Lunar Black is a highly granulating black made from magnetic iron oxide, which is said to resemble Chinese sumi ink.
Pigment Stats for PBk11
Pigment Description: Magnetic black iron oxide
Lightfastness: Excellent (I) per Handprint.com
Toxicity: Nontoxic (A) per Art is Creation
My Observations of Daniel Smith Lunar Black
Gradient: Unpredictably, highly granulating stroke-y grade from pure black to gray.
Transparency: Opaque.
Glazing: Imperceptible since it’s opaque black on black.
Color Mixes: Not a big fan of these in general, as they’re all just sort of black/gray soot mixed into the color. The earth tones are kind of interesting.
What Others Say
The more I use this paint, the less comfortable I am with it. The texture is very difficult to control, and the paint acquires a kind of gouache flatness in tints. It is a very unsatisfactory shadow color, and so far has only proven useful to represent black stained work or black wool sweaters. However, a small amount added to an earth yellow or red can produce interesting and manageable mineral textures.
Bruce MacEvoy, handprint.com
Lunar Black – I used this color in some paintings, but not all. It tends to take over mixtures and really moves over the paper a lot when applied to a wet area, so I had to be ready for it to do really unexpected things. More often than using lunar black, I would mix a bunch of the other colors already used in the painting to make a really nice harmonious dark.
Claire Giordano, Petrified Forest Residency: Favorite Colors
See also:
- Teoh Yi Chie of Parkablog show examples of India ink and sumi ink compared to watercolor blacks.
- Jamie Anderson did a Youtube paintout on different granulating blacks.
My Overall Review
Admittedly, black is not my favorite palette slot, so I was already off on the back foot here. I feel like this color amplifies everything I dislike about Lamp Black (difficult to control texture, awkwardness in mixing, flat feel.) The granulating effects are interesting, but like many highly distinctive, color-separating paints, I find that it has limited real-world use cases. If you are a big fan of granulation, though, this one will be up your alley.
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