In 2016, an Indian-born British artist named Anish Kapoor was given exclusive rights to use Vantablack, the darkest material in the world with an absorption rate of 99.96%. This sparked a furious reaction from fellow artists; some stated that they had never heard of an artist monopolizing a material, while others stated that this was downright immoral. One British artist in particular, Stuart Semple, retaliated by eventually developing his own "blackest black" that was made available for everyone to use - except for Anish Kapoor. Thus creating an ongoing public feud thatThe Independent hasdescribed as "one of the most spectacular displays of pettiness. . . these are two grown men fighting over who gets to use the pretty colours."
As the name suggests, this is Stuart Semple's third effort to develop the blackest black paint. Black 3.0's predecessor, "Black 2.0" was released back in March of 2017, after first releasing "Better Black" pigment a month earlier.
Funding for Black 3.0 began in January 2019, on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter, promoting it as the "World's Blackest Black". with Semple claiming that his new paint has a visible light absorption rate of 99%. In just three and a half months, the campaign collected around $634,000. A monumental success, as this was 2000% more than their project's goal. Many people were excited to get their hands on a bottle and try it out themselves. Us included.
Then, around 1 year later in 2020, on the other side of the world in Japan, a new black paint was born. Inspired by Semple's achievement of developing an extremely black paint that was commercially available, we developed Black 3.0's better and blacker successor: Musou Black Paint. Musou Black Paintis a water-based acrylic paint with a class leading light absorption rate of 99.4%! This was achievedafter hundreds of hours of R&D to develop a proprietary mix of pigments and binders as well as to find the ideal application method. That when combined, give Musou BlackPaint its extraordinary light absorbing performance of 99.4%!
As you can see in theadjacent photo, Black 3.0 is no longer the "World's Blackest Black" paint. After independent testing, we found that Black 3.0's actual light absorption rate is actually around 97.5%.
Although Black 3.0's and Musou Black Paint's absorption rates are relatively close (Black 3.0 = 97.5%, Musou Black Paint = 99.4%), the 1.9% difference between the two paints makes a huge difference, as you can see in the photo.
An alternative way to explain the difference in blackness is that Black 3.0 reflects 2.5% of light, while Musou Black Paint reflects only 0.6% of light. This means that Musou Black Paint is more than 4x blacker than Black 3.0!
Well, what about Vantablack then? Isn't that the blackestthingthe world? And yes, you are correct. Vantablack is the world's blackest MATERIAL, it is not a paint. Vantablack is a material made out of carbon nanotubes (CNTs)that are thermallybonded to an objects surface using extreme heat. This complex method is what allows Vantablack to achieve its astonishing 99.96% absorption rate.
With that being said, Surrey Nanosystems (the developer of Vantablack) has developed a "paint" version of Vantablack called "Vantablack VBx2." Thisis what theyused in their collaboration with BMW at the 2019 Frankfurt Auto Show. According to Surrey Nanosystem's catalog, the light absorption rate of VBx2 is 99%.
This means that Musou BlackPaint with its 99.4% absorption rate is almost 2x blacker than Vantablack VBx2!
Tags: musou black, black 3.0, vantablack, vbx2, blackest, paint
Write a comment
Comments: 29
- #1
Victor Rodriguez (Saturday, 05 November 2022 02:49)
I find this page surprisingly lack of class for a japanese site.
You don't link external sources for that independent tests you mention, you fail to mention the handling safety requirements of your paint, the skull image is a joke (half of it is painted dark grey,obviously not Black 3.0...and the big pic with the little crown is photoshoped and tasteless) and your account of the (mostly comical) Kapoor-Semple feud just cites the dismissive take by theGuardian, probably the worst existent on the issue.
