Chest of Colors forum

There are many layers of highlighting. I add more grey to black-and-water-mix with every single step, till I'm satisfied with the effect.
So we are waiting for Your Raven Guard! Oh and welcome to the forum btw

for black i usually begin by a grey50% and then go down in shades wih more black in my base grey but because there is a but i add in my shade a hot (red,yellow, green) color to break the black color

the same for highlight i add white with a drop o blue, to make my white brighter
adding hot color in shade uou reheat your shadows suposed to be cols normaly and adding cold color in highlight you "freeze" you color supposed to be warm
it's like a crossing method to give harmony and strong contrast

using only black and white made the exercise very difficult, because what ever subtle highlight you use, they always be visible, adding color in shading and highlight eliminate this effect

I do similar thing:
I was painting bokur's glack clothes and adding color to the black was definitelly good idea: it made model look more natural

exactly, usually what we call black is just a very dark shade of a different color, so I would suggest trying slight additions of other colors in your mix - this will make tihngs easier