artist help needed

Its time to add another item to my "wall of fame". The item will include the nose of a late 30's ford. What colors would you use to do the chrome and to simulate the glass in the headlight covers? I have looked at other paintings and it looks simple but cant put a finger on the color. Thanks, dusty

 

If you look at photos of chrome, it's just reflecting the surroundings. Usually dark green/brown on the bottom half and sky blue and white on the top.leave a thin band of white around edges. It's pretty easy if you don't overthink it.

 

Thanks James. Any ideas on the glass part of the headlight? Just leave it white?

 

paint them white first...then put in a horizon line with earth tones on the bottem and sky blues on the top

 

sorry...i thought the picture would be big enough to see it

 

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Thanks James. Any ideas on the glass part of the headlight? Just leave it white?

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I've found the best way to do headlamps is first study a couple of styles of lenses and note where the reflections are.The reflectors are a parabola and reflect images upside down.
I usually mask off and lay down a circle of 1-Shot medium gray as a base,lay out a smaller circle within for the bulb and highlight with thinned black at the 4 o'clock position and white at the 10 o'clock position.
Fade in process blue at the bottom of the light and a mix of orange and black(earth tone)at the top and white hot spots between the center and top and bottom edges.
Overpaint a VERY thin coat of white,then using a straight edge(a business card or a piece of poster board)fog black along the edge of the straightedge first in equally spaced vertical then horizontal lines.Refer to an actual lens to get the proper pattern.For a little added realism,freehand some highlights in the grids at the 10 and 4 o'clock positions as described above.
Wait 24 hours and clear all of it using PPG 2021 by very lightly misting on the first 2 coats and waiting 10 minutes between coats followed by a normal wet coat.That technique will usually prevent lifting.
I will post some pix of two different styles that I did;one airbrushed and the other with just a brush in a few minutes as I have to download them from my camera.
safariknut

 

This one was airbrushed.Ignore the face.

 

The other side

 

This one was done using a brush only.

 

Dam safari,
They are some awesome looking lights.It amazes me as to what can be done with airbrushes.(obviously not in my hands!) That process surely provides results but im not looking for quite that much detail. Will only be using a few basic brushes. Thanks again for the tips tho.