Painting and Highlighting BLACK

R

Rev

Member
Hi guys

I\'m in a pickle.

I\'m a reasonable painter, but I paint some colours much better than others.

For ages i\'ve been staying away from painting anything black as i\'m terrible at it but its time for me to confront my nemesis.

I\'d like some advice on painting black, as whenever I try it it comes out TERRRIBLE

I normally go for spray black basecoat, then fine edge highlights of varying shades of gray.

can any one suggest a technique or link me to a tute on black?

thanks so much!

rev
 
N

nick232

New member
ok
start by re paintind the area black. then hi light LOTS with frotress grey. then give it a wash of black ink.
hey presto or some thing!
~nick
 
S

sg2009

Guest
the only tut i can think off is the one on the gw site where it shows u about 5 different ways to do it. i usually edge the back area with chaos black and shadow grey and then keep adding shadow grey but build it up to the corners when its just pure shadow grey and a couple of glazes of chaos black will help the layers blend together.

Hoped i helped

sam
 
T

Thecadian

Active member
when i paint black i undercoat in black and then add a new coat of black onto it. I then wetblend codex grey onto this but only a little at a time. I then add more codex grey to the mix until i get the look that i want. I may then give it a black wash to smooth it out.

hope this helps

James
 
H

hubbabubba

New member
What are you painting Rev?
I think the technique should change depending on what the material is. Is it reflective/glossy, or is it dull like textile?
 
R

Rev

Member
I\'m thinking about doing some black marines, so the areas would be armour plates with distinct edges etc.

I find blacks and blues really hard to highlight convincingly, and I want to get it right if i\'m doing a whole army!

thanks for the advice so far.

rev
 
R

Rev

Member
Yeh - I\'m wondering about doing a succsesor chapter instead lol, saves painting all taht black!

Out of those four tutes, I like the 4th one, tones black. I might do it using some dark blue?

rev
 
S

sg2009

Guest
another really quick way to highlight black for armies is just give it a really light drybrushing of codex grey

sam
 
R

Rev

Member
I feel like drybrushing is moving backwards rather than fwds.

I\'m thinknig I might go for this kind of a look using the tone technique:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/170114
 
S

sg2009

Guest
it depends if i paint an army i paint it quick and take shortcuts (drybrushing , inks etc)

if u want to take your painting forwards take more time on your vehicles and hq choices that way you improve your painting skill and finish the army quick


sam
 
T

Torn blue sky

New member
Blue is a handy colour to use. There\'s a transition point where you\'ll beed to turn your blue to gray though.
Darker blues like regal work well for more subtle definition, ourse you can go nuts with it too. Just experiment with it a bit.
 
Einion

Einion

New member
Originally posted by Rev
I\'m a reasonable painter, but I paint some colours much better than others.
Click to expand...
That\'s fairly common by the way, so you\'re not alone.

Originally posted by Rev
For ages i\'ve been staying away from painting anything black as i\'m terrible at it but its time for me to confront my nemesis.

I\'d like some advice on painting black, as whenever I try it it comes out TERRRIBLE
Click to expand...
Okay, how does it come out terrible? What doesn\'t look right or what don\'t you like about it?

Einion
 
M

markstorch

New member
I\'ve had some success with the following:

Basecoat black
Highlight with Vallejo German Grey
Dry Brush with Fortress or codex grey (depending on taste)
Wash with black ink
Touch up highlights

The German Grey seems to make it a lot easier to get the transition right and in a way that you can keep control over it.
 
M

mattrock

New member
I\'ve actually had great success with this method:

Basecoat (over a black undercoat of course) with an almost even mixture of codex grey and chaos black. This lightens the color just enough to shade in pure black but not enough to look grey.

Shade in pure black.

Highlight with pure codex grey, but dilute the paint about 10:1 with water. Then highlight by painting lots and lots of glaze type layers, building up opacity over successive layers until the highlights are as bright as you want them. This will give you more control over the highlights and help you build them up slowly so that you won\'t have the whole thing come out looking grey. This is pretty close if not exactly the technique seb (automaton) uses for most of his shading and highlighting regardless of the color and it really works well.
 
QuietiManes

QuietiManes

New member
Also, the Chaos Black spray and the Chaos Black pot are very slightly different colours. So, some of what might look off, especially on some really high end type mini\'s or mini\'s you\'re taking high detailed pictures of, could just be the variance in the two black colours. You can do a quick brush-on black coat or wash after priming to even out the black.

You don\'t need to highlight in greys either. I totally back TBS\'s suggestion for blue. Greens, reds, browns, most colours really, actually work quite well. Just a few lines around the edges type of thing. If you want to go nuts you can highlight up to white or offwhite on the colour highlights.
 
squig hunter

squig hunter

New member
Basecoat Chaos black.
Highlight with a mix of CB and Jade green (OOP).
Then add more and more Skull White for the succsesive highlights.

SQuig
 
A

Arma

New member
P3 Coal Black is nice and designed for highlighting black (with a green/blue hue that is). I do the following

1 Chaos Black
1:1 Chaos Black : Coal Black
More Coal Black
Then add rotting flesh or bleached bone for a single highlight on the edges.
 
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