Understanding NMM better?

[Kimmo]

A while back I was monkeying around with GIMP, my photo editor of choice. I had a theory that maybe one could use the decrease colour count function to get a better understanding of how NMM works by decreasing the number of displayed colours in an image. I found a suitable image to test, and basically reduced the count by half each time, I probably should have started from 2 and worked up as the division doesn't quite work out nice and neat... Stills below and a video here

Kimmo

 

[Kimmo]

While we're on the topic, here's a few good tutorials

 

[Briggsy]

Interesting, though I still look at the work of the old masters for inspiration. Not only NMM but the play of light on any surface, it doesn't always translate to 3D from the canvas but I find inspiration.

Cheers Simon

 

[Kimmo]

I look to other painters for inspiration as well, old masters and not, but when it comes to NMM I 'm having trouble breaking down the process so that it isn't all trial and error when it comes to placement of light and shadow, and how light behaves. The actual painting process is fairly straight forward from a technical point of view. Most tutorials feel like this to me when they say add the plane(s) of light and reflections, bounce lights and so on:





My thinking was that if you reduce the amount of information to an understandable level by reducing the colour count, you might be able to better understand the behaviour of light as you go back up the scale again and introduce more information (colours). The next step will be to implement this on a figure by adding gloss to the metal areas and then shining a light from the desired direction, taking photos and reducing the colour count in the hopes this will provide a better starting point. All this would probably work better if the the light is coloured, or if the metal is say black and the rest of the figure is another colour. All this will unfortunately have to wait until I clear the backlog of stuff on and off the bench at the moment. If anyone tries this approach in the meantime, please let us know your thoughts and how it worked out.


Kimmo

 

[Briggsy]

I think the fewer colours you use initially the easier it will be, reflected colours really depend on the metals colour and lighting level. To my mind it's always easier keeping it simple and small, I only use it on 28 to 32mm figures which I rarely paint these days.

Cheers Simon

 

[Ferris]

That digital function indeed looks very useful.

Kirill Kanaev’s FAQ book has a very elanorate explanation of how to do NMM. The good thing is he explains the theory behind it as well, so that one can apply it to any shape, also when lacking a painted example.

I am also carefully trying more NMM techniques in my figures, but I haven’t dared a full armour yet. Thing is with NMM it has to be 100% right, even 99% looks off.

Thanks for your post, very useful.

Adrian

 

[Kimmo]

Cheers Adrian!


We'll see what actually becomes of this, I have a few full body NMM projects lined up and I need to try and figure out a way to be as efficient as possible with them.

Kimmo

 

[FrancesXavier]

What is NMM? I searched through many threads and no one defined it. It is a rule of grammar if you are going to use an acronym, identify the entity by its full name followed by the acronym or abbreviation in parentheses i.e. Situation Normal All F****d Up (SNAFU)

 

[megroot]

NMM means not metallic metal.
Non metallic metal is a way of painting a metallic area using non metallic paints.
I don't use it. It seems great in pictures, but in reality it is a trick that don't fit under all circumstances. If you hold the figure slightly turned away it doesn't look as metal anymore.

Marc

 

[Tecumseh]

NNM, non metallic metals.

A system of painting metal effects without using metallic pigments, replicating techniques used by the old masters.

 

[FrancesXavier]

Thanks

 

[Russ]

"YES, AND ..."
I've been reading/studying Mitchell Abala's The Landscape Painter's Workbook, pretty much a master-class in framing, color grouping, shape interpretation, and limiting color values from 2-5 to improve interpretation (including notan, i.e. dark-light balancing), and other principles of landscape painting. Thing is, most of those concepts and techniques apply, or can be adapted to, figure and bust painting.

Notan in particular is directly related to the reduction of the number of values used, as Kimmo discusses above.

The book is really nudging me to take a different perspective on how I plan the colors, contrasts, etc. for a bust or figure. I recommend taking a gander at it.

Russ

 

[PropBlast]

There is also the technique of using the nmm theory but with metallic paints.

 

[Kimmo]

Good to see a bit of a discussion brewing...


Russ, I'm noticing a lot of painters re-examining how they paint, and why. Perhaps we're all getting to the stage where we've gotten comfortable enough with our current techniques that it is just time to try something new, or old as the case may be? There is so much that can be borrowed from the "real" art world that can be applied to miniatures given a willingness to experiment and invest the time needed to understand why something works, or doesn't. I wish I could afford books, tough enough to get what I need to get most of the time. Which is why I really appreciate forums and sites like this where people can chime in and offer help/advice. Now I have a new term to search and see what rabbit hole that sends me down.


Pete, you bring up a good point. Metallic paint is just paint so why wouldn't you do what you normally do with other paint? At the very least, basic highlighting and shading should be done to enhance the appearance of the metal.



Kimmo

 

[PropBlast]

Good to see a bit of a discussion brewing...


Russ, I'm noticing a lot of painters re-examining how they paint, and why. Perhaps we're all getting to the stage where we've gotten comfortable enough with our current techniques that it is just time to try something new, or old as the case may be? There is so much that can be borrowed from the "real" art world that can be applied to miniatures given a willingness to experiment and invest the time needed to understand why something works, or doesn't. I wish I could afford books, tough enough to get what I need to get most of the time. Which is why I really appreciate forums and sites like this where people can chime in and offer help/advice. Now I have a new term to search and see what rabbit hole that sends me down.


Pete, you bring up a good point. Metallic paint is just paint so why wouldn't you do what you normally do with other paint? At the very least, basic highlighting and shading should be done to enhance the appearance of the metal.



Kimmo

Kimmo that is exactly my point. The technique is called TMM (True Metallic Metal). Silver for example isn't just silver but is made up of many different 'shades' of silver.

 

[VerSacrum]

Pete, you bring up a good point. Metallic paint is just paint so why wouldn't you do what you normally do with other paint? At the very least, basic highlighting and shading should be done to enhance the appearance of the metal.

The Vallejo "Metal Color" range is perfect for this even for brush painting. It is very thin but still opaque and can be thinned further for layering, glazing etc...
In Sergey Popovichenko's PDF on armour painting (which I highly recommend) he too suggests looking at NMM techniques for shading and highlighting true metallics.

 

[PropBlast]

In Sergey Popovichenko's PDF on armour painting (which I highly recommend) he too suggests looking at NMM techniques for shading and highlighting true metallics.

Where can Sergey Popovichenko's PDF on armour painting be found?

 

[VerSacrum]

Where can Sergey Popovichenko's PDF on armour painting be found?

It's on his Patreon.

 

[Kimmo]

Metal Color has entered the chat...


I love this stuff, my only minor complaint is that it might be a little too shiny at times. Nothing a bit of matte medium or varnish can't fix though.

Marco Frisoni uses it very effectively by mixing in inks.


Kimmo

 

[Russ]

Kimmo: I've become particularly enamored of the work of Bill Horan and Mike Blank. This interest led me to look in more depth at the use of muted colors, which led to another artist's site, who mentioned Abala's book. I'm trying to get more into color theory in general, but the trap there is that all the research cuts into my painting time.