Chortle | 27 May 2014 3:29 a.m. PST |
I'm painting my Napoleonic Prussians. For the reserve infantry, the 12th regiment (1st battalion and some of the 2nd battalion) have black jackets. I want to do the best job possible so I'd like to see images of paint jobs people have finished to see what will work best for me. Off hand, I will likely paint dark grey, wash black, then highlight with black+grey or black+(something else). This is the unit on Calpe miniatures. I don't know if the colour balance is off, but the green tinge to blacks doesn't work for me. Very nice style though.
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Clark182 | 27 May 2014 3:48 a.m. PST |
I use two color combos. both are on a black prime base. for black cloth, charcoal grey highlighted with a lighter storm grey. for black leather, payne's grey highlighted with payne's lightened up with a touch of white. the white turns it to a blueish grey. -clark182 |
Fizzypickles | 27 May 2014 4:27 a.m. PST |
Highlighting black is an interesting one. If you are going down the route of mixing a lighter shade into your black paint there is something you need to be aware of. Not all blacks are equal. An interesting exercise to find out what kind of black you paint is, is to add a little yellow to it, if the result is a greenish tone then you have a blue-black (this is quite a good way to reproduce the much debated german fieldgrau btw) if you get a more khaki brown grey then you have a brown black. Artists often use Paynes Grey to represent distance as well as shadow, this is because it has a purplish hue and so you need to bear that in mind depending on which kind of black you have. Perhaps the easiest if not the cheapest method is buy something like the Andrea Black set. They are very good. |
jeffreyw3 | 27 May 2014 4:42 a.m. PST |
I haven't had to paint black cloth yet, but I've been using the Payne's grey method Clark outlines for leather, and it works well--particularly on shakos. |
bandit86 | 27 May 2014 6:13 a.m. PST |
I like Vallejo s black gray for highlighting |
Chortle | 27 May 2014 6:16 a.m. PST |
Fizzy, that is very interesting. I will give it a go. Looking at those Calpe minis I see the green tinge means they (I guess) had a blue-black colour to start with. I will test this on my Vallejo black. If only we had a black that was as black as Priests socks. Clark, I hope that you can show me an example of your painting black cloth so I can visualise it. Thank you for reminding me about Paynes grey, which I have somewhere (at least in oils, perhaps in Acrylic). |
timurilank | 27 May 2014 8:01 a.m. PST |
My medieval priests do not wear socks. =0 Highlighting black is a challenge and as a rule I consider the material. I use a different colour to highlight black leather, fur or cloth. I find black mixed with a bit of grey gives a better impression of cloth and will highlight with flesh. |
Random Die Roll | 27 May 2014 8:36 a.m. PST |
Highlight of black also depends on the overall look you are going for---Black and worn--grey to blue-grey for a highlight Black and new/gloss---you can use silver or dark purple |
wrgmr1 | 27 May 2014 8:48 a.m. PST |
I use Delta Ceramcoat Storm Grey for a highlight.
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AppleMak | 27 May 2014 8:49 a.m. PST |
I was reading an article by a figure painter (I forget now, sorry) who recommended using PINK to highlight black for "shiney" surfaces. Apparently the mix of black + pink gives a softer highlight reminiscent of the reflections that you can get in highly glossed black. Not sure if the same applies to cloth, for example. Not tried it yet though, so can not give a personal recommendation. |
Chortle | 27 May 2014 9:56 a.m. PST |
"Not tried it yet though, so can not give a personal recommendation." Thanks for the suggestion. This is why I'm so keen on pictures illustrating a technique. Thanks for a shot of your Prussians, wrgmr1 – very on topic! |
wrgmr1 | 27 May 2014 12:17 p.m. PST |
You are most welcome, basing was not finished at this point. I haven't taken any since these. |
Gnu2000 | 27 May 2014 2:23 p.m. PST |
For cloth: Black then add dark blue for first highlight then progressively add flesh for further highlights. For leather: Black highlighted with Vallejo black-grey. That's how I do it. |
ancientsgamer | 27 May 2014 2:36 p.m. PST |
A very dark blue or the Payne's Grey makes a good midtone. I would then hit it with a lighter grey for the extreme peaks of highlighting only. Frankly, the actual lighting that hits the figures would be the best highlight. The Games Workshop guys have shown extreme tips of highlights to have a very light white color actually
. Black is a tough one to do. I have used straight black with a very dark blue as a highlight and left it at that and not worry about highlighting as much as other colors. There is very little color difference between black and extremely dark blue btw. Have a look at your dress pants and unless in bright light, it is very hard to tell black from dark blue. Hence the reasoning Payne's Grey makes a good midtone. I find that too much mid gray as a highlight makes what your painting look, well, gray :-) I think black is a case of where less is more works best. |
olicana | 27 May 2014 3:05 p.m. PST |
I did these last month. Cloth is highlighted blue grey. Leather is highlighted grey.
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Fizzypickles | 28 May 2014 2:52 a.m. PST |
As has already been mentioned, various flesh tone paints are handy for lightening other colours, even the dreaded red. For very subtle black highlights the use of purple can also be very effective. |
Temporary like Achilles | 28 May 2014 7:25 a.m. PST |
Was just about to say take a look at Olicana's blog, and lo, here he is amongst us! He has the most striking black highlights I've seen. |
Flashman14 | 30 May 2014 8:53 a.m. PST |
You can use almost anything that is light to mix in to highlight black. I've used white, tan, sky blue, flesh -all produce different effects. For more reflective surfaces like patent leathers or belt boxes I like a (what a coincidence) sky blue! A tan is better to show wear and tear on blackened leather that has seen some wear. Depending on what you mix in you can get cool effects as above or warmer effects with tan or a flesh color like Elf Flesh. Mostly just use white and I premix a three tier highlight sequence in their own bottles to ensure consistency. There is that GW method that is always eye catching and that's to leave it all black and just paint the edges and folds in the gray. Shadows and the base all remain black. |
Warcolours Painting Studio | 15 Jun 2014 9:26 p.m. PST |
the main problem when painting black is to find a way to convincingly higlight it while having it remain black andnot ending up with a miniature which is obviously grey, as so always happens. Personally I start with black, have a first highlight with black grey and then add a little dark prussian blue to it and subsequently some increasing amount of ivory (all Vallejo Model Color). Finally I have a general glaze with slightly diluted Black Wash (Vallejo again), one or two coats according to how it turns out. The result is something like this
warcolours.net facebook.com/warcolours |