Painting Non-Metallic Metals on The Butcher (Patreon)

Surprise! I've actually managed to photograph my process on one of my models so I can share with you all how I painted the armor on The Butcher.  This is normally very difficult to do for me because my process is a lot of wet paint and as such I can't stop until it's done. This means that pictures end up looking very 'Rest of the fucking owl' unless I video record them and I can't do videos until after I've moved home.

However, I will try and put up more painting guides on various aspects of models as and when I can manage it.

Concept:

The first thing you want to think about when painting a piece is the concept of the model, this includes the personality of the character you are painting, the style you are looking for and so on. It's about researching around and deciding on what kind of story you want to portray with the model.

In the case of the butcher, I did not want to stray too far from the "official" style, in part because I wanted to practice my non-metallic metal (NMM) painting some more I knew that the vast majority of the Butcher was going to be NMM. However, there are dozens and dozens of different types of NMM you can go for, and I don't just mean iron vs. chrome vs. gold vs. copper.  

In the case of the butcher I wanted a dull, sickly looking metal which was not too bright. So my base for this would be in greens.

So when painting NMM, you need to think about where your lights are coming from, many people have written a great deal about their methods, which vary, I personally use photographs of the model under a lamp at a fixed angle, and rotate the model around.  This means that I keep a consistent primary light source.  Another way this is done is via zenithal shading (as if the model is lit from the sun at its zenith).  In all cases however the best methods (for me) use real world lighting as its influence, it just looks better to the human eye.

There is a lot more I could write about on this, however I'll just recommend that you check out Miniature Monthly, Richard Gray and Gareth Nicholas. All of whom provided influence on parts of this piece - Gareth Nicholas' work in particular helped a lot with the base colours for the green/grey NMM.

Here's the first four steps of the model:

As you can see, I paint these models in parts. I find that painting these models in sections is a lot easier for KDM because there are many areas that get covered up with other stuff, but are still sort of visible.  For example the Butcher's cloak and arms cover up a huge amount of real estate, but it's still possible to peak in and see them.

This model was primed black because I wanted to make the lining on the armor easier. I could leave black lines visible rather than go back and paint them in later on. It just saves time. Additionally, a black undercoat darkens all the colours put on top of it a fair amount, therefore this model will end up looking darker and grimmer than one with a white undercoat.  I can explain the actual science of this if you want, I've worked a LOT with light in the past and if there is interest I could explain how it works.

Note on Paints: 

Before we start I want to address a trope I'm sure many of you have read 'which is thin your paints'. Now this one is true to a certain extent, however it's sort of not 100% accurate. If you look around you'll find that there are a fair amount of professional painters who will use undiluted paint for the initial layers. 

There is a group of snobbish intermediate painters who are very good, but are so stuck in their ways that they think that not thinning your paints = big blobs on the model with no control. Whereas painting with undiluted paints is a very useful tool for early layers in a model, because it keeps the intensity of the colours intact.  You don't want undiluted paints for everything you are doing, but it is a tool that should not be ignored.

So in my opinion the aim is not 'thin your paints' it is 'avoid getting too much paint on the model'.

Back to the model, I'll put the image up again here:

The very first layer painted on for the armor is in Mechanicus Standard Grey (Base). This was applied in 2 thin layers of undiluted paint (also known as capibases) in order to get complete coverage. I use a 0, 0/3 and 0/5 brush in all my work, it's all I need for models this size.

Next a mix of 2 White Sand (S75), 2 Dark Sea Grey (VMC) and Kalabite Green (GW) was applied. This was slightly thinned down with water, but only a tad.  I put this across the areas where the light was touching most of all and around the spots where the two lanterns were located.

The next step was a 2 Dark Sea Grey to 1 White mix and that was used to paint reflections across the higher points. I then used the mix of 2:2:1 (White Sand/DSG/Kalabite) and added more white to it. This was applied to the highest points and edges where light would reflect most.

Finally I went to an old standby of mine, Black Leather (S75) which is a red black, and I applied that across the model where shadows would be. This red/green mix together gives the model a sort of sickly look - additionally the use of Black Leather as a substitute is a common theme across all my pieces, it helps tie them together when they are on the board.

I then went back and sharpened up the various spots before adding in some 'damage' to a few of the larger areas. These are done by painting lines of Black Leather and then using my lighter mixes to highlight the bottom edge of those lines, which gives them a raised look.

The third image here shows the lantern, which I did do soft OSL on. I do not like extreme OSL, I feel it looks very poor on the game board, instead I prefer OSL such as that employed by Liz Beckley from Miniature Monthly. This is a lower intensity light that doesn't swamp the models and shroud huge areas in darkness the way that Nick Wirtz's work does (Nick is an excellent artist in his own right btw, it's just not my taste).

In this case the OSL was created by a mix of Transparent Orange (Vallejo MC again) and Sunny Skin Tone (VMC), this created an orange looking light that feels low frequency and therefore wouldn't travel so far across the model. This mix was thinned down a great deal and glazed across the areas where the lantern light would touch.  Take your time with this, it's easy to get it wrong, but not easy to undo your mistakes if you do.

This is where it gets a bit 'rest of the fucking owl' and I apologise for that, but the main aim of including these remaining pictures is so you can see the model develop and get an idea of how it's put together with a limited pallet.

The back of the model is kept very simple, this large picture shows you some of the deliberate roughness I kept into the metals, making them look dinged up and grimy.

In respect of the cape, I decided that I didn't like how it hung on the model, it looks weird how it hangs so far away from the Butcher's armor. So I thickened it up with some greenstuff sculpting.

Here's how it looked when test fitted.

And here's how the model looked before painting the cape!

The Cleavers were painted in the same method as the rest of the armor, however the smaller cleaver and the bone saw were painted using a different selection of paints (same techniques however).

I'll put up the finished piece in a few days once I've photographed it properly, it's been sat completed for about a month now and I haven't gotten around to it. I'll sort that out now!

If there are any questions, please feel free to ask, but until then, this is what you can do with a relatively simple selection of colours, capibases, glazes and patience!