Getting depth with metalic paints.

[Kokaka]

Hi.

I have been thinking alot on how to paint plate armour using wetblending where it goes from a very, very dark colour up to the brightest of silver. So, very shade heavy.
The question is. Should I mix another colour in the mix like green or blue to get an even deeper contrast? Since I'm going to order compleatly new colours, I can't really try by trial and error.

 

[Ritual]

The way I do it is to apply a mid-tone metallic as base coat. Then I apply shading by multiple glazing of darker colours. I use a lot of different colours, like reds, blues, greens etc. as well as black and dark browns or greys. This gives more depth to the metallics as you get a hint of the various colours when you turn the mini around. Note, that all of these glazes are done using matte paints, as I don't want the shaded areas to be as reflective as the highlighted areas. The highlighting is done by glazing brighter metallic paints on the areas that are exposed to light.

 

[freakinacage]

the important thing is to keep those shadows matte

 

[AegisD]

I work a lot with metallics, and I find that mixing a bit of black in (maybe around 1:2 or even 1:1) with whatever my base color is can really help build a shadow. After that I usually layer with thin washes to get the desired effect and highlight afterword. Also, I find that if I drybrush my base color on (to the point where I can't see the primer anymore) as opposed to painting it on, I get a nice matte finish that takes a wash a bit better.

 

[A Luna]

Try to keep it all Matte. I've used chaos black/charadon granite for the darkest shading and I've worked up to pure mithril silver or from brazen brass to burnished gold.

Example which might help you: