NymMoondown Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I am working on a mini with black hair. I normally just drybrush with grey, bit I think this gives hair a flat look. has any one tried highlighting with blue? what do you people use? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
haldir Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I usally go with blue when I do black hair (ala Superman look) I normally start don't use a straight black thou, using the blue as the darker shade in the hair, then usually using black ink to darken the color. Randy M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hells_Clown Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I'm working on a mini with black hair at the moment. I haven't done all the highlights yet but so far I've base coated with Vallejo Black-Gray (a very dark gray) and did a wash the GW purple ink. The ink give that Superman like highlight w/o being too bright and over the top. I'm planning on lightening the B-G with Iraqui Sand (or Bone White, it's almost the same color). Hopefully it'll work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enchantra Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 There are two ways to do black hair. first way: 1) Basecoat in black 2) Gently drybrush in a very dark grey and then a medium grey. Second way: 1)Find a deep navy or midnight blue, darken it a bit more with a touch of black. Basecoat in it. I did this on a cloak once and it turned out awesome. 2)Now, wash in black, allowing it to stick in the crevases and folds. 3) Drybrush in various shades of lighter navy blue. Usually a straight navy blue will work fine. 4) Allow to dry and look it over. Adding lighter shades of blue at this point will make it look like a cartoon character. If it needs more highlights, drybrush on a bit of a medium grey here and there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cade Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Actually, I sometime use a blue/grey as a highlight. Something similair to Space Wolf Grey, if you are familiar. The shade is mostly a medium grey with a touch of blue. Beware using too much grey highlight on black, or else it ends up looking grey. Black is a color (shade) that really requires less highlights. Look at black objects, they will appear black everywhere except for key highlight areas, unlike most other colors were you will see more graduating shades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Black is a color (shade) that really requires less highlights. Look at black objects, they will appear black everywhere except for key highlight areas, unlike most other colors were you will see more graduating shades. This is true. If you look at Anne's Showcase, you'll see a couple of minis with black hair that is only marginally highlighted yet still looks awesome. Go easy on the highlights with black. Otherwise, you'll get either salt and pepper hair with gray or punk/Superman hair with blue. Remember, you can also use Walnut or other dark browns to good effect. My dad has black hair, yet his highlights are brown (or were before graying, at any rate). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted October 29, 2003 Reaper User Share Posted October 29, 2003 There are many, many ways to paint black hair. I actually find that the key way to highlight it almost never involves pure gray; there needs to be a hint of another color in there, lest you get that "graying hair" effect instead of the glossy black you'd like. As Cade suggested, using an off-blue-gray is very feasible; you can also get interesting effects using reddish or brownish highlights. I'll typically use an off-white with a hint of brown in it and mix that with the black (making a medium brownish-gray) for the first highlight, then move up with successive highlights toward the pure white "shiny spots" on the top of the head and anywhere else that the light would directly fall. As Whiz says, keep most of the hair area black (which is the general lesson for painting anything black, come to think of it...). I'd post an example except that I can't upload anything 'till Kit finishes the website switchover...curses! But my tutorial on the new Christmas Sophie will be finished today, so when the new site goes live you will actually finally get a tutorial from me, complete with lots of way-too-close pics that show you all my rough spots and that I'm really just a slacker. And that tutorial does cover hair and has some good face highlighting pics and red highlighting and such. --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Digital M@ Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Anne That sounds exciting. I can't wait to read it. How long until Reaper puts a collection of such examples, tutorials and such together in a purchasable book? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cade Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 ...But my tutorial on the new Christmas Sophie will be finished today, so when the new site goes live you will actually finally get a tutorial from me, complete with lots of way-too-close pics that show you all my rough spots and that I'm really just a slacker. And that tutorial does cover hair and has some good face highlighting pics and red highlighting and such. That's wonderful. I can't wait to see a full tutorial. Now I will just have to suffer impatiently until I can actually but the new Holiday Sophie. Someday I hope to have an actual lesson with a professional painter. Some things are difficult to explain and you really need to see them done. Maybe one day I will even figure out how some of those Rackham minis were painted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whizard Hlavaz Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 Maybe one day I will even figure out how some of those Rackham minis were painted. Ha! I'm joining that club. Damn, those Confrontation minis are nice. How do they do it? I'd swear there's airbrush work there, but what do I know? :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cade Posted October 29, 2003 Share Posted October 29, 2003 I'd swear there's airbrush work there, but what do I know? :D Going thru their site, I have seen a couple of not so great minis, but most are extremely good. Some are down right amazing. Normally, when I look at any professional or competition mini, Golden Demon stuff, Anne or Jen's stuff, Bobby Wong, etc., I can tell the mini is painted. I can see certain transition areas that on very up-close shots that you would never see normally. I can see that slight texture that you get from even great paints thinned. Many things I see are not things I've ever really considered flaws, but rather a characteristics of painted objects in general. Some of those Confrontation minis are so smooth I can't see the hint of transition or brush strokes. The color surfaces many times don't even look like paint. Its almost like an amazing inked or CGI drawing. They have broken my previous notions regarding painted minis. So, I don't want to insult anyone or suggest that they are 'enhancing' photos excessively, but the thought had occurred to me in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper User Vaitalla Posted October 29, 2003 Reaper User Share Posted October 29, 2003 Anne That sounds exciting. I can't wait to read it. How long until Reaper puts a collection of such examples, tutorials and such together in a purchasable book? Heya DM, No word on a book yet. Myself and various painter friends have been plotting and planning to do one for about a year and a half now, but you know how long it takes to coordinate people and overhead and projects and such. The best I can say is, I have a very specific idea of what I would like to see, it would be quite different from what everyone else has been doing, and the wheels are still turning. If there were a large and vocal demand for such a thing, now, that might speed up the process...but we should probably save that for another thread and not clog up this one! --Anne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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