Rendering Metal with Copics

Hello! Been a while I know. I make up for long absences with long content in between :p

I got the urge to make a tutorial and to check one off my list! I did Rendering Metal.
I am going to do a few types of metal.
Chrome, Weathered Steel, Polished silver, Aged steel, New steel, polished gold & brass. There a little bonus in the end as well.

This is likely going to be long.

Weathered Steel.
This ones pretty Complicated. I used a reference - which is something you should always do.
The reference had multiple light sources and was a really weathered, beat up metal. There was yellow ambient light, an orange spot light from above, and a white light from below.

I started off by blocking in the orange highlighted zones with  yr18 (I believe?)

Next I started blocking in with B0000 where my light spot was going to be. Metal - even when textured - is a reflective surface so high contrast areas are important. Light areas are often right next to the darkest areas.

I added in some B0000 around where the white spot light is. I also used it to blend.

I added some C6 and used C2, C0 and C4 to blend. I also took the y11 to  the orange areas - to lighten it up a little and brighten it.

C6 is added and blended into the darker areas.

I added Little dots and scratches to show some use on the blade. 

The last step is to add white. Each scratch and divot is highlighted with copic opaque white.

I also made the background black to clean up and make it more more impactful.

Important note:

Being reflective - even slightly, you must take into account the colours in the environment and add it into the metal. In the case of this one, the light was different colours, so the were reflected in the metal.

Steel
Axe's are generally made of some sort of Steel. When it's new, it's pretty white and clean. When polished it's highly reflective.
This Steel axe done with the series of W0-W6 markers and Opaque white. It gives a more aged look. I also added a small amount of rust to some areas with E07.
The 2nd of these 2 examples is done in the Cool greys and looks like a newer axe, despite all the dings.

Gold 

Gold is done in the same method as the Steel. I will go through those steps now.

A layer of y11

Y26 added in the darker areas

Add Y28 and Y17 to blend

Blend it! Then add some y28 to the blade where it was sharpened.

y28. Adding in some scratches.

Adding in some highlights with copic opaque white

Brass is also done in the same manner, except that brass has a warmer tone. Y11, E25, E17, Y17

Chrome an be done in a similar way.

It is polished and highly reflective, and so anything in it's area will reflect. 

I started with colouring the back ground so that I would have an environment. Notice that at the high points on the figure, there are dark black areas. This is the mirror like shine distorting a reflection. I then started  with  C0 

I then went in with C4 and c6 in some areas making sure to leave some large areas of white.
Being highly reflective, chrome is very high contrast. Put light right next to dark.

Blended and cleaned up. The handle's chrome parts are worked on as well.
Side note: this is the bottom of the long handle of an Axe I've designed for one of my comics.

I used the palette technique to add some accent colour to the chrome. This is an acrylic block used for rubber stamping that I've dobbed some E07 onto, I then pick up that colour on a C0 marker...

...and apply that to the areas that would get the reflections

I colour in the black areas

and add in the white highlights

Silver is done in the same manner but  silver has a softer, lighter look to it.  Inking in Grey is an effective way to portray this, and avoiding the black reflections in the high points. 

Those are the basic metals that I can come up with. It's always best to just look at a reference and practice interpreting what you see.

As a Bonus, I did something else:

To add a reflection in metal - if it's not a mirror shine, you wont see a reflection clearly. it will just be recognizable colour blobs. Here I've roughed in a face with E00, E11, BV31, YG63 and R07

I then coloured it like the regular steel blade, but was careful  to not distort the reflection too much. I added in some distressing and dings.

add some opaque white...

...and you have a reflection in an axe.

I hope this was useful!