#gold tutorial

hiiiii i got asked for how i color gold. tbh most of the time i just blob shapes in but i can try to explain my process too <:v

(i was trying to write more b4 giving up bc my handwriting is a mess)

here is an elf ear to start with! i just paint on top of my sketch for gold but feel free to line art or do whatever is your normal process

we need to keep in mind gold is reflective! so while picking a light source keep in mind there will be light bouncing back. typically i do this by not coloring the shadows all the way to the edge, but if there are multiple sources be ready for some bounce light action too

heres some colors! the second lightest shade is the base color we'll be working with. feel free to make the gold cool or warm toned, i just usually make my gold warm toned. in theory this also works with rose gold and silver, so feel free to play around with colors!

we're gonna keep in mind the light source, which i will be using the same as the example photo roughly. again i'm really messy with gold i just slap it on on top and it usually works okay but refine the shapes if you wanna!

first shadows! i keep these towards the middle to build shape. playing with different shapes of shadows will give different form to the metal but tbh.... i build most of my form in the highlights

second shadows: i focus these usually closer to the light source, but you can also do darker near the rebound light. again, try not to color directly to the edge to keep it looking very shiny

darkest shadows! like before, but smaller. here you can also add in different colors blobbed in the shadows if you want. i find its easiest to see reflections in the 'shadowed' parts of metal. add in your character's hair color, clothing color, or even the bg color if you want!

example with my nerevar picture of the reflections: you can see the blueish-grey of his collar in the gold to give it more dimension! even if you're working with abstract shapes it can help sell the illusion with more detail.

next up is highlights which i use a blending mode for (actually every highlight in anything i draw uses it but i feel for metal it REALLY helps): Add (glow)

or at least, it's called that in CSP. in other programs it might have a different name.

first highlights i like to draw rays of light from the light source and blend the parts furthest from the light. you can curve these according to shape but tbh most of the time i just do this. or you can softly add it in very blended like the nerevar picture above for a brighter look

second highlights: i add them in around the top and bottom. keep it organic really if im being honest.

ANDDDDD UR DONE! it should hopefully look like metal. tbh i have no idea what im doing <:v

I made a tutorial!

This was requested of me a while ago, so apologies for the wait! In this video I cover my entire process when it comes to coloring/drawing gold. I did my best to explain in-depth and detail how light, shadows, contrast, and color work together to create a polished gold look, applicable to any metal in art. Hopefully it's not too difficult to follow and I hope it helps!

mini tutorial ✨ ft. FLUGZEUG

(Also I love your art so much eeEEEEE)

Yeah, sure thing dude!

So. First of all gold is very smooth and reflective material, so any glares will be as bright as you can do, and shadows will be really dark. That contrast is what makes gold look shiny.

I marked where the base color can be actually seen for better understanding. As you may see we almost can't see the base color on the second one - it's mostly a contrast between light and shadows uwu

Also sometimes I like to add a “shine” layer where I add a little light (with base color). Like that:

Just like that. Same goes for silver parts

Also I always forgot that gold and silver parts reflect other things, so if we had something near them it would add a bit of color on them like that:

Tutorial: Painting Gold