Ashdown Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Well I am doing my second run on some Templar squads and I want to get them perfect this go about. I paint all my pieces then assemble so this is my first test run on a pair of legs. Process: -Prime black -Airbrush the highlights with model colors dark blue grey -Glaze some burnt umber on the bottom portions -Glaze watered down GW blue wash on the upper portions It looks ok, but the highlighted areas just look to grey to me. When I go on CMoN and look at some top tier black models, they all have this real grey look to the black. Some tips and ideas would be appreciated. Or if this looks good, that works too.... though I need to smooth it out a little better, the camera really picks up the color transitions. Thanks Ash... ** Edit** changed the base color for contrast and added the knee marking for more contrast. Let me know what you think. Thanks. Ash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother-Chaplain Kage Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 It's a great paint job so far, but it definitely looks too light to be black. And from the pics, it looks a bit grey-green. You might glaze some black over the entire thing enough to make the highlights a bit darker, and then more layers of black in the lower/shaded areas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMan Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 It doesn't look too bad, the lighter bits look alot like dust from the planet they're walking around on. I imagine its pretty hard to make a washed black look decent on a PA model, with all the straight edges and defined lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bat33.1 Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Hard to say looking at the pictures as it's difficult to judge how light the finish is. I feel your pain with getting a black finish that has deep shadow and smooth highlights - I'm painting Raven Guard just now... My technique which I'm still refining is similar to yours. I undercoat black with vallejo primer, 1st airbrush highlight sprayed from above and front using vallejo air german grey, I then follow up a 2nd lighter highlight of vallejo air dark sea grey from top only and quite light. I then use a Klear coat followed by badab wash and then a light edge highlight of dark sea grey. It's not a strong edge highlight technique just enough to lift the edges out a bit. I am happy with it so far but it's a work in progress so I will be following this thread with interest for any extra ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashdown Posted August 25, 2011 Author Share Posted August 25, 2011 Hard to say looking at the pictures as it's difficult to judge how light the finish is. I feel your pain with getting a black finish that has deep shadow and smooth highlights - I'm painting Raven Guard just now... My technique which I'm still refining is similar to yours. I undercoat black with vallejo primer, 1st airbrush highlight sprayed from above and front using vallejo air german grey, I then follow up a 2nd lighter highlight of vallejo air dark sea grey from top only and quite light. I then use a Klear coat followed by badab wash and then a light edge highlight of dark sea grey. It's not a strong edge highlight technique just enough to lift the edges out a bit. I am happy with it so far but it's a work in progress so I will be following this thread with interest for any extra ideas. wow, those are almost the same colors I use. I am going to try a few different ideas mixing in some lighter blues into the black and see how that goes. Ill keep you posted and thanks for your recipee. But yea, black is tough to paint so it pops without looking like its grey. Ash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.