Shade with black only?

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bakalla

Member
Let me start with a couple of pictures:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/55548
http://www.coolminiornot.com/56274
http://www.coolminiornot.com/55798
http://www.coolminiornot.com/56558
http://www.coolminiornot.com/57786
http://www.coolminiornot.com/54381

Now, even though these minis are widely different in both style and level of painting, they do have one thing in common: they\'ve all been shaded with black washes only.

I know it\'s common to shade green with dark green, red with darker red etc. But are not all shades black?

If you shade all colours with a very, very thin glace of black, it will become black in the deepest recesses and just slightly darker in the other areas that you shade. If you do multiple glaces with thin black, you\'ll get smooth transitions from the highest area to the deepest area. At least, that\'s my theory :flip:

You also won\'t have to mix 3-4 different washes when you\'re shading the mini, you\'ll just wash with black. And it\'s my theory that all shades are varying degrees of black anyway :)

What\'s your opinion on that subject?
 
Corvus

Corvus

New member
It might look good at first sight, but I think this technique eventually suffers from the effect as highlighting every color with white: you\'ll get a flat, greyed out mini in the end.

But since I don\'t use the shading technique (except for ink washes sometimes), I can\'t really tell you what\'s a better technique.. I gues just shading with a darker, or opposite color.
 
T

Taer

New member
All shades really aren\'t black because of bounced light and such. Plus the straight black washing on a mini isn\'t as interesting as a stranger color can be. Look at the French artists work and you can see what I mean. :flip::bouncy:
 
mattsterbenz

mattsterbenz

New member
no black...

something should be shaded with something other than black. for example, when someone thinks of a tree, they think \"brown trunk and green leaves\" when there are really other colors involved, such as blues, purples, yellows, and such. black does not exist in real life, it is just a very dark shade for a normal color. i suggest washing (or shading) in a darker version of the color, or even washing purple over green, then layering it again with green. it gives a more natural look. trust me, i use this technique in miniatures as well as canvas painting, and it works amazingly well...

there is my rambling for the day

-matt
 
F

Flashman14

Member
Philosophically, I used to hold that same position. In 15\'s on the table top shading with black made the details stand right out but in 25\'s it doesn\'t look so hot:

(see my own example here: this is the last time I used black exclusively as the shade color)

http://www.coolminiornot.com/35928http://www.coolminiornot.com/35928

I too had always assumed since the darkest color is black that the darkest shadows must also be black. But sadly it\'s just not true. It\'s closest in Dark Blues, Dark Grays and Purples but not at all in whites, yellows, reds etc ...

I guess the only problem with washing exclusively is you\'re dependant on the sculpt to have all the proper nooks and crannies for the wash to flow into - not all sculpts have that so washes end up just staining surfaces that shouldn\'t be that dark.

Personally, I base coat with all my darkest shades first then build up lighter from there ... But I\'m glad you brought it up as it\'s interesting to see what techniques went into certain minis ...
 
B

bakalla

Member
Well, honestly I agree with what most of you have said here. I don\'t really believe that merely washing with pure black gives the best result when doing high quality minis. It\'s a good technique for quick gaming minis though, I think! :)

It\'s also interesting to experiment with different techniques, I think. And washing with only black looks decent I think, but gives a sort of cartoon like style to the mini and sometimes looks too dirty. But nevertheless it\'s fun to try :)
 
M

MrBunnies

New member
My miniature painting experience is limited at this point, but I know from doing a lot of oil painting that if you want to shade a color, the natural-appearing way is to shade across the color wheel. If you want to darken red, shade with green, for example.
 
B

bakalla

Member
Okay.. that sounds VERY crazy to me, but I\'m willing to try it. Have you tried that when painting miniatures too? It sounds quite interesting :D


Originally posted by MrBunnies
My miniature painting experience is limited at this point, but I know from doing a lot of oil painting that if you want to shade a color, the natural-appearing way is to shade across the color wheel. If you want to darken red, shade with green, for example.
Click to expand...
 
No Such Agency

No Such Agency

New member
Originally posted by MrBunnies
My miniature painting experience is limited at this point, but I know from doing a lot of oil painting that if you want to shade a color, the natural-appearing way is to shade across the color wheel. If you want to darken red, shade with green, for example.
Click to expand...
More specifically, mix your red base colour with a green to produce the shade. An interesting side effect of this is that you can end up with a brown which can be used to shade both red AND green on the same model... saving time ;)
 
S

scythingtalon

New member
Black is not the answer... I base everything in black and work up from there.

As many people have mentioned, this is true in the art world too, using black will make things muddy and drab, even worse and nastier effect at a distance.

To create life in a fig, and or painting, you need to use the color\'s compliment as mentioned above.

Try doing figs then washing them with a purple or a red... I bet it comes out MUCH \"cleaner\" and refreshing than with black.
 
C

Cerridwyn1st

New member
Try brown ink

I haven\'t tried adding contrasing color to create a shade. I pretty much have different techniques for each color, and I\'m pretty happy with it all. For example, when I want to shade red, I use a brownish/red. Of course, this is the color that\'s created (more or less) by adding green to red...

I shade blue with blue/black, green with blue/green, browns with deeper browns. I can\'t begin to tell you what I\'d shade yellow with, since I hardly every use it.

One quick way to shade and define a model is to dunk or wash them with brown ink. Personally, I find Citadel Brown ink to be a bit dark, so I tend to go with Plaid Walnut Varnish, sometimes with a little extra Burnt Umber added in.

Actually, I asked Anne Foester for critique at Origins, and she pointed out that \"brown ink is your friend\", and that I should be using this technique more. DOH!

So, after applying your basecoat, wash or dunk the model in brown ink. If you dunk, shake off the excess. Then do your highlights as normal. The brown ink will shade, and will also define/line any details.
 
B

bakalla

Member
Originally posted by Cerridwyn1stSo, after applying your basecoat, wash or dunk the model in brown ink. If you dunk, shake off the excess. Then do your highlights as normal. The brown ink will shade, and will also define/line any details.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your input :flip: I love to hear about tips and techniques like that, because it makes painting faster, easier and possibly also helps to give better results. I\'m generally speaking an extremely slow painter, so \'shortcuts\' like this and things that speed up the whole painting process is very helpful :D I\'m definitely going to try my brown ink more, I\'ve barely opened the bottle at all before now :)
 
H

House of Dexter

New member
I painted this figure cloak using Vallejo Model Color Royal Blue...and to get the shade I added GW\'s Fiery Orange...

ElfUnicorn2.jpg


http://home.comcast.net/~houseofdexter/writeup1/page2.html
 
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