This page utterly fails in its purpose of making me want to buy your product
Sincerely, VR
- #2
Victor Rodriguez (Saturday, 05 November 2022 05:55)
Having said that, and after some research, it DOES seem that your paint is blacker than anything in the market, and also that Semple smearing campaign on your product is quite shameful in itself
- #3
Anonymous (Sunday, 06 November 2022)
Out of all honesty, Mr. Rodriguez, the bickering between Stuart Stemple and Anish Kapoor *is* quite petty. I get where Semple is coming from, but he does come across as having a savior complex whenit comes to marketing his materials. And he does have a, "Sic 'em!" attitude in regards to getting his customers riled up about Kapoor, too, which unfortunately, I see a lot of artists adopt a ratherblack and white view of the situation because of this and cling onto every word of his.
With that being said, I don't actually know whether this product or Black 3.0 is blacker, and I won't really have an opinion about this until I either use these materials myself or find a third-partywho is unbiased and acting independently with no clear prior favoritism show me clear results of these paints being properly applied.
And to be honest, from what bit of navigating I have done, I'm really not seeing how this site is less professional than anything I have seen on Semple's site. But I guess we have to hold the makersof Musou Black Paint to a different standard of manners because they are Japanese as opposed to English.
- #4
James (Monday, 14 November 2022 18:13)
Ive never seen so many people being but hurt over paint
- #5
Ruby (Tuesday, 06 December 2022 21:34)
That skull photo is fake. Black 3.0 is not a dark grey. Did you think people would not notice that? This is ridiculous
- #6
David Peterzell (Sunday, 01 January 2023 07:13)
Lighten up people �
- #7
David Peterzell (Sunday, 01 January 2023 07:30)
The blackest black? If you really want to ~see the blackest black, then understand that confusing blackness (a perception) with the absence of light (a physical measure) is a big mistake. Blacknessis induced into surfaces based on what surrounds those surfaces. Seeing the blackest black requires contrast not the absence of light.
- #8
Jakez (Tuesday, 10 January 2023 01:30)
While it's true that blackness is induced into surfaces based on what surrounds them and that contrast is necessary to perceive blackness, this doesn't mean that the concept of the "blackest black"is invalid. The term "blackest black" refers to the darkest possible shade of black that can be achieved, and it is often used to describe materials or surfaces that are able to absorb almost all thelight that hits them, resulting in a very low reflectance. This is a physical property that can be measured and quantified, regardless of whether it is perceived by the human eye or not.
- #9
Troll (Sunday, 15 January 2023 23:07)
There is no black. Only Zuul.
- #10
Edidiong (Sunday, 22 January 2023 22:56)
I'd like to add concerning the skull image that all blacks will appear grey if a powerful enough, concentrated enough light source is applied to them - including vantablack. Those decimals behind the99.whatever are important. What the site fails to tell us is what the luminousity of the lightsource that renders that image is.
- #11
Noneya (Sunday, 29 January 2023 23:51)
My two cents on the skull debate... I wonder how you make comparison between two paint that has 3% light reflecting difference on a compressed low resolution picture?
- #12
Marc Ritz (Monday, 30 January 2023 13:22)
Noneya, you can accentuate the difference in blackness digitally and by blasting it with crazy amounts of light. In reality, they might be indistinguishable for our eyes in regular lightingconditions
- #13
Mimimi (Wednesday, 01 February 2023 20:39)
To all people who describe the photos above being "fake".. I actually tried both personally, black 3.0 and Musou black.
Already when I used Black 3.0 for the first time, I were disappointed about its greyish appearance. It only looked really deep black if adding a highly reflective coating that did lead to a very niceglossy black. nice to look at, but less special than claimed.
Musou Black in comparison looks extremely black and leaves only little structure under good lighting conditions.
So, I would personally agree that if you would paint the skull above with black 3.0 and musou black half and half and use a stronger light source, the result would look exactly as shown above. - #14
These People Can't Math (Thursday, 16 February 2023 19:17)
Uuuuuhhhh.... 99.4% is less than 99.96%
The award for the person who failed 4th grade math goes to.... *Drum roll
The writer of this article.
- #15
El de arriba se la come y lo presume! (Tuesday, 21 February 2023 08:33)
"¡Esto significa que Musou Black Paint con su tasa de absorción del 99,4% es casi 2 veces más negra que Vantablack VBx2!"
