Can you mix gold or silver paint?
Not the shine. Metallic paint reflects light like metal because it contains mica or metal flakes, and no mix of ordinary pigments can do that. What you can mix is the flat colour of the metal, and painters paint metal that way: a flat base, darker and lighter values, and sharp highlights.
Painting metal without metallic paint
- Gold: a warm ochre-yellow base, deep brown-gold shadows, and highlights of pale yellow or white.
- Silver: a cool mid-grey, near-black reflections, and pure white highlights next to the darkest darks.
- Copper and bronze: orange-brown and olive-brown bases with warm light highlights.
- Strong contrast sells it: metal reflects its surroundings, so put the darkest dark next to the brightest highlight.