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I've seen some really nice effects done with "non-metallic metal" (NMM) painting - i.e. where a metallic effect is achieved with regular nonmetallic paint.

It's a skill I'd love to develop but I'm kind of curious what people's thoughts and feelings about it are. I've got about 100 marines I'll be painting up as an Ordo Xenos Watch Company, so that's a lot of silver left arms. (which either means a chance to get a lot of practice, or the chance to make a lot of really bad looking minis before I get it down...)

(edited for clarity)

Honestly? I think NMM can look great but unless you have a WHOLE lot of time on your hands you're panting 70 coats of paint on a model to achieve what two coats of a metallic and a wash or two would achieve. It's impressive because it's such a damned roundabout and unnecessarily complicated way of doing a simple thing.

Doest it look good? Yes it does! But when it comes down to it I don't really feel that it's practical to do it on an entire army.

Looks better than metallic paint, but requires blending, which is a pain.

M.

@ Todes: Good point about the entire army... Maybe this is a technique better developed on individual character models

@ M.: Tell me about it. I have one model I did 10 years ago where I blended the colors on her kimono and have not been able to repeat the success since. Maybe I need to go back to using cheap folk-art paints :lol:


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Hmm.... It occurs to me though that a pseudo-NMM effect could be accomplished by artful use of highlighting with metallic paints.

NMM is probably best on show case models. Most folks are not going to have the time to take a whole army to Golden Demon standards.

When working with metals - don't forget that you can blend colors just like any other paint. Start with 80/20 black/silver for the base coat. At some point change to a white/silver blend for high lights. And there is no reason why you could not work with brown, green, blue or any other color combination that the scheme calls for.

Thanks for the tips RTC. Obvious as it sounds, I do tend to forget things like this when working with metals.

NMM look amazing when done right, when done wrong they look horrible, there is very little middle ground. I for one and a big fan of mettalics, my entire space marine army is painted mettalic red.

I agree "NMM" has it's place but that is on showcase models only and not your army.

One thing to consider about "NMM" is the perceived light souce that you consider is above the model to develop your highlights and shadows.

Yes, typically all light sources are above your model but say you chose "above right" to highlight the model's unique pose. Then another's pose called for "above left" for the light source. In the extreme, it could lead to a very un-uniform scheme to your full army.

Real light, highlighting and reflecting off of real metallic paints is like a unifying wash across all of the models in your army (including larger ones like vehicles).

From a personal stand point, NMM has its place and it entirely depends on the style and type of metal, along with the level of the painter, shabby NMM is a no no, personally i only NMM for display or competitive standard, NMM is never included in table top unless the client is very specific about it and willing to pay for it.

I have seen Nmm on table top armies and do not doubt, it looks fantastic, as long as its not pretencious and mottled NMM matching the basing environment works best!

If you want golden daemon quality then it's NMM all the way, but if you don't have years of experience in painting...just skip it and go with metallics and wash.

Basic NMM models can take 6-10hrs a piece to give the correct look.

I did it on 1 of my termi thunder hammers on here.! It did take a long time and many layers but it always feels good to learn a new technique. So i'd say have a go matey

I did it on 1 of my termi thunder hammers on here.! It did take a long time and many layers but it always feels good to learn a new technique. So i'd say have a go matey

Personally, I find that NMM looks amazing for display quality miniatures, but the sheer amount of time that it requires to do properly (unless you're using an airbrush) makes it really prohibitive for an entire army.

Do not allow anyone prevent you from beginning to use it however. If you want to do it well you have to put in the time. It's not like ten years of painting with metallics and doing free-hand but never trying NMM will magically make you an expert at NMM. You need to actually start doing the technique.

For a large army, you can get airbrush metallics. The pigment is very fine so the metallics look much better. Silver is like chrome! Use inks\washes.

thanks again for the tips and feedback folks. I think for my Watch Company (which will have metallic armor on the left arm of every marine) I'ma go with metallic paints/washes but I'm definitely going to continue to develop my nmm on various D&D character models I'm doing, etc.

It takes a bit of doing to master, as you have to ensure you can blend nearly seamlessly, make the correct color choices, and most importantly, learn how to interpret the way light would behave on the object.

It is also as everyone has said, very, very time consuming. I am currently using it, but only on characters. To my surprise, I don't find it conflicts much at all with metallics, as long as the character is different and distinguished enough anyhow. For instances, my Sanguinary guard are metallic, and so are my terminators, but my Terminator Dante and Tycho are nmm gold. I find one metal looks satined, while the nmm looks chrome. But both look close enough in color to not clash.

TBH, I'm not a huge fan of NMM.
When done RIGHT, it can be spectacular. But I find if its even a little bit off, it throws me way off.

My question is how are people varnishing the NMM? Ill get to my point after some feedback. And yes, if done the right way it looks incredible, but I will never give up my BEATEN COPPER

MajorTom11 wrote:[My] Sanguinary guard are metallic, and so are my terminators, but my Terminator Dante and Tycho are nmm gold ... both look close enough in color to not clash.

this is good to know

To piggyback on MajorTom's comment - It might be worth practicing on the Sergeants and doing the rest using normal metallic paints. There is a great guide in the BA WD on painting NMM gold for the Sanguinor which can easily be adapted to copper or silver.

Edit: Even if you NMM do not come out particularly well it is a really awesome learning exercise. Painting some NMM pieces made me really evaluate the way I look at color and has improved my highlighting, washing and blending enormously.

Its probably the most difficult technique to master. I have been trying for awhile. Most of the characters in my BA army that are supposed to be NMM i have simply base coated the brownish golden color so i can come back and do it when I have the patience and skill. What makes it so tough is speculating how a light sourse would reflect against armor....and then painting it. If you can pull it off though, the final result is awesome.