Se refiere a la VBx2 la cual tiene 99% según. - #16
M Hubbs (Saturday, 04 March 2023 04:52)
People saying the skull image is "fake" might never have heard of eposure settings, or post processing.
- #17
Correction^ (Saturday, 04 March 2023 04:53)
Exposure*
- #18
angle (Wednesday, 22 March 2023 06:16)
i want one
- #19
Vidar (Friday, 24 March 2023 18:35)
I received my 1 litre bottle of Black 3.0 yesterday March 23th 2023. Tested it. It is for sure quite black, but a little desappointed. It looks more like dark grey than black depending on lightconditions and viewing angle. It is very matte, but depending on light angle and viewing angle normal black spray paint is blacker but more gloss. A short video demonstration here where Black 3.0 isin the middle. https://youtu.be/QxCd8UbR8_M
- #20
Ivan (Saturday, 25 March 2023 09:12)
Where can i get a sample of this paint?
- #21
Kato Kramer (Tuesday, 09 May 2023 13:25)
Please send me a sample. Looking to attempt to put this on a pc case for a UV build
- #22
Ryan (Sunday, 14 May 2023 06:44)
I'm curious if anyone has a link to artworks created with any of these products. So far I've only seen a very small sampling.
- #23
Hollinshead (Saturday, 28 October 2023 07:58)
Welcome
- #24
Mike (Thursday, 02 November 2023)
I used both Black 2.0 and Black 3.0, before Trying Musou black. Black 2.0 was easy to use and darker than typical black paints, but hardly competition for vantablack even their paint version VBx2.Black 3.0 was much darker and when you applied it perfectly, viewed in moderate light, it could make things disappear and lived up to the photos shown at Culture Hustle. But getting it perfect waschallenging, and by that IO mean it was a PITA. Priming with Black 2.0 was often needed, and then careful layers of Black 3.0. Apply a small patch of 3.0 too thick and it would take on a much greyermottled surface. No matter how dry you got it between layers, or how many layers you applied trying to fix it, the mottled surface reappeared and could NEVER be painted over successfully by black3.0. You needed to strip paint, or re-prime and start again. It was also very thick and airbrushing was recommended for best results, but without a clear description of how to thin it to that level.I was making Evil Genius Labs Eclipse v2 and wanted an ultrablack circle as the presenting object and the the light-show would project from behind. I had gone through several discs and there wasalways a flaw in the black 3.0 coat. I heard about Musou black right when the first bottles of Japanese paint were being resold on eBay. Sounded too good to be true but Musou black's makers had arespected history and years of experience making light absorbing materials for photography and science. So I bought one and I'm so glad I did..
It was much thinner than black 3.0, and was as easy or easier to apply than black 2.0, but with results when brushed on that looked like my best airbrushed black 3.0 sprays. Best of all, if applied alittle thick in one spot, no problem with Musou black. It dried fine and had no effect on appearance. Airbrushing was easy. Used undiluted (or slighly diluted in airbrush cleaner or commercialdilutant) and sprayed in thin layers, it dried quickly and left surfaces even darker with a texture-less velvet. The first try to making my black hole disc for the Eclipsev2 came out great and it ishanging on the wall behind me now.
I always used a primer with it and used it on miniatures for tabletop RPGs when I wanted a disappearing assassins cloak or a feature of life stealing negative energy undead that looked like darknessitself. Brushed on, It tolerates light handling at least as well as black 3.0. Airbrushed surfaces are much less tolerant of handling for both Black 3.0 and Musou black. The physical structure of ofpigment on surface provides additional light absorption and is easily disrupted.
I don't use black 3.0 anymore, though I really like a number of Stuart's new materials. The mirror coating is amazing and his metallics are my favorites for painting gold, silver, or copper onminiatures. But Musou black is my ultrablack. It is the blackest black I have laid eyes on. It is easy to work with and as a result, it is reliable. Don't take my word for it. Buy a little black 3.0(or the new 4.0) and some Musou black, use them then compare and contrast. See what works for you.
