Shaded Metallics

Last week I started the Troll Axer and wanted to learn more about Shaded Metallics. I did some research and here's what I found:

From what I gathered, Shaded Metallics (a.k.a. "TMM: True Metallic Metal") is a method in which one paints shades of metallic-based paints to mimic metal surfaces. (I know that sounds like the lamest definition ever but bear with me). Instead of painting a section of a mini with a few coats of the same color of metallic paint and moving on, the idea of Shaded Metallics takes it a step further. In this case, you would limit the reflection of the metallic base coat with a darker, non-metallic paint. After learning that in my research, my first thought was, "Why in the world would you undo what you just painted in in the first place?".

To my understanding, metallic paint, when applied to such small surfaces, is too unpredictable and doesn't allow for a realistic look. I found one of my miniatures that was painted with simple metallic paint and tried rotating it around under a light source-- I saw lots of reflections in both the highlighted parts and the parts that should be in partial shadow. In this case, the painter has no control over the metallic paint and it can completely derail your attempt at painting a fixed lighted source, an overall dark tone/color scheme, or can simply be too bright and distracting to the viewer (Ooh, shiny!). Just think of the new pewter mini you take out of the original package-- it's hard to make out all the details since the light reflections distort some of the shapes and obscure your ability to see each surface clearly. Once you prime the mini and neutralize the shininess (and especially if you do a quick dark wash) the details become much easier to see. 

In the past, I've tried to cut down on the metallic paint with washes of Pure Black (which I now rarely use), and I ended up with a muddy result-- Captain Dish Rag being a prime example:

"Captain Dish Rag" painted Spring 2013

Shaded Metallics isn't just about toning down the metallic paint, it's also about bringing it up with highlights. Instead of using one metallic paint in this instance, one would use two or more-- one for the base coat and a lighter metallic color for the highlights. 

Shaded Metallic Test #1: Layering 

With Troll Axer, I followed the layering technique on the right knee armor section (step-by-step below) 

1. Painted two thin coats of metallic paint and then started shading with thin, super-dark-blue glazes. I made sure to blend the border of the matte glaze where it met the metallic base coat.
2. Added a lighter metallic of "Polished Silver" on the upper parts of the pointed sections to show that it would reflect more light than the lower portions.
3. Added near-white highlights on "hot spots" where I thought the most light would be reflected-- mostly in corners and top lip sections of the armor panels. This took awhile and I'm not sure if I even got the look right.

Honestly, I feel like I could have done NMM (Non-Metallic Metal) in that time it took to layer smoothly. Since it was my first time, I'm sure I'd be faster at TMM in the future, but I decided to try another idea to round out my TMM study...

Shaded Metallic Test #2: Washing 

Using a wash of Citadel "Nuln Oil" Shade over the metallic base coat

I purchased this on Amazon a few weeks ago after reading about Citadel "Shade" paints:

“Citadel Shades are specially formulated to flow over other paints and into the recesses on your miniatures, defining details and accentuating recesses. Once applied, they dry to provide very effective, matte shading for your models.”

— http://www.games-workshop.com

It seemed pretty easy so I followed these two steps:

1. I painted the same thin coats of the base metallic paint on the left knee
2. Used a wash of Citadel Nuln Oil

Before I started the first round of highlights, I decided to open a bottle of Malbec and pour myself a glass while I waited for it to dry. When I returned, I gave a surprised "What the... that can't be right!". After I had spent all that time layering his other knee armor section, the wash seemed to have mimicked the look in a fraction of the time. I didn't believe it, so I painted the base metallic coat on the rest of his upper torso & shoulder armor, let it dry and applied a wash of Nuln Oil over that. I realized it wasn't just dumb luck and admitted to myself, "Oook, that's stupid-easy".

After that, I did some shading on his mid-section with that matte-dark blue from Test #1 and realized the combination of layering glazes and shade washes will yield the best results. Test #2 isn't as controlled and as clean as the #1 layering technique, but I think it pays off in efficiency. While the Nuln Oil/combo sections aren't yet highlighted, you can see how I skipped a few layering steps when comparing one knee to the other:

I know that as I continue, I'll probably use a mix of these two techniques on this miniature and see what results I can achieve as I paint over this weekend. I know there's much more for me to learn with the Shaded Metallic techniques and many happy accidents for me to discover. Overall, I think I'm off to a good start. See you next Miniature Monday!

Work In Progress: Troll Axer

Happy Miniature Monday!

I started my very first Privateer Press miniature this weekend: Hordes "Troll Axer". Once I found out what he'd look like when fully-assembled (see below), I couldn't wait to get started!

Privateer Press · Hordes · Troll Axer

However, my impatient nature got the better of me, and I totally missed the clearly outlined Steps 1 & 2 on the back of the box.

Luckily, my IKEA-assembling-skills came to the rescue when I decided to skip the directions in the spirit of artistic license. I just started gluing stuff together. I blame the new anime series I watched on Crunchyroll while cleaning, priming, and preparing the miniature for assembly-- subtitles demand way too much attention. While I don't foresee any future consequences of my initial oversight, I should pay closer attention next time. Lesson learned. I'm now choosing to paint the pieces separately and then assemble the parts near the end. Better safe than sorry! Since most of the miniatures I've painted have been cast in one piece, I don't have much experience with mini assembly. Let's see how this paint-sections-separately method works out. 

