Painting Black

[GTTechnics]

Recently I entered this chaplain into a painting competition-View attachment 22841 Unfortunately for me, I didn't place. When I asked one of the judges where I fell short, he said that the biggest thing was the black armor. I based black, highlighted with German grey, and then added white to the German grey for edge highlights. He claimed that I needed to use a grey as the base, so that I can shade it, and to add blue in for highlights (and even some in the base) to add interest. Obviously, both of these concepts are a bit counterintuitive, but I do understand the ideas. I haven't been able to find much more info on this method of painting black, so if anyone could show me some examples or point me in the direction of a more thorough procedure I'd be very thankful.

 

[gohkm]

I think the principle to remember here is that when painting black, one is really painting a really dark grey.

Suggest you try basecoating in a very dark grey (say, Cold Grey + Black), slowly highlight with Cold Grey, but end with a stark edge highlight of Stonewall Grey. You can then blend backwards with a black wash.

Or you could try using the Privateer Press method - basecoat pure black, and begin highlighting with an 'off-black', like P3 Coal Black. Gently highlight after that with another dark grey, and finish off with a stark edge highlight of white. Again, you'd have to wash it back with black in the end. To get a colourful black, you could substitute Coal Black with other, dark colours - I like to use VMC Green Black in place of Coal Black, or a very dark purple.

I read somewhere that a lot of the colours we associate with black (in painting, at least) are that which causes the brain to read the miniature as black. So, an unusual colour, like Coal Black, tricks the brain into thinking what we see is actually black.

 

[TrystanGST]

There's a few good links in here: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums...eads-Tutorials&p=503638&viewfull=1#post503638
That being said, black is one of the more difficult colors to get right - you can't leave it just black, but if you get too involved with shading/blending you end up with a grey mini.

 

[Bailey03]

Yeah, black is tricky to paint and in many ways is similar to white. If you base coat with black you can't do shadows and if you base coat with white you can't do highlights. Similarly if you just use pure black/grey/white paints the end result can look flat and a bit boring. It's nice to add a little bit of color into it, blue is one option but not the only one. The color you use will affect the overall look. If I am doing a black cloth I'd probably work in some browns (flesh tones make a great highlight). Here's a figure I did using a blackgrey/brown mix for the base and then slowly mixing in a basic flesh tone to make my highlights: http://www.coolminiornot.com/forums...Bailey03-s-WIP&p=670311&viewfull=1#post670311

For black armors, something futuristic like your guy, another color like a blue or a purple or something like that might work well. Keep in mind black, like white, is relative. An off white can look like white as its not next to pure white. So, using a dark grey as a base is fine as long as the rest of the figure is lighter in color. Also, be careful with how you place your highlights. If you start covering too large an area it will lighten the whole thing up too much. Be somewhat conservative in their placement and it should help. Black is tricky and something I still don't feel 100% comfortable with, so I'm just saying what I would do... not necessarily what is the 'right' thing to do (if there is such a thing).

Also, if you feel completely lost, Andrea makes a black paint set. This seems to tend towards a black with a hint of brown, so it's not ideal for every application. But it can be a nice place to start.

 

[RuneBrush]

Biggest thing I would suggest would be to push that edge highlight a little lighter. As has been said, black is a really weird one to paint (as you're not really painting black). Different people also have different opinions on what is right and the effect depends entirely on what you're trying to emulate, adding blue into the highlight will make it more "steely" so give the impression of a harder edge, brown will make it softer. Of course you could go down the road of trying to do NMM black gloss

 

[GTTechnics]

Thanks for the tips guys. It seems like there are quite a few different takes on how to get this done! It seems like the common thread though is that my edge highlights aren't light enough. Over the weekend I just finished the model shown here in the foreground. In the background is the same model done with the older technique. On the new one I went up to VGC somber grey for edge highlights, and I focused on the parts where light would hit. I tend to do armor edge highlights before moving on to other colors, and I noticed something funny, the edge highlights seemed to almost obnoxiously contrast at that point. Once I finished painting other details then the same highlights that I thought were going to be too much were suddenly barely noticeable. I guess it's a testament to how we see things by comparison. Now I'm tempted to go back to these "finished" models and work it up to VGC wolf grey in some spots.

 

[PTS]

Those dark angels bikers look great! A big improvement over the chaplain. I'd be very interested in seeing a final wolf grey edge highlight. I think that will push them over the edge into looking amazing. I'm planning on painting some black armor chaos warriors soon, and will be trying similar techniques.

 

[Wombat85]

Rather then paint things black I like to paint really dark colors. For example instead of black cloth I will often paint a dark brown cloth like this:
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/...jvGDVwHAq9ThMmvPPC8LggnCvsoy5g1NZ4_jjRL99-xNm

For black armors I use black cars as a refrence:
http://imgs.mi9.com/uploads/car/385/black-car-wallpaper_1024x768_5817.jpg

 

[GTTechnics]

I tried raising up the edge highlights gradually all the way up to wolf grey. The effect certainly seems more dramatic. I still need to clean up some things, but I'm eager to get feedback. Does it look like I should push the highlights further with just a touch of white?

 

[RuneBrush]

Spot on

Now compare it to your chaplain

 

[Wombat85]

Thats the money, good work.

 

[Zab]

Very nice. I wouldn't push with the white. Subtle is better, especially with the nice subtle blends you have on the rest of the colours.

 

[croi dubh]

Have to be honest, I think your black is very good on the Chaplain, for me I think the majority of black armour should be black and then dark grey highlights on the highest points, it's the subtle blending that causes me the most problems. The reason I say this is because when the highlight is too much it comes across as just dark grey armour. I recently painted a black cloak on a necromancer and I find that painting black cloth is a little more forgiving than armour. Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble!