Hello guys, welcome back to not just mecha, it s Marco here and today we paint Infinity!
I started playing Infinity in its second edition and I never really stopped playing, collecting
and painting models for my Aleph force. This is great from a gaming point of view
because I can field any possible list I can think of but I hate how they look!
Collecting and painting few models every year for several years the quality output between
the fist model and the last one is crazily different and I really hate this unbalanced
look so much that even if easily portable I left the whole collection In Italy without
a second thought. So, new year, new army and in this video I
want to paint a prototype figure for my 0-12 force. Infinity models are not very speed
painting friendly and before tackling a large block of miniatures I feel the need of understanding
better this scheme, its proportions and general palette and what corners I can cut in the
future. I gave myself 4 hours to complete the model working mostly with the brush to
really get the process under my skin and with the intention of cutting the working time
at least in half when I will move to serious speed painting.
0-12 is an intergalactic police force, and the official scheme is a dichromatic blue
and yellow from the non-metallic bronze of the armours. Working on the crazy concentration
of details of these models a simple scheme based on powerful complementary colours is
always a good choice to keep a high contrast and make everything easy to read in the distance
of the gaming table, but I feel that blue and the glowing light blue are a bit redundant
and difficult to properly separate, so I ll paint those parts tending to turquoise. This
will become a subtle triadic scheme with blue, yellow and a mix of the two to balance their
different visual weights. I m super inspired and I want to dive immediately
into painting, so we ll talk about how to prepare and handle metal figures in the next
videos of the Infinity series, I promise! Like for all the other wargaming lines these
models are a bit larger than they use to be, more a true scale 30mm than 28, so the scale
is not what makes them perceive smaller or more difficult to paint. It s the crazy level
and quantity of details in the unit of space to be waaaaay above the average;
this makes every layer, every blend or panel line a smaller entity even if the model itself
it s not really that small. But if you tackle the model with the right mindset and workflow,
you ll see that the super crisp and well separated details work on your side much more than the
smooth, empty armour of a space marine for example.
I don t change my way of priming for metal miniatures. The fluidity of Molotow black
is great to prime microscopic details without the risk of covering even the smallest ones
and it grabs metal even better than plastic. Remember to shake well your bottle: you want
to paint with the pigments that fall on the bottom and not with the coloured water that
sits on top! Funny thing; probably because of the slightly rough finish of metal the
liquid paint follows the shape of its micro pores and tends to be more matt than usual!
The natural metallic shine and this uniform coat of black didn t give me any useful information
swallowing all the details in too much light or not enough light, so I use a mid-value
neutral grey to set my general light and to show the real shapes of the sculpt.
The atomised paint naturally catches the raised elements and with a good control on the trigger
or using a low pressure you can be sure that it doesn t enter inside crevices or even the
finest lines. The main objective of this first layer is
simply to make the figure more readable, so I can plan better the next steps, fine placement
of the light included. I switch to pure white to fix direction and
intensity of my main light. I set a strong but diffused light hitting the model almost
perpendicularly using the centre of the helmet as my central axis.
This kind of light works well with the static power pose of the model and it delivers more
drama and pathos that a standard zenithal but thanks to the soft diffusion it will not
pop too much next to the future models of the army that will probably have different
light settings. This approach works extremely well for skirmish models, but big, dense armies
need a more uniform finish to create a better suspension of disbelief.
Now I have a great starting point for the brushwork. I m not going to use a lot of transparency
effects this time and this sketch of the volumes will be apparently covered by opaque layers,
but these few minutes dedicated to understanding shapes and volumes will make every step easier
and visually more coherent. Remember that every layer and brushstroke count in delivering
the final look, even the most subtle. I want to catch the vibe of the colourful,
anime style, cyberpunk that is the trademark of the game, so I use my highly saturated
and opaque Kimera colours from the very beginning. Painting transparent layers over a grisaille
or a sketch of the volumes or using inks and contrast paints always makes you lose some
saturation in the optical mix with the greyscale underneath and here I need the full power
of my tones. This doesn t mean that I can t dilute my opaque paint to take advantage
of the luminosity of the white base and make it easier to spread. I add glaze medium and
water to obtain the perfect consistency. The scheme is made by four main colours, blue,
black, yellow and the light turquoise that I must work in separate, independent moments
because of their powerful differences and their lack of common tones but even if I set
a separate palette for each one, I keep working their progressive stages towards higher and
higher lights like a single entity. I base the blue parts, than I move to black
using more opacity to see how they interact. Now I know that the blue needs more saturation
and opacity in relation to the black that I really like, and I can fix it!
I use contrast aethermatic blue for the glowing elements. It has the perfect colour for the
subtle contrast I have in mind and here the transparency is useful to render the effect,
creating also extra contrast with the super mat finish of the other elements.
I use a mix of warm brown, violet and black to mix the base for my non-metallic bronze.
I want to push on cold tones in the lights using warmer sensations in the shadows to
boost the contrast and make them pop. This will also help to separate better these elements
from the blue armour. Painting nonmetal, it s always useful to start from a very dark
value to have the largest spectrum of contrast possible; I don t use pure black for its lack
of interesting tones, but I still want a value close to pure black.
