The Dangers of Black

[Slips]

Came out pretty well I think!

[Firepower]

Could just be my monitor, but he looks more green than black...

The Night Lord is looking pretty spot on, though

[LutherMax]

Maybe a Nuln Oil wash to make it more black-black. I like the green tint but could be more subtle if you actually want it to look 'black'. You could also try blue instead of green.

[Major_Gilbear]

I quite like it, but agree that it looks a bit green... What colour did you add - turquoise? I think a wash with some blue ink + matte medium plus some small sharp near-white highlights will help it look more "black".

Besides my comments, I actually like both models a lot - even the "black" one. In fact, if you like the "black" one as it is, I'd just add a few tiny sharp highlights and go with that.

[Hellrender]

I quite like it, but agree that it looks a bit green... What colour did you add - turquoise? I think a wash with some blue ink + matte medium plus some small sharp near-white highlights will help it look more "black".

Besides my comments, I actually like both models a lot - even the "black" one. In fact, if you like the "black" one as it is, I'd just add a few tiny sharp highlights and go with that.

Incubi Darkness. It's quite dark, near black. But it has a greenish hue to it. I first sprayed incubi darkness + Abbaddon black 50/50 mix all over. Then full incubi darkness in a light zenithal. Then attempted edge highlighting with incubi darkness, and a 2nd highlight with 3:1 incubi darkness : pallid wych flesh.

I'm actually quite unsure. Will play around a bit more.

Thanks for the tips though, you've all been excellent :)

[Firepower]

Typically when I see folks use colors rather than gray scale to highlight black, it's not with an airbrush, but rather with simply sharp highlights.  There may be a reason for that.  If nothing else, it may indeed be better to go with a less drastic difference to black, like a deep blue or blue-gray.

[Major_Gilbear]

I quite like it, but agree that it looks a bit green... What colour did you add - turquoise? I think a wash with some blue ink + matte medium plus some small sharp near-white highlights will help it look more "black".

Besides my comments, I actually like both models a lot - even the "black" one. In fact, if you like the "black" one as it is, I'd just add a few tiny sharp highlights and go with that.

Incubi Darkness. It's quite dark, near black. But it has a greenish hue to it. I first sprayed incubi darkness + Abbaddon black 50/50 mix all over. Then full incubi darkness in a light zenithal. Then attempted edge highlighting with incubi darkness, and a 2nd highlight with 3:1 incubi darkness : pallid wych flesh.

Ah, okay! You will need a blue ink filter then to make it more, er, "Monet" if that's what you're after.

I'm actually quite unsure. Will play around a bit more.

As I said, I actually rather like it. it has some colour, it's ambiguous, and it looks pretty dark.

Thanks for the tips though, you've all been excellent

Well if anything I've posted has helped you, then you are most welcome!

Not only is it pleasing to know that I've helped someone, but I also feel honoured to have passed on some of what I have received/learnt over the (25+) years, and hope that you will (in time perhaps) also pay it forward to others!

[Subtle Discord]

Having a bit of experience with Black, to the point that it's a deeply defining characteristic of the faction I have chosen to collect and (someday) field, I feel compelled to write something. As has been mentioned several times, I can't underscore how much added impact just changing the tone of black you will be using can have on the finished black you're trying to achieve. I highly recommend considering carefully if you want a cool, warm, neutral, or 'exotic', tone to the Black you ultimately choose to do. Once you chosen it then consider the contrasting elements/colours with that choice in mind. On the surface Black can be deceptive and seem bland, but it can be very unique with a bit of consideration. Don't be afraid to hand mix a range of special highlights for your project, you tend to use so little it will last a looong time, and be sure to keep a general formula so you can recreate it once the time comes.

 

As for complexity, I really considered an airbrush and adding some zenithal highlighting, but ultimately I'm glad I choose to go the simpler route. As mentioned, once a zenithal highlight is down, if you make a mistake on your brushwork it can be a real pain to do repairs/cleanup. In the real world the grays seen in black are just intense light reflecting off of the black, so i chose that for my black; add a satin varnish on after you finished and let natural light do its thing and you get a wonderful deep rich Black that doesn't start to drift to dark grey, which I really wanted to avoid.

