I really like seeing colors compared like this. I appreciate that you show the swatches close enough to really get a good look at them. I was surprised at how similar the blacks were. I preferred the same ones you did, probably because you have taught me to appreciate granulation. :D
I wish you'd try "Peach Black" which is only available through Holbein. It'a actually PBK1 *before Lamp Black* and is made from peach pits which have been burned. The tone is quite beautiful and distinct.
Teoh , this was especially interesting to me as I don’t own any tube blacks. A long time ago I found mixing black from 3 primaries works so well, and looks so much warmer or cooler than already mixed tube black. I usually start with a blue and either burnt sienna or burnt umber. if I want a warm black I add just a touch of red , if I need cooler I might add green , but I always start with the blue. Ultramarine, cobalt, or even Indigo. Thanks Teoh, I will add the sketching ink to my colors.
Your videos are always so timely for me! I've been playing with greys and black trying to find one I can keep in my palette instead of mixing it all the time. Your swatches have been helpful. I recently switched out DS Ultramarine for DS French Ultramarine due to the better granulation. I love it mixed with DS Van Dyck Brown. Also, thank you for sharing your sketchbooks. I love your sketches. Cheers!
I’m so fond of this channel. It has anything that I searched 😅 from watercolor’s specific brand, color, pallete, ipad, screen protector and all 😁. Literally whenever I get something to be searched for, this channel always has it.
Thanks Teoh: I don't currently own a tube black, but I'm tempted to buy a lamp black, but some of the others you showed are very beautiful. I really enjoy your colour comparison videos.
I think Sodalite looks good as a roof color for my paintings based on country houses, I use it regularly. I’ve recently been getting a lot of use from Neutral Tint. I do mix blacks, darks, greys, and browns from combining primary colors, as you mentioned, but sometimes it seems to take a lot of paint and time and lately I’ve saved some time by darkening my mixes with the Neutral Tint. Thank you!!
I’ve been making my own moody colors with granulation like from lunar black and two-tone colors or more with using granulation and stain factor from the paint. I’ve made a marvelous brownish black with pink (potters pink) and black (lunar black) granulation mixed with a vibrant orange, mayan orange in this case, all DS colors too in this case. Just bought the WN liquid india ink to do tonal studies and line and wash maybe, if I don’t want the ink to be waterproof (already have a normal india ink, haven’t done much with it yet apart from black lines on swatch cards for opacity tests. I’ve been wanting to do too much different things, learn and study (new) techniques but lack even a grain of energy. If you know of a pen (brush and/or fountain pen with fude nib/bent nib) that won’t clog up with waterproof ink, I’d love to know!
Thanks again for this awesome video! I really love your color comparison videos. That Sodalite is expensive but it looks worth it! All your sketches are incredible.
Beautiful swatches... I love your videos, is so satisfying to see how the pigments move ❤️, today I bought the lunar black, let's see how it works... I like a lot the character that granulation gives to the work.
I must admit, originally I didn't like black watercolors because I prefer to mix my own (mostly with Burnt Umber and Ultramarine like you mentioned) and thus neglected them and didn't have any on my palette (except Lunar Black, but I mainly used it to add granulation to other colors), but recently I've started to get a few additional black watercolors :) I like to use them for colorsplash/colorkey purposes, monochrome paintings and to add some additional shadow to my crosshatched ink drawings. A very helpful video, thank you so much :) ♥
As previously mentioned Peach Black would have been nice to see. Never seen that particular black swatched out. I enjoy using Lunar black in limited studies for the granulation, and the transparency. Thank you for another nicely done video Teoh. Claudia
One thing about blacks that I only recently discovered. I read this in an article written some years ago by, I believe, Claudia Nice: We all know that mixed greens are more interesting than tube greens, right? Well you can make some _very_ interesting greens by substituting one of the blacks for your blue pigment in your mixture. And not just the ones that have a blue tint to them like Mars (iron oxide) and lamp black. I made some really nice earthy olive greens for a painting by mixing ivory black (the only black I use) with both lemon yellow and with cadmium yellow medium. You people ought to give it a try. If you want a really earthy green that is almost a brown then mix yellow ochre with ivory black, or transparent iron oxide yellow with ivory black. It's so much nicer than tube greens. Especially if you mix your paints to not fully bleed into each other. It's always more interesting if flecks and threads of the original colors still exist in the mix.
