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I have been searching around on here and can't seem to find any great info on how to add more depth to models that are black in colour.

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any articles about this??

The golden rule of Black is:
Nothing Is Black. The trick to making things *look* black is sharp contrast - hard, tight highlights rather than soft gradiations (which if you do on black need to be pretty subtle).

Generally you'll want to use other tones against the black to give it life and definition - a little colour theory can help here - shifting 'up' highlights towards warm tones, and 'down' highlights (eg lower edges) cooler, you can give the impression of a warmer (eg sunlit) light from above. Using greens and off purples in the highlights can add an eerie tint.

If you're working on a tabletop mini with the usual grey highlights, the odd bit of OSL can add vibrant colour (if you can find somewhere to do it), otherwise you can use weathering tricks. Glazes can also be used to give a subtle variation in tone - the citadel washes work pretty well for this.

I usually work up from an off-black. Something like mixing in a little bit of your highlight color into the base coat.

Example. I'm painting black legion CSM. I'd mix in some adeptus battlegrey (the highight) to the chaos black before I throw it on them (The ratio should be less than 1/6, I'd say. Black has a tendency to absord color, even if you use a lot.)

Then I would wash it, and work from there.

Good luck!

you could also use other colors.... do not use grey on black, it wont have the right effect, but midnight blue, or a hint of dark angels green... something incredibly dark to suggest either reflection, or that it isnt entirely black

winterdyne wrote:The golden rule of Black is: Nothing Is Black.

QFT, with a minor caveat: Black paint is black.

Actually, I agree with both of the methods mentioned above, depending on the object in question. If painting Black Templar power armor, for example, I would use thin, stark edgelining, as I would expect even black coloration to be painted onto their satin-sheened armor. Nothing mimics black paint quite like black paint.

If I wanted to paint black cloth, however, I would likely start with a dark gray, shading down with black and highlighting up with a slightly lighter gray for something akin to denim, or use a very dark accent color mixed in for more silky looking items, like fancy capes and robes.

Typically what I have been doing so far is very light feathered edge highlighting with a mix of white/black about 20/1 using very watered down mix and applying it fairly dry then edging it to a very fine line with black.

it ends up looking like this:



(this is a model I mostly painted 10 years ago that I am experimenting colour scheme on)


maybe I will try and add depth by lowlighting with a wash or maybe trying the dark colour gradation.


Any more imput? Thanks for everything everyone has posted so far!

Mix blue into your black. This not only gives depth on its own but also means you can add easy shade with black wash as well.

Anyone have specific tips for Black Templars and adding depth to black?

Get a grey, I can't remember the name of the one to use, codex grey I think. I highlight the edges to the extreme

Nimbosa wrote:Anyone have specific tips for Black Templars and adding depth to black?

I would like to know if someone has a good idea or suggestion on this one.....
I was doing a edging using Adeptus with a little black mixed in then a smaller lighter highlight using Adeptus and real points (sharp highlights) with a even smaller line of Codex it looks, OK but not WOW!!!!!
I also recently tried Vallejo Black Grey which is the color I was trying to achieve with the mixing of Adeptus & Chaos black I'm very happy with the Black Grey for sure but still not the WOW factor yet....
The addition of green or blue sounds very interesting… I may go back a step and make the base black more of a grey black like it’s faded and then highlight up…..

What I do is mix GW water effects with the paint and then paint over that layer. Shiny like obsidian, but not wet looking.

Doomthumbs wrote:What I do is mix GW water effects with the paint and then paint over that layer. Shiny like obsidian, but not wet looking.

That sounds interesting.
Sample picture?
I wonder if Ard Coat would do the same?

Certainly.
My examples are all in green, but the principle is very much the same.
In the two examples below, the tyranid carapace is one coat, just slopped on like a heavy wash.
The water effects and the paint separate out, causing pockets of deeper color where the paint collects together. It also forms pockets where the base coat will show through because the paint has settled out of that area, leaving only the water effects.

The harpy used a 2:1 Water effects : paint ratio, and came out shinier.
The hive guard used a 1:1 Water effects : paint ratio, and came out more like regular paint.



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Ard coat has a different viscosity, and would be runnier. You would not be able to apply as much of the paint without it running, and so would not get enough separation to create the desired effect before it dried.

Very nice !!!!
I like it. What do you think about a coat of flat acrylic sealer after?

Sure, you can seal it if you like. But really, GW water effects is like a really, really hardcore version, so it would be like putting plywood over a concrete slab to protect it.

Edit: it would take away some of the shine, if thats what you're after.

Definitly an interesting technique there! I will be experimenting in the near future using water effects and paint for doing some basing. I will try it out there before I try it on my mini's! Thats for the tip and pics!

Does anyone have pics of the colour gradation examples?

Also what about dark brown?? It seems to me that it would have a similar effect to Blues or Greens

Depending on 'how black' you want your black to be...

Mix in Charadon Granite for a kind of 'natural' black.
Mix in some Necron Abyss for a 'blue-black'.

Etc.


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Oh you want some examples too, huh?

Here's one:



That's for a kind of 'black-grey' for the body armor. It's a mixture of Charadon Granite(25%), Adeptus Battlegrey(25%) and Chaos Black(50%).

After thinking about it Colour Gradation is usually based on a sphere such as this one here:

This is a real sphere made of glossy obsidian. See how little colour gradation there is




This is a rendered sphere showing much larger colour gradation, which I'm assiming is what the aforementioned coulour mixing effects would acheive



Now here is a flat finish sphere showing similar colour gradation to the rendered one.



so now the trick I guess is to mimic reality with paint