- #25
Mike (Thursday, 02 November 2023 07:46)
I do feel compelled to say that Stuart's reaction to Musou black has diminished him in my estimation. First off, how a paint smells has little or nothing to do with its toxicity. I find Musou's odorto be neither strong nor objectionable, but it smells like a lot of other synthetic acrylic resins. It smells like acryic paint.. Yes, the synthetic acrylic resins in black 3.0 smells a bit likecherries, so what?. The are both synthetic acrylic resin based paints that are considered non-toxic by the pertinent regulatory agencies.
But Stuart plays up the smell, and he tries to pearl clutch this into a baseless assertion that Musou black is unsafe. For the record Musou has vanishingly small amounts of a couple chemicals that inmuch larger amounts are listed as carcinogens, but are so trace that they are well below California's prop 65 limits for not meriting s warning. This is a law that mandates organic bread carry awarning due to natural production of acrylamide (a neurotoxic carcinogen) during baking. Also for the record, Black 3.0 contains tiny amount of a hormone disrupting plasticizer . Not enough to be ofany concern though. Just like Musou. Stuart employs enough chemiststo know this. He plays up the recommendation that when airbrushing with Musou, one should wear a respirator as showing Musou ishazardous to use at all. Conveniently forgetting that black 3.0 has the same recommendation.
It's misleading, and it's petty. It's perfectly legitimate to point out your paint smells good, much better than the other guys paint. It id not to twist a difference in smell into a scientificallyunjustified claim Musou is hazardous and Black 3.0 is not. And it is inimical to his espouced goals. Musou was explicty created "inspired" by Stuart's efforts to bring ultrablack to everyone. Themakers of Musou black staten in 'About Us' that "Our goal...is to make ultra-black materials that are not only high-quality but also accessible to everyone. Not just select companies andindividuals." Who else fervently holds the same goal? Stuart Stemple. Competition is a good thing here. Stuart just introduced Black 4.0, claimed to absorb 99.95% of visible light. Would that havehappened without Musou? Maybe. Maybe not. If it really absorbs anything close to the claimed 99.95%, I see an improved Musou 2 in our future. Absorption climbs, every increment brings ultraback paintcloser to the results obtained with oriented nanotuble based coatings. Minus the high temperature vacuum baking that precludes use in most art.Who wins? everyone who wants to be able to use ultrablack for whatever they dream up. Who looses? Only a fool who spent big money buying a monopoly on artistic use of that oriented nanotuble basedcoating, thinking it would grant him a monopoly on ultrablack. The value of that guy's investment plummets with every improvement of these ultrablack paints.
- #26
Dan (Monday, 19 February 2024 01:00)
It's literally only .4 percent darker, not twice as dark.
- #27
EmilyBendsSpace (Tuesday, 05 March 2024 01:23)
0.4% more light absorption means 66.67% less reflected light, i.e. 1.666... times as dark. 99.5% absorption would be "twice as dark" as 99% and 99.9% would be 10 times as dark, etc.
- #28
Jack Blacknight (Monday, 15 April 2024 13:38)
Greetings. I'm glad that people are doing research to find out which is blacker. Now, I've not been paying much attention to the recent information on this topic seeing as there's been alot ofuseless squabbles, but now I'm once again diving in to this... conversation. I look forward to new developments. It's nice to be back, truely. For those who seek the Volkrin's guidance,Teatafintafinlictatea kinnicta foetinteadoekin nokaza: Kiohkita naohfinta lictafoeteata Nicta zanicoh tindoe seetinkisaw ohlintatea kanono_
- #29
Jayson Darkseeker (Monday, 15 April 2024 14:06)
A true honor to meet you Seer of Valzerren. I hope we shall meet again. I believe that Musou is better because I've seen Black 3.0, and overall, eh. Musou is darker and nicer. Everyone has their ownopinion though, so I only speak for myself. Nicta teatatinsawkidoe doesokneeteatafinta_
