How to Create Gold Metal Texture Illustrations in Procreate

Today I’ll share one of my favorite technique to paint realistic metallic textures using Procreate! This is my personal process and it may not be the best for everyone, but it works for me, because it’s very easy and fast.

You don’t need to be a Picasso to try this and it’s also fun as you can change colors to the gold texture and create vibrant metallic designs in different colors.

Are you ready? Let’s start!

1. Create a sketch

First and foremost, sketch out your design; in this tutorial you can see that I am using a very simple design – a bow – but you can try and sketch WHATEVER you may feel drawn to. In this case, I am drawing a simple bow just because it’s cute and easy to do. Take your time, sketch it out, make all the adjustments you need.

When I sketch, I like to draw just one half of the object and then duplicate and flip it as you can see in the picture below. I also like to use a very dark burgundy instead of black as I think it conceals better with the colors.

2. Flat Colors

When the sketch is ready it’s time for flat colors. Flat color means we are going to drop a plain solid color with no shading of any kind. This is the base of our project so be sure to fill the whole area with the color, and be sure to fill everything otherwise the design will end up having empty spots of colors. When I do gold texture there are 2 colors I usually use as flats, as you can see below (these are very dark hues in the yellow/orange tones ).

Now, to avoid confusion, I create 2 different layers where I drop colors, one for each area of the bow, see below:

3. First shadows 

Now we can start with some shadows. To do so, create a new layer on top of the ones we just created with the flat colors, set them on multiply and clip them as clipping mask.

TIP: Even with colors, you can only paint one half of the design, then duplicate, then flip it to the other side.

4. Blending

Now it’s time to blend; blending and shading is very important as it’s the core of creating a tridimensional effect in 2D illustration, it requires some time to practice it at its best and it requires a lot of control. If you blend too much, you’re going to lose pictorial density and you’ll have to paint the area again. It’s not a big deal, but it will take more time and work.

5. Lights!

Once you’ve done your blending, it’s time for some light! Create 2 other layers on top of each, and set it on SCREEN

To paint light areas choose a desaturated yellow, here I used #c7ad66.

Once again, if your objects is symmetrical don’t worry about painting both sides.

When you’re done, blend the light areas so that you’ll have a nice and smooth transition of color.

6. Shine!

Now we want to create the effect of a metallic texture by adding some super shiny areas.

To do so, create new layers and set them on ADD mode WITH LOW OPACITY. 

Be sure to choose a lighter yellow, as the ADD mode works very well with over saturated colors in low opacity.

7. Balance 

These are the BASIC STEPS to work with. You can keep adding light areas both in screen or add mode layers as I did, ending up with something like this:

For example here I also added super light yellow in low opacity on Screen mode with an airbrush Procreate brush and I also added more shadows. Now that the basic groundwork has been done it’s all about trial and error or finding the right balance that works for you. Now it’s all about repeating the previous steps until you’re happy with the result.

8. Hue adjustment 

I usually like to adjust the color at the end and have it more shiny or extra saturated. I prefer adding or changing for a lighter hue, and then see how the image turns out. It’s easier to handle but this is the way it works for me and it may be different for someone else.

When you’re done, duplicate the half of what you have painted and set the new layer on ADD: This will make your painting super flashy gold, but you may want to lower the opacity. The reason why it’s better not to do this on the source layer is because you don’t want to spoil it or touch it, Procreate may crash for any reason and you would end up spoiling the illustration so, my advice is: protect your design, and duplicate.

9. Time to duplicate

Now’s the time: duplicate and flip and it’s done!

10. The fun part

And it’s done! Remember that on Procreate you can always play with hues and saturation and you can change the colors at any time! Try to create and use different layer settings and you’ll discover how easy and versatile this technique is!

Comment below if you have tried this technique, and share you experience with it!