I'm working on some 1/35 German Infrantry, I need some tips on painting Black leather gear. I've tried Flat Black, then tried Black/Brwn Mix. The straps and belt still just look like Flat Black lines. Maybe I didn't add enough Drk. Brwn. ? Do I want more of a Drk. brwn. look? Haven't tried to add a touch of Gloss yet. Will this make the Flat Black lines look more realistic? Any help/tip is greatly appreciated. Thanks In Advance, J.C.

This works for oils, I can't say for other mediums. If you want noticeable highlights on black leather, you have to place them them first. Then block up to the highlight color with your mid-tone of black or black mix. Then blend. Reserve pure black for the deepest shadows. Another thing to consider is creating your own black by mixing a blue with a brown. This will get you a dark color close to black. Then you manipulate how brown or blue you want your black to be.

Ok, Thanks John....

There are few things neither natural nor man-made that are truly black. there's a very good article in a Fine Scale Modeler issue in the last year or so that talks about exactly this subject using a Panzer officer's uniform as an example. I'll look up the issue number for you later but in a nutshell, it talked about various shades of very dark grey, blue and brown among others as colours to use when you want to model black. Uniforms, black leather and the like are really not black, but very dark shades of the above colours. Even panel lines and washes with black are too dark most of the time. Use very dark shades of brown, grey, blue, green and red for your blacks and reserve the true black for the deepest, darkest shadows. Also, taking in the so called 'scale effect', black is not often a colour that you'll see very often.

If you take Tamiya's Nato Black for example, you'll notice it's a very very dark green. I observe this when cleaning out the airbrush or washing of my brushes. It's actually green, not black.



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Bob

Thanks Bob. Good Information, and I agree. I think maybe a VERY Drk. Brwn.{Burnt Umber} with a touch of Black or Navy will do the trick. I hope so. Thanks Again, J.C.

For uniforms that are supposedly black, I would use shades of very dark grey that is almost black and use the other colours of blue and brown as shadows and highlights. Indoors, a black uniform looks black. But as soon as you step out into the sunshine, that's where you see that it's not really black at all. This effect is especially striking when you take a few different black things and expose them to bright sunlight and see the differences between them. Two people dressed in black standing outside will look different. No two black articles of clothing are exactly alike. Also, for equipment, the effects of sun and weather on paint is very dramatic and can take effect very quickly, especially on colours that started out as black. A flat black anti-glare panel on the nose of a fighter plane can fade to a dark grey very quickly.

For uniforms, the first time it's laundered or cleaned or gets wet, it will loose it's 'blackness' and begin to fade quickly. Go to your closet and take a look at any black clothing you may have and you'll see what I mean.

Also, black leather furniture doesn't stay black for very long. It will take on a sheen quite quickly and that will affect the play of light on it's surface. So leather seats in vehicles rarely are black or red-brown for very long, they'll fade and change colours quickly.

Above all, enjoy the experimentation. Just remember, it's not real leather that your working with so it's not possible to ruin anything. Worst case is you take the paint off and try again. Have fun....

cheers;

Bob

This is my first post, but I primarily do figures so I thought I'd give it a go.
Paint the item light brown first. Then go over it with black India ink. It leave a lot of highlighted bare leather areas, and the ink takes on several of those tones and shades mentioned above. You can fiddle with it to get exactly the look you want.

Hi Jeff,

Almost a month on, I'm sure you've sorted your black leather issue by now, but here's how Calvin Tan painted the black leather submariners jacket on the recent Alpine Joachim Peiper in the Ardennes figure:

Alpine Miniatures - KG Peiper, Ardennes 1944




Now fair enough it's probably better suited to bigger leather surfaces. Have a look for his book by Osprey for painting webbing.

HTH

Rudi