A truly black paint?

[Furbo]

Is there any paint that is actually black, and not just a very dark shade of some colour?

I am currently using vallejos black, which is the same colour as GW\'s chaos black, a very dark blue. You wouldn\'t normally notice this, it only becomes apparant if you thin it down very thin, or try mixing it with som light colour. E.g. trying to make a dark yellow will get you a dark green, as this guys coat shows.

I would really like a truly black paint to use as a mixer, but does it exist?

 

[Dragonsreach]

Originally posted by Furbo
I would really like a truly black paint to use as a mixer, but does it exist?

No.
Artists have been trying for many many years to get a True Black.
But it\'s only really in the complete absence of light is there really a true black.
Most painters use the tonality of the other colours on the figure or in 2D Painting to either Warm or Cool Black paint.

 

[junior elf]

Same question as furbo but what about white. Is there true white?

 

[hestan101]

a true black or white wil never be found. black means there is litteraly nothing
there, whre as white is a total abundance or colour.. but then again, what ive said is probabaly wrong, ask matt, he does art

 

[Furbo]

Originally posted by hestan101
a true black or white wil never be found. black means there is litteraly nothing
there, whre as white is a total abundance or colour.. but then again, what ive said is probabaly wrong, ask matt, he does art

But all I want is a paint which is a very dark gray, in stead of a very dark brown og blue or whatever... Oh well, apparantly it can\'t be done.
On the true white, it can be interpreted two ways:
1. Is there a very light grey, i.e. a paint which reflects equal amounts of all coulors
2. Is there a truly white paint, i.e. one that reflects all the light shining on it.
Hmm, of course, so can my question, I meant a true black in the sense 1 above.

 

[ronin412]

Father Ted: That\'s right, Dougal. You see, ordinary shops sell what look like black socks, but if you look closely, you\'ll see that they\'re very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue.
Father Dougal: That\'s true. I thought my Uncle Tommy was wearing black socks, but when I looked at them closely, they were just very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very dark blue.
Father Ted: Never buy black socks from a normal shop.
[Whispers to Dougal]
Father Ted: They shaft you every time!
[Dougal looks worried

 

[freakinacage]

down with this sort of thing!

careful now!

 

[hestan101]

hmmmm... very dark grey. vallejo will probably have one, they have sooo many colours. ps sorry for the abrupt nature of earlier post, just had a art fit.:innocent:

 

[Bigdennis52]

I had this issue when it comes to housepaint. Ask for a flat black paint and you get a very dark looking shade of grey, most people don\'t notice it but if you are using the flat black paint for stuff like mini\'s or terrain it becomes very apparent quick.

 

[ScottRadom]

\"It\'s like, how much more black could this be?\"

 

[Sauce Devil]

As far as I know Games Workshop make the best black paint - Chaos Black. I also read a tip somewhere on these forums that you can make black look artificially blacker by adding a little red to it.

 

[PegaZus]

Could you maybe mix a whole bunch of carbon black into some clear paint? Would that work?

 

[Bigdennis52]

Originally posted by Sauce Devil
As far as I know Games Workshop make the best black paint - Chaos Black. I also read a tip somewhere on these forums that you can make black look artificially blacker by adding a little red to it.

Well as mentioned the chaos black and others are usually a very dark hue of blue, by adding red to it you make a varient shade of purple which I guess has to be darker.

Some people use inks over a basecoat of black to just make it appear darker.

Another thing you can do to make it really dark black is to buy a wooden box, put the mini in the box. then shut the box and put that box into another box. BOOM black paint!

 

[mattsterbenz]

The blackest paint ever (I believe) was invented by NASA to go on parts of the space shuttles. It reflected very very little light. You could always try to get some of that, but I\'m sure it would cost you! lol

In all seriousness though you will get a couple types of responses. Some people swear by black paint, others hate it. In canvas painting, I don\'t even use it. Only the primaries and flake white (as I prefer to mix my darks, including greys/blacks). Since everything reflects the colors of nearby objects, you wouldn\'t even have a dark grey cape that\'s totally devoid of any color unless your miniature is standing in a totally grey room with absolutely no colors other than grey. lol

So, I wouldn\'t worry about it Chaos Black seems to be the darkest, most pure black I have found. Plus we are painting miniatures here. A pure, blackest black paint that exists only in theory would not even make more than a minimal difference when mixing colors, which we would probably not even be able to notice. If you want super dark shadows, just dim the lights a touch before you snap the picture and darken the shadows in photoshop.