I do that all the time for nice greens. A very nice olive green to boot. Real Grays require a black, plus a nice brick red, etc. Blue is overused, imho. If i want a Paynes Grey, I'll mix my own shade using an actual black & blue. I don't like wasting paint, so i don't mix for black ... I need my Burnt Sienna/Umber for painting. 😊
I should really get that sumi ink you used. Ever since I saw the example sketch you made with it many videos ago I've been thinking about it! The granulation if so pretty.
Thank you VERY much for this informative comparison. Sumi Ink was an option I've never tried. I added Lunar Black long ago because it was recommended by Jane Blundell. The richness of the Sumi Ink far outperforms the Lunar Black in your comparisons. This was very illuminating!
i use lunar black ,its one of my fav black to use ,i also use zoseph's grey with it ,together they give fantabulous results ,i paint wet cityscpaes btw
I am really impressed with the Sumi ink, and the mono chromatic sketches you did with it are stunning. To me it was the most distinctive of the bunch and provided the most impressive texture. I have only worked with traditional shellac type India ink, and my earliest forays into line and wash as a young teen was with an old cork stoppered bottle I found in my grandfathers study. I will have to try Sumi - Would the Kuretake Sumi ink be the same or does it vary by brand?
I was wondering what it would be like if you used the lunar black with the paper placed above a strong magnet. Will its magnetic properties determine the way it granulates? Maybe you would be interested in trying it out?
I bought a small tube of Daniel Smith bloodstone genuine to try. I haven't done anything with it yet but it's on my list. Sodalite genuine reminds me of denim.
My favorite neutral tint has no “black” in it...it’s definitely on the purple side and mixes well, colors aren’t dead at all. M. Graham. One of Steve Mitchell’s videos convinced me to give it a try. Another option for a “neutral tint” type color that I like using in its place (also thanks to Steve’s recommendation) is Daniel Smith’s Moonglow. I have some black tube paints - Lunar Black is interesting - but I bought most of them because I was following instructions in watercolor instructional books. Or they came in a set. Mostly I find them annoying and would rather mix my own blacks or near blacks. I do like some Payne’s Greys though. Thanks for the video!
When you use a paintbrush for the Ink bottle, do you have to clean it a special way, or just rinse in water like regular watercolor brush? Do you have a dedicated brush to use with inks if so? (I really liked the black and white painting with the red accents) I didn't think there would be so much differences between blacks, as most watercolor people claim to not want to use black paint.
Hey Teoh! If you could chose one high-end item, one mid-range item and one budget item between paint, brushes and paper, which would you do? For example, do you get more bang for your buck with quality paints, but could get by with mid-range brush and cheap paper? Love your channel!
I really enjoy doing monochrome paintings so I loved this comparison. The Lunar Black is very much the look I would go for, but I love the unpredictable nature of the W&N Sumi Ink. Is that waterproof when dry? I haven't used India Ink in my adult life and I need a refresher. Thanks, Teoh!
Sodalite is a darker blue, and Lunar Blue separates so you can see the bright phthalo blue under the black granulation. Both cool colors for monochromatic sketches or for painting darks.
No it doesn't. Even between just watercolor brands there's a difference in drying time. Some inks dry really fast, then others need time. Graphite dries pretty fast, at least mine does, but that may differ in brands too.
Hard to say, it depends on a lot of variables... Some inks are designed to dry faster than others for example while for watercolors it depends on the composition of the color itself and how much it is diluted. Paper does also play a huge role. Certain cold press paper (Arches come to mind) keep the wetness much better than others. It is by combining different factors that you achieve different results, that's why the search is basically neverending and each artist uses the stuff that suits him better depending on the way he likes to work.
Along with the other replies to your question, I would also add that drying speed depends a lot on the relative humidity of the location where you are. I live in central Washington state where it is mostly dry. Even 100% cotton paper like Arches does not hold the wetness. For me, Strathmore 400 is just as good as Arches and costs less. Somebody in the deep South, like Florida, Alabama, etc. that have a higher humidity level, will tend to have slower drying times.
what do you think of the winsor newton india ink? a lot of cartooning videos i was looking up over a year ago said theyd gone off it because it was being watered down and wasnt as black any more.
