Q: Highlighting Black with unconventional colours (eg red) ?

[Doctor Perils]

My Girlfriend should be sharing my BaC set, painting up the Word Bearers half as Raven Guard. She likes the black armour, but she's also looking to inject a bit of colour in there somewhere, preferably red.

 

The idea I'd had was to highlight the black with red, or another unconventional colour, as I've seen quite a few people highlight their black with shades of blue.

 

So the question is: do you think this would look all right, or just weird ? Follow up question: would their be a (relatively) simple way of doing this (my Girlfriend is a complete beginner in miniature painting).

 

 

And yes, my Girlfriend is allowed a capital G :P

[Emicus]

Could paint the pads/weapons/helms/other bits in colour and keep the armour black? If she likes the black armour, it'd be a bit weird to mess with it. Edge-highlights would provide that best look but she could try drybrushing and cleaning up with black afterwards.

I'd recommend going straight for the edge-highlighting method.

​Practise is the best way to learn :) There is always more models....

[Doctor Perils]

Thanks, I think we'll give a try at the edge highlighting, as well as some of the other things (pads and weapons for instance).

[Kaedes Nex]

Dark Eldar do it all the time.

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_NKGEQLPEF-I/TPYzgH-aa0I/AAAAAAAACVs/G0SF38lOGYY/s1600/de_warriors3.jpg

 

GW's official scheme for DE uses turquoise but here is one in red. There is no real shortcut for crisp, clean, thin edge highlights. It takes a lot of time, a steady hand, and a sharp brush. Drybrushing is faster but it leaves a dusty appearance that doesn't look the same on close inspection.

[SickSix]

There is one picture of a Damned Legionaire in the LotD codex that has his black armor highlighted with blue. It looks good.

 

I think red could look really striking if done right.

[Grotsmasha]

Another alternative would be to highlight in grey/whites then Wash/Shade with a Red, it would tone down the contrast but still be noticeable.

[Firepower]

I've seen a lot of Tempalrs highlighted in blue/blue-grey.  A long standing method in GW 'tutorials' was to highlight with Shadow Grey, which was an old flat blue-grey.

 

But Dark Eldar are a good place to look.  Reds, blues, greens, turquoise and whatnot are fairly common.  Those are rather precise jobs, but Marines don't generally have as many sharp angles.  Still, you'll/she'll have to have good brush control and crisp highlights for that sort of thing.

[Doctor Perils]

There is one picture of a Damned Legionaire in the LotD codex that has his black armor highlighted with blue. It looks good.

 

I think red could look really striking if done right.

Yeah, that's the kind of effect I'm looking for, and I've rarely seen (well, never) seen black marines highlighted in anything other than grey or blue.

 

The point about the dark eldar is a good one, I hadn't thought about them as an example

[Toxichobbit]

 

There is one picture of a Damned Legionaire in the LotD codex that has his black armor highlighted with blue. It looks good.

 

I think red could look really striking if done right.

Yeah, that's the kind of effect I'm looking for, and I've rarely seen (well, never) seen black marines highlighted in anything other than grey or blue.

 

The point about the dark eldar is a good one, I hadn't thought about them as an example

 

 

That's because grey and blue are natural highlights to black. Red isn't. Think about comic books, they usually highlight black with blue or grey. They rarely (if ever) highlight it with red unless they want to have black with a red tinge, such as heavy red lighting. I honestly can't see it working and still being black (as opposed to black and red like the Dark Eldar that Kaedes Nex linked above), especially with a beginner painter. If she is happy with the effect of the Dark Eldar then go for it, because that's probably what you will end up with, albeit with less gradient (unless she is naturally gifted at blending). If she wants pure black armour though, I'd stick to grey (I wouldn't even risk blue as a beginner) and find a way to add red as a colour of interest somewhere else, either as honour markings, shoulder pad edges (do Raven Guard use Codex colours for their Companies?) etc. I'd even do stuff like the skulls and wings on their armour red before I considered highlighting the black with red.

