Blast from the past: Automaton's take on metallics - by Sebastian

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The theory put into practice

Ok, enough talk, time for some pictures! I have painted some metallics on a mini - Kelian Durak from Cadwallon, by Rackham - to try to demonstrate the ideas I have been discussing. Usually I like to stay with NMM for Rackham minis (tradition!), but I thought I would break that convention this time, because the armour of Kelian looked like a good opportunity for metallics.

First, let me just mention that the colours I have chosen are wholly dependant on the overall scheme I was planning for the rest of the mini. There is no rule that says you need to use these colours, any colours will work fine - as long as you make sure that the shadowed parts are nice and dark. The colours I have chosen are just an example; be creative!

Before we begin the painting, a quick word on mini preparation. This is a bit of a diversion, but I thought I would take the chance to show a comparison photo of a mini straight out of the blister, against a mini ready for the undercoat. To prepare a mini, I start by removing the flash and mould lines with a knife, then use files to smooth any very rough areas that I can reach. Then I use little strips of fine sandpaper stuck to the end of an implement (like a piece of flattened brass rod) to sand as much of the mini as possible. Then I use some stiff dremel-type brushes to vigorously brush the mini by hand. Then finally, I scrub the mini in warm water with a toothbrush, using some dishwashing liquid.

You can see in this photo that the prepared mini on the right is much shinier and significantly darker in colour - in real life, the difference is quite remarkable. While it may be a bit of a drag, my thinking is that if you can obtain such a change in the appearance of the mini with just a little work, then it must do some good - achieving a smoother surface to work on makes the painting much easier (and more pleasant!).

So, now to the painting finally! I began with a base coat of GW Boltgun Metal, over a mid-grey undercoat (I used Tamiya surface primer in this case). As always, I added a little water to the paint, and painted 2 or 3 thin coats rather than 1 thick coat.

Next, I began to shade the metal by adding a little colour. I wanted something a little unusual, so I decided to start with a light purple-blue colour and follow it down through the spectrum, getting darker through red, orange and finally a very dark black-yellow.

The first colour I used was a purple colour, something like GW ice blue + P3 Sanguine Highlight. You can see the colour on the palette in the top right corner of the pic. In the palette photo, I also tried to show the paint consistency, by including a portion of kitchen paper (paper towel) where I have wiped off the brush after dipping it in the paint. Hopefully this demonstrates that the paint is very dilute - it needs to be so dilute that only a hint of colour will show up on the surface each time you apply it to the mini. This is because we want to very gradually build up the colour with many glaze layers, slowly increasing the opacity. I only use water to dilute my paint.

When painting this way, it is important to wipe off as much of the excess paint as possible on a piece of kitchen paper or similar, before moving the brush to the mini. You definitely do not want any flowing, pooling or running of the paint on the surface of the mini. This is not a wash, it is much more controlled. You simply want to apply very thin layers to the surface, moving the brush towards the shadows from light to dark. The layers should be so thin that they dry very quickly, within a few seconds. If you do this correctly, you will avoid the problem of blotchy colour or tide marks that are associated with very thin paint - the layers should be applied so thinly that there is no chance for the paint pigment to move or flow around and gather to dry unevenly. If you want more information about this aspect of technique, I have written another article specifically about it, which you can see here.