3-step NMM
Most forms of highlighting seem to work best with several shades between dark and light, at least in broad areas (not sharp folds). Depending on perspective and the location of your virtual light source, this may or may not be true. (Take a spoon outside once and hold it a couple feet away.)
However, I\'ve found a good 3-step process for smaller areas of NMM. For gold, I first do a base coat of Coat d\'Arms oriental flesh. Next, use flat white to pick out the bright reflections. Finally, use a Coat d\'Arms or other flesh ink opposite the white. Flesh is slightly lighter than chestnut inks and works better in my opinion.
Don\'t try to blend too much. I typically do what I call \"antialiasing\" where I thin the white down so that there\'s no sharp edges where it goes on. If you look at reflections, no matter how close you get there\'s not a sharp, clear line between light and dark, but there\'s also no real blending. That\'s antialiasing. The inks don\'t need thinning, of course.
For NMM silver, try the same with a base coat of gray with a tiny bit of blue in it. I like Coat d\'Arms shadow gray. Then highlight with flat white and use a black ink wash or thinned black paint. If you use black ink, you may want to add it to some of your gray and use that, because black ink covers very effectively and antialiasing may be difficult.
You could also use a GW ink wash since they give a shine too... They look good and give some colour for gold and such... But as with gloss varnish don\'t apply it to the crevasses... You could also use tamya clear paints instead of GW inks.