I apply a light coat of gryph charger grey to the base, just to have the complete picture
of my base tones. I increased the opacity of the blue to match
the intensity of the other parts. Again, you probably feel that the black and white sketch
wasn t essential, but it made my work on the blue parts incredibly simple and quick, all
the details were extremely easy to read and catch with the brush thanks to the sharp black
lining and even the darkest tones still maintain a subtle modulation that it s going to keep
coherent and guide my whole work on the lights. To make my life easier in the next phases
I switch to the Scale75artist line. Their dense, heavy body consistency is perfect for
a fine control in small areas and I can create good, smooth blends even with extremely short
brushstrokes simply pulling and spreading the thick paint.
My palette for black includes different warm tones to create contrast with the cold blue
elements in every new layer. In this stage I just want to move the lights on black of
a couple of value clicks. I m not looking for the final, complete modulation because
I don t have the full picture form the other parts telling me if I m pushing too much or
too little. So I paint a couple of lights setting a general direction and I move to
the blue parts. My blue modulation is pretty simple and almost
straight out form the tubes. Here s the secret to handle short transitions
on small surfaces: start working from the edges!
Setting the borders that naturally catch more light I create a frame for the transition,
an anchor for its starting point and a limit for the darker end. I understand in a clear,
instant way the real size of the working area and the size of the transition I need to fill
it in a harmonious way. Plus, I start creating definition and rich edge highlights from the
very beginning; this way I always use the right colour and value on the edges, and I
don t have to come back later to add a super precise line on top of a finished blend because
the edge is part of the blend. I used the same method on the black parts, but it was
difficult to see well the brushwork and explain the concept. To read well all these shapes
and elements in the distance of the gaming table I need to push the definition to extreme
levels exaggerating internal contrasts and the panel lining.
I start sketching the metallic reflections with raw sienna. Again, I start from the edges
that naturally catch more light with their sharp angles and I loosen a bit my control
on the brush to paint the unpredictable little movements of the light on a shiny material.
Some of these shapes work, some don t. I will push and refine the happy accidents and cover
the other parts. The stake in these tiny elements is minimal and I can go back and forth on
a whole element in seconds using this sketch style to produce a natural, organic finish.
I jump to yellow ochre, much lighter and with a more powerful yellow note. This time I m
a bit more controlled refining the shapes I set before but still using relatively large
and painterly stokes. Then I
simply start adding white. You need strong value jumps to simulate metals so don t be
shy with the quantity of white even if you lose a lot of saturation.
To fix this issue, after the highest light but before the extreme, final highlights I
apply a light filter of Liquitex green gold over everything. This step softens the transitions,
brings back the saturation and adds chromatic complexity introducing a realistic green note
very common in bronze and gold. If you are looking for a substitute, Contrast plague
bearer flesh has a similar complex hue. The general value goes down, but you get a smoother
and more interesting finish and more space to add powerful highlights that are the key
of the metallic illusion. I paint an extra light after the filter, but
before closing the transition I want to go back again to the other main colours to better
balance their lights with this updated situation. I could have edited the video in a more linear
way but this is the real flow of painting; a constant back and forth between elements
that change constantly. Only later I ll use this experience to plan a linear speed painting
workflow trying to balance the loss of some of this complexity with the need for speed
and efficiency. The turquoise parts definitely need more light
and a better modelling of their volumes. I simply add more white into the mix following
the volumes set in the sketch with the airbrush. The tricky part here is to follow the fine
pattern but using a small brush with short bristle is easy to slide around the hexagons.
And I fix again the blue parts. I feel that they stand out a bit too much and that s because
I forgot the warm turn of the shadow that s a common theme in the other elements. I
use a violet from the Golden high flow line to glaze deeper shades with warmer sensations.
I bought these colours for the airbrush, but I quickly realised that are amazing for quick
glazes. They behave like inks but with a softer impact easier to balance and control and dry
matt. For the moment they have spent more time in the palette than in the airbrush.
At this point you know the drill with glazes; load the brush, unload on paper towel apply
with coherent directional brushstrokes, load, unload, apply, load, unload, apply boring
but effective! But boring lol That s why I use glazes mostly to fix or perfect transitions.
I close the work with my secret weapon! Winsor and newton titanium white is the whitest and
brightest white in my collection and it s perfect to paint extreme highlights on nonmetal.
These little touches are something beyond highlights, they are the extreme twinkles
on top of the maximum lights, and you should hear a bling when you paint them lol.
And here s the final result; four hours of happy painting with the brush for a good hero,
skirmish quality. I almost forgot how fun these models are to
paint! The problem is that they are addictive, and I can t stop now!!! I put the accent on
time because I m planning a speed painting session on his brothers based on what I learned
from this more traditional workflow but remember that time and speed are not so important and
they are a direct consequence of experience and skills, those are the important things
to chase, so enjoy your painting, make beautiful models and don t stress to much about timing.