"Black and White Painting" Topic

For those of you who were interested in what this style looks like, I've finally managed to fix a couple of the photos at my web site so they're not red-shifted on PCs any more.

The web address is:

link

And you want to look at the top two photos -- the bottom three are still screwed up. Turns out those three are red-shifted on a Mac as well, though not as much. I think the source of my problem with the pics was taking them during the Big Fire in San Diego -- all the light was reddish at the time, so I probably didn't notice. If folks are interested, I'll try re-taking pics of the other three.

For Mac users: I cleaned up the two pics using the "Enhance" function on iPhoto, and that worked immediately. I tried the same function on the ohter three, and got some weird distortions. Simple software is obviously no match for bad photography. ; )

Please don't take this the wrong way, but...what's the point? I could see doing a completely black and white style with very subtle and smooth variations in shade...but I don't see that here.

Is it there but the pictures don't show it?

My first impression of these fig's was: "That looks like the primer armies I see people using all the time...ie, unpainted".

Again, I'm not trying to put you down, I just don't know what the story behind these things is, and the pictures aren't so good...

Here's the ultimate in B&W painting. This man has more talent than I could muster in a billion years:

link

You obviously didn't read the captions. ;)

Two of the three Deathseekers are only base-coated. The one in front is the only finished one of the three. It's kinda/sorta/not quite like the workbench pictures of how you get there, and what could be done. In that sense, the first picture is the better of the two.

Sadly, it also shows some of the traps -- I got a little too much white at the top of his hakama (pants for you gringos), and his right forearm is a little too light. But I like how the inner kimono turned out, along with the sandals and the lower portions of the hakama. I especially like how the face turned out -- though I can't decide whether I like or hate how bright the scar across his nose turned out.

And yeah, the pictures aren't so good. I could have sworn that I mentioned that I sucked as a photographer. Oh, here it is ... it's the caption on picture five, that I told you not to bother with. ;)

Seriously: I made a horrible rookie mistake on these pictures, in that there's more than one fig in each shot. It makes it very difficult to focus on each figure -- which is why you've got shot one, with the completed Deathseeker in focus, and shot two, where the base coats are in focus instead. That's a lesson for the rest of y'all out there.

RE: Barry Gazso's diorama.

oooOOOooooo, wow.

Very nice. :)

WOW! That diorama is breath taking if not mind boggling!

Hmmm...

That diroama is very very nice.

Back to the oriental guys... I read the captions...I thought the two guys in back looked better tahn the guy in front...

Yeah, I just looked again. To me, the two in back seem way better than the guy in front. i suppose it the untrained eyes of the the unenlightened speaking. That said, I'm gonna give it a go. I'll be painting up a black and white mini when I get the time in the next couple weeks and I'll do progress shots for posterity.

I'm interested to find out what I can do with this style. Thanks for giving me a taste Meiczyslaw!!

Holy S*&^! That's the craziest thing I've ever seen. It's either the work of madman or genius. You're almost jolted when you scroll down far enough to see the base.

Amazing job!

John Tipping

They need more contrast. Colors jump out in BW in ways they don't in full color. Ya gotta know what part of the spectrum you're filtering for. With red, skin is going to emit the most light. That's why the two unfinished figures look the best - their skin shines while their clothing absorbs light.

Be careful with highlights in BW. You're dealing primarily with shadows since the rest of the color information is ignored.

Abstracity --

Dude, you really know how to hurt a guy. ;)

But honestly, after looking at the diorama, I think my problem is that I used the darker ends of the spectrum too much. The lighter end is more striking, and that's probably what you're seeing. The other thing I'm seeing is that he painted them with the same rules I use for priming -- use white for skin and fabrics, and black for manufactured objects. (Or, more accurately, the white end and the black end of the spectrum.)

Food for thought. Great find, javelin -- it gives me something to think about. ;)

Dang. El cid be faster than me. ;)

damn! That diorama is good . . . we toss around the word "unbelievable" all the time - but that's one where it really means something. Like I almost can't believe it ....mostly because of the plants and shrubs - even if you spraypainted it how do you paint that and not miss any color?? Oh I'm sure it's real - I just don't believe it ....heh

It's remarkable - and inspiring. A whole black and white wargame? Which period would it best suit - All Quiet on the Western front?

Meizy: On these fig's I'm certain they look better in person. Especially since you had to mess with the pics to get that red out.

You really should take my desire to have a go at this as a compliment...I'd take it that way if someone wanted to try something I'd done...even if a thousand other people said it was garbage!! I think this will be great practice at being subtle with shading...I suspect a lot of thought goes into just what shade of gray to use...

Take care!

I would rather have a full color diorama, and take a bw photo. What's the point, except to say "Look at how clever I am!"

John --

Part of the reason I started with this paint scheme was a vision of an Undead army I had. All the zombies, skeletons, etc. would be black-and-white, while the vampire would be mostly black-and-white with a small dash of color.

I've also been playing a large number of games lately that divide combatants between mooks and heroes -- the other thought was that all the mooks would be in black-and-white, and the heroes would be in color.

Meiczyslaw,

This is a fun way to learn how the value ("lightness") of color affects the 3d surfaces we paint. Often I'm fooled by the relative intensity of vivid colors into thinking that they're lighter than they are. By restricting your palette to totally unsaturated pigments, you can play around and see how light or how dark you can paint a figure and still get the aesthetic contrasts you desire. It'll also give you practice visualizing light values when you're trying to assess the relative value of a saturated pigment.

Try to see how light you can paint a figure and still have it look 'black'. Does it depend on the background of the figure? Will you need a 'key value' to cue the eye to see darkness or light?

Other Dave

John, I agree with you, Id paint it in colour then take a pic and use Adobe to turn it black and white..

Though the Diorama does look kinda spooky.

Meiczyslaw..

Full credit to you for giving it a go, but its hard to see like you explained as the figures look red... maybe you should take a few more pics and get them looking like they should be.