Also, adding black to yellow will always get you an olive green, even if you mix with a warm black, such as Ivory Black. If you want a \"dark yellow\" I\'d go with Snakebite Leather or another brown color added to the yellow. It is not a good habit to simply add black to darken every color

Hope this is helpful and not too much to read! lol

-Matt

 

[Furbo]

Originally posted by PegaZus
Could you maybe mix a whole bunch of carbon black into some clear paint? Would that work?

I thought about that, but I don\'t know if carbon black actually is devoid of colour, or just looks like it like most paints. I would also imagine getting it dispersed in the paint would be problematic. Paint is expensive for a reason, and some of that is the difficulty getting the pigment evenly distributed. Oh, milling carbon black to a very fine powder has it\'s own problems, as my mothers previously white kitchen mortar can attest to :redface:

 

[mickc22]

you could catch some squids and squeeze the ink out of them, then see if that is black enough

 

[Furbo]

Originally posted by mattsterbenz
The blackest paint ever (I believe) was invented by NASA to go on parts of the space shuttles. It reflected very very little light. You could always try to get some of that, but I\'m sure it would cost you! lol

What, more expensive then miniature paint? The only substance more expensive then that is printer ink.

In all seriousness though you will get a couple types of responses. Some people swear by black paint, others hate it. In canvas painting, I don\'t even use it. Only the primaries and flake white (as I prefer to mix my darks, including greys/blacks).

As would I if I used more then 3 drops each time, but mixing exact colours in those amounts is not that easy ;-)
Of course, the primary colours is more of an unachievable ideal then pure black and pure white. Black and white can at least be achieved in principle.

So, I wouldn\'t worry about it Chaos Black seems to be the darkest, most pure black I have found. Plus we are painting miniatures here. A pure, blackest black paint that exists only in theory would not even make more than a minimal difference when mixing colors, which we would probably not even be able to notice. If you want super dark shadows, just dim the lights a touch before you snap the picture and darken the shadows in photoshop.

What??!!? Use photoshop to make the pictures of my miniatures better before posting them?? Preposterous!! I always use GIMP! ;-)

Also, adding black to yellow will always get you an olive green, even if you mix with a warm black, such as Ivory Black. If you want a \"dark yellow\" I\'d go with Snakebite Leather or another brown color added to the yellow. It is not a good habit to simply add black to darken every color

Hmm, a dark yellow-brown is a nice idea, I will try that. Of course, my next question would be how to mix a dark red. :-D

And yes, intuition in mixing colours goes out the window the moment you have anything but primary colours.

Originally posted by mickc22
you could catch some squids and squeeze the ink out of them, then see if that is black enough

Ahh, but that would be the colour sepia, which GW already have as a wash ;-)

 

[Einion]

Most blacks are perfectly neutral and dark enough to be considered black, although with a very matt finish they\'ll look like a dark grey.

Originally posted by Furbo
I am currently using vallejos black, which is the same colour as GW\'s chaos black, a very dark blue. You wouldn\'t normally notice this, it only becomes apparant if you thin it down very thin, or try mixing it with som light colour.

How a paint behaves in mixtures can be misleading. In reality almost all black pigments make blueish tints with white; this is not because the black paint is actually a blue, it\'s just what happens when pigments mix.

Originally posted by Furbo
I would really like a truly black paint to use as a mixer, but does it exist?

You have to adjust the hue of many mixtures as they can shift in ways that aren\'t desired.

You know how tints of many reds make something you might see as a \"cool pink\"? This is a shift in hue toward magenta and yet we don\'t think of white as a violet do we?

Originally posted by junior elf
Same question as furbo but what about white. Is there true white?

Titanium White is as close as you\'ll get. Most white paints in mini paint ranges will be made from Titanium White.

Originally posted by PegaZus
Could you maybe mix a whole bunch of carbon black into some clear paint? Would that work?

Yes. It would make something much like the colour of many black paints already sold.

Einion

 

[Mourner]

i know that you can make you paint appear whiter by mixing in a small amount of blue, (washing powder for white laundry always has small blue particles in it for the same reason), hope that helps.

plus, i\'ve found that coating a dark color with Gloss varnish make the color stronger, but that would give you a lot of shiny mini\'s....

 

[Queenoftheunifrogs]

Tamaya black is very dark but unfortunately its also glossy