August 2008 Class: Painting Chrome

[TimGoss]

Welcome!

For the past three years, I've been fascinated by reflections, especially on chrome. In June I posted a thread to show the path I've taken in learning to paint chrome:

Painting Chrome

In this month's class, I'll be doing a WIP of chrome. I hope you will follow along by painting the same picture, painting another reference photo I will post or a chrome subject of your choice. Or you can just watch as things progress and add your comments, critique or questions to the Homework thread.

Painting Chrome Homework Thread

Every day, I'll post the progress of my painting and some comments on what I did and why I did it that way. I have no formal training in art (a common thread among WCers I see) so I'm always open to suggestions on how I might improve.

The wonderful thing about chrome (or any highly reflective surface) is that it mirrors colors and their values/intensities very accurately. But because chrome on automobiles, dishes, etc., is almost always curved, the images are often distorted. This distortion provides a wonderfully artistic composition.

So I hope you'll join me and others and give it a go! Here is the reference photo I'll be using. Below that is my line drawing and some links to other photos you might consider. I've pumped the line drawing up in PhotoShop so you can see lines more clearly:



Here's the line drawing:



Here's a link to a larger version of the line drawing:

Line Drawing Large

And finally, here are some links to other chrome reference photos you might consider painting:

Tail Pipe
Hubcap
Hudson Hornet Chrome
29 Ford Pickup
Motorcycle

So let's get started! Get those paints out or just pull up a chair!

[TimGoss]

And here we go with chrome!

I hope you have your paints and paper ready as I want this to be a practical epxerience. Having said that, I'd like to briefly describe a few strategies that have helped me so far in painting shiny objects and in particular chrome.

I've found it extremely helpful to spend some time looking at the object I'm going to paint. For me this is almost always a reference photo. I like to set that photo as my computer background picture so I can see if often before I actually start painting. I do this so I can really begin to see what's there. The more I look, the more I see. I don't intend to do a literal interpretation of every detail, but knowing what is really there gives me a chance to determine shapes, colors and values. In this WIP, for example, in the very left end of the bumper as it curves around the car, there is a reflection of a car. It is really distorted, but it is there none the less. You can also see some colors in the headlight that are reflections of the sky and ground.

Secondly, when painting chrome, I've found it is important to have a lot of contrast from the white of the paper to jet black. And as things curve away from the viewer, the colors get darker (and more distorted). THe beauty of watercolor let's you layer colors so you can always go darker if you think you need it.

So let's get started.

1. The first thing I'll do is preserve some white buy using masking fluid. Using maskinig fluid isn't necessary, but keeping your lightest values (white in this case) is. I'm only using it for small areas that I don't want to inadvertantly paint over.

2. Next I'm going to paint in the light blue for the sky's reflection on the chrome bumper and other smaller chrome objects using cerulean blue and a touch of cobalt blue in very watery mix. I actually did two layers of blue as I thought the first go-round was too light:



I'll also add some blue to the engine parts in the upper-right as a base color for what will be indigo and black. The yellow you see is the masking fluid.

3. Next I'll add a light green for the base color for the reflected ground. I used sap green and a touch of raw sienna:


The paper is warping a bit as I didn't stretch it causing some shadows in the photo.

4. After that dries I go back in and added some more of the green mixture:



5. Now I'm ready to see how I'm really doing because I'm going to add some of the darkest values to the chrome. The technical name for this step, for those of you takinig notes, is called "Being Impatient!". I'll use a mix of indigo and van dyke brown for the blacks, phalo blue and indigo for dark blue color and burnt sienna and van dyke brown for the buildings:



Now we're getting somewhere. The darks really make the chrome start to take shape. I think the reflected ground color is a bit too light and needs to be gradually made darker as the bumper curves toward the ground so I'll darken that color and add some darker values to the top of the bumper. This will give it more of a curve. I'll also add some more darks to the headlight:



I like that better. I also darkened the tree shapes as they really aren't as bright a green as I had them.

Well, that's enough for today. Tomorrow we'll start adding some darks to the headlight and blinker light and then work on the chrome grill.

Don't forget to add your comments, questions and your WIPs in the homework thread.

[TimGoss]

6. Today I'll do a bit more detail on the headlight and turn signal light. I'LL darken some glass on the headlight and signal light using cerulean and cobalt blue and add some indigo/van dyke brown on the chrome rims. I still have some masking fluid on both lights:



7. Using the black mix, I now will add the darks behind the grill:



8. For the grill on the chrome I'll add some of the green mix, a bit of pure raw sienna and the cobalt blue/cerulian blue mix and the black mix. I reserved some white with masking fluid:



9. And finally today I'll add some of the body color (cerulean blue, cobalt blue and phalo green) right below the grill and some blues and blacks above the grill:



Tomorrow I'll start the body color and the darks of the engine. The final step will be to put some dark color below the bumper and some ground colors to the left of the car.

[TimGoss]

10. Today I'm going to add the body color. I'll mix a watery mix of phalo green, cerulean blue and cobalt blue. I'll do three or four layers:



11. I think I need some more darks on the body, but I'll do that tomorrow. Now I'll add the indigo and indigo/van dyke brown mix to the engine parts showing above the grill. I'll mask off a few white spots first and do a really water indigo across the lighter colors then black in the darker colors:



Tomorrow I'll paint the ground under and next to the car, take care of some small changes that are annoying me and we'll be done. See you then.

[TimGoss]

Finale:

To finish this painting, I'll add the foreground grass, the background on the left and then the front tire. I'll start with a water wash of raw umber, cadmium yellow and naples yellow under the car and then about 2/3 of the way up the paper on the left.

Next I'll add a watery mix of sap green to form the grass blades under the car and add some random shapes on the left. I'm blopping some cerulean green and indigo into the pallette with the sap green to make some varations of green shades and adding them into the ground under the car. I'm adding some of those watery greens into the left-side ground and then some darker, yet watery green-indigo into the background horizon.

The tire is watery indigo with some darker indigo for treads.

I'll scratch in some white with a razor blade in the headlight chrome and called it done.



I hope this demo was helpful and that it will encourage you to try painting shiny metal. There aren't any secrets (at least that I know of); it is just a matter of getting some great contrast by reserving whites (or light colors) and putting in some dark colors.

Thanks for following along.

[TimGoss]

I don't think I mentioned anywhere that this was done on 24"x18" 140 lb. cold press.

[painterbear]

Please post all comments about this wonderful class in the Homework thread. Thank you.

Sylvia