help with metallics

[ironhorse]

Hello all,

I am having some trouble with doing metallics (silver and gold). I cannot seem to get it nice (I have even tried NMM and SENMM, cannot even get my head around them and I have read allsorts of tuts)

Someone told me to mix normal paints with the metallics? does anyone know of this?

here are some of my paint jobs (not good pictures at all)

http://www.coolminiornot.com/browse.php?submitter=ironhorse

Hope someone can help me

TIA

Ironhorse

 

[AlexDaKid]

I don\'t see anything wrong with your metallics?

They look pretty good to me. If you wanna start learning more intricate metallics then start blending different metallics with each other and shade them by mixing them with tiny amounts of darker colours like blacks and blues, depending on what effect you want to achieve.

People tend to think of metallics as a one coat job but if you treat them like any normal colour with highlights, blending and shading then you should have some very cool metal indeed!

 

[ironhorse]

thanx AlexDaKid I will give that a go

Ironhorse

 

[Dragonsreach]

AlexdaKid:

I don\'t see anything wrong with your metallics?

Me neither! Having looked at the mini\'s I can only suggest that you do what Alex suggested.

Something I\'ve been playing with on Metallics is adding a little Winsor & Newton\'s Acrylic Flow Improver to Boltgun metal and a tiny drop of black ink as the initial or base coat.
This helps the paint look a little darker and thins it to make a reasonable initial coat. If you keep all your brush strokes in the same direction this also helps to improve the look of the metal.
Hope that this helps.

 

[rik]

Theres definately nothing wrong with your metallics mate. Perhaps just as Dragonsreach said you should add a few other colours to the mix to add depth.

Otherwise you could always practise your NMM....

happy painting.

Rik.

 

[Trevor]

Dragonsreach:

Thats interesting about the brush strokes in one direction, why does it make it look better?

 

[finn17]

Dunno about Dragonsreach...

Originally posted by Trevor
Dragonsreach:

Thats interesting about the brush strokes in one direction, why does it make it look better?

But in my own humble opinion it\'s because of the particles in solution in metallic paints. They tend to reflect light differently, depending upon how they are aligned, if they are all aligned the same way, they tend to look shinier and more metal-like. An analogy would be the effect you get when you brush a material with a nap such as felt or suede in different directions, you can subtely change the colour and reflectivity.
This technique was deliberately employed in \'trick\' two-tone custom car finishes that were popular a few decades ago.
Does any of that make sense?