Worn Black Suggestions

[Spaz]

I'm at a loss on how to paint worn black cloth and am open to any suggestions. I've attempted stippling, pigments, painting tons of tiny "scratches" (which is not only frustrating but completely inefficient) and a mix of. A mix of all techniques with stippling being the primary is the closest to what I tried that looks ok, but it still looks quite off to me. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I'd like to begin painting more of these guys up. Here is a picture what I have so far. Thank you for any assistance.

[Kierdale]

I think what you have looks good.

For black armour or hard surfaces I would basecoat black and then do chipping with a lighter and a darker grey probably using a sponge, but for black cloth I like to use a dark grey base coat rather than black. Then give it a black wash, then dry brush with medium grey, Nuln oil wash again, and repeat the grey dry brushing, lighter each time (and more focused on edges and upper surfaces) and darkening it again each time with Nuln oil.

[Spaz]

@Kierdale- Thank you for the advise. I haven't weathered much of anything, so this is my first few attempts at it in a long time. I'll try giving it a few more layers of stippling and washes; see what that does.

[Aramis K]

I find nuln oil gives a matt finish compared to abbadon black, so perhaps try a purple wash for shadows, then glaze nuln and agrax for a dirty finish.

[lhg033]

I tend to give a dark brown wash to black fabrics and drybrush highlights to give it more texture where as for black armour i keep it 'clean' using edge highlights etc and if i want to use a wash i either use nuln oil or a less natural colour like a deep/dark blue. 

[Spaz]

Thank you all for the suggestions I applied a few more layers of the stippling and used Nulin Oil. This is the results:

It still feels slightly off but much better than what I originally had. Thank you all for the assistance. It's much appreciated.

[Arkhanist]

The main thing about black cloth and leather is that they usually don't wear with a cold grey, but to a brown or a warm grey - the underlying cloth colour before it was dyed.

 

Doing scratches usually works best when building up the colour with glazes - you paint say a mid warm grey, then random lines with a lighter colour, then glaze it darker. Add a few more scratches for newer wear, and either selectively glaze it to the final colour you want (more glaze in the folds to get darker shadows), or a wash for a quicker approach. You can do the same thing with stippling or drybrushing too, but they tend to work better with the usual basecoat/stipple/wash method as kierdale suggests. You can also do it with a small piece of sponge, particularly if you do it before other adjacent sections.

 

With the specific miniature you have there, it's the cold grey and placement that's not quite working I think, not the method itself (though the new version is definitely better!) Changing the tone on the wear to get further away from the tone of the metal has helped - a warmer grey or brown would do so even more given the rest of the scheme. The other thing is that you've put the wear mostly in the conventional highlight positions. Wear will be much more concentrated in areas where the cloth is most likely to rub against things. So the shoulders, round the neck line and badge, and on the loin cloth it will be the edges and the bit close to the ground. You can always combine a little conventional highlighting with a dark grey or brown on the tops of folds where it's not worn if it looks too flat.

 

Here's an example of real world wear that might show what I mean:

 

 

And a couple of videos with some good wear techniques I've stolen ideas from in the past:

 

 

 

edit: changed text slightly, as I didn't preview and see your new post!

[Spaz]

@Arkhanist- Thank you! Super informational. I’ll take your advise and run with it. I’ll try a light brown glaze on these current models and if all else fails I may just repaint the worn areas.

[Major_Gilbear]

A while back, I posted a fair few black recipes, along with suggestions for what materials they'd suit here. Whilst these suggestions are less about technique and more about how to paint the colour black in various ways, you may nonetheless still find it useful. :)

[Spaz]

@Major_Gilbear- I really like some of those recipes, Thank you. I'll have to try some of those out.