In need of alternatives for Black w/Edge Highlights

[Syward]

Greetings brothers & sisters!

 

I've been working on my Death Watch Venerable Dreadnoughts over the last few weeks, and it turns out I really hate painting black, well the edge highlights specifically. I'm terrible at it, I'm getting older any my brush control isn't what it used to be and my hands are starting to get a little shaky. 

 

So what I'm looking for is some suggestions/advice on how to achieve a black (or very dark gray armor) that I can use Nuln Oil to shade to give the illusion at a distance that I spent some time doing some highlighting. I don't have an airbrush, nor any experience with airbrushes, my skill/experience is limited to spray cans & brushes.

 

I know GW is about to release their contrast paint line, and I saw that there's one called "Black Templar" which may actually be the answer to my dilemma, but I haven't seen any really good images/videos of the end result so I'm not sure. (If anyone has any links, to results using the new Black Templar Contrast paint, please feel free to share!)

 

I tried the following last night (no pictures at the moment):

1. Testors Model Master Gunship Gray (slightly darker than wet concrete in color) with 2 liberal coats of Nuln Oil
2. GW Dark Reaper with 2 liberal coats of Nuln Oil

 

The Dark reaper result is darker than the Gunship Gray result, but it's got too much of a blue tint for my taste, but the Gunship Gray doesn't look "black" enough, it just looks like a very dark gray (really nice for Revilers though!)  I'm afraid to give the Gunship Gray a 3rd coat of the Nuln Oil for fear that it'll pool too much in the recesses and start to gum up the details. 

 

What other suggestions do you all have for me? I'm thinking of maybe adding some Abbadon Black to the Gunship Gray at a 3:1 ratio to darken it up a bit and then try the shade, but I'm afraid it'll end up too dark and not give the illusion that I've done any highlighting. 

 

Thanks in advance!

[Tichinde]

I use abbadon black as a base then just lightly drybrush Eshin grey then dawnstone (and possibly a lighter grey for finer highlights). I can take a better photo but this is roughly how they come out:

 

 

 

I'm not a huge fan of the "every edge highlighted look" some models have.

[PeteySödes]

I like adding a bit of weathering pigments to give depth to blacks too.

[Syward]

I use abbadon black as a base then just lightly drybrush Eshin grey then dawnstone (and possibly a lighter grey for finer highlights).  

 

I'm not a huge fan of the "every edge highlighted look" some models have.

 

Thanks, I've tried dry-brushing, but I think my brush isn't 'dry' enough as it usually goes on too thick and covers more than just the edges (I know it's just me needing to practice it more) - that was going to be my next test was to try experiment with some dry-brushing using the grey over Abbadon Black and another using a steel metallic over the Abbadon Black and see what the results are. (and if I get get it to look nice)

 

I'm really not a huge fan of the every edge highlighted either, when I try it it always comes out way too thick and sloppy  (although, when done by the right painter, they do look incredible - it's so far out of my skill set though. LOL.) 

[sockwithaticket]

The good thing about black and edge highlighting is you can go back and fix your mistakes super easily without disrupting previous layers/shading.

The darkest grey I know is Vallejo Game Colour Charcoal Grey.

[Syward]

The good thing about black and edge highlighting is you can go back and fix your mistakes super easily without disrupting previous layers/shading.

 

The darkest grey I know is Vallejo Game Colour Charcoal Grey.

 

:tu: I'll take a look at the Vallejo colors - I've heard others say their German Gray works really well as a black alternative too. The problem I have with going back over and fixing sloppy edge highlighting is my shaky hands, I end up :cuss: the edge highlight when I try to fix it. LOL.

[sockwithaticket]

 

The good thing about black and edge highlighting is you can go back and fix your mistakes super easily without disrupting previous layers/shading.

 

The darkest grey I know is Vallejo Game Colour Charcoal Grey.

 

I'll take a look at the Vallejo colors - I've heard others say their German Gray works really well as a black alternative too. The problem I have with going back over and fixing sloppy edge highlighting is my shaky hands, I end up : the edge highlight when I try to fix it. LOL.

 

I use German Grey to highlight my Deathwatch, it's dark, but it's still very much a grey rather than an almost black.

