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I am looking to paint my commissar but can't figure how to paint black without making it look like I primed it aND then added a wash.... how does one accomplish that?

A good way of doing it is to paint on the raised areas with a dark grey, it gives it some depth of color, here, this may be relevant to your interests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmdvSjG7BzE&index=88&list=PLB0292071C3B38CAC

Giving a contrast to inner and outer cloak can help make the black work better.

There are ton of ways to work with black, but the key is usually to introduce a lighter shade to accentuate the black, while being careful to keep the overall look, well, black.

One way that's cheap and easy is to give the model a heavy drybrush with charcoal paint, and then a heavy black wash. It will give you subtle grey highlights.

The other way is to actually layer very subtle dark grey highlights up from black, which I've never been able to successfully do.

You can also mix a color with black to create your highlight. For example, here's a black dragon where I painted the scales charcoal and the spines very dark purple, and threw both a black wash and a black ink glaze over it:



Here's a Gestapo agent with a dark grey trench and black hat:



You just keep throwing black ink over the model until it's as black as you'd like.

 FakeBritishPerson wrote:
A good way of doing it is to paint on the raised areas with a dark grey, it gives it some depth of color, here, this may be relevant to your interests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmdvSjG7BzE&index=88&list=PLB0292071C3B38CAC

I saw the comments on that video before watching and thought "It can't be that bad can it?" Afterwards, I honestly wouldn't recommend doing that UNLESS you are a beginner. It just comes out... sloppy.

The top comment, at least on my web page when looking at the video states this (removing the backlash): "...when it comes to black highlights as has been pointed out blues, purples, are great to mix with your black paint that still makes it look black but with a very subtle shade. Mixing black with a brown leather also makes for a subtle variation for belts, straps, shoes etc. You can have a totally back miniature that still looks 3 dimensional without using super harsh contrasts like you have done here..."

I'd follow this, but if you really, REALLY, want to keep it without a sort of black with a shimmer of grey for the highlighting, use black and just make it the darkest grey possible you know? So like 2 parts black, .05 parts grey.

The idea that the top comment states, from youtube, is that there is different types of materials out there, such as midnight blue (A good example would be this but the darker area in the upper right) or other colors.

Again, not to downplay the posted video since Jay does fantastic tutorial vids, it's just not something you really want to follow since it's done... well badly.


EDIT: Greyguy13 which model of commissar is it anyway?

The best general advice with painting black is simple: don't overdo it. Quite simply, over-highlighting black turns it into grey (or a dark version of whatever color you used to highlight it).

Think about the intended material - does it reflect light? diffuse light? Painting a facsimile of onyx/agate is very different than one of, say, black satin or felt. Decide on your material, stare at reference photos for longer than you think necessary, THEN try to paint it.

Or, you know, just tell us if you want it to be leather or whatever and someone will give you a recipe.

Well so far I am using this guy to be my Ciaphas Cain character as I work on my Valhallans 597th, if you can spot in the background below.

I am aiming for the weathered look, but to start off looking clean before I decide that far. Are Commissar coats uaually heavy leather?

I will be trying out these techniques on the weekend. Thank you.

 Greyguy13 wrote:
Well so far I am using this guy to be my Ciaphas Cain character as I work on my Valhallans 597th, if you can spot in the background below.

I am aiming for the weathered look, but to start off looking clean before I decide that far. Are Commissar coats uaually heavy leather?

Looking at the Officio Prefectus Commissar model, it looks like it's a standard Captain's coat like you'd see on British Naval Captains during the time of the American Rev (think a pirate coat). I'd personally say no to the heavy leather BUT if you're basing it off Ciaphas Cain, I'd read the lore behind him. Somewhere in some book, I'm pretty confident they've described his coat.

My quick and easy black that I used for my semi-important Night Goblins (Bosses, Fanatics, etc) so they don't look plain but also don't take hours each to paint...

1. Basecoat black.

2. All but the deep recesses picked out in dark grey (probably Eshin Grey, I've been using a VMA colour for it)

3. Pick out the ridges with a medium grey (I've been using P3 Greatcloak Grey). Aim to have around 1/3 the model black, 1/3 Eshin and 1/3 Greatcloak.

4. Wash with a Black wash, I use Army Painter's Dark Tone, but Nuln Oil should work fine.

5. Pick out the very raised edges with Greatcloak Grey again to bring back a bit of contrast. Aim only for the raised edges.

Done. If you feather the coats rather than just block painting them, it'll give a bit more of a texture to them.

