Tutorial Request on painting naked blades

Good afternoon people!

Over the course of my painting life, I have noticed that one of the steps that I originally thought would be the easiest and more prone to improvement has turned out to be the one where I seem not to evolve at all.

I need to learn how to paint a blade - be it sword, dagger, halberd or whatever - to a much higher standard, as I believe my attempts are severely sub-par at best.

So... can anyone help?

OK, as I am new here, I will defer to others advice, but i have been painting on a semi-pro level for many years. I even work for a painting company.

You can go two ways with weapons.... non-metal metalics... not just for professionals.... you just need ot be ablke to blend and paint straight lines.... and metalics.

The way I layer metalics is pretty simple.
For steel....
1. I start with Iron Wind or Parth "Steel".. is is very dark.
2. I decide which side to highlight (usually the one that best shows off the weapon or armor angle).
3. I paint the leading edge or flat with a mix of Steel and GW Chainmail.
4. I crest just the edge with GW shining silver.
That will give a 3 fold shading effect. You can also hit the back side of the blade or reverse slope of the armor with a ligth drybrush of the silver.

Now, when I say reverse side or opposite edge, I mean the adjoining surfaces. Id the blade is flat, I will paint it steel and then take a black thin paint pen or fine brush and paint a straight line down the center to give it depth.
On armors, I will then usually follow all of the painting with an ink wash...depending upon the look I want to go for.... rusty, shiney, old, etc..... redbrown ink, clear seal or black respectively.

I hope this helps a little bit.

When you get copmfortabel with this, you can then start using a very fine brush... tripple 0 (use SABLE)..... and start painting on reflective lieght in the form of star shapes etc.... to highlight one specific area. The same you would do on a pommel gem.

Another simple method:

- coat of slightly watered down GW Boltgun Metal
- coat of a black or brown wash (black for well kept blades, brown for those in ill-repair)
- highlight of Boltgun Metal
- edge highlight of GW Mithral Silver