How to Paint Metallics: Steel, Gold and Non-metallic Metal

Metallic paint contains suspended metal flakes rather than only pigment, which makes it behave unlike everything else on your palette. It settles, it dries with visible grain if handled badly, and it needs a different order of operations.

This guide covers the reliable three-step recipe for steel and gold, how to keep metallics from going grainy, when to reach for non-metallic metal instead, and how to paint NMM without a decade of practice.

Why does metallic paint behave differently?

The flakes are heavier than pigment, so:

• It separates in the pot. Metallic paint that has stood for a week is clear medium on top of sludge. Stir it thoroughly — shaking is not enough.
• It dries grainy if over-thinned. Water thins the medium holding the flakes and they clump. Thin metallics with a proper medium, or barely at all.
• It hates a wet palette. Water on the membrane wicks into the paint and separates the flakes. Use a dry palette for metallics.
• It sticks to brushes. Flakes lodge in the ferrule and turn up in your next colour. Keep one or two brushes for metallics and nothing else.
• It goes on best over a smooth dark base. Metallics are semi-transparent and a dark undercoat makes them read as deep metal rather than grey paint.

What is the standard recipe for steel?

Three steps and it works every time.

1. Basecoat with a mid-tone metallic — a gunmetal or steel — over dark primer or a black basecoat. Two thin coats.
2. Wash with a dark shade. This is what turns fresh paint into used metal: the wash collects in every recess and around every rivet. A black or dark grey wash for cold steel; a brown wash if you want the metal to look older and dirtier.
3. Edge highlight with a brighter metallic — a bright silver — on the raised edges and worn points.

That is a tabletop-standard weapon or a suit of Necron armour. If you want more, add a second brighter highlight on the corners only, exactly as with two-tier edge highlighting.

How do you paint gold and brass?

Same three steps, different palette, and one extra consideration: gold reads as gold because of its warmth, so keep the shading warm.

1. Basecoat a rich gold over a dark brown or black undercoat. Gold over black looks cold and dull; gold over a warm brown looks deep.
2. Wash with a brown shade, not black. Black over gold makes it look like dirty silver.
3. Edge highlight with a brighter gold or a warm silver.
4. Optional: glaze a little transparent orange or yellow into the mid-tones to push the warmth further.

For brass and bronze, start from a brass tone and shade with a green-brown for verdigris, or add a spot of turquoise into the deepest recesses on ancient pieces.

What is non-metallic metal, and when should you use it?

Non-metallic metal (NMM) paints the appearance of metal using ordinary non-metallic paints — greys, browns, blues and whites arranged as a very high-contrast gradient. It looks like polished metal because polished metal is mostly a mirror: a dark reflection of the ground, a bright reflection of the sky, and a hard transition between them.

Choose NMM when:

• The model is a display or centrepiece piece viewed close up and photographed. Metallic flakes photograph poorly; NMM photographs beautifully.
• You want a specific stylised look — heroic, illustrative, comic-like.

Choose true metallics when:

• The models are for the tabletop. NMM's illusion depends on viewing angle, and at arm's length under a room light metallic paint simply looks more like metal.
• You have a lot of models. NMM is several times slower.

For an army, true metallics on the rank and file is the right call almost always. NMM is worth learning on a single character.

How do you paint NMM without years of practice?

The simplified version, on a sword blade:

1. Basecoat a mid grey.
2. Shade the areas nearest the "ground" — the lower part of the blade — with a much darker grey, almost black, kept as a hard-edged band rather than a soft blend.
3. Highlight the areas facing the "sky" — the upper part and the spine — with a very light grey.
4. Place a pure white spot highlight on the sharpest point and along a thin line on the very edge.
5. Keep the transition between dark and light narrow. This is what separates NMM from grey paint: real contrast, placed hard, over a short distance.
6. Add a warm brown or cool blue glaze into the dark and light zones respectively, for a slightly tinted reflection.

The mistake that makes NMM look like grey plastic is smooth, even, gentle blending. Metal reflects with abrupt contrast, so exaggerate it.

Metals across a Warhammer army

• Necrons are almost entirely metal, and the steel recipe applied to the whole model — silver, heavy black wash, silver drybrush and edge highlights — is the fastest route to a good-looking army.
• Adeptus Custodes are the gold case study. Warm undercoat, gold basecoat, brown wash, bright gold edges, and the army paints itself.
• Space Marine weapons, backpacks and gun casings are usually the only metal on the model. Batch them: every bolter in the squad, same three steps.
• Ork vehicles and weapons are the excuse for rust and chipping — steel base, heavy brown wash, rust drybrush, and see weathering.
• Sisters of Battle and Grey Knights benefit from cold silver with sharp bright edges, since the schemes are otherwise dark.
• Aeldari are the faction where NMM most rewards the effort, because the smooth curved surfaces suit a painted reflection.

Paints to use

Leadbelcher · Citadel Colour Base

Retributor Armour · Citadel Colour Base

Runelord Brass · Citadel Colour Base

Stormhost Silver · Citadel Colour Layer

Nuln Oil · Citadel Colour Shade

Gunmetal · Vallejo Model Color

What are the most common mistakes with metallics?

• Not stirring the pot. You paint on the clear medium from the top and wonder why the coverage is terrible.
• Thinning with water. The flakes clump and dry gritty. Use a medium.
• Using a wet palette. Same problem, slower.
• Black wash over gold. Turns it grey and sooty. Use brown.
• Metallic over light primer. Reads as pale grey rather than metal. Undercoat dark.
• Metallic flakes in your other colours. Dedicate brushes, and rinse very thoroughly.
• Blending NMM smoothly. Soft even gradients look like grey paint. Metal wants hard contrast.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my metallic paint look grainy?

Almost always over-thinning with water, which separates the metal flakes from their binder. Thin with an acrylic medium instead, and stir the pot properly before use.

Should I use black or brown wash over metal?

Black over silver and steel, brown over gold, brass and bronze. Black over warm metals kills the warmth that makes them read as gold.

Can I use a wet palette with metallics?

Better not to. The water wicks in and the flakes separate. Use a dry palette or a tile.

Is non-metallic metal better than metallic paint?

Not better, different. NMM photographs far better and looks striking close up; true metallics look more convincing at tabletop distance and are much faster. Use metallics for armies and NMM for showpieces.

What order do metals go in?

After the main colours, before the fine details. Metallic paint sheds flakes onto surrounding areas, so you do not want it after your finished highlights.

Do metallics need varnishing?

They benefit from it more than most paints, because metallic surfaces are usually the raised, handled parts of a model — weapons and armour edges. See varnishing.

What comes next

Clean metal is a starting point. Making it look like it has been somewhere is weathering — rust, chipping and mud.