[Jonny]

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum, I joined yesterday following my discovery of Sedition Wars at Salute on Saturday! After seeing the models in the McVey Studios stall cabinet there was only one way the situation was going... an empty wallet! I have four models from each faction and I'm really looking forward to working my way through them. My other hobby project at the moment is a Warhammer 40k Orks army, which is very much an exercise in quantity, rather than the exercise in quality (to the best of my abilities!) that I hope this project will be.

I've begun painting the Firebrand male drone, which was one of the models that initially caught my eye at Salute. I think the model is very characterful and really makes me think this is what an Epsilon sub-moron from Brave New World would be realised as in the Sedition Wars setting!

So far the painting is very hotch-potch, I've jumped around the model at whim so some areas have received more attention from others. It's a long way from finished and any advice/tips on how to make the most of him would be great. I usually (unintentionally) paint models very 'flat' and I think my style can sometimes lack depth. I've consciously tried to give a lot of texture to this model, which I think is suitable for an overworked drone. My technique so far has been crudely cross hatching areas, following the lines the model is giving me, and I'm quite happy with the results.



I don't really want to use metallic colours on my models, but at some point I will need to paint a metal area, is anyone aware of a good non-metallic metal tutorial for beginnners?

Cheers!

Jonny

[dwartist]

Bloody hell, that was quick!...and it looks like a great start.

[Studio McVey - Mike]

Hi Jonny!

dwartist was right - that was quick! I think you get the award for quickest painting of a SW miniature.

Looks great too - I really like the deep contrasts, makes him look dark and grimy which is perfect for the background. He Looks anything but flat - lots on depth in fact.

We made the decision not to use any metallic colours on these miniatures too - we figured that technology was advanced to the point where most things would be made from composites and other manufactured materials, rather than metals. So really it depends on what look you are going for - do you want some areas to look like metal, or do you want them to look like they are made from some sort of toughened material. It's sort of like the difference between how painters render NMM as if it's reflective, like this - http://www.coolminio...erby/Descending - Yellow one does just incredible work. The other way to do it, is like the Rackham painters used to render the metals - with more of a matte finish (to me it looked more like stone) - http://underthemount...-of-tir-na-bor/

Both can look great if done well, but the reflective look can take a lot more work to get right. I've never been a big fan of the reflective NMM look, but I have to admit it can look stunning if executed well.

I'll have a look round and see if I can find some tutorials on line, unless anyone else can beat me to it.

Can't wait to see more!

mike

[Jonny]

Hello again,

Thank you for the replies, it's really nice to get some positive feedback!

Thank you for the NMM links Mike, Yellow One's painting certainly is incredible! I've just discovered the articles section on Cool Mini or Not so there might be something on there as well. NMM looks like it could take some practice so I don't think I'll inflict it on my SW miniatures just yet. As you'll see in the photos below I've begun to use metallics very sparingly on the drone's shoulder harness in the worn areas. Although this wasn't my original intention I think it looks quite good, I'll definitely begin practicing some NMM on less precious miniatures though.

So I had another paint session with the drone this morning, it's refreshing just enjoying the process of painting a model rather than just being concerned with getting it finished... a habit of mine I'm trying to break!

[Iacton]

It is looking really very cool already. I only just got mine unpacked from the bag of toys from Salute last night!

If you are looking for NMM reference, I would strongly recommend that you have a look at Hedley Coppock's (aka Corpuscle on CMON and the forums) work. He's a great example of doing NMM really well, and at different scales too

[Studio McVey - Ali]

Hi Jonny,

Great to see you've posted pics already. Wow that was really fast work!!

I love your little Drone - he's very grimy and gritty looking and fits perfectly with how I imagine him to be. It looks like you had a lot of fun painting this one.

After our brief chat at Salute you talked about wanting to take more time on individual paint jobs. Is this still something you're wanting to do?
If ypu wanted, we could give you feedback here at every stage as you paint a figure. Maybe give some tips and tricks on how to approach a more detailed pj. I think with this figure you have gone way too far too fast for us to be able to do that.

What do you think? You might hate painting a figure so slowly after painting so fast and getting good results too

A.

[Jonny]

Hi Ali,

I'd definitely like to take more time over models, I don't seem to have an off switch when I'm painting! I've ordered another one of these little guys to paint so I'l do a much slower step-by-step.

My first thoughts for the first few stages are:

1. Undercoat grey
2. Line highlight with fortress grey, and up to skull White in very prominent areas
3. Apply basecoats
4. Wash with Devlan Mud

Is 'under-highlighting' before the basecoats go on a bad idea?

Thanks for any help!

[Studio McVey - Ali]

Hi Jonny,

This is kind of the exact opposite way that I paint. Is this a common technique to use for army painting? Do you apply thin basecoats so that the pre painted highlights show through?

You say you have ordered another drone - Well I have a proposition for you. Could be a little experiment actually.

When you get your figure maybe I could paint one as well and post stage by stage photos on here. Would you be up for following them and post your results at each point on here.
It would be pretty interesting to do - What do you reckon?

A.

[Jonny]

Hi Ali,

That's an awesome idea! To be honest the steps I suggested were just what I imagined may be the way to do it. Although I don't think I'm too disastrous with a brush in my hand I really have no understanding of how to paint a model properly.

It would be great to follow a step by step. If my colours vary slightly would that be an issue? I'm currently using Humbrol grey spray primer to undercoat my models. I'll post a photo of drone 2 when he's undercoated just to make sure he's not a million miles from your own.

I'm looking forward to getting started, I'll post again when I'm ready to go.