The painted example of this Trollblood is blue on the box, so I decided to go in a completely different direction and chose an orange/dark charcoal metallic color scheme. I wasn't sure how orange would look on him so I started painting the skin tones first. I'm pretty happy with how his skin is turning out so far!

Base Coat

Blended Shading/Highlights

He's been sculpted wearing heavy armor so I want to study Shaded Metallics this week. I've heard quite a bit about NMM (Non-Metallic Metal), where one paints the visual effects of metal surfaces without using metallic paints-- a challenging prospect when painting 3D figures. I can understand why one of my miniature painter friends describes painting NMM as "a slog.. every time". While the Shaded Metallics/True Metallic Metal (TMM) technique is less popular, I've heard it's considerably less time-consuming. I want to be able to call upon that technique for basic tabletop miniatures so I won't continue to shy away from minis that are sculpted with heavy armor.

Reading up on TMM and running a few isolated experiments on Troll Axer as the focus for my next blog post. See you Thursday!

Silvanus Surprise!

In 2010, I had just moved to a new city and my social life involved interacting with people at my new job (doesn't count) and talking to my dog when I got home (definitely doesn't count). I was bored, so my then-boyfriend suggested we start a tabletop RP game with a few of his buddies. It took awhile for him to convince me to play, but I finally agreed, knowing I'd be the oddball of the group. Each of his friends had experience with Warhammer 40k and/or had played DnD way back in the day. That first game session, I stumbled through feeling like an idiot trying to pretend to make a glorified Monopoly board marker come to life. I still suck at tabletop role-playing but that's not the point of this story.

After our 4th edition party, one of the guys said, "Hey I know a friend who'd totally be into this" and we suggested he bring him along next time. Enter Silvanus. (No, not the guy-- his player character). When we met the next time, a new character was written into our group's story: Silvanus Kaz'Ironoak. Matt, his engineer, rolls in with a full backstory, completed character sheet, organizational notebook, and fancy dice rolling apps. Whenever we'd freeze up during the campaign, we'd all look to Matt/Silvanus, who carried us through many an encounter. In fact, here's a small portion of Silvanus' well-crafted backstory (I did some frankensteining to shorten it a bit): 

“Silvanus is a male minotaur warden... Silvanus’s parents belonged to a nomadic minotaur tribe that ranges the Dragon Coast, sometimes referred to as “The Twilight that Runs.” ... An extremely proud tribe, the Twilight is descended from a mating pair of ebon black minotaurs that left the Underdark several hundred years ago... they take honor in their dark fur, feeling that it binds them to The Twilight that Runs.

According to minotaur birthing rituals, a woods witch was summoned to read the auspices accompanying Silvanus’s birth. A violent storm raged all through the night, building in fury... Upon seeing the calf’s stark white fur, the woods witched cursed him as a portent of destruction for the tribe and, at her insistence, Silvanus was left to die in the thick forests of the region.

It was not to be, however. The primal spirits attending the very storm that coincided with his birth were drawn by his emotional upheaval and took pity on him, marking him as their own. With time, their mission became his: to protect the natural world and help it thrive. Under the guidance of these spirits, Silvanus learned to draw on the strength of the earth beneath his feet, to become immovable, impassive and steadfast and to champion the needs of the wild.”

— Excerpt from Silvanus' Backstory

Fast forward three-and-a-half years and Matt now lives in the Pacific Northwest. Since then, we've tried to incorporate Silvanus into our campaign via Skype, but then life happened and it was nearly impossible to get everyone in the same room at the same time. I got a text from Matt the other day asking if he left his Silvanus mini at our place the last time we all got together. Now that he has a new gaming group, I agreed to ship it to him-- that was two, three weeks ago? The first week, I forgot to bring it to the post office and felt horrible. But now I'm just stalling. No, I didn't lose his mini. In fact, he's safe & sound and ready to be shipped. However, I got this goofy idea in my head and ordered a new mini to surprise our friend with a newly painted version of Silvanus: 

While the Reaper "Bones" version of this model is less detailed and made out of plastic rather than pewter, it's not meant to replace his original mini-- just a surprise that I hope will make him smile when he discovers two minis in the mail instead of one. Here's what I started with yesterday:

And here's where I'm at today. 

Right now, I'm just trying to block out sections of the mini in gray liner and clean him up a bit. This miniature is inherently kind of angry looking and our Silvanus, despite his minotaur nature, is a pretty nice guy. Because of that I gave him blue eyes and nice teeth. Because everyone knows all heroes have nice teeth.

I'll continue to work on him later today and while I find painting Bones challenging for several reasons, I'm giving myself a goal to paint him to tabletop quality in a few short sessions & send him off to the Pacific Northwest on Saturday. For all I know, Matt's checking the mail every day waiting for him to come in-- better get back to painting!