Good morning, Anon! That’s a tricky question. Metal and metallics are definitely one of the more complex textures to paint. It’s high contrast, high reflection, picks up the main light source, reflected light source and any colors around it unless it’s a very matte metal. I’m in no way an expert but I’ll try to explain as best as I can.
Vaard’s filigree is a good example as smaller metal details are a lot easier to paint than large pieces of armor (as that would take me hours to paint a step by step example of), but the concept is generally the same for both.
I’ll do an ultra polished metal to kind of show the basic effect that can be buffed up or dulled down depending on the metal. Plus cylindrical metal is the easiest to demonstrate.
Once you have your base tones, decide where your light is coming from and stick to it. I did my light coming from the top right and highlighted where it’s going to be hitting the metal the most.
1. Along those lines, you can literally draw a line of your highlight color all the way down. I did the far right where the light is hitting the most and the far left where the cylinder would be picking up the reflected light from underneath.
I also brushed a little white airbrushing closest to the light source as my original base was a little dark.
2. Next do a line of your shadow on whichever side your light is hitting the least. Note that with a reflective metal, especially silver or pale tones, is going to pick up a shadow color closest to the most prominent color around it. In this case, a bluish shadow as the cloak is the most prominent color close to it.
Environment will also affect this and make it look more like it belongs in the picture if you use the colors around it.
If you’re doing a more matte metal, you would do much wider, softer shade swaths with little reflective light from the underside.
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3. Now where your light is hitting with the most intensity, shade on the opposite side of your light along the edges with your shadow color as polished metals pick up very intense shadows and it helps the metallic effect along.
Now that you have your base, scuff and weather it up a bit with some light scratches (Just a thin white and black brush that I did some mild hatching around the shaded areas) and you have some basic metal!
This general alternating light and dark works for most curved surfaces. The higher points of your metal is always going to be the brightest with the most light followed by some darker shadows.
I hope this helps and isn’t too confusing. I tried my best. Best of luck to you and your metal painting, Anon!
viggo mortensen’s appeal as aragorn is 70% the voice, 25% the scene where the wild horse saves him from drowning, 12% hair, 8% ‘the beacons are lit!’, 3% swinging around the broken blade, 1.03% spitting soup back into the bowl on a windy day, .3% the way he speaks elvish (which mostly fits into the voice, but its elvish so its special), and .0004% when he kicks the orc head and screams
This is blatant “smoking a pipe with his hood on in Bree” and “shoving the double doors of helm’s deep open” erasure and I will not stand for it.
99.99% of his sexiness comes from smoking a pipe with his hood on in Bree, THANK YOU
Uhhh 100% is this
You make a compelling point.
Gonna have to agree with the “throwing open the doors” thing…
Totally agree with all of these as major contenders but consider this list:
1) Throwing the doors open, every goddamn time. 96.98%
2) Smoking in Bree, great every re-watch it never fails. Also 96.98%
(Look I don’t make the rules. This is a 200% system and we can’t look back now.)
3) Gondor Calls For Aid – that run, THAT BREAKNECK RUN. THE TOGETHERNESS FEELS. DAYUM. 6.04%
4/Runner up:
The wild windblown hair. The eyes. The horse-riding. The sword. The inspiring speech.
SO Y’ALL GONNA FORGET ABOUT THE SCENE WHERE ELROND DELIVERS ANDURIL AFTER IT’S REFORGED AND ARAGORN WHIPS IT OUT OF IT’S SCABBARD IN THAT ICONIC RED™
without a doubt the sexiest thing he’s ever done is let thousands of eternally cursed pirate ghosts run through his mortal flesh just to make a point
Let’s be honest, at the end of the day the sexiest thing Aragorn son of Arathorn heir of Isildur ranger of the north and King of Men does is… exist. Every single action is equivalent in appeal to every other action and you don’t have to choose.
jarod shadowsong: hey guys!!! we heard you were having trouble fighting against the legion so we came to help!! i’m commander jarod shadowsong, my favorite color is blue, and one fun fact about me is that i love teamwork and disappearing for thousands of years at a time. this is my big sister, maiev!! she’s kind of weird but i love her. say hi, maiev
maiev shadowsong, wordlessly strangling a dreadlord with her bare hands, an expression of cold, mirthless distaste written across her heavily-scarred face like the engravings on a tombstone:
Wolfytot 