Hi Guys,

Does anyone have any tips, sbs advice for highlighting and shading black uniforms


cheers

hi monty,
I've read various methods of shading black , one I've tried is mixing up a very dark shade of dark grey either with black/flesh or black and white to get the shade you're after then use pure black as your shading colour. as you'll be looking for a
worn effect on your uniform having the dark grey colour is more realistic .
hope this is some help?
jaberwocky

As Javermocky wrote, the knack is start with a mix of black and another colour. You can use the colour you want. With green or red is a very nice mix. With blue it seems more new, with pink a interesting result, with grey and barnish beautiful black leather... the only colour don't like at all to mix is yellow. The black to shadows, and more of the colour that was choosen in the beginning for highlights.
I think black colour is easier than white.

Black, Brown plus sunny skin tone. If you do a search there are several articles on painting black on this web sight.

Mike

Most people seem to have sucess only using black VERY sparingly. Save black for the deepest shadows. Otherwise experiment with a very dark grey, some people have used brown in a similar way too.

Interesting. Nobody has mentioned the most important factor when painting black: Do not highlight it too much! The idea is to keep it looking dark, WITH the highlights added. Otherwise, it just looks like gray.....

Very Good point

Ron

The black colour turn grey with the fading process...
Base: Black + Black grey with a small dot of Violet.
For lights: base + light Blue (one small dot), increase this colour until you achieved the effect you like.
Shadows, pure black.

Cheers,
Pedro.

I can only add that I second the advice to start with a very dark grey, rather than black. I've learned to use Tamiya NATO Black, which is a dark charcoal grey, but which looks very good (to my eye) in small scales, from 1/20 down to 1/72. Hope that helps!

Prosit!
Brad

Nato black is a super colour for basing out black ,good call Brad

thanks guys

Coming in late on this one. All of the above advice is excellent.

If you use Vallejos, I find their German Grey to be a good base... if the fabric needs to be older, I add a touch of English Uniform to the German Grey. To highlight I add a touch more English Uniform and a bit of Sky Grey. Shading by adding Black to the base and pure Black for the deepest shadows and seams etc.

Hope this might be of some use

Colin