Hmm, this NMM stuff is tough. But it’s coming along. Having got my 40K army to a tabletop standard I wanted to go back to really pushing my painting standard and I’ve latched onto Warhammer Underworlds as a good way to do this as the warbands are so small. If I ever get to play it then I’ll let you know about the game itself but the models are great.
I picked to play (or at least to paint) a Stormcast warband for one reason – the opportunity for NMM. This is a technique I really want to get good at, for one primary reason; the skillset required to make it look good captures so much of the skillset of painting itself that it feels like a ‘hack,’ to better painting (if you’re good at painting and you just did a sick in your mouth, I’m very sorry).
It’s about short smooth blends between very high contrasts and a lot of attention on the direction of light. I first tried it with Fulgrim for my 30K ECs:
Now, I do love this model and it remains the best thing I’ve painted. It took me nearly three months so I certainly didn’t scrimp but if I posted this on a painting forum I know full well exactly what comment I would get back first; there’s not enough contrast. Ok so I moved onto Eidolon.
Again, I quite like this paint job and actually I didn’t spend as long on it as Fulgrim and focused more on the freehand elements. The NMM itself isn’t an improvement on Fulgrim, in fact it looks quite like bronze – there’s not huge contrast (but some of the blends are smoother). I had a bit of a word with myself after this one and found some (relatively) cheap plastic push fit Stormcast to try with.
Ok, before the latest model I think this was the best NMM paintjob I’ve done. I’m still calling Fulgrim my best overall paintjob because of the face and the freehand but in NMM terms this was my best. The blends are fairly smooth and the highlights are nice and strong but I still don’t feel there’s enough contrast. The white is brighter but the darks are still a bit grey. So I wanted the latest model to really transition sharply. Here they are side by side for reference:
The most obvious thing is the difference in the colours of the gold – the model on the left is much warmer and looks much shinier than the model on the right. The blends are equally smooth (I’m pretty pleased with this element of my painting actually, it’s come on quite far).
I think the model on the left is better because of the higher contrast but I do prefer the richer, less orange, colour gold of the one on the right. Colour choice is always something I struggle with. I feel like I have a good grasp of the theory and I have a background in art but I still make some questionable colour choices. I’m sure it will come with practice. I’d like to have my ideal NMM gold palette locked in for life by the end of painting this unit and I think it’s going to be a combination of the contrast from the left hand model with the colours of the right hand model.
As I’m painting a single unit, different colours in the gold is going to be a bit annoying so I’ve left the base unpainted so that when all three are finished I can paint the bases together to unify it all.
I’m also going to try some freehand; NMM borders on the big, boring, blue capes, some red vines on the white elements and something more ambitious on the blank shoulder pad. All three of the models in the warband have these elements so I’ll replicate them across all three.
Comments and queries always welcome!