Glimpse the Void:
Hello,
The unit that intend as the center piece of the Army I am starting will be Obsidian Guard, using Black Orc Models. I plan to paint their armor a slick black color (like obsidian) and there skin red, like the demonic orcs from the forgotten realm series or Fel Orcs from Warcraft.
The question then, is how should I go about doing the black Armor? I did an image search on a number of forums, and some of it looks good, and some of it quite bad. I was wondering if anybody had any tried and true recipes for this effect, perhaps with picture?
zobo1942:
I’ve never done it, but what about painting your armour (after highlighting, etc…) with some gloss varnish? And if you added some dust effects to the edges after that, you might end up getting a really good effect with the gloss black armour and the matte ‘dust’. Could work? Maybe?
Glimpse the Void:
I am actually thinking the same thing right now. I have done a little reading, and it seems the thing to do is to start with a black mix, so you can put straight black in the deepest parts. I think some highlights, followed by a varnish could do it.
The dust sounds interesting, but I’m not sure exactly what you mean.
Anybody out here got experience with this effect?
Glimpse the Void:
Ah, I see what you mean. Those are awesome. It’s a cool effect, but I want to go with something more slick, more pristine. I think using a little bit of that would add a lot of depth though now that you mention it.
Thorne:
Hmmm well obsidian is glass. What you could do is start with a white foundation and wash with a watered down black paint over a white basecoat, mixing in tones of watered down dark green to brown to black and to blue. After several blends on the model you would probably get a almost blotchy obsidian look too as many sheets of armour sized glass would sit and be completely gloss jet black. Afterwards apply several high gloss coats of varnish over the top of the model, This will give it that glass like look and work on the red skin and flesh tones of your models afterwards. Not to mention any slips would be fast to wash off the armour plating afterwards.
Tarrakk Blackhand:
Why not just paint the metal parts with Testor’s Gloss Black?
Also, if you wanted to add a gloss coat over top, why not paint the model Chaos Black and add in some transperant purple pigment to some Tamyia Clear Paint? It might give you the effect you’re after without all the “Layer Caking” techniques of Citadel Paint.