"Upon it sat a shape, black-mantled, huge and threatening. A crown of steel he bore, but between rim and robe naught was there to see, save only a deadly gleam of eyes: the Lord of the Nazgûl... now he was come again, bringing ruin, turning hope to despair, and victory to death. A great black mace he wielded. "
Indeed despair is what I would feel if I were to cross this evils path in the night...
When painting black, you simply can not paint it black. Light reflecting off black can give you all sorts of colors, black grey, black blue, etc. Getting this right on a miniature figure requires patience and lots of blending, glazes, or whatever technique you choose. The trick is to bring it together in a soft way, otherwise you have it looking too stark and you see the reflections and not the black. In other words, too much and it looks grey or blue instead of black.
I am coming to better understand color theory and able to look at colors and know what bottle of paint to grab, but patience and perfecting technique is something that takes a lot of practice.
I think I am getting better, and though my goal is not to be a Golden Demon winner, it is to satisfy myself. I am somewhere in-between with these two models (in softness and starkness) I have posted below, but I am satisfied with what I have done. My gaming table will definitely be better when this model is placed on the field.
