Black Oil Paints Notes

Ivory Black
slightly warm in its tinting and transparency
weak tinting strength

Mars Black
cool in mass tone and strong, while warm in its tinting
a warmish brown undertone
very opaque
three time the tinting strength as Ivory Black
not as black as Ivory black
is a good drier, the only black safe to over paint because it is the only one that produces a hard fairly flexible oil paint, and is the only one that can be used in all media without reservation.

Van Dyke Brown
warm black
used as a transparent earth glazing color
used to add a gallery tone

Payne’s Gray
cool black
made from Ivory Black and ultramarine blue

Black Spinel
dries to a matt finish, looks like slate
neutral tint

Chromatic Black
this is a black with no black pigments
made with two complements Quinacridone Red and Phthalo Emerald
a neutral tinting black made from complementary colors rather then the usual carbon or iron oxide blacks, that when used in mixtures can make colors look dirts.

Lamp Black
is one of the slowest drying pigments in oil and should never be used underneath other colors unless mixed with a fast drier such as Umber.
produces a very soft and brittle oil paint.
most artists prefer either Ivory Black or the newer Mars Black.