FAQ: Painting White

[konskrypt]

I dont highlight white.

I start from a grey bsaceoat and work up from that

[mario]

Use fortress grey as white and just highlight up to pure white. As the rest of the miniature is black the light grey will look white enough to function as a base.

[Brother Adeon]

I paint the chest eagles Ultramarines Blue, then Space Wolves Grey, then Skull White. Simple, fast, and it works every time.

 

P.S. You can see the results on my avatar picture.

[feuer_faust]

I dont highlight white.

I start from a grey bsaceoat and work up from that

 

Seconded. In art and painting, you rarely see pure white. It usualy has a bit of black in, or more commonly some blue. Starting from an "off-white" base may be the way to go here (I usually use Vallejo Ghost Grey which is just-about-white, so you can sitll highlight and it looks correct).

[Alex.ö]

There were quite a few ways of highlighting white then... <_<

[kalle]

hai, I'm new to the site and all .

 

 

ive just started with a black templars army and i just paint theyr shoulders with skull white 3 times , the first layer thick with alot of paint and the rest with smaller amounts of paint . just make sure to let the previous coat dry before applying another or u will get a lumpy syrface .

[Frost Knight]

my DIY army is almost completely white and i have found a very nice scheme.

 

Chaos Black Undercoat

Base it with fortress grey

go over that with Skull white

do the edges with Asurmen blue.

[ikik]

I just painted my first raven guard and for the white I used this:

 

space wolves gray

thick layer of asurman blue wash

highlight with space wolves grey

and then 2 layers of skull white (thinned down to the thickness of milk)

 

you will get a hard blue-ish white

[Brother Captain Andrecus]

Hmmm. You might try just painting codex grey over the black, and then Skull white... Though in my experience, that still yeilds a slightly tainted white...

I suppose you could use Codex Grey, Bleached Bone, then Skull White. Or fortress grey instead of codex grey.

[kyng72]

I am sure this as been adressed someplace but I can't seem to find it by searchy.

 

What is the best way to shade or highlight white?

[Vadskær]

Well, as for highlighting white....you don't ;-) But you can shade it with a light, thin gray. I prefer to take a mix of 1:1 fortress gray and skull white, thinned to a wash and then apply fine coats until I'm satisfied. For heavier shades I just take a was of fortress gray.

 

If you have the skills (and the time), you could of course blend the mix into the white.

[Gurth]

If you want to paint to a reasonably high standard, one of the first things to know is that you don' paint white, white, nor black, black. Use an off-white colour as the base so you can darken it for shadows and lighten it for highlights — extreme highlights can be pure white. Much the same applies to black, but the other way around.

 

Also, don't mix black into the white paint to create your off-white base colour: you'll end up with a grey that probably doesn't look very good. You're better off mixing a little tan or brown into the white, or another colour depending on the effect you want to achieve — if you want "cold" white, mix in blue, for example. Similarly, don't simply put black into mix to make shadows, but rather darken it using the same kinds of colours you used to mix the base: if you added tan to create a cream white, add a little brown to make shadows, for example.

[Brother Nihm]

Searchy found tutorials

here

here

here

here

and here

[Bennethon]

Hey guys! I just started getting into the game with a few friends of mine. I am playing the token Space Marine army, and decided on a mainly white color scheme. I really like the pics in the books of the white armored marines. But I was wondering the best way to go about it.

 

Should I start with a white base coat? I was undecided on my colors for a while, so initially I base-coated a lot of my models with black. I was considering getting some white spray and going back over them. Is that my best option?

 

I am also wondering about washes for the white armor. In the pics, the white models look really good, with a kind of a subtle blueish tint to them. My first plan was to do a basic black ink wash, but now I am thinking maybe one of the official Citadel washes might work better. Any thoughts?

 

Thanks!

[Mal]

Personally I use a plain grey primer when painting white (weird huh?), I find it actually make it a little easier to get an even cover with the white. As for washes, I use Asurmen Blue and trace the edges of the armour, it comes out quite nice as well as being pretty quick to paint.

 

It is not however going to win you any painting competitions.

[Bennethon]

Personally I use a plain grey primer when painting white (weird huh?), I find it actually make it a little easier to get an even cover with the white. As for washes, I use Asurmen Blue and trace the edges of the armour, it comes out quite nice as well as being pretty quick to paint.

 

It is not however going to win you any painting competitions.

thanks! yeah, I don't figure I am going to win any painting awards with this army, lol. This is the first time I've done this.

 

So a gray primer? That is weird. I guess that makes it easier then just painting directly onto the gray models?

