 👋 I’m glad you liked it. I mean there is nothing wrong with what your doing, as long as your having fun. You could try just set up a little side project and test other things. I’m doing it with different units in my army. That way I can jump back and forth between different things. If new stuff freaks me out to much or the result just is crap... then I can go back to something more familiar to get my spirits up.
I enjoyed this; thanks : )
Thanks! I’m glad you liked it.
Nice video! When I was showering just now I finally realize why many NMM looks weird to me. The bomb shell you show have a polished surface; but for a space marine fighting in a battlefield, it is just not natural to expect the surface of the armor to be polished. So they just won’t reflect light as the polished bomb shell would be.
Very true! Nmm really is a craft that needs a lot of practice. I’m definitely not there yet, not in a long time. But it was fun to start trying and thinking about the whole concept.
Snyggt!
Tack Per! Jag jag kan nog öva lite mer på detta men jag är nöjd med hur flyg gubben ser ut. Men är det metall eller senap? :)
just needs an airbrushed glaze of yellow ink (super think) and re-applied white relief dots and it would look pretty poppy.
but fair if you dig the super dull tone of it.
Thats a good tip, thank you. Would remove some of the mustard effect. I like how the mini turned out. On the table... it's a tad on the dull side to be honest. I'm still learning how to push contrast and saturation on theses things..
@@52Miniatures Saturation; theres 3 ways to go with NMM: glazing inks, just using pure colours and trying not to mix in too much Brown/ivory etc; or doing a lot of light relief etc.
but you have a really good basis on the fig; try out that approach you did; but thin out a nice saturated yellow in and airbrush glaze it over (look at Sergio Calvo style when he applies final colours on figures with airbrush glazes / micro airbrush glazing)
This approach to painting metal is really starting to take off... Ive seen this way of painting metal ( armor ) back in 2014 at the Nova Open and I just lived the battle worn look more than the battle ready look all shiney and new is just a silly concept to me... If Im gona put a army of Blood Angels on the table why on earth world I want them looking clean and new...? Thats just not intimidating to me... An army looking seasoned and worn as well as signs of damage on a soldier looks like hes been down some unsavory roads and he may just be the guy you dont want to mess with.... 😆
Thank you for this video it was super helpful my friend...
People who are good at painting NMM.. like some of the ones I showed in the video. I mean wow... I’m real fascinated by the skill level. Mine is more yellow that metallic... but I really appreciate the look on the table, just like you said. This fellow has been flying through a lot of messy things, and who really has the time to polish up all that armor. It also fits real well in my army, where rust and dirt is commonplace. I really appreciate the look. I’m glad you liked the video! Thanks for the comment as well, wish I get to check out a big convention at some point.
em crumbs, can I critique. It really needs some dark reflections to offset the yellowy highlights. And it needs some really sharp, perhaps white, upper edge highlights. Don't get me wrong NMM is an absolute sod to do well and I'm on a journey with it too. I'm a designer by trade, so I think my rendering techniques from that have transfer over to minis somewhat. Many a car body reflection drawn over the years.
Yeah, that’s the nut in the pudding... eh.. something like that. Understanding how light reflects on a surface. I just kind of highlighted stuff, so it’s not really acting like metal. But it is kind of fascinating how just trying to color match gold, makes the mini remind me of gold. I think if I would manage to get reflections right, then highlights would not have to be all that much brighter (going for tarnished, not polished)... next one is going to be copper, so we’ll see if I can level up or just stay constant :)
@@52Miniatures true, I find it easier to go polished first then tarnish it up, but that could just be how my brain works
One thing I forgot to add, as it worked for me. I would try a monochromatic nmm first, you will get down the basics before adventuring on to gold (however, to be honest I tried gold first)
Thats a good Idea. Thanks!
For the algorithm.
Hey, it's not perfect but that looks pretty good for a first try. You should definitely keep trying this.
Ok thanks!
