Forging a new Metal

This was an experiment that really yielded some amazing results!  We had the Vallejo Metal Medium sitting around forever, but had never found a purpose for it  When I tried it out on the Sauron miniature from Lord of the Rings, it was even better than I had hoped!

Fast forward several months, and you have this video that I made for the Patreon Page and the Geek Nation class at Adepticon this year: https://youtu.be/W2BnTyDxT7Y

Here's a link to that early article: https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/forged-in-fire.html

You can see what the final results of that experiment looked like here: https://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-fires-of-mordor.html

I also tried that out in a Facebook live session, mixing even more colors with it to see what it could do!  Here's a link to that video: https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212185674011167/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

In this instance the effect was much more simplified and muted, because it was part of the Geek Nation class that I taught at Adepticon this year.

The most helpful property of the Metal medium is the way it can lighten the color that you mix it with.  This provides you with the ability to shade you new metallic paint, which is normally very hard to do without losing the metal effect or  shifting the color as you try to lighten it.

I am still amazed at how many uses there are for this material.  Originally I was just going to use it on the blackened steel on the rifles and machine guns of the Bolt Action figures, but it proved to have so much more potential right away.

You can see that and many other experiments on the Patreon Page here:  www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Galaxy Quest

I really enjoyed the live session where experimentation with the Vallejo Metal Medium was tested on this Gates of Antares figure.  I had only had a chance to use it on a few occasions, so it was quite interesting to use that in front of an audience!

Here's a link:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212185674011167/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

You have to think differently when you are using the medium, since the more of it is in your mixtures, the lighter your paint will be.  Here's the first step by step example of using the medium to affect "regular" paint:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/forged-in-fire.html

The Reaper Clear and Liner paints mix with this medium very well, since they are very pure and intense pigments.  They also went well with the Secret Weapon colors, as those are designed to be used transparently.

I am hoping to make a more "permanent" tutorial video on various methods for using this medium.  That will eventually be available to the Patreon subscribers at the $5 level.  The more folks who subscribe to the page, the more videos I can make!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Star Forged

After using the Vallejo Metal Medium a few weeks ago on the Sauron figure, I just had to give that another try!  These special character figures from Gates of Antares seemed to be the perfect candidates for more tests.  This was the first experimental figure that I painted, which was then followed up by a facebook live session:

https://www.facebook.com/james.wappel/videos/vb.1056181987/10212185674011167/?type=2&video_source=user_video_tab

This time around, I tried to push the limits of the metal medium a little more... putting even more 'shading' on areas like the arms and the staff than I did on the Sauron figure.

I found that I could do all the same sorts of color tints and subtle things that I normally did with my NMM process, just with metals this time! Since this was a sci-fi figure, I had more room to maneuver with those wild color combos!

Many thanks for all the folks who have been supporting the Patreon page!  that makes a tremendous difference, as the more support the page generates, the more videos I can create.  As I have mentioned many times, I try very hard to have new an interesting topics to show.  The Metal Medium is much like the oil paints, as I learn something new every time I try them.

I think this makes a difference on the videos, as it is almost like we are learning side by side!

www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

The Fires of Mordor

Here's the final results on the experiment with the Vallejo Metal Medium.  While it is called "medium", the conversation that was generated after the initial post makes me think that I should say it is not a 'medium' in the classic sense... it is very much like metallic paint in consistency.  It is not a thin glazing style medium!

In the past I have used regular metallic paints and added them to regular colors, but those tended to shift the original color.  This is designed to turn the color you are using into a metallic paint without that kind of significant alteration.

If you want to see the original step by step post, you can view that here:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2018/01/forged-in-fire.html

As I mentioned very often in the original post, it was an interesting challenge,  since I normally use various NMM techniques.  It just kinda worked out that way, since commission painting requires you to do what it requested, and that means matching previously painted figures and so on.

Also 22 years spent as a 2D artists meant that metallic paints were not part of the picture so to speak!  There are not metallic watercolors, oils or pastels.  This article was made to discuss that idea further:

http://wappellious.blogspot.com/2014/06/why-do-i-paint-nmm.html

The lava style base was made to create that sense of Mordor, and provide a lighting source for the OSL.  I have a number of painting videos on USB drives which discuss OSL, making these lava bases, and the fluorescent paints used in the process.  Here's a sample video of the Object Source Lighting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXqIo-UMSr8&t=369s

I will try to do more experiments with the Metal Medium, so I am looking around for the best miniatures to show such techniques!  A facebook live session is in the works, which will be yet another live experiment where whatever happens is unrehearsed. :-)

You can support those live videos by subscribing to the Patreon Page.  Any amount makes it easier to produce more of these, and gives you the chance to win the monthly Raffle Figure!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

Forged in Fire

I have posted a variety of articles on the blog about Non Metallic Metals and how I ended up using that technique.  The primary reasons are that it is what I am requested to do, and it is also due to the 20+ years spent painting in 2D art.  There are no metallic watercolors, pastels or oils, so you have to simulate the impression of metal

This is what I have been doing for 17+ years of miniature painting, but running across this old guy made me try something new.

It had been mostly painted way back in 2004, when we briefly messed around with metallic paints.  The base was made during my Painting Pyramid Kickstarter, and I wanted to see if I could make the metallic paints work with the glowing effect!

First, I had to get a variety of cooler tones in the metals.  I had always wanted to try the Vallejo Metal Medium, which turns any color into a metallic paint.

You can see me doing that in these images.  I am using the same green color that was mixed into the grays for lighting the cloak.

The more of the Metal Medium you add to the mix, the "lighter" the color becomes.  This proved to lend a lot of flexibility to the process.

I added a few other colors to the Metal Medium as well, and it was very interesting!

I even mixed in some of the Vallejo Glaze mediums, and that made a very nice effect, as it is already transparent.  Now the metals had a variety of warm and cool colors, and these would help to set up the brighter more intense tones of the lava reflections.

To ensure that the lava reflections would still look like metal, I could mix in the Metal Medium with the fluorescent paints!  This was crucial, since it is one reason why I had abandoned metallic paints.  They would not work with things like Object Source Lighting, since the "reflections" would stand out like a sore thumb against all the metallic shininess.

In fact, adding that Metal Medium gave the fluorescent paints just enough of a 'shine' so that it would incorporate itself very well.  I had to remember not to add that medium when I painted the effect on the cloak!

There was not a ton of the reflected color on the figure... just a few strategically placed areas to create the impression of them.

I might actually have to do a Patreon Page video regarding these, as it was a lot of fun, and I felt like I was discovering new things with each brush stroke, just like the oil paints!

If you would like to support that Patreon Page, any amount would make it easier for me to create more of those videos... and you would also have a chance to win the monthly raffle figure!

https://www.patreon.com/JamesWappel

He's also here:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/323022020684?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649