Painting Black Dusters

[Bas1]

I have started the Ortegas and wanted them to all be wearing black dusters. Not settling with just the black primer, I dry brushed grey over the hole thing, highlighted grey on all the folds and on the tips put down white. I think watered down black ink and applied over the whole duster. This came out too grey still so I used less watered down ink and now it's very black again, and most of the dry-brushing and highlighting are not visible. I was wondering if anyone had any tips to make the black dusters look black, maybe a little dusty, but kind of a realistic black shade for the early 1900's.

[powerslave84]

Try GW's chaos black, highlight it with shadow grey, or any grey really, and put on a black wash? The chaos black has a bit of a shine, it's not as flat as primers usually are.

[daemonkin]

I always use Shadow Grey for a first highlight for my black with progressive amounts of white added for more extreme areas. a wash of black wash usually suffices for me.

D.

[Ciaran]

It sounds like you've used the most tempting method. I might try highlighting with browns. I would add brown to black in layers until your final highlight of a straight brown. A black wash over that should make it look like a dusty black duster.

OR try successive layers of thin black wash over what you have now. If you build the pigments up slowly you should never go from "too light and gray" to "now it's black again :(" and get pretty nice results.

Personally I like the brown method as it gives my color more depth.

[The Madman]

i like to use a little brown foundation watered down and dabbed around the coat tails

and then highlight/drybrush the highpoints

with "Deadly nightshade"

I like it cause it's a nice dark, Batman-like blue that doesn't require a lot of layers and helps with an additional grey highlight

[krak_kirby]

After all the painting and washing is done, clear coat with dullcote. Get some weathering powders and dust up the duster, with particular build-up on the bottom third. Dullcote again to seal it. Repeat to taste till they are as dusty as you like.

I was painting my space orks with a lot of black and brown trousers, and highlighting/drybrushing looked too clean. I grunged them up with the powders and now they look like they've been fighting across half the world.

[Ciaran]

Okay, Noob painting question of the hour:

What's a weathering powder? I KNOW I could look it up, a quick primer here would be awesome though.

[Craaag]

I start black then mix a little grey into it blend for highlighting. Then add some white (just a little for further highlighting). Then I wash down with very thin watered down black. I don't like to use ink as it's kind of shiny. I may do that a few times to get it right.

I take some white after and lightly dry-brush the very highest areas. It came out pretty nice on my lady J crew, giving them a little bit of a dusty look thanks to the dry-brush last stage(which I did a little too heavy on some areas. I would advise washing that down again after.)

http://wyrd-games.net/forum/showthread.php?t=13927

[Ciaran]

Craaag, does it sound to you that the original poster went too light, too fast in the highlighting?

[ddot]

i like to use a little brown foundation watered down and dabbed around the coat tails

and then highlight/drybrush the highpoints

with "Deadly nightshade"

I like it cause it's a nice dark, Batman-like blue that doesn't require a lot of layers and helps with an additional grey highlight

I was thinking the same thing, except to suggest P3 Coal Black, which might be a bit more fiddly adding the grey, but keeps it dark while adding a bit of blue-green to the mix.

[krak_kirby]

Okay, Noob painting question of the hour:

What's a weathering powder? I KNOW I could look it up, a quick primer here would be awesome though.

Weathering powder is ground up pigment in dry form. Some folks grind up pastels or graphite, but there are places you can go online and order them.

They aren't cheap, maybe $5.00 to $6.00 for a screw top jar about the size of a GW paint pot. They should last you practically forever as long as you aren't doing a 1000 models or a basement sized train layout.

They are also available in several colors. Black, rust, fertile soil, parched soil, dust, green patina, etc.

I got away from pristine showroom floor armies a while back. I like my armies to look battle worn at least, Valley Forge in extreme cases. They have a lot more character that way. Powders are easy, quick and simple to clean up, just brush off excess before you clearcoat.

[Ciaran]

krak: Can it be sealed onto the model? I'd imagine so with Krylon or something, I'm just curious.

[maxvon_d]

I sometimes like to add a touch of blue to the highlighting mix along with the grey.

Not sure if I would on those weatherworn dusters but it's just a thought.

[krak_kirby]

Weathering powders can be fixed with a clearcoat like testors dullcote, just don't spray too close to the model or lay it on too thick. A few light coats is the way to go.

[Craaag]

Ciaran : It does sound like the OP just went too drastic in the stages needed to obtain the results he was looking for.

Drybrushing grey as stage 2 after painting black, I think would be too much, I'd rather use a combination of black/grey or brown might look nice too as you suggested. I'd build up to the higlight in a few layers gradually adding more lighter colour each time using thin layers which helps blending.

I'd rather not drybrush at that point either but blend thinner paint.

I also found that the wash stages near the end sometimes eliminated alot of the highlighting tending to make everything look black again if not thin enough or done in too many wash layers. I think ink might not be as good in this stage as just watered down very thin black paint.

You can always experiment on a few extra models and see what looks best.

[AvatarForm]

Weathering powder is ground up pigment in dry form. Some folks grind up pastels or graphite, but there are places you can go online and order them.

They aren't cheap, maybe $5.00 to $6.00 for a screw top jar about the size of a GW paint pot. They should last you practically forever as long as you aren't doing a 1000 models or a basement sized train layout.

They are also available in several colors. Black, rust, fertile soil, parched soil, dust, green patina, etc.

I got away from pristine showroom floor armies a while back. I like my armies to look battle worn at least, Valley Forge in extreme cases. They have a lot more character that way. Powders are easy, quick and simple to clean up, just brush off excess before you clearcoat.

The brand you seek is MiG. ForgeWorld also do a set, but I have not tried theirs. You will require White Cleanig Spirit to apply it, so ensure the paint you use will not be affected by this.