Painting dirty black power armour ???

[Brother Clavero]

Could anyone recommend a technique (s) to make black power armour more dirty than weathered?

I'm planning on painting my raven guard to represent their desperate time on istvaan v so I'm thinking a burnt umber wash (oil ) ? 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Ultimately, it depends upon what kind of "dirt" you want them to have been through? Typically, it would be done with pigment powders/washes, mud splatter (e.g. Vallejo Splash Mud, or thinned paint), washes, and/or a little chipping. Generally, lighter colours are selected for black armour to give contrast, but I've seen darker colours used to give a subtle effect.

 

Some possibly useful videos: Artis Opus' Vindicator dozer blade, Ichiban's terrain pigment wash, and ScaleModelMedic's muddying up a historical vehicle.

 

Don't know if that helps or not..?

Edited November 24, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova

[sarabando]

i simply do a flat black, then pick out edges with silver chips then i use a heavily watered down vallejo orange brown to wash into the recess' i use the this to create the contrast between the plates rather than highlighting the black at all. 

[Valkia the Bloody]

1 hour ago, sarabando said:

i simply do a flat black, then pick out edges with silver chips then i use a heavily watered down vallejo orange brown to wash into the recess' i use the this to create the contrast between the plates rather than highlighting the black at all. 

This is a great idea!

It also looks good.

Thank you for sharing.

[sarabando]

55 minutes ago, Valkia the Bloody said:

This is a great idea!

It also looks good.

Thank you for sharing.

any time. 

[Brother Clavero]

Thanks for the replies!   I may do a combination of techniques recommended from the both of you.  I really like the idea of a pigment wash that can be applied to the joints, etc.  . 

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Yeah I also tend to use both pigments and oils to age my black armor.  Normally I just dry apply some pigments  and then selectively oil wash over them, and I normally choose a fairly contrasting pigment so that the color of the oil wash interacts like grime over rust or mud.  

[Brother Clavero]

10 minutes ago, Inquisitor Eisenhorn said:

Yeah I also tend to use both pigments and oils to age my black armor.  Normally I just dry apply some pigments  and then selectively oil wash over them, and I normally choose a fairly contrasting pigment so that the color of the oil wash interacts like grime over rust or mud.  

Sounds very interesting.  Happen to have a pic ??

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Here are a bunch I did a while back.  I also do the black armor by doing a grisaille highlight over grey primer and then black oil paints and let them dry before weathering.  

[Brother Clavero]

40 minutes ago, Inquisitor Eisenhorn said:

Here are a bunch I did a while back.  I also do the black armor by doing a grisaille highlight over grey primer and then black oil paints and let them dry before weathering.  

Wow ! Very nice.