 

The key to getting the required definition in this case is in the highlights, and while edge highlights can be a pain, with straight black to use as a cleanup colour, it's actually really easy to add wonderfully clean highlights to a black model (with a bit of black pen work in a few tricky spots) that add all of the definition and 'pop' needed to add the necessary depth. Just paint the highlights on a little rough and use the covering power of black to clean it up in one smooth, tapering stroke. On page 3 and 4 of my Legion Rising thread I talk about my method that I've been using; it's absolutely a tabletop standard intended to get what I think is good result without going mad painting tons of rank-and-file. Once the varnish is applied, any potential variations from ink, to paint, to wash, blend together wonderfully and I get great feedback on my results. In my case I've intentionally made my highlights a touch intense and they look a bit strong in my closeup photos from 5-10cm away; once the models are at arms-length or more the effect is a nice dark true black but with good definition in the details to get the desired depth.

 

For weathering I contemplated for a looong time. I've always liked the dark grey chipping effect on every other colour, but it can easily get lost on black and/or compete with the grey highlights. Ultimately I choose a slightly dark silver with a bit of highlighting for a chipped effect, again just to get a bit more contrast and give it proper value definition on the black. One huge trick I've found with doing a simple-but-effective sponged chipping on black is in the way you mix the silver to be used; many people will say to keep your paint thick so when it's sponged on it gives the desired control and a pleasant 'crackled' ragged edge to the effect. I dislike this because I find while the look is nice it can leave so much paint that the thickness can be noticeable, bulging up where a chip should be removing material. I find if you thin the paint normally and then add a bit of Future Floor Wax (or equivalent) to reduce the surface tension you'll achieve the exact same crackled effect, but with a nice think layer of paint that dries smooth. I use a pair of clamping tweezers to form a pinch of sponge into a ragged brush-like sponge point and let the low surface tension paint do the real work. It should have the same effect on any sponge technique, really, not just silver.

 

I know I a little late to the party, but I hope this can be of some help.

 

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j332/SubtleDiscord/2014%20WIP%20Photos/Black_Legion_01.jpg

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j332/SubtleDiscord/2014%20WIP%20Photos/Black_Legion_03.jpg

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j332/SubtleDiscord/2014%20WIP%20Photos/Black_Legion_04.jpg

http://i1080.photobucket.com/albums/j332/SubtleDiscord/2014%20WIP%20Photos/Black_Legion_05.jpg

 

Some images of my current progress. Most of these models have since received a few layers of blue-grey dust weathering to feet, lower legs, and vehicles, but it illustrated my black method well. Up close they seem a bit intense, but as soon as you pull back the satin black has nice depth but still dark, and the highlights add the needed pop and definition.

[Evil Eye]

I'm a lazy individual, so when I'm painting the black on my Emperor's Children I keep the recipe pretty simple. I start from Chaos/Abaddon Black primer, then highlight the edges with Eshin Grey. I then do another, thinner highlight of Administratum Grey (I think) before finishing it off with a light glaze of Nuln Oil to "smooth" the colours together and tone down the starkness of the edge highlights. It's not going to win any painting contests but it works and it looks good.

[A D-B]

I heart this thread.

 

I'm a lazy individual, so when I'm painting the black on my Emperor's Children I keep the recipe pretty simple. I start from Chaos/Abaddon Black primer, then highlight the edges with Eshin Grey. I then do another, thinner highlight of Administratum Grey (I think) before finishing it off with a light glaze of Nuln Oil to "smooth" the colours together and tone down the starkness of the edge highlights. It's not going to win any painting contests but it works and it looks good.

 

One of my group swears by this. He says the key is to make the black basically just the "ignorable/default" parts of the mini, and make sure details pop as expertly painted as you can get them, as they're what people will notice.

[Allart01]

I heart this thread.

