Painting 'Bronze'?

[Glen]

Howdy,

I've started Pegaso's 54mm 6th Cent BC Celtic Chieftain and the instructions say to paint the scale cuirass and helmet 'bronze'. What color is bronze? I'm using Andrea Acrylics and their bronze is dark metal color with hints of green and brown - almost like a really dark olive drab. I've seen other interpretations of bronze ranging from copper to metallic brown.

At this point, I'm thinking of simply buffing the metal and then giving it a wash of (very) dark brownish green...

Suggestions?

Glen

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Glen@Mar 2 2006, 03:34 AM
What color is bronze?

What colour do you want it to be? :lol:

Seriously, you have to make a decision on what finish you imagine it would have been kept in and then work toward that. Most bronze paints are just like the Andrea one - dark browns or greens - because this is the colour we associate with bronze due to bronze statues, but it's not the colour that bronze armour would have been unless deliberately treated (which is how the statues get that colour). I am extremely doubtful that serving armour, particularly in a high-status individual, would have looked anything like what we saw in Troy.

Fresh bronze is actually a little peachy, nothing like brass at all (closer to red or rose gold if you've seen any jewellery made from that) and if carefully tended that is sort of the colour it would remain. In contrast to brass, which goes to a colour that looks slightly greenish (like Raw Umber) bronze oxidises toward a redder brown (something like Burnt Umber at the extreme).

I only know of one paint that is close to the right colour for fresh bronze but it's a tube acrylic so unless you're used to working with them I would suggest you mix a good silver with Burnt Sienna, perhaps with a touch of Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre, that should give something like the right colours. Shade with Burnt Sienna and a little Burnt Umber.

Personally I would steer clear of any hint of verdigris unless you are depicting someone on a long campaign and then only in areas exposed to heavy sweat.

Einion

 

[billyturnip]

Further to Einion's exellent response do a Google image search for Bronze armour. Among the 1,430 results are some pretty good pics

Roger.

 

[Glen]

Thanks guys. My question was driven by what I had already seen as a result of a google search. There were items listed as being bronze that had colors ranging from a bright brass (like my bathroom faucets), to copper, to a reddish-brass, the aforementioned dark olive drab to green and turquoise (I figured the last two weren't right for my purposes). Things got a bit more complicated after I had looked at a number of interpretations of bronze from different paint manufacturers.

I figured a Chieftain would have battleworn, but fairly clean and servicable armor; due either to his own efforts or his retainers'.

Right now, I've scrapped the buffing idea. I'm now looking at Vallejo's bronze - which is lighter that Andrea's, but still seems to have that olive drab look - as a base, followed by a drybrushing with a reddish brass, brass highlights, and a dark metallic brown shadow. In my mind's eye this combo looks really great. On the other hand, it could be crap...

I'll post a pic of how things turn out.

Cheers,

Glen

 

[billyturnip]

Glen, I should've known you would have tried the image search :lol:
But it just reinforces what Einion said about it can be any colour you want it to be.
Your idea sounds good though. Best of luck and let us know how you get on.

Roger.

 

[Yarok]

Glen,

I tried to replicate bronze on the "leggings" of this Scissor from Pegaso:

using this for reference:

basically, i used a dark brown base, followed by some dark green spots blended in, and finally dotted with some turquoise green where humidity would remain long enough to allow the bronze to oxydize...

It's a different approach than Einon's, but i hope it'll help you!

Regards,

Patrick


edit: the bronze sample i used comes from this page

 

[Einion]

I meant to mention this: we have to be careful of photographs of reproduction pieces as much of the yellow-metal pieces are actually brass - anything you see that looks really yellow, that's probably what it is. When bronze is used there are a number of commercials variations (phosphor bronze being very common) and these can look a little different to a simpler copper/tin alloy.

Einion

 

[Arminous]

Hi there!


Could someone explain to me the difference between brass and bronze?In Greek translation it's the same metal in different words...

Anyway,I believe the different colors are result of oxidation.I have some used millitary machine gun bullets as an example.Very useful.If you can't find one,check Google(I'm 100% sure you'll find some nice pics)

On the figure:A warrior would have his armor cleaned very often for different reasons:

1-A clean shiny armor is a sign of wealthy warrior of high rank.
2-An oxidated armor looks and is more fragile than a clean one.

But I know from my bullets that this metal oxidates very easily.It may get greenish,brownish,redish even grey and black.It depends on the level of oxidation.And it's very hard to clean it in deapth.

So I propose using Printer paint "gold"(I'm not satisfied by acrylic metalc paints-TOO big-granuled!!!) and W&N Burnt Umber,Ivory Black oils.For redish tones use Crimson.For greenish,Olive Green.Highlight with Printer gold(don't warry,it won't get too shiny,this paint looks more like bronze than gold!)I'm sure you'll be satisfied from the result!

BTW,try Printer "silver" for metal parts in general!The best paint for white metal painting,but it need 24 hours or more to dry
Cheers!
-Kostas.

 

[Glen]

Well, here it is... my interpretation of bronze. I used a base coat of Vallejo bronze, which I like better than Andrea's version. The Andrea color is too dark; more akin to a heavily weathered statue. The base coat was followed by a pinpoint application of Vallejo Bronze and black around the scales. Next I mixed a bit of red into the bronze and stippled it into the center of each scale. This was followed by a brass colored pre-highlight around the some of the edges. Final shading and highlighting will be done after the piece is assembled.

In person, the color is a bit more muted and less glossy. I think much of the gloss seen here is caused by the lights.

Cheers,

Glen

 

[Einion]

Looks fine colour-wise to me Glen

Originally posted by Glen+Mar 9 2006, 06:44 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Glen @ Mar 9 2006, 06:44 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>In person, the color is a bit more muted and less glossy. I think much of the gloss seen here is caused by the lights.[/b]

That's a common problem (we've all been there!) diffuse light is the key to minimising it.


<!--QuoteBegin-Arminous@Mar 4 2006, 05:59 AM
Could someone explain to me the difference between brass and bronze?In Greek translation it's the same metal in different words...[/quote]
Hi Kostas, basically brass is a mixture of copper and zinc, bronze a mixture of copper and tin; modern alloys can often have other additions in them for specific properties but those are the basic ingredients. Brass for cartridges is 70:30 and bronze for bells ~85:15.

Einion