Excellent video. I have been in the miniatures hobby since 1972. Black is my favorite color to paint. The easiest way to paint black: paint black, dip the tip of the brush in white - mix, highlight. Do this again, but using a little more white. Thin black at 1 part black to 10, or 15 or 20 parts water (1:10, 1:15, 1:20); once mixed, apply the wash. Done. As a lifelong animal owner (horses, cattle, dogs, cats, chickens, guinea fowl), hunter and fisherman, I can assure you that there is black in wildlife.
Indeed! Thank you for the message and kind words. Absolutely, I love that you can mix that black for the shading/filter after highlights! I do that sometimes too. But That “serial dilution” isn’t easy for many who are new to working with paints. By the way I also work with animals and I agree with you depending on a definition of black.
This was the most helpful video I have seen to date I am painting tau in bright clean yellow and black to see if I could as I only ever did past armies in dark tones and struggling to find a video on black cheers 😊
I generally use Black Grey (Gris Negro) from Vallejo, it has a good cover and give good results, plus a mix of Turquoise, Black & White for highlights, naturally it depends from the light and details of the subject.
Yep, that's a wonderful base coat color! One thing I'd like to try is to use a very warm highlight at some point and see how that looks. I do think cool toned highlights look natural and give it the realistic black that I'm aiming to create. Hey, thanks for the note, I appreciate it!!!
very simple. I use same technique but i use flesh tone or pink to bring the black color up for black leather or cloth. If I do black horses i bring the color up with a light yellowish sand color. Looks more natural to me.
As in this video, ‘pure black’ paint like abaddon black or AP’s matte black are best applied in 3-4 very thinned layers over a primed black surface, for a flat result. However nowadays I just use Black Templar or Black Legion contrast, straight. In nature a common black is brown black (warm black with red or brown in it), as seen with insect carapace or ‘black cats’ when their fur is exposed to bright sunlight. For something like ‘eavy metal style black ork armour, I use stegadon green (it looks blue) as the thick highlight and sybarite green as the edge. Thinning a paint as a wash also works well to avoid the shine that washes sometimes add (use ball bearings to mix washes to avoid this).
Thanks for great video! Using a lighter shade for base coat is new to me, very happy to learn about it. I have been thinking about black a lot lately after seeing the “Portrait of W.S. Davenport” recently. The number of blacks in the painting is amazing. Patent leather, cloth, silk … really neat. Check it out!
Also if you go too black or too light, don't be afraid to switch to the washing with black or drybrush ( or whatever) with whatever shade of grey you need.
You can try it :). And it should work fine. Just be thoughtful about it and make sure you still retain control over the ability to add highlights and shadows with overlying paint.
Oh! Fascinating. I haven’t tried that. Give it a shot? I suppose the result will depend on how much red you mixed in. But a 1:1 ratio may not push it far enough for a brownish(?) color. Would be curious myself to see!
Hey thanks for the comment!!! Yup Payne’s Gray could be a tad lighter, but it’s made with black and blue mixed together. The blue I used is darkish and less saturated. The last shade step takes all of it to the black illusion effect you see here.
Hey looks really good, i'll give it a try. One question: Why didn't you use de pure black for bascoat the most deep shadows (lets say the darkest 10%) and then the paynes grey over the rest 90% and finish it up like you did? Wouldn't be there more depth? Thanks and keep going!
Hey, thanks for the comment! Yes, that would work, starting with a pure black basecoat, then lighten with Payne's Gray, etc. It would also add more contrast/depth. But, maybe that would add complexity to the process and may be a tad unreliable, since there appears to be an extra step (painting the pure black basecoat). Nonetheless, that would work, too and may look really good!