 

I'm a lazy individual, so when I'm painting the black on my Emperor's Children I keep the recipe pretty simple. I start from Chaos/Abaddon Black primer, then highlight the edges with Eshin Grey. I then do another, thinner highlight of Administratum Grey (I think) before finishing it off with a light glaze of Nuln Oil to "smooth" the colours together and tone down the starkness of the edge highlights. It's not going to win any painting contests but it works and it looks good.

 

One of my group swears by this. He says the key is to make the black basically just the "ignorable/default" parts of the mini, and make sure details pop as expertly painted as you can get them, as they're what people will notice.

 

That's a nice tip.

Tell your mate someone on the internet appreciates his wisdom :P

[Evil Eye]

I heart this thread.

 

I'm a lazy individual, so when I'm painting the black on my Emperor's Children I keep the recipe pretty simple. I start from Chaos/Abaddon Black primer, then highlight the edges with Eshin Grey. I then do another, thinner highlight of Administratum Grey (I think) before finishing it off with a light glaze of Nuln Oil to "smooth" the colours together and tone down the starkness of the edge highlights. It's not going to win any painting contests but it works and it looks good.

 

One of my group swears by this. He says the key is to make the black basically just the "ignorable/default" parts of the mini, and make sure details pop as expertly painted as you can get them, as they're what people will notice.

That is basically my approach. Granted, if I were doing Black Legion I'd probably go for something a bit more "noticable" but as my EC are more predominantly pink than black (with lots of gold and other metallics, because metallics are fun) I can afford to make the black fairly nondescript. I made the mistake when painting my blue Daemonettes of edge highlighting their gloss black leather corsets, though, and TBH I wish I'd done 'em just "neat" black with a gloss coat. Would have looked better and taken less time. Oh well, I know what I'm doing for the other 'nettes.

 

Semi-related, for my Tyranids I do gloss black carapaces highlighted with lurid green towards the edges, and I find the contrast of the pitch black with the bilious green works really well. No greys for me! I also give them a coat of FW clear yellow and green to give them a really glossy. slimy look which somehow tints the black without making it less, well, black.

 

...Also, holy crap,  Aaron Dembski-Bowden posts here? *Cue Wayne's World style "We're not worthy!" kneeling*

[Iron Father Ferrum]

That's also basically what I use, though without the final wash to dampen the highlights (though that is a fantastic idea, I might start that).  I went a little heavy on the Administratum Gray with the highlights on this Ironclad:

 

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h96/DTRI/Iron%20Hands/Vehicles/IMAG0272_zps62e774ae.jpg

 

 

On this sergeant, I went a lot easier on the Admin Grey and stuck mostly with Eshin as a single-stage highlight.  The flash was on when I took the picture so you can make out the greys pretty easily, but in normal lighting on the tabletop, the effect isn't as simple to pick out as it is in the photo:

 

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h96/DTRI/Iron%20Hands/Squaddies/IMAG0164_zpsf2e74729.jpg

 

This Marine didn't have the flash on for his photo, so hopefully you can see the difference is how jarring the greys are with and without bright lighting:

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h96/DTRI/Iron%20Hands/Squaddies/IMAG0173_zpsdd47afdc.jpg

[VulkansDynasty]

I struggled with black armor when I started painting Chaplains and Death Company recently, what I found works for me is Dark Reaper and thunderhawk blue, plus a black color of some kind. I use a large bottle of water based black acrylic paint that is super matte that I bought at a normal hobby shop (Like Hobby Lobby).

 

I started by priming black, then covering all the armor plates with a 25/75 mix of Dark reaper and the black paint. Then carefully highlighted up to 100% dark reaper on the edges. Then I used a mix of Nuln Oil and Lhamian Medium to wash the whole thing (thinly) to bring it back down to a darker color, then highlighted the edges with Dark reaper again, and then where the light would hit the model from my chosen prespective I added just a small highlight of thunderhawk Blue.

 

Now adding in some other spots of color on the model certainly break it up, as does weathering. Your black Shield model is a bit excessive in my opinion, but if that's what you want it's not terrible.

 

here's a few models painted this way (note the biker needs more toning down I think):