Black highlights

[Seva]

I was wondering which highlights the community likes better for black, the more extreme edge highlights or the more blended subtle highlights? Tell me what you think.

 

 

Here are the more extreme highlights on the jump pack DC

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii292/MrBlonde567/DSC01609.jpg

 

Here are the more blended highlights on the footslogging DC

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii292/MrBlonde567/DSC01596.jpg

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii292/MrBlonde567/DSC01597.jpg

 

I am leaning more towards the subtle highlights myself but I don't relish the thought of stripping these guys down again. (would be the third time doing this, here is what they used to be before I stripped the paint from them earlier this year)

 

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii292/MrBlonde567/100_0636.jpg

[Religion Kills]

i can say for one they are beautiful models; every single one of them.

 

i think for black the extreme highlights do reach out and grab me IMHO, the blended highlights look a little powdery but that could be the light.

 

finally, the helmets fit perfectly! where did you get them/how did you make them?

[Iron Phoenix]

i think it's a matter of trial and error and consistency - the top 'subtle' guy is utterly gray. While smooth transitions are best in most cases, there's no reason you can't blend smoothly over a short distance, which will leave more black and give the appearance of form and shine rather than lightness. Also i urge against coming to white or near-whites because on sharp it's visual noise and on smooth it's the aforementioned grey. take the black up a few levels quickly but smoothly and you should be happy :D.

 

if you use thin paints and stick to the same hues there will be no reason to strip them as they are now.

[Lord Ragnarok]

Not an expert by any means. But the extreme guys are more pleasing to my eye.

[Seva]

@ Religion Kills: The helmets are chaos champion helmets the I cut and filed the horns off of since horns wouldn't work for Loyalists. I hope the helmets work though in any case.

[Picster]

i would mix both.

 

use the blended style but go deeper into the shadows. Blend down to chaos black quicker (smaller areas of highlight) and the make the edges brighter ... but not as bright as in the first picture and just some edges, not every edge. For the most extreme edges use the same color as in the first picture...

i hope you understand what i mean :rolleyes:

 

cheers,

Raffa

[Seva]

I have a question. When you say blend to back quicker, are you saying to leave more actual black on the mini? So I could basecoat with my highest/brightest gray and then take the gray to black in maybe 4 or 5 blends so that the black covers a greater part of the model? Thanks for any replies in advance.

 

I also wonder what testors dullcoat would do to the extreme guys as far as toning down the highlights.

[Baffy]

Oh this is an intresting question which can only be answered with: pick one and stick to it :P Black is a tough one to get right and you'll never please everyone, especially not at the same time.

 

In my opinion any of those techniques will be fine as long as you keep it up through your entire army.

If you start slacking/changing the way you paint them then they will all look mismatched. So it's better to pick one you know you can uphold for a lot of minis than one you can paint maybe 2-3 of at the time.