Metallic shading

[Hells_Clown]

I'm working on that metallic shading deal and not quite getting it.  I'm working on a sword blade and I have three colors I'm using, all Vallejo: Oily Steel, Natural Steel and Silver.  The biggest problem I'm having is it's hard to tell if the lighter colors are going over the darker.  It all looks the same.  Am I not using enough light color? Is there some light technique I should try (I try putting my hand behind the figure, and sometimes I can see a minute difference and others nothing)? Or am I doomed to have only one color steel bits?

 

Ok, it's late.  Bed time.  :sleepy:

[Froggy the Great]

What I do is to paint it all Steel Plate, then shine a bright light on it.  On the bright areas, I paint Truesilver, and on the dark areas I put thinned Black Ink.  It seems to work.

[Whizard Hlavaz]

I'm with Frosch. Black ink is my fav shading medium for metal. Slightly thinned. 0-calories. Try it. You'll like it.

[Archaon]

if i want it dark i make the base coat dark, eg steel plate mixed with black then either use the light or the raised edges to highlight/drybrush up. usually from the original steel plate to pewter and then to truesilver

 

if i want it a bit lighter i leave out the mixed with black stage

[Enchantra]

I base in silver

Shade in an ink/wash made of a metallic black, highlight with pearl white or white depending on the effect you are reaching for.

 

For something that looks more professional, layer on the highlights a bit by taking the silver and doing gradations of the highlights mixing the silver with the pearl white.  The same can be done for the shading to, layering in darker and darker shades of silver by mixing it with metallic black.

[Errex]

Here is a neat trick, and easy to do, too.

 

I first paint the blade black, then, paint only the edge white. This all needs to be even coats of paint. Next, paint silver over both areas. You'll notice there is a difference between the white and black basecoated areas. Not exactly on topic, but it is a kinda neat effect.

[Vaitalla]

Heya HC,

 

The people who are telling you to mix or layer some non-metallic black in are right on with what I do; I find that metallics by themselves never give me the contrast I need.  So I will start with, say, gunmetal (for blued steel) and mix in black for shadowed bits, white or true silver (or both!) for highlighted bits.  :)

 

--Anne

[Hells_Clown]

Hrm hrm hrm...

 

Yes, I can see how that would work.  Next time I'll have to spend some time mixing and see what happens.

 

Thanks for the advice folks.

[smokingwreckage]

Undercoats: yellow for bright gold, orange for warm gold, black for a dark, coroded look. I usually leave the very deepest detail black, for a deep shade. For heavily shaded steel, I base black, drybrush a couple times with a darkish metallic (I love GWs chainmail for this) then do a light drybrush or three with bright silver, or paint on a solid highlight, although this tends not to work so well for me. You can also use a wash of black ink plus flow improver over the first metallic coat, if you plan to do this, you can put down a heavier coat of darkish metallic at first, and the steel will look more polished.

 

The sacrificial brush technique: get a cheap brush and hack the bristles short. Then, for the drybrushing steps, load this brush right up into the bristles with the metallic, then get it mostly dry as for a nomal drybrushing. Push the brush down harder than usual, splaying the poor hairs horribly, and twist it back and forth. Use the same colour graduations as above. Works very well for plate or curved steel surfaces, but no good for swords etc, which would bend.

 

Warning: these shading schemes are for a dark shade. Good for a dark brooding or industrial look.

 

On Topic: This is how I get around the fact that it's hard to spot the highlights before the job is finished: deliberately dragging the brush so it "snaps" across the sword's edge will always highlight the edge: doing it only from one side will make that side brighter. With the twisting technique, the centre of the brush will be the highlight, and it works out as though you were "polishing" the imaginary metal of the miniature: spend more time polishing (with the bright silver) the area where you WANT the highlight, and the highlight will be there.

 

Is that helpful?