NMM vs Metallics

While it's a very good effect, doing chrome like that should be much simpler than doing "true" NMM.

All you do is have a dark grey, then you separate it with a white line, then do a few glazes to the blue color

If you're really fucking good you can make NMM look good. In photos at least. Start moving around and your brain will start noticing that shit's wrong.
If you're not then it'll look like arse.

If you're really fucking good then you can make metallics loo fucking sublime.
If you'r merely passably competent you can make them look good.

The thing is that you simply mustn't think that metallics don't need shading and highlights just because they're metallics. They do. If you don't, well, then guess what, that NMM that you at elats tried to give some fucking shading will suddenly start seeming somewhat appealing in comparison, because you can't be that lazy with them.

Seeing the real light reflections on top of the paintjob really wrecks the effect.

That's something I figured out quick, you can't leave metallic colors at just their base value. You have to pay the same amount of attention you would to normal colors to metallics.

It's an autistic technique that produces models that look good from exactly one angle and dreadful from any other, such as looking down on the tabletop. Metallic paint is an ugly thing in and of itself but you're not meant to use it like that it's just a base for inks and washes that are layered on and create a true metallic effect i.e. what metal actually looks like.

This is gonna sound hyper dumb, but this actually gets into something I have a lot of trouble articulating about miniatures.

Why do we have to add shades and highlights to models if they're already 3D?

I do it, I see the difference comparing when you don't just slop color on, but someone asked me that once when I was painting and I just...can't figure out a real answer.

Why should rendering make such a big difference on something that already casts its own shadows and highlights to some degree? With metallics its obviously a different material, but even things that should be a solid, matte color in reality still tend to look unfinished if you just give it one hit of corresponding paint color.

Again, I get that it works, but why?

because it's a lot smaller so doesn't catch the light nearly as much so you effectively have to paint the lighting on to be more in line with 1:1. The larger scale model you go the less it's actually necessary and you can be more subtle.

Hmm. That makes sense. I guess this explains some of the Life-sized models/statues i've seen. Now I really want to spend some time looking at how some people handle 1/6th scale models.

Thanks user.

Always NMM, seeing glitter over miniatures just bothers me.

NMM is exceptionally technically impressive and looks fantastic in photos, but is very hard to make look good in motion - case in point, there's a Dread Saurian down at my local GW in one of the cases, with NMM on all of the metallics on the collar. The person who painted it did a fantastic job, it's an incredible technical piece, but it just doesn't look quite right in motion, as the highlights don't move how they would if it was an actual metallic surface. See pic related.

so tl;dr: I'm incredibly impressed by the work and talent that goes into a good NMM job, because it's ridiculously hard to look right. I'm a shitter who's just gonna stick to metallic paints for now.

Non metallic metal is something you use for painting competitions or really high level stuff. People absolutely cream their jeans over it for some reason. If you don't nail a non metallic metal paintjob absolutely perfectly it will look like shit. It looks great in a diorama or in instances like a diorama where a model is in it's perfect angle and spot, but will look like absolute shit on a tabletop with regular lighting as the models move around a table.

Metallics are what you use if you're sane and are just painting a regular army in a normal time period for tabletop. They are hard to fuck up and usually look fine, with a few rare exceptions. They are difficult to look incredible but they are easy to make look good, like solid 8/10, maybe 9/10 range. Metallics are also good because they're a style of painting that works well with tabletop gaming, aka they look good from any angle.

NMM and a lot of other really high tier and realistic paintjobs look great up close but can be hard to read at tabletop height and especially if there's an entire army and I think a lot of people forget that. There's a reason many wargaming pictures tend to emphasize high contrast, almost cartoony paint schemes. They're much easier to read at table top and therefore "play" better for lack of a better term.

And even more skill to make look right from more than one direction.