How do you shade/highlight metallic surface

daywalker786

New member
How do you shade/highlight metallic surface, for example the DP im working on below is base coated in Mithal Silver and washed with purple ink to give it purple metal look, how would i go about shading/highlighting a surface like this, please help.

dp.JPG
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
To be honest on any mettallic alteration with washes there is an adage:

\"Less is more!\"

and it\'s very true.
If you make sure that your washes are diluted to a very high water ink ratio: 30:1 or 40:1 then you can control the effect very easily and add depth by additional washes.
As it is it looks as if you\'ve flooded the area with inks and it\'s hiding the metallic paint. (Sorry this does sound a little harsh, it\'s not meant to be mean only truthful!)

You say you\'ve basecoated with Mithral Silver. I think you\'d have been better off starting with Boltogun or Chainmail and then adding the washes then working up the metallic hightlights with Mithril.

So you could try apply ing thin coats of Mithral over the areas that you\'d already inked and working the highlights back.

Hope this helps. :D
 

Stuntylover

New member
If you intended the purple part to look like steel but want it to look a bit special I recommend the following. Over a black undercoat, basecoat with Boltgun Metal, shade with thinned down Chaos Black then highlight with Chainmail then Mithril Silver. Glaze this with a purple/green ink mix well thinned down with water (as often as you like until you get the desired effect) then retouch highlights with Mithril if desired.
 
Back To Top
Top