NMM Blue Steel Scales and an Existential Crisis

Transcript

Okay, today we’re coming back on our test model. Trucking through commissions.

Base Layer Setup

This is Scale Color Artist violet gray. I’ve already come in and done the scales in Tenebris Gray from AK—a very bluish black. I just wanted to get the red off; I didn’t want to be painting metal over black because it would be a nightmare. This way I’ll have that bluish gray in the shadows.

I’m painting in frame—I’m somebody who paints in frame. I’m immediately punching this up pretty far. One, because I’m going to have to paint a ton of these dudes. Two, I want this to be blue steel—pretty bright non-metal metallic. If I spend all day glazing, it’s just not going to be possible. So we’re taking the first punch pretty high.

This is also why I didn’t want that red there—now I’ve got pretty good color separation. Just wicking out of this crack where my brush was too wet. Hitting the high points, focusing on that edge, then bringing it out throughout the other scales.

Once this dries, I’ll start working in some blue. Because of that never gray base, this already reads as blue steel.

The Existential Crisis Portion

Let’s talk and paint for a while. I haven’t done that in a bit.

It’s been an absolutely insane two or three weeks for me. I’m somewhere in the 210-215 range of daily hobby vlogs and I’ve done it every day. Even the day where YouTube didn’t post a video for some reason—I caught it and still posted a quick short so I wouldn’t ruin my streak.

When I started this, I was actually at the point of thinking about just stopping, getting out of the hobby altogether. I’ve talked about how this isn’t really just a hobby. It’s been pretty much the main focus of my life until I got married, until I had kids. It’s been in my life longer than anything else—longer than my parents have been married, even. It’s so much more than just a hobby to me.

Before I started this, I was really in a “what am I doing” place. I wasn’t able to play. I wasn’t getting anything painted. And that didn’t really change. I look around and see all the unpainted models and half-finished projects and it hit me pretty hard this last week. Some of it was good stuff, a lot was good stuff, some of it’s bad. Just how life is.

But I was like, what am I even doing with this thing? Some of the videos I’ve obviously half-assed. I was just trying to keep getting some form of hobby done, keeping the streak going. When I started, I wasn’t expecting anybody to really watch it—it was for me, accountability from strangers on the internet to actually show up and paint.

Now I wonder if the channel is just me documenting my various mental illnesses because I’m surrounded by unfinished projects.

The Maximus Problem

I was getting a lot done, and then this Infinity commission—I wasn’t expecting that, it’s a whole long story. I have to finish it this month instead of July. I started painting Maximus when I first got it, and something about that model was kicking my ass. I wasn’t liking my results. I stripped it the first time, started over, liked what I got, then hit another stalling point.

Every time I came down to hobby for the last couple months, it was sitting on my desk, staring me in the face, challenging me to paint it. Serving as an anchor, bringing me down. I couldn’t think about doing anything else because Maximus was lurking in the background.

Then I tried to start the Normans and got into Pillage. Pillage is great. But I got sick on a Monday—Pillage night—and the next Monday the store was closed. Then they moved Pillage to Tuesdays, which I can’t do. I was getting super into it, painting my Normans, and suddenly I couldn’t really play for a month.

It’s crazy how fast you can lose momentum. Everything good takes so much work, but everything bad is so easy to creep back in.

So I abandoned that, Maximus was still staring at me, and then this project—this one I’m actually excited about. It’s been a much-needed palette cleanser.

Back to the Paint

Today I sat down and nearly finished these purples. I need to do one more round of highlights. This light is super bright and washing them out, but there’s really a lot going on on these purples.

I think this is as good as I can possibly paint white. This is as good as I’m going to paint this violet color. I need to accept that and move on. I’m being hypercritical. I put a ton of time into them today, so the rest of the stuff should be fast to finish up. Then it’s on to the other Infinity models, which are much less intimidating sculpts and paint jobs.

Now I’m jamming out on these scales because I’ve been looking forward to painting them.

The Color Recipe

It’s really only been two colors—Tenebris Gray and a slow build-up with Scale Color Artist violet gray. This is why I love Scale Color Artist: you can do so much with layering and glazing in the shade on top of itself because there’s so much pigment in it.

Now I’ve got Art White. Mixing some into the gray, we’re going to edge highlight style—right down the center, thick, single quick pass. While this scale has only taken me 11 minutes and 32 seconds, when I have to do 10 or 20 of them, that’s a lot of time.

That’s the other thing—I worked really hard to move my schedule around to make videos during the day and possibly start streaming. Got one stream off and the whole system broke for a variety of reasons. Now I’m back to staying up until midnight and getting up at 5am. I’m not complaining. Obviously I don’t have to make a video, but I do.

I’m afraid that if I stop the daily videos, I’ll stop everything and lose it again. And that’s where we are.

The Blue Glaze

Now I’ve hit all these guys with that mixed gray. Now pure white, getting my brush to a very fine point. When painting with pure unmixed white, it can get crazy. Straight brilliant white right down the center. Boom. Little touches on the nubbies.

Refill the brush, check it on my thumb, don’t get in a hurry and mess everything up.

I kind of lost myself there. But I think I figured out the solution: sit down, finish the commissions, then after the commissions are done, rethink what I’m doing in general. I’ve literally just shown up every day working on random stuff without a real plan. There’s a lot I want to do—the Gardens of Hecate stuff, the Sunrot stuff, the mold making. That’s where I want to go with my hobby. I want to start sculpting more.

But I also have to pay the bills, and this commission is going to help with that.

The Final Glaze

Now for electric blue Game Air. Solid cap that’s going to explode on the palette like I’ve done so many times before. Very bright blue, way more paint than we need. Dirty paint cup water, mix in a little gray, check consistency on my thumb.

Treating it like a wash, hitting all the scales to tint some blue in and give that blue steel effect. Let it dry, do a second pass.

It took two more rounds of glazing but I’m pretty happy with the results. Hopefully Ice King will comment below or tear me up. But I think I’ve cracked the scales for the blue steel. The sword is going to be more challenging because I want to spend more time on it, but for the little cockrobe, we’re doing pretty good.

Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.