Cheers!

Jonny

[althai]

Studio McVey - Ali, on 23 April 2011 - 08:08 PM, said:

This is kind of the exact opposite way that I paint. Is this a common technique to use for army painting? Do you apply thin basecoats so that the pre painted highlights show through?

If it's done for army painting, usually it's done with primer - prime the entire model black, then prime white from above. Anything else is too time consuming for what is usually called "army painting": trying to get good results without spending too much time on any one mini.

However, the technique of painting in greyscale and then coloring it afterwards with inks and glazes is also used by some extremely talented painters for display minis. A good example of this is Anna Machowska (Ańa). Check out her article on chiaroscuro - skip down to "Another Method" about half way through if you just want to see where she talks about this technique - and you can find other examples elsewhere on her blog.

[Studio McVey - Ali]

althai, on 24 April 2011 - 04:52 AM, said:

If it's done for army painting, usually it's done with primer - prime the entire model black, then prime white from above. Anything else is too time consuming for what is usually called "army painting": trying to get good results without spending too much time on any one mini.

However, the technique of painting in greyscale and then coloring it afterwards with inks and glazes is also used by some extremely talented painters for display minis. A good example of this is Anna Machowska (Ańa). Check out her article on chiaroscuro - skip down to "Another Method" about half way through if you just want to see where she talks about this technique - and you can find other examples elsewhere on her blog.

Yeah. I've seen that article of Anna's. I think I saw Tomas David paint one this way too with primer first. I was wondering if army painters did a quick and dirty version of it.

It would be interesting to try a mini from start to finish using this method. I often paint to a highlight and then tint and glaze for rich deep shade but I have never done the monochrome thing and then glazed. I might have a bash.

Jonny. You're on!

A.

[Jonny]

Parcel received!

Male Drone 2 is undercoated and ready to go!



What's the next step?

Cheers!

[Studio McVey - Ali]

Jonny, on 05 May 2011 - 07:51 PM, said:

Parcel received!

Male Drone 2 is undercoated and ready to go!



What's the next step?

Cheers!

Cool!

Will prime mine in the morning and photograph the first couple of stages.

A.

[Studio McVey - Ali]

So. Here we go!

I aim to photograph 1 or two stages every day - I'll post the next stage each time you have posted pics of your progress. Then I can give you feedback or answer questions if needed as we go along.


Nice even primer coat applied. Need to make sure it's all nicely coated as the first application of paint will be a wash.



Apply a wash of black/brown paint. Mix it with water to the consistency of milk. You will see when you paint it whether it's thin enough. It needs to coat the figure lightly but flood nicely into the crevices. I gave this one light wash and then once dry applied another wash to the boots and hard areas like the gun and armour. Take a look at the mini once this wash is dry and go back and paint any bits you've missed. It's a pain later on if you spot an unpainted bit that stands out a mile.



Range of colours I will use for the flesh. This picture is actually missing white - pretty vital but not for this first stage.


A smooth base coat is vital so it's better to apply paint that's been thinned too much and apply multiple coats. For this base coat I wanted a dirty flesh mid tone. I used 2 with 4 and a dot of 3 added. I won't give you the exact paint colours because it's really not that important. You can approximate using the colours you have. There are no hard and fast rules - we're just looking to get a mid tone we can shade and highlight. I always try to keep it neat. Tidy up as I go along. Saves time later IMO.

A.

[althai]

Ali, I think it's super cool that you've agreed to do this. Should be a fun project. What paints are you using for 1-5?

(I'm guessing 1 is khardic flesh, 2 is beast hide, 4 is ryn flesh, and 5 is traitor green, but I can't tell about 3 and anyways these are just guesses. It's hard to be sure based on digital photos alone )

[Studio McVey - Ali]

althai, on 06 May 2011 - 09:29 PM, said:

Ali, I think it's super cool that you've agreed to do this. Should be a fun project. What paints are you using for 1-5?

(I'm guessing 1 is khardic flesh, 2 is beast hide, 4 is ryn flesh, and 5 is traitor green, but I can't tell about 3 and anyways these are just guesses. It's hard to be sure based on digital photos alone )

1 is butter fudge - coat d'arms
2 is beast hide
3 is gun corps brown
4 is palamino - coat d'arms
5 is battle dress green

[Jonny]

Hi Ali,

I've copied the first stages to the best of my ability! I apologise for the quality of the photos, I'll make sure to take them in the daytime from now on.

I applied a few thin coats of the flesh colour to try and keep it smooth. My mix was 4 parts Tallarn Flesh, 2 parts Kommando Khaki, 1 part Catachan Green and 1 part Skull White, hopefully it's a reasonable approximation!

[Nicolay]

He looks a bit paler than Ali's but looks really good. Somehow ... very natural and real. Turned out very smooth, too.

[Studio McVey - Ali]

Great start Jonny.

I'll have the next pics up tomorrow.

A.

I've been meaning to ask - Do you know how to blend?

[Jonny]

Hi Ali,

Thank you! The lighting on the photo is awful, I can assure you my skin tone is closer to yours than it appears. I need to get a better set up for taking pictures sorted out.

I don't know how to blend. I've heard of it but I don't have the first idea of how I'd go about it!

I'm looking forward to the next pictures. Thank you again for starting this tutorial.

Jonny

Edit: Thank you for the comments regarding the smoothness of the paint Nicolay. I'm so used to applying paint more or less straight out of the pot, I'm really trying to improve my techniques, thanks for the encouragement!

This post has been edited by Jonny: 08 May 2011 - 10:14 PM