"Representing and Painting Renaissance Armour" Topic

What were the different looks that armour might exhibit throughout the 16th century?

Silver, blackened, blackened edged silver/gold?

Was it ever painted in colorful enamel colors?

We're talking about whole units as well as individuals.

I think Steel plate colour is common, at least its depicted in most pictures of the period. Blackened (a sort of gunmetal colour) would also be possible amongst some poorer and mercenary troops.some richer professionals could have different colour edging.
Its worth noting that steel armour might well rapidly develop a brown/fawn patina from being oiled with beeswax, goose grease and similar materials.

Here is a famous picture of a blackened armour on the mercenary Georg Frundsberg:

This is a tapestry of the Battle of Pavia 1525:
link – By Bernard van Orley – Bernard Van Orley, The Battle of Pavia, RIHA Journal., CC BY 3.0, link

There was an interesting show on a month or so ago that featured a nice blue suit of armour. Which is apparently done by some sort of heat treating.

link

There are pictures and samples of painted armour, but generally these would be the cheaper sets. See some red and blue helmets here:

The typical armour was blank, but blackened by paint or other measures happened, and good armour could come with edges in constrasting colors. Golden/gilded armour is reported but rare, an extravagance for those who needed to show their wealth or ego.

Wasn't some armour covered by fabric? or was that in earlier times?

Some was covered by fabric, some painted, much left black from the forge (polishing the armour could be 80% of the cost!), some was highly polished, some gilded. Some was even highly polished then blued after being polished which was extremeley costly.

This lecture is excellent on this: YouTube link