This is a good all round black suitable for most painting applications. This black is also called iron oxide black. It has fairly good jetness and dries to a semi-gloss sheen. This is the standard black used in acrylic paint manufacturing due to its affinity with water. This very heavy pigment will behave more normally in acrylics than carbon or bone black pigments. Mars black comes from a group of artificial mineral pigments, the synthetic iron oxide group, derived from the oxidation of metallic iron. Commercial manufacture dates from the mid 1800’s and this group of pigments has gradually replaced many of the natural earth pigments, for example, red oxide, burnt umber, violet oxide and yellow oxide.
Mars black has average tint strength, good hiding power, and good flow properties. It has excellent lightfastness and very good weather-fastness. For specific effects and purposes however one should review the properties of bone black and carbon black pigments. See choosing blacks