In the case of Jane’s grey, it’s the proportions of each pigment that counts as well as the characteristics of mixing them commercially rather than on the palette or paper. Jane Blundell never claimed she was the first or only artist to mix those pigments.
@@Roslyngal Yes. If you go to her website she includes the recipe and is very clear that she is modeling it after grey's before her. Daniel Smith named it after her because (rightfully in my opinion) because she has popularized watercolourists going back to a non oxidized black. So good for her. As such it's just a convenience color to have it premixed.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I really like seeing colors compared like this. I appreciate that you show the swatches close enough to really get a good look at them. I was surprised at how similar the blacks were. I preferred the same ones you did, probably because you have taught me to appreciate granulation. :D
I wish you'd try "Peach Black" which is only available through Holbein. It'a actually PBK1 *before Lamp Black* and is made from peach pits which have been burned. The tone is quite beautiful and distinct.
Teoh , this was especially interesting to me as I don’t own any tube blacks. A long time ago I found mixing black from 3 primaries works so well, and looks so much warmer or cooler than already mixed tube black. I usually start with a blue and either burnt sienna or burnt umber. if I want a warm black I add just a touch of red , if I
need cooler I might add green , but I always start with the blue. Ultramarine, cobalt, or even Indigo.
Thanks Teoh, I will add the sketching ink to my colors.
Your videos are always so timely for me! I've been playing with greys and black trying to find one I can keep in my palette instead of mixing it all the time. Your swatches have been helpful.
I recently switched out DS Ultramarine for DS French Ultramarine due to the better granulation. I love it mixed with DS Van Dyck Brown.
Also, thank you for sharing your sketchbooks. I love your sketches.
Cheers!
I’m so fond of this channel. It has anything that I searched 😅 from watercolor’s specific brand, color, pallete, ipad, screen protector and all 😁. Literally whenever I get something to be searched for, this channel always has it.
Thanks Teoh: I don't currently own a tube black, but I'm tempted to buy a lamp black, but some of the others you showed are very beautiful. I really enjoy your colour comparison videos.
simple man: i bought this because the name has a black in it.
I think Sodalite looks good as a roof color for my paintings based on country houses, I use it regularly. I’ve recently been getting a lot of use from Neutral Tint. I do mix blacks, darks, greys, and browns from combining primary colors, as you mentioned, but sometimes it seems to take a lot of paint and time and lately I’ve saved some time by darkening my mixes with the Neutral Tint. Thank you!!
I liked that you included a bit of information on the origin of the name of the paint. It was really interesting :)
Thanks Teoh. I like mixing colors with black to see tinted granulation.
I’ve been making my own moody colors with granulation like from lunar black and two-tone colors or more with using granulation and stain factor from the paint. I’ve made a marvelous brownish black with pink (potters pink) and black (lunar black) granulation mixed with a vibrant orange, mayan orange in this case, all DS colors too in this case.
Just bought the WN liquid india ink to do tonal studies and line and wash maybe, if I don’t want the ink to be waterproof (already have a normal india ink, haven’t done much with it yet apart from black lines on swatch cards for opacity tests. I’ve been wanting to do too much different things, learn and study (new) techniques but lack even a grain of energy. If you know of a pen (brush and/or fountain pen with fude nib/bent nib) that won’t clog up with waterproof ink, I’d love to know!
Thanks again for this awesome video! I really love your color comparison videos. That Sodalite is expensive but it looks worth it! All your sketches are incredible.
Beautiful swatches... I love your videos, is so satisfying to see how the pigments move ❤️, today I bought the lunar black, let's see how it works... I like a lot the character that granulation gives to the work.
I must admit, originally I didn't like black watercolors because I prefer to mix my own (mostly with Burnt Umber and Ultramarine like you mentioned) and thus neglected them and didn't have any on my palette (except Lunar Black, but I mainly used it to add granulation to other colors), but recently I've started to get a few additional black watercolors :) I like to use them for colorsplash/colorkey purposes, monochrome paintings and to add some additional shadow to my crosshatched ink drawings. A very helpful video, thank you so much :) ♥
Thank you, cool green and cool red makes a perfect neutral black. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for the video! Some are warm while some are cooler, so interesting!
