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Hello,

I have been out of the hobby for quite some time, and only ever painted a handful of miniatures. After not paying attention for a long time I saw the sculpts that GW was putting out these days and I was very impressed. They are a massive improvement over what was available back in the day. So I picked up a Dark Vengeance set and decided to start a Ravenwing army by trading some of the Chaos for more bikes.

This is the first figure I've started painting in a long time. I have decided that I dislike metallic paints so I am not going to use any. My goal with the rank and file bike squads is to have a simple, clean paint job with passable NMM effects. I still need to buy blue and a couple of colors to do the gold areas like the edges of the wing fairing.

So far this is the process I've used on this guy in the hopes of developing one I can do to the rest of them assembly line style:

Primed black
Based all non black areas grey
Built up greys and whites for the steel areas and white icons/feathers
Painted guns red
Built up a couple of browns for the Aquila on the chest
Made a wash out of black paint and applied it to everything that wasn't black already
Came back and painted over all washed areas pretty much only leaving crevices
Highlighted every edge in dark grey for black, and almost white grey for the "metal". You can't see it very well in the pictures because a lot of the highlights are extremely thin lines, so maybe going back over those is a good idea
Finally I placed little dots on each piece of "metal" in a consistent way as if they were all reflecting one source of light coming from the same direction

I am excited to paint the gold because I think it will bring a little more contrast and interest in and brighten the model up a bit.

So are there any tips or trick anyone has I can apply to this type of process and style, keeping in mind that these are just the regular dudes in my army and I want to get them done relatively quickly?

Not much to say other than practice. Aim for sharper edges and smoother layer transitions. Remember you can paint over that highlight with thin paint to tidy it up. Darker colours cover lighter colours better than the other way round. Thin your paint a bit and work on your brush control a bit.

At the moment the white feathers are too bright.

I would clean up those line highlights a bit, they are too thick on that fender.

Drill dem gun barrels. Also basing can be just as fun to do as modeling.

Yes the highlights on the front fender are the first ones I did, they are pretty thick so I will go back and tidy them up. I also plan to drill the barrels and base it with cork, I just don't have that stuff yet.

It meets my Table Top standards.

Just a couple of tips on highilght. Aim for a better edge highlight. Your current edges are too wide. Also look up for more than one layer of highlight. To highlight the black parts I suggest Eshin Grey then even thinner lane of Down stone.

And yes, you should definitely try applying gold and metallic. It will make it pop even more if you shade the metallics and then edge highlight them. You can paint the exhaust tubes leadbelcher then shade them for more realistic view. there are so manyy options

I gotta say, even with the lack of holes the guns in front look great.

Edit add; I too was looking at the exhaust and considering what can be done but needed more thought but the suggestion of adding in a brass look is a good one.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
I gotta say, even with the lack of holes the guns in front look great.

Edit add; I too was looking at the exhaust and considering what can be done but needed more thought but the suggestion of adding in a brass look is a good one.

I never drill the bolts for some reason.
For the tubes you can go with so many original approaches.

I'll say it. You're already better than about 80% of the stuff I see 40K gamers put on a table (yes that includes armies of grey plastic). You're already at or above any kind of table-top standard.

So, don't fret..just start trying new techniques you pick up online as you do more models. It's apparent you remember how to ride the bike...now you can work on speed/performance at leisure.

Only advice really has already been given: base it, drill your barrels if you have a small pin-vice drill, and you can clean up your highlights (particularly on the front fork).

Thanks a lot everyone, some areas to focus on as I move forward are exactly what I was looking for.

I totally agree about the edge highlights being too thick, I realized this pretty much as soon as I laid them down and tried to be more neat on the rest of the model but I will go back and fix the ones that are untidy.

I'm still not sold on metallic paints but I will work on neater highlights and smoother transitions to make those areas look better. I will have to experiment a lot with the NMM style to get something that looks decent but can be applied on a large scale to a bunch of guys. Mainly I want to practice it on my whole army because I want to paint my characters that way once I have a better grasp on it.

Simple trick for metallics...dry brush them on, even on flat surfaces. You don't get the goopy silly fake-metal paint appearance, but a decent burnished metal look - dead simple.

Here's an example of glopped on metallics:
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo202/bombevil/Eldar/DSCN0692.jpg

Here's a simpler dry-brushed metallic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/Elbaus/Wraithguard_zpsvsmm7zvb.jpg

The effect is much thinner (also airbrushing metallics often looks fantastic, but I don't have an airbrush). Metallics are often thick by nature and they're hard to put on without thinning them.

 Elbows wrote:
Simple trick for metallics...dry brush them on, even on flat surfaces. You don't get the goopy silly fake-metal paint appearance, but a decent burnished metal look - dead simple.