If it's something that I want to spend a bit more time on, my basic technique is the same except I mix more intermediate colours and spend more time trying to blend them together.

That's how I painted the Warboss in this image...



To contrast, the guy standing next to him holding the moon banner is my "speed painted" version, which is black base coat, highlight with Greatcloak Grey and then wash with a black wash. That speed painting method works well for Night Goblins because they're small, detailed and there's tons of the little buggers to the point where adding a couple of intermediate colours isn't really noticeable from realistic viewing distances, but for a larger/focal model like a Commissar it's better spending a bit more time on them.

I really like the look of your Warboss. If I can pull it off I would definitely like to go more that route for the look of mine.

@Skink: it's called Greatcoat Grey, not Greatcloak
definitely one of my go-to colors for working with black...

i usually work up through (all P3 colors) Thamar Black, Coal Black, Greatcoat Grey, Ironhull Grey, and Trollblood Highlight...

for my Lord Commissar, the quick version is Thamar Black, broad highlights with Greatcoat Grey, and fine highlights of Trollblood Highlight...







i love Commissars
good luck on yours, and don't forget to show us how he turns out...

cheers
jah

Since you said you you liked the Warboss, here's a better set of pics of it.



I never painted it with the intention of looking at it zoomed in like that, so you can probably pick up some of the little mistakes that happen when mere mortals paint models designed for the gaming table rather than the display shelf It was a reasonably quick job and it's not going to win any awards, much of the blending was achieved by applying the black wash before doing an additional edge highlight in Greatcoat Grey.

 jah-joshua wrote:
@Skink: it's called Greatcoat Grey, not Greatcloak

Ha, I managed to make that mistake in spite of having the bottle literally sitting right in front of me, lol.

I like the edge highlight with Trollblood Highlight, though I think it'd look too extreme on my models, I prefer slightly flatter colours on my models so it'd probably look weird to have the black with a more extreme highlight than the rest of the model.

i hear you, Skink...
we know that i prefer a lot more contrast and pop to my paint jobs
even then, as the years go by, i get a little better at making the final highlights a little more subtle than i did on the edges of the Commissars cloak...
he was painted in 2009, and those edge highlights look a little too heavy now, even for me...
he was one of my first efforts when i was stepping-up my game 6-7 years ago...
this was my next effort with black and Trollblood Highlight edge highlight, in 2012:



it worked out nice for the chipping...
sadly, sometimes it is years between chances to experiment with a certain scheme...
now that the Deathwatch are out, i'm sure that i ill get to paint a lot of black, but i am going to go for even more contrast, like Flameon, Lan Studio, and Ben Komets do, where they paint almost to pure white on the reflections, and then tone it back with washes...
the learning never stops

your Goblin looks great, especially in a unit...
the army itself is an awesome effort...
Night Goblins are one of my favorite armies, followed closely by Forest Goblins
good to see you finally reached a stopping point with these guys, and i hope you get to play them some, now that you have a good few units...
i bet you'll get the itch to add the more exotic stuff once you take them for a spin a few times...

cheers
jah

That guy does look a bit more subtle with the Trollblood. Is that quite heavily thinned to make it more transparent?

Yeah I should probably spend some time painting some display quality stuff, I'm not very artistically gifted to begin with so I tend to fall on good schemes by accident rather than intentionally I have been painting aircraft for display purposes, but the skill set required for aircraft is completely different.

I start with black primer of course, them vellejo german grey(a very dark grey), then highlight with eshin grey, selectively edge with dawnstone, black wash, once the whole model is finished, I dirty up certain areas with black/dark brown powder to break up flat areas.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
That guy does look a bit more subtle with the Trollblood. Is that quite heavily thinned to make it more transparent?

Yeah I should probably spend some time painting some display quality stuff, I'm not very artistically gifted to begin with so I tend to fall on good schemes by accident rather than intentionally I have been painting aircraft for display purposes, but the skill set required for aircraft is completely different.

it is the glazes knocking back the highlights that have made a big difference for me, as well as being a bit more subtle with my final highlights...
i don't thin my paints as much as most people, but i am learning to have a lighter touch...

i'm not very artistically gifted either, but always wanted to be, so i just paint 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, in order to improve...
luckily, i get paid while learning

@Big Mac: i did the same Commissar paint job on the Baneblade tank commander when he was released in 2008...
love that model...

i used Coal Black for the highlights to get a darker look, but camera didn't like that




cheers
jah