As previously mentioned Peach Black would have been nice to see. Never seen that particular black swatched out. I enjoy using Lunar black in limited studies for the granulation, and the transparency. Thank you for another nicely done video Teoh. Claudia
One thing about blacks that I only recently discovered. I read this in an article written some years ago by, I believe, Claudia Nice: We all know that mixed greens are more interesting than tube greens, right? Well you can make some _very_ interesting greens by substituting one of the blacks for your blue pigment in your mixture. And not just the ones that have a blue tint to them like Mars (iron oxide) and lamp black. I made some really nice earthy olive greens for a painting by mixing ivory black (the only black I use) with both lemon yellow and with cadmium yellow medium. You people ought to give it a try. If you want a really earthy green that is almost a brown then mix yellow ochre with ivory black, or transparent iron oxide yellow with ivory black. It's so much nicer than tube greens. Especially if you mix your paints to not fully bleed into each other. It's always more interesting if flecks and threads of the original colors still exist in the mix.
I do that all the time for nice greens. A very nice olive green to boot. Real Grays require a black, plus a nice brick red, etc.
Blue is overused, imho. If i want a Paynes Grey, I'll mix my own shade using an actual black & blue. I don't like wasting paint, so i don't mix for black ... I need my Burnt Sienna/Umber for painting. 😊
New must haves: Lunar Black & Sodalite! Thanks Teoh!!
Sodalite is too expensive
Thank you for the information on the various black paints. It was very helpful
I should really get that sumi ink you used. Ever since I saw the example sketch you made with it many videos ago I've been thinking about it! The granulation if so pretty.
Very interesting to see all of those different blacks. I like the lamp black and the sodalite black. 👍 They're beautiful. 😃 Thanks Teoh.
Thank you VERY much for this informative comparison. Sumi Ink was an option I've never tried. I added Lunar Black long ago because it was recommended by Jane Blundell. The richness of the Sumi Ink far outperforms the Lunar Black in your comparisons. This was very illuminating!
Thank you so much for your review.
Another GREAT resource on mixing blacks can be found at Louise de Masi's video: ruclips.net/video/LmYgBR5QJgc/видео.html
Wonderful video! Thank you.
i use lunar black ,its one of my fav black to use ,i also use zoseph's grey with it ,together they give fantabulous results ,i paint wet cityscpaes btw
Thanks, it’s hard to find black reviews
I am really impressed with the Sumi ink, and the mono chromatic sketches you did with it are stunning. To me it was the most distinctive of the bunch and provided the most impressive texture. I have only worked with traditional shellac type India ink, and my earliest forays into line and wash as a young teen was with an old cork stoppered bottle I found in my grandfathers study. I will have to try Sumi - Would the Kuretake Sumi ink be the same or does it vary by brand?
So much variation in one colour!
Thank you for sharing this! I love all of the videos you share!
Just what I needed... thank you!
I was wondering what it would be like if you used the lunar black with the paper placed above a strong magnet. Will its magnetic properties determine the way it granulates? Maybe you would be interested in trying it out?
Great video! And funny but we choose exactly the same 3 blacks as favourite ones. Granulation is awesome, especially for monochromatic paintings!
Great video Teoh. Thanks.
I bought a small tube of Daniel Smith bloodstone genuine to try. I haven't done anything with it yet but it's on my list.
Sodalite genuine reminds me of denim.
My favorite neutral tint has no “black” in it...it’s definitely on the purple side and mixes well, colors aren’t dead at all. M. Graham. One of Steve Mitchell’s videos convinced me to give it a try. Another option for a “neutral tint” type color that I like using in its place (also thanks to Steve’s recommendation) is Daniel Smith’s Moonglow. I have some black tube paints - Lunar Black is interesting - but I bought most of them because I was following instructions in watercolor instructional books. Or they came in a set. Mostly I find them annoying and would rather mix my own blacks or near blacks. I do like some Payne’s Greys though. Thanks for the video!
Wonderful!
Great video. I just bought DS Lunar Black 2 days ago.
