Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Why do I paint NMM?


Now that I have been able to take some pictures of a few of my Arthurian series of paintings, I thought I could use them in this post to explain why I use the Non Metallic Metal technique.

The question has been asked over and over again, and now I have pretty pictures to go along with the explanation!  Yea!

Before I get started...this is NOT a debate about NMM vs Metallics.  Please dispense any hatred at the door :-)  It does not matter to me what anyone uses.  I don't really care about the absolutes and other insanity that flies back and forth between the rival camps.

There is one reason, and one reason only why I use the technique.  I spent many years painting 2D art.  Since there are no metallic watercolors or pastels, I had to "create" the effect of metal, as artists have done for centuries.

These images are examples of knights in armor, painted in watercolors.  The principles here are exactly the same as what I do on a miniature.  Obviously, there is a "back" to the figure.  However, The concept of reflected light, horizon lines, strong contrasts and reflected colors all apply to both 2D and 3D.

The first image has a bit of Sky-Earth Non Metallic, or SE-NMM.

For this second painting in the series, the object was to show the height of the glory of Camelot.  Summer vegetation, bright colors, sunny sky, and SE-NMM.


Now we see something different from the 4th painting in the series.  The fall of Camelot.  Fall colors, grey skies, and less reflectivity and bright highlights on the armor.

Again, the idea is to reflect as much light as possible.  You have seen me do this many times in miniature form.  In some ways, it is much easier to paint the effect on a 3D miniature than to create the illusion of shape on a piece of watercolor board!

There you have it folks.  The reason why I use the Non Metallic technique.  Simply has to do with my path to miniature painting.  I hope it makes sense to you all! :-)


12 comments:

  1. Those picture are real pieces of art. Simply awesome, James!
    As for the NMM I'm completely with you, With such excellent results there's no need to turn you back to NMM. ;-)

    Cheers
    Stefan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Now I just have to find the third image of the series. I have the original painting, but I would like to find the computer file too :-)

      Delete
  2. What, you don't paint as the masses (GW) do>> daemon!! All kidding aside, since seeing your work, my painting skill has increased ten-fold. Thank you James!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Such beautiful work. Thanks for sharing it as always!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the kind words! It's been fun to be able to show some of the old 2D stuff!

      Delete
  4. Off topic but not sure where would be the best place to ask XD any idea when the digital videos will be up on coolmini?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As I mentioned in yesterday's update, I was told by CMON that new person will be responsible for the downloads, and that things are supposed to start moving forward.

      Delete
  5. The debate I have often thought was and is truly insane, I heard it 1000s of times with my Chaos Beastmen that I did years back in the so-called NMM (another in just a long line of absurd terms to me). I call it simply painting.

    Great to see your 2D work. That's good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I will never understand the need to define everything in that way, and that one mu st 'win' over the other!

      Delete
  6. Awesome thanks for sharing your thoughts. I like the idea that your painting light not colours I think that's a cool distinction.

    ReplyDelete