Oils Black horse mix?

[ghamilt1]

Just about to start on my latest project, and I wanted to paint the horse black. Is there a special mix that anyone would like to recommend for shadows and highlights? I use oils over a grey black Valejo acrylic undercoat. Looking forward to your learned suggestions everyone

 

[kagemusha]

Hi Ghamilt, there is no one specific mix for a black horse, as it is widely accepted that, as such, true 'black' horses don't exist. Their coat is actually a very dark bay colour.
If you do a 'Google' image search for black horses, you will get a huge variation of colours to work from. Keep in mind that there are a lot of tonal variations to the coat of a 'black' horse.
If you look at the two pictures, you will notice a lot of warm coloured areas on the underneath and inside of the legs. Including this into your piece will give it more depth.
I would suggest a black undercoat, as this will pre-shade the deeper muscle areas for you.
Colours to include would be Burnt Umber, Burnt Sienna and, depending on your choice of 'warm' or 'cool' coat, a touch of Alizarin Crimson (warm) or Prussian Blue (cool).
Hope this gives you some ideas.

Regards

Ron

 

[ghamilt1]

Brilliant Kagemusha, exactly what I was looking for. Many thanks and I'm off to the painting bench!

 

[maya8]

Hi ghamilt1,

I don't know much about horses, but I was told that there is no such thing as a black horse. A black horse is just a very dark brown horse, as the pictures show above. I would try the opposite of Kegemusha: start with the light colors and build up the darker tones on top... You stop the darker colors when you think it's right... No pure black. Just my two cents...

Cheers,

 

[DEL]

Hi Glenn, good luck with the ever challenging black horse.
Over the years when Military Modelling Magazine focussed on figures, Steve Kirtley did some brilliant photographic articles on how he painted horses in oils.
These covered everything from 'greys' to 'blacks' and took you through the stages in really clear language.
I've always thought that gathering these together into a publication or DVD would be brilliant but I doubt if the publishers are interested given the direction the magazine has taken and I guess that Steve no longer owns the rights to the articles.

 

[ghamilt1]

Thanks Derek and Maya. I finished the horse yesterday, and I think I'll probably go back into it with some brownish tones, as it looks very grey at the moment. Will post final results soon.

 

[theBaron]

Hi Ghamilt, there is no one specific mix for a black horse, as it is widely accepted that, as such, true 'black' horses don't exist. Their coat is actually a very dark bay colour...

My thanks, too, Ron! I'm painting a mounted figure of Seydlitz at the moment, and I'm experimenting with lights and shadows on a black horse. This is a very useful description of the technique.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Funky50]

Following this with interest..have tried on a couple of occasions to do a Black horse and it's never looked right to me ...think I now know why......LOL.......Kevin

 

[megroot]

I've always thought that gathering these together into a publication or DVD would be brilliant but I doubt if the publishers are interested given the direction the magazine has taken and I guess that Steve no longer owns the rights to the articles.

I think there are alot of members here who wanted those articles Del. Maybe you can put them here as a sticky in the article part.

Marc

 

[Jaybo]

I agree with Marc.

 

[Claude Portsmouth]

David Mitchell posted a Roman cavalry Horse on here a while back and I noted the colours, he used,

Blue Black with warm Sepia, highlights were Vandyke Brown, Brown Ochre and Flesh Tint, deep shadows Blue Black

 

[Ron Tamburrini]

David Mitchell posted a Roman cavalry Horse on here a while back and I noted the colours, he used,

Blue Black with warm Sepia, highlights were Vandyke Brown, Brown Ochre and Flesh Tint, deep shadows Blue Black

I know Dave has all those colours in his box and the horse in question is a superb paint by him but a real sore point with him also

 

[Claude Portsmouth]

Why the sore point!!....me notta understanda