metal help

Hey guys, im having a hard time coloring a sketch i did. I was wondering if anyone had some tips on making the metal look right. im not sure how to give it that metal texture look.

is it better to use a hard edged brush? i gave that a try but i ended up not liking the circular edges it made...im not sure ill post a couple pics and see what you guys have to say

im going for a realistic look...but its looking a bit cartoonish hehe

theres a picture of the shoulder pad im trying to get right and the lineart

been looking at some examples on the blizzard art site, and on DA. seems like even in dark areas its still a bit shiny here an there. I should also add light is coming from the back towards the top right corner, and from the orb thing on the sword(not as bright) and as well as the eyes and the mouth of the armor( if ur familiar with the warrior T3, youll know what im talking about)

-Murcielago)

edit: the lineart is a bit outdated...the knee isnt actually missing anymore(that was a result of redoing the sword)

Well, metal mostly has a very smooth surface, thus it has some extreme reflections. Basically what you see when you look at smooth metal is just a reflection of the environment around it, the more used and thus scracthed and anyway rough the peice of metal is the less details it will reflect until it's just the strong light. Well, the best way to come clear about something new is to study it from life. So take something out of metal (best with the affinity you want to paint later) and see how it behaves in different light and different environments. It would do good if you painted it while studying.

But to give you some instructions on the image at last: Give the metal some very strong highlights in the areas and especially hard edges towards the brightest light source. The area around the highlight has quite much contrast in value so you paint it a bit darker. for the other areas you have to have the colors of the area around it at first so those are basically reflections. And if you want to give it some texture at last, paint it with a lighter color than the smooth serface because for example scratched are nothing but hard edges on the surface.

And don't be afraid of using hard edged brushes because that's the thing you usually should render with if you don't have that much experience. I fyou ahve some experience you can use the soft brush to give an image more depth by creating some contrast between detailed and blurred areas.