highlighting black smoothly

[The Don]

howdy all,

just shooting a question out to you all. What im after is some help as to a good ways to higlight black smoothly. If it helps im using GW paints.

any help would be greatly appreciated

thanks, ash

 

[james sequeira]

keep the paint thin and use a good brush and dont rush

 

[tidoco2222]

Highlighting black I think is one of the toughest things to do. I have found a way that works well for me, I use GW paints as well so basically I mix a tiny amount of codex grey into chaos black and then paint this over the whole area I want to be black except the very deepest parts and then basically I just add more codex grey until I have near pure codex grey for the final highlights.
Then I take a tiny bit of chaos black and then add two to three drops of clean water ( I use and eye dropper for this) I then paint this on as a wash for three or four coats and then when it is dry it helps to smooth out the transitions in the different highlight stages,

that is the method I used on that mini.

Hope that helps.

 

[The Don]

Originally posted by tidoco2222
Highlighting black I think is one of the toughest things to do. I have found a way that works well for me, I use GW paints as well so basically I mix a tiny amount of codex grey into chaos black and then paint this over the whole area I want to be black except the very deepest parts and then basically I just add more codex grey until I have near pure codex grey for the final highlights.
Then I take a tiny bit of chaos black and then add two to three drops of clean water ( I use and eye dropper for this) I then paint this on as a wash for three or four coats and then when it is dry it helps to smooth out the transitions in the different highlight stages,

that is the method I used on that mini.

Hope that helps.

thats what ive been trying but without the washes, ill give that a go tomorrow. Thanks for the help mate. ill post my progress tomorrow.

 

[Spacemunkie]

Black > Shadow Grey > SW Grey.

I start black and work up. Glaze back if it gets too bright.

 

[AinuLainour]

Very \'EricJ\'ish.

 

[EricJ]

lol, yeah, I think spacemunkie got it. I think one of the secrets to doing black that looks good to the eye is do not use a true neutral grey. The eye sees details and flaws in pure black and white FAR more clearly than if you have a slightly colored black/grey. All the rods vs. cones in the eye sciencey stuff.

Anyway none of my blacks are ever neutral, and I almost never highlight with a neutral grey. Blues (particularly shadow grey which I think is by far my favorite color) work well for this. A blue-black will even look deeper to the eye than a pure black as well. Another trick to the eye.

 

[Mouth of Sauron]

Black can be highlighted by adding codex grey, but adding midnight blue might work also. i haven\'t tried this myself but it should look cool.

anyone a sample of black highlighted by adding midnight blue?

Niels

 

[EricJ]

I don\'t like midnight blue, it has a purplish glint to it, and since you\'re mixing it with black, you can actually start with a fairly mid-blue. In fact the mini in my avatar isn\'t a bad example, done with just black, enchanted blue, and white.

 

[Tahn]

Have you seen the Painting Black Power Armour guide on GW online? You may not be painting power armour, but its a nice guide:

http://uk.games-workshop.com/spacemarines/blacktemplars-black-armour/1/

 

[james sequeira]

seems like a throw together jobbie by GW there

 

[Tahn]

But I still like it......lol

 

[MClimbin]

There is also Finn\'s painting black tutorial on Brushthralls.com. It\'s quite nice and gives examples of using green to highlight black, something I\'d never have thought of.

Since reading this I almost never use grey to highlight black anymore...

http://www.brushthralls.com/Black/index.php

 

[lannister]

Blu is better

I\'ve tryed to use the neutral grey but i think that using blu is better and surface will be more smooth...

 

[green stuff]

Black can be highlight in a number of ways, all depends of the material and atmosphere you\'re try to build up.

For metalic surfaces (black armor) I usually use a greyish tint, for rubber a bluish tint, and for cloaks a brownish tint. But I suppose green would work great for a nurglish cape, and some red/browns would fit for a vampire.

The real question you should ask yourself is how is the light going to reflect? Will the specular be high or will the light be defused? That will define how tight your color transitions will be. Find a picture of what you\'re trying to paint and study how the light acts on the object.