Anduriel, Elf Warrior

So here’s the results of my first lesson in NMM. Thanks to Anne Foerster! Overall I have to say I’m pretty happy with how he came out (I hope you’re sitting down!).

I also went a bit further with the hair thanks to ttuckerman mentioning Oiled Leather as a shade for blond hair, and I decided to punch up a couple highlights in my quest to work on my contrast. Now I need to go back and revamp my cloth and leather techniques! I like the effect I got glazing a dark red over the little scroll case or whatever it is, tucked between the sheaths and bedroll.

Tried for some blue/green eyes but it didn’t photograph well. I’ll probably get an eyeroll (hah) from my fiancee, she likes to make fun of the freaky eyes I give characters in video games.

And for fun, here’s an elf I did back in the 90s for comparison.

Anduriel WIP 5

Just about done. Stomach bug is good for one thing, sitting at home with a project I can set down at a moment’s notice…

Everything but the flesh and hair is pretty much done. For some reason the consistency of the green/brown was really fighting me. I was going to get fancier, but just getting in the tonal gradient was a pain. Once again, tried to make the leathers a bit different here and there with some glazes and highlighting a couple different paths. Bedroll I just did like Dain’s, taking the top end leather highlights way higher to simulate a coarse cloth.

Anduriel WIP 4

I’ll start off with this statement: NMM is HARD.

Apologies for the blurry pics as always, autofocus doesn’t like these WIP pics. I usually take a few so one might come out in focus…

So there’s the steel and gold NMM. Easily the most difficult technique I’ve tried, purely from a theoretical standpoint. I’m happy with a few spots (the gold bracers). For something of this level of complexity, I wish the instructions had three WIP pics of each area to be painted as well as a couple larger front/back shots of the completed minis. I was winging it for most of the mini with very little idea of what I was supposed to be doing.

Anduriel WIP 3

 

Eyes done, linen white and the shadow color from the sea blue triad (name escapes me). First pass of highlight on the steel nmm.

Anduriel WIP 2

Base coating completed!

I was originally thinking green scabbards, but changed my mind for leather. Now the fun part starts!

Anduriel WIP 1

Base coating the steel:

 

 

Base coating the leather and skin:

 

Terse!

Non-Metallic Metal

Kit 3 time, finally getting into some NMM!  This Reaper Learn to Paint Kit focuses on painting metal surfaces with non-metallic paint. Metallic paints contain small reflective metal particles (I think it’s ground aluminum). The NMM method is akin to how a traditional painter would paint metal surfaces. I’m going to start with Anduriel.

Primed above, and then lined with Walnut Brown:

The mini I was painting for an exchange ventured too far into the land of experimentation for me to feel comfortable sending it to the recipient. I’ve chosen a pair of minis to paint up for the exchange and will post the WIP for the other mini soon.