Highlighting black leather

[Chikrit]

Hi all. I'd like some advice if you might

I'm painting the vampires of the Coven Thrones, and one will be wearing blue. Then we decided (and by we I mean my wife) that the vest will be black leather, but i'm not sure how I can hightlight on black, so the belts she's wearing will be properly seen. This is a photo of a her, very WIP. I am not even sure if I like the turquoise highlights on the blue, or how I can improve them.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tommy]

The highlights look good! For the belts, perhaps you could try edge highlighting them with very thin blue lines... as if they’re reflecting the blueness? 

[JackStreicher]

Black highlight:

use „the fang“ it‘s a blue-ish grey. Be aware though that you should not use the fang directly as it might be too bright (mix it with a little black on your Palette)

[elfhead]

The fang would be the way to go I think. It is a grey with a nice blue-ish tone. 
I also use stormervermin fur for my black leather. But that is more of a muted grey with a brownish undertone. 

[MarkK]

I normally highlight black leather with Dark Reaper, then thunderhawk blue and tiny spots of fenresian blue to finish for a shiny, polished look

[Chikrit]

Thanks guys. I don't have "The fang" and my store didn't have stock of Vallejos "Sombre grey" that could have been close when I last went shopping, but I'll try to get as close as possible by mixing "Heavy blue grey", which I have, with some blue, and black, so it doesn't get very light. I like the idea of "blueish reflections from the dress" 😍

I'll try this evening 😃

You all have provided great hints to this n00b. Thank you!

[MarkK]

For an example the edges of the cloak and tabard have been painted as shiny black leather using the paints described above with just the addition of a tiny final highlight of white

I leave the highlighted area fairly small to keep enough black to ensure the part still looks black rather than dark blue

Edit: pretty much any bluish grey with white or black added will work for this method, just use thin glazes for the first few highlights

BTW, good job on the model so far! 

Edited May 21, 2020 by MarkK
Edited text

[Chikrit]

@MarkK Wow, that looks incredible!!!!

Thanks very much for the tips and the visual example. It helps a lot!