I never paint shadows on my models, too much work for an effect I honestly do not like.
I just say my minis are in some sort of deep underground without any light sources around lol.
He he! Sounds great :) the most important is to do what we like and not what other say is good.
@@52Miniatures Can't believe you replied to a months old vid lol, love your content, especially how soothing it is, almost like watching Bob Ross.
So, I have to ask. Where did you get the neon yellowish green plastic for the necrons gun. That was really cool.
Hi 👋 This is one of the old Necron warriors. They came with the green plastic gun rod in the box.
@@52Miniatures i did not know that! Thats awesome though😅
It was one of those love hate things. A lot of people did not like the look. I think it’s cool. And looks good from afar, like on a tabletop.. :)
@@52Miniatures i can see why some people might not like it too, but all they would've had to do was prime and paint it. Ahh well.
Well, I for once have mixed feelings about everything I saw here.
1st it shocked me to find a statement like "it's nice to have someone do the guess work for you" concerning to paint sets when we just had a video that feels like the contrary. I'm talking about feeling not going back check the vid, pick words and criticise...
I just had a weird feeling about that. Also in how switching to NMM was about certain topics.
First of all, whatever makes you happy and get the fun going is certainly the way to go, after all it's a hobby. But, and it's a big one, NMM it's been done to death in traditional canvas paintings (see jewelry on Royalty portraits, or armors). NMM looks for a certain effect and it's kinda binary: either you achieve it or you don't. Then there's grades of finesse.
It doesn't look super shiny and super reflective to me. It's not that I don't like it, it just feel yellow (mustard, that was super fun) armor.
Cenithal may not be the best guide TBH as light bounces in really complex ways. Sometimes depending the shape, shine appears in the lower parts.
Also the whole reflection aspec, I can't see anywhere. Your orruk dudes had lots of colours on their blades and this armour is kinda flat yellow but gradient. No blue from the parchments (whatever colour they are) or green from the ground...
It's really a tough subject.
Also, in my humble opinion, true metals kick NMM *ss any time. It's just people don't know (me included) how to properly use true metals.
They are so good, so easy to use, we slap them into our models and maybe add a wash and a highlight.
But you can mix true metals with regular paint and sketch lights and shines pretty much like NMM.
Your true metal silver might be mixed with blue ink and painted cenithal and the same silver can be mixed with (again, a tiny tiny amount) say brown, to simulate sky and earth reflection. Overall it will look silver, specially after high lights with just silver, but it will have richness an tonal variation.
True metals are often mixed with paints to achieve dullness in the shadows and maximum brightness over top lights.
Alchemy sets (scale Color) are a great place to start. Marco Frisoni videos are great resource material on that subject. For classic NMM I'd go Juan Hidalgo miniatures.
All in all NMM doesn't seem feasible for me, at tabletop / army standards but best part on disagreeing is to share different opinions.
Super happy to see your video Alex, I missed weekly content. Fun, well produced and encouraging as always!