[Boomsly]

i paint mentor legion marines which are predominatly white

 

i spray white and then line it with space wolves grey (the blue lines you like) and then paint 2 layer of white over the white to get any missed parts during the spraying, then do all the detailing :)

 

here is a link to the same method as mine with pics

 

white with pics

[Mal]

Personally I use a plain grey primer when painting white (weird huh?), I find it actually make it a little easier to get an even cover with the white. As for washes, I use Asurmen Blue and trace the edges of the armour, it comes out quite nice as well as being pretty quick to paint.

 

It is not however going to win you any painting competitions.

thanks! yeah, I don't figure I am going to win any painting awards with this army, lol. This is the first time I've done this.

 

So a gray primer? That is weird. I guess that makes it easier then just painting directly onto the gray models?

 

Yeah I find the primer allows for a more even spread fo the white, it can be a tricky colour to get an even coat with a brush, espically over bare plastic.

[Bennethon]

i paint mentor legion marines which are predominatly white

 

i spray white and then line it with space wolves grey (the blue lines you like) and then paint 2 layer of white over the white to get any missed parts during the spraying, then do all the detailing :)

 

here is a link to the same method as mine with pics

 

white with pics

wow, those look amazing! :)

 

Yeah, I don't know if there are any rules about creating your own chapters, but I was actually thinking that my chapter was an offshoot of the mentors.

[DV8]

http://www.spacewithinspace.net/images/warhammerimages/preheresyworldeater.jpg

 

White Primer

Basecoat Bleached Blone

Blend/feather/highlight with Skull White (whatever takes your fancy depending on how clean or dirty you want it)

Washes of Devlan Mud.

 

 

DV8

[Captain Hajime]

Alright I see that my other post got locked because I asked a question that was in the FAQ.

 

I mind less if the FAQ wasn't just a huge bunch of posting but an article style posting.

 

Anyway from what I can see there a couple theories on White

 

Bone base coat progression

 

Grey Base coat progression

 

White and Black Line which is very 2D and I don't think I want to go that way

 

And something I seen before but no examples jump out at me, Icy Blue progression

 

Now I am going to be using Red as well starting with a Machrite Red and working my way up to a Blood Red.

 

What would look the best with that? Should I Contrast the warm read with the Very cool Iy Blue progression? Whould the Grey look better?

 

While I am at it has any one use a white base then Wash the re-drybrush white style for white armour?

[AdeptusDavidus]

With your red-and-white scheme, I think you should pick between a grey-tone white and a beige-tone white. The beige-tone will be warmer, and you can glaze hints of red into the shadows to kind of unify the miniature, but that runs the risk of the viewer's brain tricking them into seeing a pink Space Marine. The grey-tone white may look a little grittier, but I think you'd get an overall cleaner result that way.

 

Personally, I don't care for the icy-blue white, though adding a tinge of blue at some stage in a grey progression can look good. If you use an icy-blue white with your red, though, I think you'll end up with a rather cartoony or comic-booky finished product, which could be cool, but might not be what you're going for.

[Aerixis]

White is surprisingly easy with the right paints.

 

First, base coat the white-to-be are with Astronomicon Grey and give it a gentle black wash.

 

Then mix grey and skull white 50/50, and paint it over the top parts. The Astronomicon Grey will cover beautifully over the washed grey from earlier.

 

Then paint the top parts white over, say, two layers. It looks beautiful and makes for amazing Apothecary results too!

 

Hope this helps!

[Vercingetorige]

i paint mentor legion marines which are predominatly white

 

i spray white and then line it with space wolves grey (the blue lines you like) and then paint 2 layer of white over the white to get any missed parts during the spraying, then do all the detailing :P

 

here is a link to the same method as mine with pics

 

white with pics

 

 

This is very interesting indeed! I was planning to paint my new marines as part of Mentor Chapter as well. I was afraid by the quantity of white paint anyhow, as I've been told that it's complicated to achieve a good effect with it (me being a sloppy painter).

I also liked the Preators of Orpheus, but in those the white elements are even more predominant...

but I can give them a try... :D

[Brother Evar]

What I do is-

 

1 Base coat Chaos black, then Adapteus Battlegrey (foundation one)

2 Fortress Grey

3 1:1 Skull white and fortress grey

4 pure skull white

 

You could repeat 3 with a 2:1 ratio after the 1:1 then go pure skull white. Of course you thin your paints before-hand before you start mixing and wait for each stage to completely dry. This is the long way, though I also have a cheater's way-

 

1 Base coat chaos black, then Adeteus Battle grey

2 Fortress gery, leaving battlegrey in receses/ groves of mini. (optional Very thin wash badab black to create deeper shadow)

3 pure Skull white highlights.

 

This looks great on banners, robes, flags. If you do bigger highlights on armour with skull white, you still get it looking white, though not the crisp High elf style white. I used this on my Warmachine army, Protectorate of Menoth and it looks very nice.