How do you paint black hair? TELL ME NOW!!! :P

[Evilbleachman]

I have a 'large' project coming up with Asian/Japanese based models and I wanted to give black hair a chance. I usually avoid using pure blacks, because it just looks dull and is a sob to highlight.

How would you paint hair in black?

I would generally tend towards a very very dark brown high slightly browner highlights. Maybe you guys have other recipes that look good or work as well? Examples too?

[edonil]

Dark grey drybrush is one option, of course. Another option that gives a shine is to borrow from anime- try a dark blue color. Or a dark purple, or even a dark red. Each of those three colors will do the job of highlighting if you do it right, but they will also lend a specific... personality, almost, to the model.

[EnternalVoid]

I cheat. Well my way of cheating. I am sure other people have better methods but this is what I do at the moment as it works for me. I paint the hair a gray, generally a dark gray like P3's Ironhull Grey but sometimes I go lighter depending exactly what I want. I then, after it is all ready, go over it with P3's armor wash to taste. How many coats depend again on what I am going for but it has worked for me. I often do this when I want something "Black" like a hat, clothing, or hair.

[i_was_like_you]

I cheat as well, but my particular cheat is using shinier paints, like black Testors enamel paints (over black acrylic). Although a regular clear coat over black should bring out the same effect.

[dgraz]

I generally go with a blue-grey. Starting very dark and highlighting all the way up to a pure white for a model with a clean, healthy head of hair. I won't go to white if they are supposed to be dirty or undead, or somesuch.

The key is to keep the highlights very small. Less is more...especially so with black. You want most of the black to be pure, otherwise you start turning it into grey. Just highlight the most extreme points and even then, minimally. I go all the way to white in a very short area. The white should just be a dot or a hair thin line.

Also, it's important to get the positioning right. Be mindful of where the crown of the head is.....the top of the head should be black and there will actually be a line that encircles the head (if your looking at a normal hairstyle).

Here's an example of how I do black....the hair is pulled back so the highlight is a little different.....instead of going around the crown. (Just click to enlarge.)

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Hope this helps, good luck.

Edited January 22, 2013 by dgraz

[osoi]

I start with black and then either use P3 Coal Black or Vallejo Black Grey for the highlights. The key is to keep the highlights in just a small area and sharper than normal so the hair doesnt look grey etc

[i_was_like_you]

I'll keep that in mind. Looks great.

[Gadrean]

To paint black hair i've found the way that suits me best is to start with a mid to dark grey base coat. I then just simply use a watered down black wash over the top. I water it down as it then allows me to make the hair darker in stages and stop when im happy with the results.

See Molly...

[Mako]

The thing I was taught about black (and the same applies to white), is that it's not actually black. So black hair will be a very dark grey, or more often a brown black, red black or blue black (as ed said, purple black too, and probably green black as well but I've never tried it!). Only the shading should be true black (applies to the highlights in the case of white of course). But as the others have said, keep your highlights small and fairly sharp as that makes the hair look clean.

For Kirai, I'd say a brown black or a blue black, for the bushido stuff you can go wild and try any colour black you like, depending on what the model colours are and what feel you want on the piece.

But take pictures when you do since I've not tried all the colours in black for hair!

[Agermemnon]

Try dark dark brown ? my girlfriends hair is dark brown not black as she'll point out to anyone that says they love the straight black hair of asian women.

[nix]

I use GW Midnight Blue (more a blue purple) as my base color, then "highlight" with a black (usually the darker P3 Black - Thamar Black maybe?).