This is such a valuable subject. If you ask an artist they will call black a colour but not the scientist. As colour is only present due to light and black is the absence of all light. Whatever you believe I will refer to it as a colour in this blog.
Having an exceptional light source is a massive MUST. I’ve found that good diffused daylight and daylight globes are the best sources. At least a cool globe rather than the warm.
Black is a very tricky colour to create. When Needle Felting blacks I’ve found I prefer a mix of blacks to best show off my creatures realistic features.
In my Tassie Devil Feltorial I’ve used a combination of darkness with the dark brown Romney core, the cooler black Merino for base and the warmer black Corriedale as a top coat. The differences in these wool types and shades, helps to create depth to your black. Therefore mixing fibres is an essential part of creating that realistic illusion. This pleases the eye way more than a monotone version.
Photographing black can also be very tricky and a good rule to remember with all black photography is to limit the dynamic range in the scene. The camera gets confused if there is too much contrast so using a darker background with help immensely.
Try out different things and see what works for you. Experimenting is the best way to learn new skills.
Rx
PS. Check out this interesting read: Art Fight! The Pinkest Pink versus the Blackest Black.
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