Darth Vader: A Study in Black

When I thought about painting the Imperial units, I feared Vader. It wasn’t the way childhood me feared him (his telekinesis, lightsaber expertise, or force choke), but the fact that I had to paint him black. Aside from the Emperor, he’s the first fully black model I would be painting and there are quite a few shades of black across his different uniform materials (cloth, leather, plastic, metal). With the emperor, I didn’t think that my blacks were well varied, so I wanted to do that better this time. At the same time, I wanted to be true to film and avoid over-highlighting the miniature to prevent a cartoony feel that can occur when painting and highlighting black.

Painting

Usually, I start painting with a three-color zenithal prime (a thin coat of black Vallejo surface primer, followed with a 45-degree application of gray, and finished with white from above). Since this was going to be a rather dark model, I applied a black base code and followed it up with a grey-black mix to create a soft zenithal highlight..

The colors are as follows (all paints are Vallejo model color and shades are Army Painters Quickshades).

	Base Colors	Details
Cloth	Black	Airbrushed base coat
	Dark Gray	Added to black and airbrushed
	Neutral Gray	Added to Dark Gray/Black mix and glazed on as final highlights Shaded with Dark Tone
Armor	Black Dark Sea Blue	1:1 mix applied with airbrush Same mix used as a brush on highlight
	Neutral Gray	Added to Black/Dark Sea Blue mix for highlights Shaded with a 1:1 mix of Dark Tone and Blue Tone
Details	Fluorescent Green	Painted buttons on his belt
	Ivory	Painted buttons on his chest and belt; applied lightsaber base coat
	Vermilion	Painted various buttons on his belt and chest Applied on the lightsaber over an ivory base coat
	Deep Sky Blue	Painted buttons on his chest
	Red Tone	Applied on the helmet’s eyes
Base	Burnt Umber	Thinned down Burnt Umber to use as a wash, assuming a light grey white base
	Flat Earth	Thinned down Flat Earth and blended, as a wash
	Stone Gray	Painted the larger rocks When dry, applied Dark Tone in recessed areas
	Pale Sand	Dry brushed Pale Sand
	Black	Painted the rim black

To better depict the changes in armor material, I matte coated the entire miniature and brushed a mix of satin and gloss varnish onto the armor.

Comments

Overall, I still find it difficult to tell differentiate between the cloth cloak and leather elements. The varnish makes the armor stand out and you can see a subtle redness in his eyes, although it is very subtle, and I’m happy with that.

Now that the Sith leaders are done, I’m looking forward to painting the other Imperial officers and a colorful Boba Fett, before finishing more stormtroopers.

That is it for now. Until next time, adventure on!