How to add volume and realism?

Question

Adobe Illustrator

Hi all Adobe Illustrator connoisseurs, I've run into a problem.
I wanted to draw a climbing carbine

Here's what happened

And I ran into a problem, it does not look realistic, but I would like it to be as similar as possible ...
Here are a number of questions that I would like to get answers to if possible:

1. Is it even possible to make it realistic in Adobe Illustrator?
   
2. How to bulge and round (because carabiners are cylindrical)
   
3. How to add the right highlights to make it look glossy?
   

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Pay attention to
reflexes
_

I publish my small observations and knowledge about how I create realistic metal and what is needed for this. Additions to the material are welcome.
Metal is a fairly complex object to draw; to draw it reliably, one cannot do without observations and theoretical knowledge.
First, let's take a look at what metal is for our eyes. As a rule, metal perfectly reflects the external environment and its color depends on the light source and the general environment. Hence the most important rule: the metal has the same shade as the general environment. That is, if the object is under an incandescent lamp, then yellowish hues predominate in it, if under the open sky, it reflects the blue sky, and the intensity of this hue depends on: a) at what angle the object is turned to the reflecting object; b) how polished our metal object is.
Metal behaves differently in different situations and forms. Here we consider only the main points regarding the metal.
We will assume that under ideal conditions, the metal is inherent in a light gray color. In reality, glare, reflections, color, texture, reflections and shadows are added to it, as, in fact, with most objects in the world, respectively, with them we will be able to correctly convey the shape and structure of the object, but each of them is worth talking about in separately.
Highlight: The metallic highlight is very crisp, large and pronounced. It is brightest at the subject's curves, corners, and edges. A metallic highlight has an interesting property - there is a slight glow, or halo, at the edges of the highlight, which matches the color of the light source. For example, an object is illuminated by an incandescent lamp that has a yellowish light, a similar color cast will be observed around the highlight on the object, moreover, it is not very pronounced, rather blurry and is a smooth transition from the highlight to the color of the metal. Highlights should highlight the most convex parts of the object, and pay more attention to them, because often the impression of the whole picture is built by the "tastyness" of the glare. Surprisingly, even on a flat surface there can be a well-readable flare, how it will look already depends on the imaginary light source. If there are edges, then they should be highlighted with light highlights.
Reflexes: the matall reflects just fine, reflecting everything it can and cannot :) yes, yes, in the truest sense of the word, even when the object seems to be alone in space, it’s not a sin to add a small imaginary color reflection to it (the main thing is not to overdo it ), and if the object is not alone, or stands on some kind of plane, or is on some kind of background, then God himself ordered to use this and add a few juicy reflexes to the metal. As a rule, reflections are quite soft and have a smooth transition from the color of the metal to the color of the reflected object.
Color of the metal: as mentioned above, under ideal conditions, the metal has a light gray color and it is observed in places where there is no pronounced glare, reflex or shadow. In other words, this is the area of ​​the object that is in a "calm" state from light interference. Again, do not forget that there may be a slight shade of the external environment! The color of the metal can be light or dark, even black, it depends, again, on the environment in which it is located and what kind of light it illuminates.
Texture: metal can be different: aluminum, steel, silver, various alloys, it can be matte, glossy, chrome. Each of them has its own unique pattern or texture, and we will not consider in detail all types of metal textures (for this, it is enough to observe how different metals look for yourself). A few good examples of different types of metals:
We will take something in between, for example, well-polished light steel. We run to the kitchen, carefully grab the knife and begin to study. Of course, the knife is not the best example, since there are many extraneous scratches and chips as a result of the use, but the texture of the metal can be clearly traced. There are microscopic scratches and abrasions in all possible directions. This kind of texture enhances the effect of the metal, and, most importantly, allows you to better convey the shape of the object. I do it in the following way: at least in two directions I apply many, many small strokes with the Pencil tool in the Overly mode, which repeat the shape of the object. First black, then the same, but white. I set the transparency to 4-8% depending on how strongly I want to show this texture, see an example below. Generally, micro-scratches rule! Although, of course, you can do without them and show a perfectly chromed object, play here only in white and black with the addition of reflexes, it all depends on the desired result.
The picture below shows this same texture but with 100% transparency. All layers separately.
Reflections. Chrome-plated metal well reflects nearby objects, do not forget about it and also take it into service. It is worth saying that reflections also need to emphasize the shape of the object. Sometimes you can "tint" reflections to the color of the environment, this will make the metal and reflections uniform.
Shadows: there are almost no features in the shadows, they are made in the same way as for all objects, the only thing is that the shadow can have a very slight shade of metal, but this is only if the lighting has a very intense color. Reflections from glare on metal are not excluded in the shadows, but these are rare cases and it is necessary to approach here with knowledge of the issue. Penumbras on the metal have a lower color intensity than on the illuminated areas of the object.
Summing up, I can put forward a small rule - Bright highlights, clear transitions from highlights to penumbra, correct colors, unexpected reflexes and reflections - this is the first thing that will make rich metal. And the second is more observations of such interesting material.