All the best👍
Hey Javier! I’m glad to be back as well, there has been a lot of colds going in the family and that makes life complicated in these strange times. Only just managed to squeeze this one out, and that reflects a lot of what your seeing. Still kind of struggling a bit with trying to keep the videos shorter than before but get as many points across. Also trying to write scripts instead of free-balling, it’s a big change for me, and I’m not sure my irony gets across as well. You are right about the paintsett... and I envisioned that my mustard result would reflect that. Using a set helped me out a lot, the grey is awesome, but the mustard is not quite great. I think some of the yellows should have been “warmer?” (Subjective I know)... and so relying on the set was a little bit of a let down. I really like how the mini turned out, fits well into the army. It’s more highlighted yellow than metallic, but the bow turned out real well. Smaller surfaces where a lot easier to “metallize” than larger. I want to encourage people, that are curious, to try... and if there is people out there like me, then nmm (with all right) can be quite intimidating. Seeing my mustard attempt might be something that, not necessarily shows that it’s simple but maybe “I can do something as good” or “I can do better than that” can be something encouraging? And that it’s worth trying stuff out while retaining ones own “style”. There’s so many videos with results that are awesome - in a correct nmm context. Is mine “correct” or just highlighted yellow...? It’s not correct nmm in the sense that you mention, it’s no Rembrandt jewelry. But I’d say it’s as much nmm as a lot of the other more stylized nmm painting styles that are so common in miniature painting... only a different style. Non are in a sense realistic just conceptual ideas. In the end I think nmm is a bit of a worn out subject and getting better at painting real metallic metal, like you say, is as exiting. But nmm is “popular”, and I was going to have to try :) Next up is copper... and I’ll see where that takes me. If you are celebrating Halloween I hope you have a great one. Here in Sweden we just make sure to light a lot of candles on all the graves so that the ghosts don’t come get us 😬
When you say "you finished that mini in a day" do you mean you got up in the morning, and painted until night, you did it in a single paint session not necessarily being a full day, or do you mean several paint sessions equaling 24 hours?
I'd say a "workday". So I started in the morning and was finished before having to pick my son up from preschool. That is probably not counting the bird and the base though.
@@52Miniatures I really like it😄👍
I like really the effect. Still in my opinion u could be more daring with contrast if u aim at a traditional NMM effect. Anyhow if I were u I would try oils... that way u take blending out of the equation and u focus on enhancing contrast without feeling afraid to end up with harshly contrasting color that are hard to blend. Once u feel confident then scale75s rock! This antique effect u got going there tho is really nice.
Thanks Federico! Yes the oils will be brought to the table soon :) they are lying there staring at me, giving me a bad continence. I definitely see what you mean though. I think my mini is somewhere in between just being yellow and a little bit metallic in places. I really like how it turned out, the low contrast antique effect fits great in my Army. But calling it NMM might be stretching thing :) In the end I think I want to encourage people to try, that the first attempt won’t be perfect but still something great for the tabletop.
@@52Miniatures haha yes also NMM gold is kinda harder to get right than NMM silver precisely for that reason: if u want it to look like gold and not a yellow bark or leather of sorts u really have to emphasise contrast to the extremes. I mean that was quite a complicated position u put urself into as a NMM beginner haha ;) But I really like this sort of dusty gold you ended up with I think it fits the models very well.
ps.if u try oils always start from an acrylic base colour.. something brown. Don't go straight over black as oils tend not to have great coverage unless they are super expensive so yeah.. the idea is u nail the middle tone with acrylics first and then u blend over it with oils. You don't even need to varnish the acrylic base as white spirits, despite what they say, do not eat up acrylics that wildly. You can varnish once u are done (and oils are dry) in order to fix em in place. Give it a go!
Thanks a lot Federico, I definitely will try. Great tip about the mid tone acrylic first. I have a mini in mind that is going to get to be the test subject. It’s riding a larger beast, so I can practice on both smaller and larger surfaces. I just need to remember not to lick my brush....
what brush is that at 06:38? such a perfect long sharp tip
I think that is one of Green Stuff Worlds natural hair brushes.
What color teal (paint brand and paint name) did you use on the one miniature, timeframe 1:11?
I think that would have been - turquoise from Vallejo (Model range) washed with Coelia Greenshade. It was a while since I painted that mini...
@@52Miniatures Thank you
Even though NMM takes incredible painting skill, I still don't like the look. Looks cartoony to me.
It is quite the divider. I do like it, sort of :) I like how mine turned out. But on the other hand, mine is a little bit more just highlighted yellow...
Agree, I believe the same happens with edge hightlighting.
NMM and edge highlights look way too much like paint when seen up close.
I'd love to see the exact opposite... actual metal. I want to see real gold leaf used on a miniature.
Working on it! sort of. Next vid will be along those lines, sort of.
@@52Miniatures sweet.