Shading Midnight Blue

[Ghaz]

How would you recommend shading Midnight Blue? Right now I'm considering a 2:1 mix of Blue Liner to Grey Liner as a base coat, but I'm open to any other suggestions. Thanks.

[Stubbdog]

is th MB your mid tone? And how dark are you wanting to go? I might suggest Nightshade purple, but that depends on if you want the warmer shade that the purple gives. Or if you want a colder shade, then yes a grey liner or the like can work. Also the obvious midnight blue mixed with straight black in larger and larger doses on each layer.

[demonelf3]

I'd go grey or blue liner, but again it depends on how exotic you want it. Blue will make it look more natural, as will grey, but mixing in a purple or orange could help it pop. What were you going to use as a highlight?

[pae]

I was thinking mixing in a bit of orange for the shade might be good, as it wouldn't desaturate the color as much as black would. However, orange is a warm color, and usually you don't want to shade too much with warm colors. Cool colors are much better at emphasizing depth.

[Ghaz]

is th MB your mid tone?

Yes. I prefer not to mix my mid tones so I can keep it consistent across my models and since this is for an Imperial Guard army, that's going to be a LOT of models I'm definitely not looking for 'exotic' nor do I want to go warmer. The majority of my palette will be the Grey Blues and Stone Colors Triads with the Redstone Triad for the models bases so I'm keeping the colors very cool and very muted.

 

Perhaps this will help. Basically what I'm looking to do is duplicate the paint scheme used on the second model on the left, top row.

 

So the options right now for my shade are...

 

1) 2:1 Blue liner to Grey Liner. IMHO, this will help keep the shade from getting too 'blue' or too 'grey'.

2) Either straight Blue Liner or Grey Liner.

3) Midnight Blue darkened with Pure Black. I'm just concerned that the Pure Black will be too strong and overpower the already dark Midnight Blue.

[Stubbdog]

based on seeing that pic, i would probably suggest the grey liner. But you will still want to do it in layers.

[Darkstar]

I use black personally. Don't need a whole lot of black just a bit.

[Vaitalla]

I'm going to chime in a vote for pure Blue Liner. I find that it's darker than Grey Liner by a little bit. You could add a drop or two of Grey Liner to it but I would keep the majority of the mix blue. Blue Liner is dark enough that it's going to look very close to black once you apply it, and as a liner it makes a fantastic wash (for speed, which is the first thing I think of when someone says they are painting an IG army!! ).

 

--Anne