Here's an example of glopped on metallics:
http://i376.photobucket.com/albums/oo202/bombevil/Eldar/DSCN0692.jpg

Here's a simpler dry-brushed metallic:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v455/Elbaus/Wraithguard_zpsvsmm7zvb.jpg

The effect is much thinner (also airbrushing metallics often looks fantastic, but I don't have an airbrush). Metallics are often thick by nature and they're hard to put on without thinning them.

Yeah that "glopped on" look is something I remember well and the big reason I'm leery of metallic paints. It just makes the whole thing look flat and it reflects light like a 28mm model would, instead of how the life-sized object actually would. The second set of models looks great, you can really tell the value in being subtle there because it makes everything pop distinctly without being overwhelmed by any single detail.

I do realize that you can do basically the same thing I'm planning by washing and edge highlighting metallic for a nice effect, which is something I will certainly try if I decide I don't like how these guys are turning out.

I reckon it looks pretty damn good already! You've done a nmm effect on the metal parts, which is impressive in itself. The nmm looks great on the edge of the front mudguard, but a little lacklustre on other areas. This might be the photo. If you haven't gone to town on the other areas, then spread that level of attention to those other areas, as the bit at the front looks seriously good.

The quick wins are stuff people have mentioned -drilling the barrels, basing it. For the front wheel, rather than "tidying up" the front mudguard, what I would do is add a tiny lighter highlight within the line. Also, rather than painting a continuous line highlight, use some spots of light, or broken lines. This is a really easy way to create a touch of realism, as it gives the impression of light glinting off small scratches.

Aside from that, think about adding a few more touches of colour. Great technique can be let down by bland colour choices. Your mini is kind of black, grey, and red. Not a terrible choice by any means, but as you've said, even a bit of gold or bronze on some of the metal will help it be more eye-catching. You could try shading the wings with a dark blue, maybe. Or highlighting the black by adding a bit of sky blue to the black, which should in theory make it look like the sky is reflecting off the armour.

The main thing though is to keep painting. It already looks more than good enough. For a first mini in ten years it's fantastic. I guess you had the skills back when you used to paint, and in which case you'll probably find them flooding back the more you paint now.

I nice light dry brush highlight over your dark areas will make the raised sections pop and really show better detail. Just make sure you do not put it on too thick.

I always think dry brush highlighting is a must for any figure I paint.

 feltmonkey wrote:
I reckon it looks pretty damn good already! You've done a nmm effect on the metal parts, which is impressive in itself. The nmm looks great on the edge of the front mudguard, but a little lacklustre on other areas. This might be the photo. If you haven't gone to town on the other areas, then spread that level of attention to those other areas, as the bit at the front looks seriously good.

The quick wins are stuff people have mentioned -drilling the barrels, basing it. For the front wheel, rather than "tidying up" the front mudguard, what I would do is add a tiny lighter highlight within the line. Also, rather than painting a continuous line highlight, use some spots of light, or broken lines. This is a really easy way to create a touch of realism, as it gives the impression of light glinting off small scratches.

Aside from that, think about adding a few more touches of colour. Great technique can be let down by bland colour choices. Your mini is kind of black, grey, and red. Not a terrible choice by any means, but as you've said, even a bit of gold or bronze on some of the metal will help it be more eye-catching. You could try shading the wings with a dark blue, maybe. Or highlighting the black by adding a bit of sky blue to the black, which should in theory make it look like the sky is reflecting off the armour.

The main thing though is to keep painting. It already looks more than good enough. For a first mini in ten years it's fantastic. I guess you had the skills back when you used to paint, and in which case you'll probably find them flooding back the more you paint now.

Thank you. I know what you mean about the variation in quality in the NMM areas; honestly I didn't do very much different on any one part of the bike but certain areas are more clear than others on what should be done to bring about the effect. For example, the exhaust pipes are something I will have to experiment with because you have to fake a 3D effect with 2D style painting which I am finding is harder to do on areas that are cylindrical or flat and easier to do on sharp angles. On the former you have to blend the colors correctly to make it seem as if light were reflecting off of something it actually isn't, whereas with the latter all it takes is highlighting a couple of key points. This was my first ever attempt at NMM so hopefully I will improve my technique over time.

I like the idea of using blues on the black areas. The obvious choice to highlight black is grey but working up some layers of blue-black could have a really nice effect without having such stark lines. I definitely plan to add some blue in certain places and of course the gold as well. I think trimming the wings in gold and adding one or two other gold details will go really far in producing some variation beyond the black, white and red. Those are just the only colors I have at the moment, hah. At the moment the only thing keeping me from doing that as well as drilling the holes and basing is that I'm waiting on all of that stuff in the mail. Once I have tried out some NMM gold I will go back and tidy up the lines and do some final highlights as everyone has suggested.

