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Hello everybody

I'm searching for a way to paint grime / lamp black / unburned carbon (as a non native speaker, I do not know how to call it really - unburned carbon left by a fire on solid surfaces :-) ).
Some of my marines shall look like if they just stepped out of a fire - white armour coverd with black grime. But to be honest, I can't find a way to create this effect. Just using black washes doesn't help, as unburned carbon is kind of smeary, but with a visible pigment-kind of structure - sure that this is not relevant for transferring it to the figure scale, but just using washes doesn't look good (as long as I'm doing it - feel free to convince me that it is a way to create the effect).
S: has aneone tried to create this effect? On a bolter, oder flamer, or, like I want to do it, even on a bigger surface?

Best regards

HvE

I would stipple a 50/50 mixture of Chardon Granite & Black, with a heavy Badab Black wash over it, shading 70/30 brighter towards the edges of the smudges. and 30/70 darker towards the deepest parts of the burns.

MIG smoke black pigment with MIG Pigment Fixer and sometimes I layer in Vallejo Carbon Black Pigment. It looks like dried sooty Carbon when it completely dries. That's what I use on my flamers and jump packs.

Weathering pigments will give you the most convincing effect. MIG is the biggest name, but there are other manufacturers, all of which work rather well. I have APJ pigments for soot and rust and use isopropyl alcohol to set them in place before a dusting of matte varnish.

If you want to take the DIY approach, you can "make" your own weathering powders by grinding up artist's pastels (just make sure they're not oil-based pastels - what you want are more like high quality colored chalk, just dry pigment and a binding agent).