<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Underpainting black"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/8.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Underpainting black http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684727.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684727.page GMT Underpainting black
I might suggest priming with a dark, charcoal grey, followed by a black wash before going to the air brush for highlights. I think that would help to add depth of colour / shade to your minis.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684834.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684834.page GMT Underpainting black
 greatbigtree wrote:
I would always suggest priming the model. In your case, priming black could also be your base coat, before moving on to highlights with the airbrush.

I might suggest priming with a dark, charcoal grey, followed by a black wash before going to the air brush for highlights. I think that would help to add depth of colour / shade to your minis.


I agree with all of this.

First primer does an important job. A black primer saves you time and effort.

But also, the trick to painting black is to not actually use black. If you picture a scale from 1 white to 10 black having a 8 or 9 grey as your base allows you to use washes/inks and then a 7 or 8 to layer on some depth and maybe a 6-7 for highlights. It will look like black, but it wont be flat and you wont have to work as hard to give it depth.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684932.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684932.page GMT Underpainting black

I find a mini needs at least 3 shades to fully develop the details. In this case, Dark shadow (#10 black), mid-black (#8) followed by highlights / edges (#6, Dark to mid grey).

There are “cheats” to achieve that in other ways, but I would suggest that fewer steps will result in a flat black, and that serves to obscure details rather then enhance them as painting generally does.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684983.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10684983.page GMT Underpainting black http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685023.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685023.page GMT Underpainting black Ironically, painting it black to begin with actually makes the black look worse than a deep grey.

As for undercoating, I always do it.
While it’s mainly habit, it makes the painting a lot smoother.
If you have any resin or metal models then for the love of god, undercoat them first.

In terms of highlighting the dark grey, you can also bring in stronger tones depending on the colours you choose.
I love highlighting it with a navy blue down to royal blue then a mid tone grey.
This makes it stand out nicely.
I prefer this to just using greys as a highlight. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685053.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685053.page GMT Underpainting black
]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685254.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685254.page GMT Underpainting black
Black being a shade, rather than a “chroma” means that any colour, darkened enough, becomes black same as any colour lightened enough becomes white. It’s a bit trickier to get the shade balance right with a colour “highlight” but completely doable.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685396.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/784358/10685396.page GMT