When you use a paintbrush for the Ink bottle, do you have to clean it a special way, or just rinse in water like regular watercolor brush? Do you have a dedicated brush to use with inks if so? (I really liked the black and white painting with the red accents)
I didn't think there would be so much differences between blacks, as most watercolor people claim to not want to use black paint.
I clean brushes with inks more thoroughly. It’s good to have a brush dedicated to just inks so as not to damage watercolour brushes
Hey Teoh! If you could chose one high-end item, one mid-range item and one budget item between paint, brushes and paper, which would you do? For example, do you get more bang for your buck with quality paints, but could get by with mid-range brush and cheap paper? Love your channel!
Always go for good paper. Quality difference between good and bad paper is significant
did i miss where the link to video for the most recent Daniel smith Greys is? I don't see it in the description.
Oops. Forgot to put the link ruclips.net/video/dotqsvYRczg/видео.html
which black color you prefer to use? what will you choose ink or black color for sketching?
I really enjoy doing monochrome paintings so I loved this comparison. The Lunar Black is very much the look I would go for, but I love the unpredictable nature of the W&N Sumi Ink. Is that waterproof when dry? I haven't used India Ink in my adult life and I need a refresher. Thanks, Teoh!
I've actually not tested sumi ink for waterproof-ness, if there's such a word. lol
I think you missed some colors have a black shades on it like Bloodstone Genuine, Hematite Genuine, or Zoisite Genuine.
I’ll probably make another video for the Primatek or Genuine colours
Have you tried Parker quink ink? That is beautiful black ink that separates into different colours when dry
Some fountain pen inks do that
I cannot paint without black... All of my works have blacks on it...
Isn’t Sumi ink made the same way as lamp black?
Yes ruclips.net/video/GSuFSYY-X9w/видео.htmlsi=qgarMVZKz-IxvdOJ
I feel like some blacks are like gouache. Some feel less Soft, or is just less wather?
can you paint a whole sceen in the small squares
Sodalite looks very similar to Lunar Blue.....how do they compare?
Sodalite is more granulating
Sodalite is a darker blue, and Lunar Blue separates so you can see the bright phthalo blue under the black granulation. Both cool colors for monochromatic sketches or for painting darks.
Why your video does nt have ads
Because I don't need the money from those ads
The neutral tint is the same color as a ink that I have 😃
What would you recommend for grisaille technique?
Not sure about grisaille. Steven Reddy uses graphite for the initial wash before adding colours to his sketches
Maybe would be a silly question, but does ink, watercolour and graphite dry at same speed?
No it doesn't. Even between just watercolor brands there's a difference in drying time. Some inks dry really fast, then others need time. Graphite dries pretty fast, at least mine does, but that may differ in brands too.
I don't think drying speeds are that different if they are different at all.
Hard to say, it depends on a lot of variables... Some inks are designed to dry faster than others for example while for watercolors it depends on the composition of the color itself and how much it is diluted. Paper does also play a huge role. Certain cold press paper (Arches come to mind) keep the wetness much better than others. It is by combining different factors that you achieve different results, that's why the search is basically neverending and each artist uses the stuff that suits him better depending on the way he likes to work.
Along with the other replies to your question, I would also add that drying speed depends a lot on the relative humidity of the location where you are. I live in central Washington state where it is mostly dry. Even 100% cotton paper like Arches does not hold the wetness. For me, Strathmore 400 is just as good as Arches and costs less. Somebody in the deep South, like Florida, Alabama, etc. that have a higher humidity level, will tend to have slower drying times.
what do you think of the winsor newton india ink? a lot of cartooning videos i was looking up over a year ago said theyd gone off it because it was being watered down and wasnt as black any more.
It looks very black to me
Black is great for tonal studies and monochrome painting.
again I want to repeat that grey made from mixing ultramarine and brown is too common to be called someone's grey.😂
In the case of Jane’s grey, it’s the proportions of each pigment that counts as well as the characteristics of mixing them commercially rather than on the palette or paper. Jane Blundell never claimed she was the first or only artist to mix those pigments.
@@Roslyngal Yes. If you go to her website she includes the recipe and is very clear that she is modeling it after grey's before her. Daniel Smith named it after her because (rightfully in my opinion) because she has popularized watercolourists going back to a non oxidized black. So good for her. As such it's just a convenience color to have it premixed.
💪🦄💪🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