So, I'm going to start up a Black Legion force and realized it might be a good idea to ask for pointers from the skilled people out there. How do I paint black armoured vehicles to good effect? Is it just a matter of careful highlighting of a black undercoat, or are there any tricks in the bag I could use? What shade dopeople use for highlighting black armour? Dark grey, light grey, dark blue, gunmetal or some such? How do I make weathering effects on black?

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.  

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"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

Black is a bit tricky as there's a number of techniques you can use that all produce different effects.

Some prefer straight black with very sharp highlights painted a light grey like fortress grey for example.

Others prefer a traditional layering or drybrushing approach which can either be using a neutral grey like fortress grey mixed with black, or a blueish grey using Shadow Grey. This produces a lighter color which strictly speaking isn't black, but a dark grey.

Neutral grey produces a sort of dusty look IMO, while a blueish grey has more of a shining black look to it.

You could also paint your miniature a dark grey, add some highlights and then wash everything with black afterwards.

Another interesting approach Ive seen is using the weathering to produce the highlights. This means scorched brown for wet mud, Graveyard earth for dried mud and command khaki or bleached bone for light dust.

Personally I use regal blue and various mixes of blue, black and white to paint my Black Legion. It is fairly close to Shadow Grey, so you could substitute with that color and get a very similar result.

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Sofa General

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Black Legion infantry i don't highlight. Any highlighting would result in looking grey and every sharp angels are already rimmed in metal so no highlighting there too.
Vehicles are another matter.

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I'm no great painter but I highlight with a grey and then add a wash. As my Black Legion are of a Slaanesh cult I used purple (not that you'd notice really!).

If you want quick results, I'd say spray black, drybrush with Codex Grey, maybe add a second stage lighter drybrush with Fortress Grey, Then pick out the metals, then wash with Badab Black.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

Wow, thanks for the quick replies, guys! I'll be sure to put this to good use.  

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"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

I dislike using pure grey tones for highlighting black myself. I personally prefer using Shadow Grey, which is a blueish grey, followed up by a second highlight (where needed) of Shadow Grey mixed with Space Wolves Grey (which is also very blueish).

Try some techniques out on a test mini you won't use.

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This forum is such an awesome place.

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"Don't use finesse, if force will solve the problem."

- Lieutenant General Michael O'Neal

They aren't black but I used metallic gold highlighting on my Thousand Sons' dark blue.  It contrasts strongly and gives them a look like there's fine filigree trim all over the armor.

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Neal

Oh yeah, and if you're going to the blueish look, try cleaning the brush before the top highlights and use a mix of lightning blue and white - that is if you like such bright highlights...

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Sofa General

Nobody expects the Inquisition!!!
http://theepiclounge.wordpress.com/

I use black undercoat and light drybrush with mithril silver.

I like to use a method of tinting my blacks. For example, a while back I painted up a death company marine (traditionally an all black Space Marine). I took the original black and added in red to tint the black to turn it into an exceedingly deep and subtle red/black. This allowed for a more natural highlight and for the marine to fit in better with the rest of the blood angels. It was also easier to highlight and they weren't as sharp as pure grey on black can be. I also painted a Slaanesh champion years ago by adding purple to the black in a similar manner. I'll try and post a picture of the Blood Angel later.

You could do something similar by adding in bone colours, blues, purples, yellows etc to try to tint the black slightly. It will also give the army a feel - blue for colder, red for warmer etc.

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For a really dark black look you can highlight gloss black/black metallic over a very matte base.  If you're using grey, less is more and zenithal highlights tend to look best.  General highlighting typically makes black look more grey.

Neal's gold highlighting is a solid idea for BL and contrast = good.

For weathering I'd use a pigment wash around the lower sections of the vehicle.  Pigment will show up nicely where a more traditional wash wont be as visible against the base color.  You can carefully stipple in grey for battle damage.

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The Lost & the Dipped

The method I'd use is basecoat Shadow Grey or equivalent, then successive coats of a black wash (I think GW's is called Badab Black) till it looks dark enough.  Hope this helps!  

On my vehicles I always highlight. I'm a shadow grey highlighter, followed by very small corner highlights of fortress grey. I just pick out the edges.

I cheated a little and I didn't bother to highlight the black on all my Tau infantry as if the paint is slightly satin (as GW's generally are) then light will pretty much do the work for you. Also, unless you're painting them for display where close inspection is likely, IMO, it's not necessary to highlight too much because with 6mm infantry on the tabletop, you really can't see black highlights unless they're stark contrast. If you really have to highlight, as Ghudra says, less can be more and maybe just pick out areas with large edges?

As mentioned, if you go with light greys your blacks will look grey unless you wash them with a black after to tone the grey down. You also need to be very careful in applying edge highlights to infantry or the highlights will be "blobby". Be careful drybrushing too as you can cover the black too much - as it's generally a very broad, randomly applied brush stroke - and they will again look grey - you'll most likely need to go back and paint in the flat areas if you dry brush, to bring the original colour back out.

Here's an example of one of my vehicles at least. It's not dead-accurate highlighting as you can see, but that's down to my not-so accurate hands and laziness to clean it up  

CMON Hammerhead