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I am working on some pre heresy dark angels but i dont want to use gray as the armour highlights so i was hoping someone here coul post some pics tutorials or any other ideas of how to make black armour look great. Thanks all

wat.

What would you use instead of grey? Use chardonite granite instead of black and you can wash it. Then highlight with codex grey or something like that.

Also, red highlights look cool. Try scab.

A cheating way to do it is just to paint the model Adeptus Battlegrey, then wash it black.

i did my red scorpions grey with black wash but it comes out too grey i think. I want dark black armour but whenever i use grey highlights it pulls from the black and makes the whole model look kinda grey

Was it Codex Grey or Adeptus Battlegrey?

Because Adeptus Battlegrey is pretty much black as is.

Three successive washes of Badab Black is what you want, not just one also.
Do one, let it dry, do the next, let it dry again, then do the last one.
If it still looks grey, then do a mix of 75% Adeptus Battlegrey, 25% Chaos Black heavily watered down as the final wash.

any pics?

Highlight/ edge with GWF Necron Abyss and than highlight the highlight with another shade of blue (if that makes any sense).

good luck

IMO, it's really the best to highlight with the next DARKEST color possible. IE when you are highlighting black, use the darkest grey you can find. I see too many people just butchering models malking them look craptastic when highlighting is done wrong. It's way easy to over-highlight. Don't be one of the ones that does it too much.

Lord_Astaroth wrote:I see too many people just butchering models malking them look craptastic when highlighting is done wrong. It's way easy to over-highlight. Don't be one of the ones that does it too much.

To true, to true. It's the main reason I don't try to highlight models.
Weird thought, try a really thin white wash and then while its still wet lightly wipe the excess off.

250th post.

if your doing your guys grey you dont really need a hightlight i dont do that to mine and it works pretty good in my opinion here is a pic of them

Needing to highlight black with grey is a trap a lot of painters fall into.

True black is near impossible to create. Almost all fabricated blacks are very dark browns, blues etc. Look at your model and think what kind of coloured highlight will improve it. The highlight can be near any dark colour as long as you keep it modest. If you have red shoulderguards, then the highlight could be a dark red, if you have lots of whites, the highlight could be a dark blue, there is no set rule and it is all down to what you think would suit your model

I did mine with Tin Bitz and then just a teeny dab of chainmail here and there for a weathered sort of highlight. I think it looks good...

an00bis - i really like your model but i dont think it will work for me. I am looking to do pre heresy Dark angels, i am starting to think that a very light highlight of hawk turquise would work what do you guys think?

I do my CSM black legion in boltgun metal and then 3-4 black washes.

If i need to hightlight, I do it in boltgun metal or mithril silver.

Im strictly a table top painter, but I think it works... mostly.

darkkt wrote:I do my CSM black legion in boltgun metal and then 3-4 black washes.

If i need to hightlight, I do it in boltgun metal or mithril silver.

Im strictly a table top painter, but I think it works... mostly.

That looks awesome, man.

I do my black legion:
I use airbrush.

1 - Undercoat with Chaos Black.
2 - 1 to 1 mix chaos black with skull white
And spray from a fixed angle from above (Imagine you are
the sun).
3 - Wash with badab black, gently, You can even mix badab in a
1 to 1 with water.
4 - Go with a fine brush and bring out the sharp pointy edges
with same 1 to 1 mix of chaos black and skull white.
5 - Go about and do boltgun and gold stuf. Done.

I like a highlight of boltgun metal/chainmail over black hardedges followed by a color wash - black to tone and deepen or a tint to produce green, red, blue, rusty, or purple. Works great.

If you're going for pre-heresy DA's, why not highlight with Dark Angels Green? They'd still be black but with that foreboding green tone on the edges...