 

For the record though, I use turquoise and bone to highlight black, so it's not always grey & blue :).

[Ovidius Incertus]

The black to red transition is cool, as seen in the DE above.  I'd work up to a red edge with a dark reddish brown like a GW Doombull Brown or Vallejo Hull Red in very thin layers, then a thin layer of deep red/scarlet like Khorne Red/Wazdakka Red, then an edge highlight of Mephiston Red or Evil Sunz.  If you want black to be the predominant color, I'd be sparing with the reds in very thin layers so the black does the talking.  That way you can have a red edge without it looking too sudden.

[Doctor Perils]

 

 

 

There is one picture of a Damned Legionaire in the LotD codex that has his black armor highlighted with blue. It looks good.

 

I think red could look really striking if done right.

Yeah, that's the kind of effect I'm looking for, and I've rarely seen (well, never) seen black marines highlighted in anything other than grey or blue.

 

The point about the dark eldar is a good one, I hadn't thought about them as an example

That's because grey and blue are natural highlights to black. Red isn't. Think about comic books, they usually highlight black with blue or grey. They rarely (if ever) highlight it with red unless they want to have black with a red tinge, such as heavy red lighting. I honestly can't see it working and still being black (as opposed to black and red like the Dark Eldar that Kaedes Nex linked above), especially with a beginner painter. If she is happy with the effect of the Dark Eldar then go for it, because that's probably what you will end up with, albeit with less gradient (unless she is naturally gifted at blending). If she wants pure black armour though, I'd stick to grey (I wouldn't even risk blue as a beginner) and find a way to add red as a colour of interest somewhere else, either as honour markings, shoulder pad edges (do Raven Guard use Codex colours for their Companies?) etc. I'd even do stuff like the skulls and wings on their armour red before I considered highlighting the black with red.

 

For the record though, I use turquoise and bone to highlight black, so it's not always grey & blue :).

Thanks for the word of caution: it's always important to have a reality check :)

 

The black to red transition is cool, as seen in the DE above. I'd work up to a red edge with a dark reddish brown like a GW Doombull Brown or Vallejo Hull Red in very thin layers, then a thin layer of deep red/scarlet like Khorne Red/Wazdakka Red, then an edge highlight of Mephiston Red or Evil Sunz. If you want black to be the predominant color, I'd be sparing with the reds in very thin layers so the black does the talking. That way you can have a red edge without it looking too sudden.

And thanks for the technical tips. Even if she doesn't give this a try, I might do

[AJB2K3]

I have always posted about dark blue ever since I spotted a black car that had edges that glowed deep, dark blue in sunlight.

[Slips]

I've Highlighted Black with Incubi Darkness on the Feet of one of my Contemptors to for testing purposes.

 

Came out pretty well.

 

Not that clear but if you look closely enough you should see it fine enough.

 

GW also use the same method for their Green DEldar thought hey highlight it a bit further as seen below.

 

http://www.games-workshop.com/resources/catalog/product/600x620/99120112007_KabaliteWarriorsNEW01.jpg

 

Dark Eldar Mandrakes would also be another good inspiration.

[Doctor Perils]

Nice contemptor there Slips, and the purple-ish hue looks good, especially next to the yellow (colour theory to the Max ! :P)

[Atia]

oc it works, but it depends on what you want to archieve^^

[Doctor Perils]

Nice ! I'll have to look a bit more into your stuff Atia.

 

Actually, I've written a shortish fluff piece about a Raven Guard "experimental company" (they are issued with experimental weaponry in advance of the rest of the legion, so that the techmarines can gather more info for developing the final product). As such, Marines from that company with a reddish hint to their black armour could look nice I think.

 

But I'll be having to see about this with Rebecca, I'm just doing some research in advance of her actually starting :P

 

Thanks for all the answers guys and gals !