Yeah, I reckon it'll look excellent once you've got the gold on it.

Regarding the exhaust, and bear with me I'm going to try to post a pic on my phone here, perhaps this can help.



Light reflects quite oddly on a curved metallic surface. You get the dark area angled towards the bike, then a very bright area of highlight, then a very dark line immediately below, which I think is actually the reflection of the horizon. Then a mid grey below that. Perhaps trying to replicate this might help, I'm not sure. I'm not an expert in nmm, not by a long shot.

In fact, here's a guide from a friend of mine who is a professional, and who always paints terrific nmm. He has a pretty simple method.

https://opponent-theory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/thoughts-on-painting-iron-man.html?m=1

Good luck with it! And remember to post the results.

 feltmonkey wrote:
Yeah, I reckon it'll look excellent once you've got the gold on it.

Regarding the exhaust, and bear with me I'm going to try to post a pic on my phone here, perhaps this can help.

Light reflects quite oddly on a curved metallic surface. You get the dark area angled towards the bike, then a very bright area of highlight, then a very dark line immediately below, which I think is actually the reflection of the horizon. Then a mid grey below that. Perhaps trying to replicate this might help, I'm not sure. I'm not an expert in nmm, not by a long shot.

In fact, here's a guide from a friend of mine who is a professional, and who always paints terrific nmm. He has a pretty simple method.

https://opponent-theory.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/thoughts-on-painting-iron-man.html?m=1

Good luck with it! And remember to post the results.

That is very helpful. Just looking at the photo of the bike I can tell that I'm going to have to go WAY brighter on the bright part exhaust pipes.

That tutorial is awesome, too. It's pretty much exactly the look and technique I want to aim for; not necessarily that realistic but very dynamic, it looks "right" in terms of lighting and it's achieved without advanced techniques like wet blending that would be a pain to do on 20+ models. I like how he's shading with cool colors, will have to put some blue/turquoise in mine as well. It also introduced me to a new term - "specular reflection". That is the part I am having trouble with on the pipes. I will definitely use that as a rough guide as I continue to experiment.

A quick touch up and another go at the pipes:

Looking good!

As a first model after 10 years I think it looks fantastic

Thanks for the advice and encouragement guys. One more update on this guy. I got some paints to do the rest of the colors and now I think this is as far as I'm going to take him, with the final step being drilling and basing. Now once my tools and bits come in the mail I'll get started on the rest of them!

That biker looks great! Much better than my first feeble attempts at painting Ravenwing. I haven't tried to paint a Ravenwing biker for two years because my first ones (which were some of my first ever models painted) basically look like a five-year-old painted them. Maybe I'll have to have another go at them soon.

 ZergSmasher wrote:
That biker looks great! Much better than my first feeble attempts at painting Ravenwing. I haven't tried to paint a Ravenwing biker for two years because my first ones (which were some of my first ever models painted) basically look like a five-year-old painted them. Maybe I'll have to have another go at them soon.

I know what you mean. It's a simple color scheme and you end up painting relatively little of the model but all of the black and white surfaces are unforgiving when it comes to mistakes.

That's some A1 sauce work right there. I love it. Turned out to be great choices for contrasts.

Well I couldn't help but post an update on some of the other guys. I almost have two squads done now. Obviously I still need to base, and there are a couple of details I missed I need to go back and hit. Unfortunately, the Dark Vengeance bikers are NOT very compatible with multi-part marine bits, and as such there are some pretty significant gaps where some of the arms meet the bodies. I may tear them apart and try to fill them it with some green stuff or something, I don't know.

Anyway, I hope you'll be able to see that I ended up being very influenced by this thread, in fact I used pretty much every single suggestion you guys gave me. So thanks again for the advice.

Congratulations; looking sweet!

As an aside, several mentioned drilling the gun barrel and it looks like you did which is fantastic. I know lots of people skip that and feel it's a minor detail but I think one's eye is always drawn to the business end of a model, so solid metal barrels just look off.

Some find it difficult to drill barrels but a reasonable effect can be done with a sharp hobby knife as well, and it's easier to correct once started than a drill. Even just a black dot on the end is okay.

Nice work!

Yeah I hadn't drilled anything yet because I didn't have a pin vice. Definitely and indispensable tool. I haven't drilled any of my Grav or Melta guns because I'm considering giving them glowing effects, but I did end up drilling all of the bolters through the front and through the ports on the sides.