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Hey guys

Need some pointers for painting off-black power armour.

I want a very matte, soft charcoal colour. This is for Nurgle CSM, I don't want jet-black lacquer like Black Legion or Raven Guard.

I know you're supposed to paint black and white as extreme shades of grey rather than 'true' black and white. I was also thinking of using warm (brown) greys rather than cold (blue) greys.

I'm thinking I need to avoid sharp highlights (which look more gloss / reflective ), instead blending up the lighter areas more broadly (like diffused matte surfaces).

My plan was to start with a black / grey basecoat (maybe Forgeworld Corax Black, or a mix of black & mechanicus standard grey), glaze the recesses with heavily thinned paint (rather than an ink / wash) then blend up using warm grey like Karak Stone or Rakarth Flesh.

Does that sound like it will work? Does anyone have any other tips?

Try corvus black from forgeworld I think it will meet your needs. I have used it for my raven guard legion and it worked perfectly

Try doing a 50/50 mix of Rhinox Hide and Abaddon Black, then highlighted with 25/25/50 of Rhinox Hide, Skavenblight Dinge, and Abaddon Black.

If it's a horde army and you don't want to spend forever on each model then try the wash-and-forget method; prime in a dark grey, drybrush a lighter grey, then coat that sucker with a black wash.

Thanks guys

I don't think I could go the wash and drybrush route, unless it's a textured surface like fur or chainmail I would always layer & blend.

More concerned with the quality of the painting than the speed of output!

@Kanluwen, have you tried that recipe previously? Or do you have any pictures of a model painted that way?

I paint my Black Legion models using a wet-blending method.

Start with a base of primer, paint black on top of it, paint large grey streaks where the light should be and soften the edges using very thin layers of black. When I am done, I seal them with a matte spray-on finish that reduces shinyness from ambient light.

The aesthetic I shoot for is similar to this:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-91503-44330_Black%20Legion.html

 techsoldaten wrote:
I paint my Black Legion models using a wet-blending method.

Start with a base of primer, paint black on top of it, paint large grey streaks where the light should be and soften the edges using very thin layers of black. When I am done, I seal them with a matte spray-on finish that reduces shinyness from ambient light.

The aesthetic I shoot for is similar to this:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-91503-44330_Black%20Legion.html

Ah awesome, thank you. That's interesting. I'd want to go browner than that cold grey look, but could use Rakarth Flesh and work towards a similar finish...

Might give that a shot, cheers!

I just airbrush Abaddon black, then Eshin Gray then Nuln oil. It's a very subtle matte black finish.

If you want to highlight further, then add in Dawnstone airbrush layer over the Eshin Gray.

If you want to go for a browner gray, use Skavenblight Dinge instead of Eshin Gray.

This coming from a guy who has a Black Legion, Black Templars, Black Dark Eldar, Black Dark Elf, Black Chaos Warriors army. I've done a lot of black...

Ha awesome, thanks!

Yeah I would likely want to highlight further just to make it pop a little. Maybe a selective, fine khaki edge highlight would finish it nicely, after black > dinge > rakarth > nuln oil (progressive airbrush layers).

I will post results either way!