[Bryan Blaire]

Lord Thorn, it definitely depends on what effect she's trying to achieve, and Atia's stuff above, and the Dark Eldar (that are only being allowed to remain for illustrative purposes), are good examples of it.

 

I wouldn't say that red or green (or any other color) are out of the question for highlighting black, and it might not be unnatural either. The comic book example above isn't necessarily the greatest, nor is grey or blue a "natural" highlight for black. Most of the time when you see strong highlights on black, it is because the black is either glossy, a metallic, or the light source is very bright. The highlight on the black is going to take on the hue of the light source itself (really, any color is going to do this), mixed with any potential underhue the "black" itself has (since what may be recognized as black may actually be an exceptionally dark version of another color that didn't quite get to true black).

 

So when your light source is bright white, such as in our world (where most comic books are drawn to take place), you will get a grey colored highlight to the black. When your light source is causing a bright reflection on the black and the sky is blue, such as on Earth, especially if your black is glossy, then it is very likely the black will have a blue-ish highlight.

 

That's what makes it seem natural to us to highlight black with either grey or blue.

 

However, if you assume an alien environment, where a brighter red dwarf lights the planet, or there is a greenish-yellow sky, a glossy or metallic black is going to reflect those colors.

 

The real trick for your girlfriend, Lord Thorn, if she chooses to go that particular route (relying on actual light theory and an alien environment), is keeping the highlighting consistent across all colors she paints with. It might get really strange to highlight blue with a brighter purple (in a red sun/light environment), but if she can manage the effect, it would probably look awesome and give her a huge discussion point to have with people about her models.

 

The other option is to just realize that her "black" is actually just super-dark red, which is also okay.

[Doctor Perils]

Lord Thorn, it definitely depends on what effect she's trying to achieve, and Atia's stuff above, and the Dark Eldar (that are only being allowed to remain for illustrative purposes), are good examples of it.

 

I wouldn't say that red or green (or any other color) are out of the question for highlighting black, and it might not be unnatural either. The comic book example above isn't necessarily the greatest, nor is grey or blue a "natural" highlight for black. Most of the time when you see strong highlights on black, it is because the black is either glossy, a metallic, or the light source is very bright. The highlight on the black is going to take on the hue of the light source itself (really, any color is going to do this), mixed with any potential underhue the "black" itself has (since what may be recognized as black may actually be an exceptionally dark version of another color that didn't quite get to true black).

 

So when your light source is bright white, such as in our world (where most comic books are drawn to take place), you will get a grey colored highlight to the black. When your light source is causing a bright reflection on the black and the sky is blue, such as on Earth, especially if your black is glossy, then it is very likely the black will have a blue-ish highlight.

 

That's what makes it seem natural to us to highlight black with either grey or blue.

 

However, if you assume an alien environment, where a brighter red dwarf lights the planet, or there is a greenish-yellow sky, a glossy or metallic black is going to reflect those colors.

 

The real trick for your girlfriend, Lord Thorn, if she chooses to go that particular route (relying on actual light theory and an alien environment), is keeping the highlighting consistent across all colors she paints with. It might get really strange to highlight blue with a brighter purple (in a red sun/light environment), but if she can manage the effect, it would probably look awesome and give her a huge discussion point to have with people about her models.

 

The other option is to just realize that her "black" is actually just super-dark red, which is also okay.

 

Thanks for the extra explanations. The idea of an army fighting on such a planet orbiting a red dwarf, or a force breaching a ship with red alarm lights flashing or emergency lighting could be quite a spectacular way of telling a story with models, but that may be a little too far for our skill :P But, you never know until you've tried something :)

 

I personally like the idea of having super-dark red armour, slightly like modern-ish dark angels and their super-dark green

[Bryan Blaire]

Agreed on the Dark Angels armor, and it looks really cool (and sinister) when DA are based with black and highlighted up through a dark hunter green with only a limited amount of brighter green spot highlights.