Metal Study

I wanted to test out some of the techniques and tips from the book... so I decided to do a painting of a metal helmet focusing on the lighting and materiel, trying to make the painting as believable as possible.

Started with a sketch of the helmet

Work on the lighting of the helmet...

I then found a texture and experimented with the layer options till I was satisfied with the result I used 'Overlay' and 'Hard light'

Then finalised the painting with more contrast and highlights.

I am very pleased with the end result, this is actually my first attempt at painting metal. I am quite critical with my work as I always look to improve, I do see a few things I could improve if i wanted to like adjusting the 'curves' better to distinguish the highlights and shadows better but I will move on to the next study and work on the improvements there.