Questions

Painting Black Horses...

Posted by Harry Faversham on 28 Jan 2022, 12:31

Any tips from the Brethren on how to shade a black beauty? Black horse with grey highlights look a bit naff, in my 'umble opinion. I was wondering if there was a better technique I could employ to get a nice highlight on a 15mm scale black horse?

:(
User avatar
Harry Faversham  England
 
Posts: 561
Member since:
16 Nov 2013, 13:56


Posted by Kekso on 28 Jan 2022, 13:26

I've recently heard that any neutral grey highlight on black looks too artificial.
So it is better to use blueish, brownish or greenish grey as highlight.
Therefore, for black horses I would use grey with dash of blue in it.
Scalecolor Anthracite Grey SC-04 could be your starting point (as an example).
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6839
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by DerkleinePUC on 28 Jan 2022, 13:33

White undercoating. Acrylic black and a tip of water on the surface of the blackpaint. Brush through the water into the black and then up on the horse. that works quite well.
DerkleinePUC  Germany
 
Posts: 53
Member since:
26 Oct 2012, 09:07

Posted by Minuteman on 28 Jan 2022, 20:06

Harry Faversham wrote:Any tips from the Brethren on how to shade a black beauty? Black horse with grey highlights look a bit naff, in my 'umble opinion. I was wondering if there was a better technique I could employ to get a nice highlight on a 15mm scale black horse?

:(


Try doing it a different way Harry. Dark Brown base coat, then over-wash with black Indian ink (or similar), diluted slightly. Try a few and see how they look. The black ink runs into the deep, dark folds and underside of the figures, and the upper parts have an almost-black finish but a little of the dark brown still shows through. Black horses are rarely pure black......
User avatar
Minuteman  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1141
Member since:
06 Mar 2020, 21:38

Posted by Harry Faversham on 28 Jan 2022, 22:33

Thanks chaps, your assistance is most appreciated.

:yeah:
User avatar
Harry Faversham  England
 
Posts: 561
Member since:
16 Nov 2013, 13:56

Posted by Bluefalchion on 28 Jan 2022, 22:44

Marvin used to drop just a tiny bit of blue into the black of the base coat iirc. If you look at his blog he has some nice horse painting tutorials.

Suburban Militarism is what he is calling it I believe.
User avatar
Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Help keep the forum online!
or become a supporting member

Posted by Peter on 28 Jan 2022, 23:06

Bluefalchion wrote:Marvin used to drop just a tiny bit of blue into the black of the base coat iirc. If you look at his blog he has some nice horse painting tutorials.

Suburban Militarism is what he is calling it I believe.

That is right: https://suburbanmilitarism.wordpress.com/
User avatar
Peter  Belgium

Moderator Moderator
 
Posts: 22507
Member since:
25 Mar 2008, 18:51

Posted by Kekso on 29 Jan 2022, 04:35

I see that Marvin is active on his blog. I just hope he hasn't left us.
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6839
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by Bluefalchion on 29 Jan 2022, 15:08

I hope the same about Marvin. To Harry Faversham, please post some pics of your black horse experiments for the good of the order. I have never tried the blue added black horse technique and I might like to give it a go.
User avatar
Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Posted by Marvin on 29 Jan 2022, 23:10

Kekso wrote:I see that Marvin is active on his blog. I just hope he hasn't left us.


Marvin is still here and doing OK thanks! :-D And thanks to Peter for flagging this up to me. I really need to get back in with the Benno's crowd - it's always such a nice place to be. I aim to get organised this year and get posting again here. Hope everybody at Bennos is well. :yeah:

@Harry Faversham - as for the black horses, there's some good advice on this thread which I may well try myself. @Bluefalchion is quite correct in that I use a mix of Dark Prussian Blue with the black paint as basecoat. Highlighting on black needs to be subtle, I think but some of the advice here sounds interesting to try.

Not to do with shading but one thing not to neglect is to add some white face and leg markings which perhaps takes the attention away from the 'boring' black colour?
User avatar
Marvin  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1002
Member since:
04 Apr 2012, 19:51

Posted by Peter on 29 Jan 2022, 23:21

Thank you Marvin! Good to have you back! :thumbup:
User avatar
Peter  Belgium

Moderator Moderator
 
Posts: 22507
Member since:
25 Mar 2008, 18:51

Posted by Bluefalchion on 30 Jan 2022, 05:59

Marvin is my gold standard for painting horses, but there are several others on here who can also crank out a convincing nag or two.

Trial and error is the best way to learn. For me, it is a bit of trial, but mostly error.
User avatar
Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Posted by Kekso on 30 Jan 2022, 07:24

Marvin, you've made me happy.
Thanks.
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6839
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by Harry Faversham on 30 Jan 2022, 12:10

Had a pop with the blue highlighting on a 15mm black horse, it gave it a very nice sheen... that I've totally ruined with a coat of matt varnish!

:( :oops: :(
User avatar
Harry Faversham  England
 
Posts: 561
Member since:
16 Nov 2013, 13:56

Posted by MABO on 06 Feb 2022, 11:20

Marvin wrote:Marvin is still here and doing OK thanks! :-D And thanks to Peter for flagging this up to me. I really need to get back in with the Benno's crowd - it's always such a nice place to be. I aim to get organised this year and get posting again here. Hope everybody at Bennos is well. :yeah:

:wave: :occasion: :beer: :beer:
User avatar
MABO  Europe
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 9143
Member since:
12 May 2008, 18:01

Posted by PhilC on 06 Feb 2022, 14:34

Marvin wrote:Marvin is still here and doing OK thanks! :-D And thanks to Peter for flagging this up to me. I really need to get back in with the Benno's crowd - it's always such a nice place to be. I aim to get organised this year and get posting again here. Hope everybody at Bennos is well. :yeah:


Don't know why I can't like this post, but I suppose that a few words are even better. We always need horse masters in this forum, so please come back and post your wonderful pictures again :-D
User avatar
PhilC  Europe

Supporting Member (Silver) Supporting Member (Silver)
 
Posts: 699
Member since:
11 May 2015, 18:32

Help keep the forum online!
or become a supporting member

Posted by MABO on 06 Feb 2022, 15:00

I can also not like PhilC's last post. So feel a like!
User avatar
MABO  Europe
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 9143
Member since:
12 May 2008, 18:01


Return to Questions