 

 

 

 

 

I do that all the time too, just gotta re-apply a  bit of the highlight. It can be maddening sometimes, but eventually it comes good.

[Arkhanist]

After failing my ETL vow on Death Company and being the wrong side of 40, I know exactly the fun you're going through - wobbly hands, bad eyes. I tried a bunch of different approaches to black, including airbrushing and shading over dark grey and they either didn't look highlighted except real close up or ended up looking dirty grey instead of black which I just couldn't fix in time. It can work for organic surfaces, just not hard plates. After looking at real life hard black objects with sharp edges, I came to the conclusion that black marines do need some form of edge highlighting or drybrushing to pick up the details to look decent.

German grey dark (the new name for what was german grey) is a nice dark grey, but it's too far off for near-black on its own. But I did find a usable recipe for me. (it's a little darker IRL than this pic, they are under very bright lighting, and in this pic I have a couple of gems that I missed, haven't got round to an updated one)

The base coat is a 50/50 mix of kantor blue and abaddon black, which is very close to black but adds a little blue depth to it, and thinned a little bit as usual.

It's then a fat, unavoidably wobbly edge highlight with vallejo german grey dark (70.995) on all visible edges/details, and a fine edge highlight on corners and sharp edges up the top I could do with the side of the brush with an old pot of codex grey; original recipe used dawnstone and I don't have any of that! You then go back in with the kantor blue/abbadon black and correct the fat edge highlight to be thinner and even. No wash at all; though you could do a thinned nuln oil glaze if you wanted it darker.

My key discovery to doing the edge highlights and correction was using a rigger brush. They're about twice the length of the bristles of our standard round brushes, and what that does is 'absorb' hand tremors so you can get a straighter line - they're originally designed for watercolour painters doing sailing ship rigging, hence the name. I still make mistakes, but it's correctable stuff rather than disastrous.

Combine that with when tidying up with the 'kantor black' using the side of the brush, not the point, to kinda 'push' the paint up the flat panel parallel to the line i'm correcting rather than try and paint straight along it.

I use a rosemary and co series 88 size 1 for the bigger lines and panels, and a size 0 for the smaller ones, but even a cheap nylon rigger will be easier than trying it with a standard brush.

The other thing I invested in was an optivisor DA-4 with 2x magnifaction lenses, and a decent daylight bulb lamp. Made seeing the detail SO MUCH easier.

----

If that all sounds like much work, this is what Richard Grey (multiple golden demon winner) knocked up in half an hour with Contrast. The gun is Black Templar over a black primer zenithal highlighted with wraithbone; with a couple of tiny upper edge highlights with Daemonette Hide to finish off. I reckon if you used a darker precoat, say mechanicus grey-ish, or a 2nd thin coat of Black Templar, it will be closer to true black; but pooling may be a bit of an issue over large plates of a whole model. Definitely worth a look when it comes out in a couple of weeks.

[Syward]

Thanks Arkhanist! That helps a lot. I think I'm going to check out the contrast paint, I really like the result on that plasma gun from it and looks exactly like what I'd like to try to achieve.

 

Your models look great BTW, I'll give your suggestions a try.

[Syward]

Here's the results of my Nuln Oil tests over the Testors Gunship Grey (left) & the Dark Reaper (right). I'd say both fail to give me a "black" armor.

[Mostwanted]

I'm working on a test model at the moment before painting up a few Chaplains and Death Company. I've tried 50-50 chaos black and Eshin Grey. Recesses washed in Nuln Oil. Then line highlight with Eshin Grey and final highlight with administratum grey. Seems to work well so far.

[Bryan Blaire]

I either do a 50-50 mix of Eshin Grey:Abaddon Black or a 33.3:66.7 Mechanicus Standard Grey:Abaddon Black, then recess shade with Nuln Oil and edge/broad highlight with either Eshin Grey or a 66.7:33.3 Mechanicus Standard Grey:Abaddon Black, then step up to the next color in the chain for the edge highlight, and usually a spot highlight with Dawnstone.

 

If you are doing a “gloss” black effect, you can also spot highlight with Fenrisian Grey (or actually apply gloss varnish).