Brilliant, Real Metallics- I need help!

[Farin]

Hi everyone

I´ve got a real problem.
Several months ago my brother bought this damned Cynwall elves and now i tried about 4 colourschemes- and nothing turned out right !

My \"last hope\" is to paint these filligrane Armor with metallic colours.Now the next problem is that my metalls don´t look clean enough. What i want to achieve are solid,clean, extremly polished looking silver armors with strong black shadows on these curved edges. How can i achieve such a look? Normally i just would use a mix of black acryl colour, glaze medium and whater with soap. Does anyone of you got an idea or is anyone experienced with painting elves without using NMM ?

 

[Ogrebane]

Well I would under coat black then thin your silver and paint the whole thing silver. Might need about 3 or 4 coats. Then I would wash with black. When thats dry I would mix some watered down black and watered down silver (two seperate blobs) and wet blend in the shadw areas. Wash the whole thing in blue and then black wash and then rehighlight.

 

[Fizl]

You could try basecoating in reapers adamantium black - which is supposed to be a metallic black as well, to give it that extra shine, then up using a dark silver, a bright silver and possibly even a pearlescent medium as your top highlights on the filigree

This is all off the top of my head of course, never painted it (don\'t own the bottom colour for a start )

Shaz

 

[Farin]

Thank you

@Ogrebane: sounds good. How much would you thin the colours down? (Ratio)

@all: is there a special silver colour you would prefer for blending ? I use Vallero colours

Maybe a silly question at the end, but what might happen if i use other colours to wash/for glazes than blue? I´ve seen that Jacob Nielsen is using such techniques, but i never tried it.Would it help to achive a clean look when i use a yellow wash/glaze as a filter ?

 

[TAB Studio]

Originally posted by Fizl
You could try basecoating in reapers adamantium black - which is supposed to be a metallic black as well, to give it that extra shine, then up using a dark silver, a bright silver and possibly even a pearlescent medium as your top highlights on the filigreeThis is all off the top of my head of course, never painted it (don\'t own the bottom colour for a start )

Shaz

I do have the color Reaper Adamanthium Black
and tried it nifty stuff
its a good idea
and they have a Ruby Red metallic to back it up
go for it !
Pearlesent means flat in many languages but it may work here

 

[MClimbin]

You should check out the Vallejo metals which are alcohol based. I\'ve only seen them used once but they are incredibly bright, way brighter than water based metallics.

The other thing you could try would be to use Vallejo metallic medium as your final highlight. It is basically metallic flakes mixed in acrylic medium, no color whatsoever. It gives a really bright white color if used with no other pigment.

 

[War Griffon]

Most metallics work well

I always start with a black basecoat then add in the colour bit by bit so for solver I start with black then mix in a bit more silve each time.

Just make sure you keep each coat of paint thin the results are much better than slapping on a coat of metallic on top of a dark basecoat.

 

[tidoco2222]

Paint your metals in your normal way, I do Boltgun Metal, then use a couple of thin glaxes of black ink, not a wash applu the ink evenly this will darken the base metal colour. Then I go over it again, starting with Boltgun metal, leaving the glaze in the recesses, then Chainmail blending it back to the previous metal coat and finally Silver. Then if you require darker shadows you can thin down some black ink or paint and glaze into the recesses to darken it further. The belly armour on my latest WIP shows how this has come out.

 

[james9487]

On the topic of real metals, check this one out:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/105934

 

[Trevor]

A quick and easy way:

1) paint a bright silver.
2) wash with a mix of blue/black ink and something to break the surface tension like glaze medium.
3) go back and touch up any areas where the wash is too heavy and re-highlight any edges that need it

done!

 

[Ogrebane]

@Farin. I water down metals 2 part paint 1 part water. I dont put flow medium in it as it breaks up the paint too much.

I might give a couple of these other ones a go to see if its easier than what I do.

 

[Einion]

Another option for armour:

Paint matt black, drybrush with graphite paint or powdered graphite, pick out edges and high spots with a good silver (Vallejo\'s alcohol-based one here).

If the kit is metal you could polish the kit and tone it with Tamiya\'s Smoke or something similar, I think that\'s about the most realistic finish you can get at times.

Einion

 

[Trevor]

Powdered graphite? Like crushed up pencil or something else? Sounds interesting...

 

[Farin]

@Einion: yeah, sounds interesting that technique

well i just want to say thanks to all of you, especially for the pics .
This week i wil start my next try on the elves, so wish me good luck

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

Originally posted by Einion
Another option for armour:

Paint matt black, drybrush with graphite paint or powdered graphite, pick out edges and high spots with a good silver (Vallejo\'s alcohol-based one here).

If the kit is metal you could polish the kit and tone it with Tamiya\'s Smoke or something similar, I think that\'s about the most realistic finish you can get at times.

Einion

Ok I know what powdered graphite is..but graphite paint? where are you getting that..also if you apply the graphite what keeps it from rubbing off..does it dissolve or dissapear when clear coated like pastels tend to do?

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Dragon Forge Design
Ok I know what powdered graphite is..but graphite paint? where are you getting that.

Hiya, the simplest thing for me to do is give a link to a post on pF where I actually went into more detail than I remembered I had: click me!

I\'ve also experimented with making a paint by hand on the palette, if you want to try that give me a shout but the manufactured stuff is cheap enough, goes a long way and it\'s just better all round.

Originally posted by Dragon Forge Design
does it dissolve or dissapear when clear coated like pastels tend to do?

It can a little yes, the paint works better here than either of the dry alternatives. I don\'t used sprayed clearcoats but with a thin layer of Smoke the look is undiminished; a matt overspray would probably kill most of the effect but it could come back if the areas were satin or gloss coated afterwards, you\'d have to try it.

Einion

 

[Orb]

I echo the technique used by Einion, regarding graphite pencil lead:

although hard to see here, the circular broach was first drawn on with a hb pencil, then the edges redone with a Berol Karismacolor silver pencil.