Hey, great question. Adding white to the Payne's gray I made would have been perfect, too. Except, it dried up in my palette and I didn't want to mix more. It's just easier to reach for a premade gray paint (darksea). And in principle, any lighter neutral-gray would be great for the highlight (using the dry brush application). When you do the last step, washing with the Citadel Nuln Oil shade, the highlight darkens down and the black colored illusion works!
great video but probably best to use actual artwork or still life to show as examples, not only because midjourney (or whichever) is pretty shit. but because in nature, the black colour we see is called chromatic black (i.e. it's made up of other colours), the subtle tinge really changes how the black can look. Pure black is almost absent in nature.
Yup, agreed. I could also have taken photos on my own but it's Winter and snowy here in the Northeast :) Thanks for the comment and indeed pure black isn't really found in nature at all
paint black, leave in dusty room for a week, varnish
lol or paint black, varnish… while wet, leave in dusty room. Done :)
Excellent video. I have been in the miniatures hobby since 1972. Black is my favorite color to paint. The easiest way to paint black: paint black, dip the tip of the brush in white - mix, highlight. Do this again, but using a little more white. Thin black at 1 part black to 10, or 15 or 20 parts water (1:10, 1:15, 1:20); once mixed, apply the wash. Done.
As a lifelong animal owner (horses, cattle, dogs, cats, chickens, guinea fowl), hunter and fisherman, I can assure you that there is black in wildlife.
Indeed! Thank you for the message and kind words. Absolutely, I love that you can mix that black for the shading/filter after highlights! I do that sometimes too. But That “serial dilution” isn’t easy for many who are new to working with paints. By the way I also work with animals and I agree with you depending on a definition of black.
Mostly found in Africa.
nice, I was thinking of trying this method then found your video confirming it works well. Thanks.
It does :) Thanks for the kind message !
This was the most helpful video I have seen to date I am painting tau in bright clean yellow and black to see if I could as I only ever did past armies in dark tones and struggling to find a video on black cheers 😊
Awesome 🎉 thank you for the feedback ! I’m glad this was helpful for you :) 😊
Great video thank you
Glad you found this helpful. Thank you for the kind message! 🎉
I generally use Black Grey (Gris Negro) from Vallejo, it has a good cover and give good results, plus a mix of Turquoise, Black & White for highlights, naturally it depends from the light and details of the subject.
Yep, that's a wonderful base coat color! One thing I'd like to try is to use a very warm highlight at some point and see how that looks. I do think cool toned highlights look natural and give it the realistic black that I'm aiming to create. Hey, thanks for the note, I appreciate it!!!
Very cool thanks
You’re welcome!
very simple. I use same technique but i use flesh tone or pink to bring the black color up for black leather or cloth. If I do black horses i bring the color up with a light yellowish sand color. Looks more natural to me.
Oh I need to try a flesh tone. Yellow works well for me as well. For this I used neutral gray as an example :)
New suscriber, great explanation
@@elgrievous thanks! Welcome to the channel …I love sharing stuff. Check out the blog too :)))
that was a fun way of doing it. thank you for sharing.
You're welcome! Thanks for letting me know and the kind comment.
As in this video, ‘pure black’ paint like abaddon black or AP’s matte black are best applied in 3-4 very thinned layers over a primed black surface, for a flat result. However nowadays I just use Black Templar or Black Legion contrast, straight.
In nature a common black is brown black (warm black with red or brown in it), as seen with insect carapace or ‘black cats’ when their fur is exposed to bright sunlight.
For something like ‘eavy metal style black ork armour, I use stegadon green (it looks blue) as the thick highlight and sybarite green as the edge.
Thinning a paint as a wash also works well to avoid the shine that washes sometimes add (use ball bearings to mix washes to avoid this).
Very detailed! I'll use your technique
Appreciate the note! Thank you and GL!
Thanks for great video! Using a lighter shade for base coat is new to me, very happy to learn about it.
I have been thinking about black a lot lately after seeing the “Portrait of W.S. Davenport” recently. The number of blacks in the painting is amazing. Patent leather, cloth, silk … really neat. Check it out!
I totally will check it out and thanks so much for the comment. It helps to know you find this useful :)
Great tecnique! Thank you.
Welcome!!!
