How to draw gold

The topic of this post is how to draw gold metal. Giving up the gold gel pen and making the gold illusion on your own is a challenge even for advanced illustrators. In this step by step tutorial, I will show you how to represent golden accessories and clothes in your fashion sketches without putting a lot of effort. Enjoy!

How to draw gold metal step-by step tutorial

Step 1: Initial preparation

Draw the accessories and the garments you want to make look like they are made of gold. Try to have a clean sketch with no shading at this stage. Just neat outlines.

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Step 2: Draw 3-Dimensional

Now it’s time to just look at your drawing and think of volume. Close your eyes and imagine you were building the fashion figure out of clay. Mark the parts of the body that feel the closest to you with a very bright shade of yellow.
Leave the white of the paper in the center of these selections ( see the breast of the example illustration & the bracelet).

This technique is extremely useful to determine where to put the lights and the shadows in the cases when you don’t have any specific source of light, so often seen in fashion photography.

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Step 3: Building the light

Take a darker yellow shade and paint right next to the first layer.
Try to follow the outlines of the shape you are coloring. Notice how the light of the earring goes the same way as its shape.

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Step 4: Drawing the gold base

Render all the rest of the shape with a light brownish color. You should blend gently the yellow with the brown shade, trying to leave the former as plain as possible. No perfectionism needed, just avoid entering too far in the yellows.

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Step 5: Realistic gold

The essence of drawing realistic looking gold is in the shadows. Lay down a well-blended second layer of the brown shade. Put it in the places where the form feels further away from you. Use the technique described in Step 1 to guide you.

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Step 6: Drawing golden shadows

Find a grey shade and add another layer of shadows to the gold. This time you may allow yourself to extend the shadows a bit. In order to obtain the high contrast that is so typical for golden items, place part of the gray tones close to the yellow lights.

Light tends to look even lighter when there is a strong shadow in neighborhood.

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Step 7: Blend it all!

Take back the brownish color and blend the strong shadows. Metals are sleek and the blending will give you that sensation of metal.

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Step 8: Optional step

This step is optional and depends on your personal preferences. If you would like to draw gold that is somehow warmer you can add touches of orange here and there. Remember to follow the volume of the figure when working with this color and avoid overworking it.
Understanding how to draw gold can take you to new creative ideas and great fashion designs. Unleash your imagination and have fun!

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Happy drawing!

Love, teya

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