Great video! Been struggling with my Black Legion. They all turn out really flat and uninteresting. I will try this. Thanks! ❤
Yeah it’s hard to paint black. Even I struggled for a long time. I’m happy this helps and this encourages me to continue sharing what I learn too.
Let me wear this black cloak to hide my shiny yellow armor.
That’s the “Rule of Cool” at work I guess. Lol
Looks great
Thanks ! 🙏
1. Metallic prime.
2.5 (optional) thinned blue.
2. Thinned black plaint.
It's a kind of reflective black in the end.
Oh I need to save this note for later. Thanks!!!
Also if you go too black or too light, don't be afraid to switch to the washing with black or drybrush ( or whatever) with whatever shade of grey you need.
1:30 where did you get these images from? Those models look really cool!
@@willjones1696 some were examples from my site tangibleday.com/ others canva or stock photos :)
Really cool stuff. Thanks for sharing!
I appreciate it!!!
I feel like you need more contrast for it, but this is nice for a table top figure
Yeah I agree. It also depends on the kind of black material. Push contrast too high and it looks glossy black rather than matte cloth.
Nice!
Out of curiosity, what is the model you were demonstrating upon?
The model is a Primaris Space Marine Eliminator (Games Workshop) :)
What if I use black primer?
You can try it :). And it should work fine. Just be thoughtful about it and make sure you still retain control over the ability to add highlights and shadows with overlying paint.
I'm just wondering.. would it be looking very strange if you would mix black with red instead of blue? Would it get more leatheri-like color?
Oh! Fascinating. I haven’t tried that. Give it a shot? I suppose the result will depend on how much red you mixed in. But a 1:1 ratio may not push it far enough for a brownish(?) color. Would be curious myself to see!
From what I have seen in Vince's videos and Google. Paynes Grey is more blue grey than dark grey like your example.
Hey thanks for the comment!!! Yup Payne’s Gray could be a tad lighter, but it’s made with black and blue mixed together. The blue I used is darkish and less saturated. The last shade step takes all of it to the black illusion effect you see here.
Hey looks really good, i'll give it a try. One question: Why didn't you use de pure black for bascoat the most deep shadows (lets say the darkest 10%) and then the paynes grey over the rest 90% and finish it up like you did? Wouldn't be there more depth? Thanks and keep going!
Hey, thanks for the comment! Yes, that would work, starting with a pure black basecoat, then lighten with Payne's Gray, etc. It would also add more contrast/depth. But, maybe that would add complexity to the process and may be a tad unreliable, since there appears to be an extra step (painting the pure black basecoat). Nonetheless, that would work, too and may look really good!
I would also say you want a step away from black because the black wash will take care of the pure black@@tangibleday
So why did you choose darksea as opposed to just adding a little white to your existing paynes grey?
Hey, great question. Adding white to the Payne's gray I made would have been perfect, too. Except, it dried up in my palette and I didn't want to mix more. It's just easier to reach for a premade gray paint (darksea). And in principle, any lighter neutral-gray would be great for the highlight (using the dry brush application). When you do the last step, washing with the Citadel Nuln Oil shade, the highlight darkens down and the black colored illusion works!
Nice video! I must ask, the mini in 00:33 is AI generated??
Yep that’s an AI image. Though I’m sure there is a mini out there that looks similar
Funny i recectly used these two colors on my orks
Oh how’d they turn out?
@@tangibleday really great, it's a black armour with a hint of blue. For my beast snaggas so it's like the black bones of huge beasts :)
great video but probably best to use actual artwork or still life to show as examples, not only because midjourney (or whichever) is pretty shit. but because in nature, the black colour we see is called chromatic black (i.e. it's made up of other colours), the subtle tinge really changes how the black can look. Pure black is almost absent in nature.
Yup, agreed. I could also have taken photos on my own but it's Winter and snowy here in the Northeast :) Thanks for the comment and indeed pure black isn't really found in nature at all
Sub... you ha e awesome content
Thank you! 😊
Rolling Stones would be proud