Alabaster white Death Company Dreadnought?

[muskleman]

Ok. First time poster and newish to the forums. I gotta question...

 

How should I go about painting my death company with white armor?

 

Do I basecoat black and work my way up to white while leaving the recesses dark? Or basecoat white?

 

Thanks guys, hoping to get some advice. I've seen quite a nice community here. :D

[Redfinger]

I would start with white, it will make life easier, then coat in a light brown, like Vallejo Beige Brown, I think the GW equivalent might be Snake Bite Leather, not sure...Then I would follow that with an off white, like an Ivory color, and lastly use a pure white as your final highlight color.

 

Ashton

[muskleman]

Any other tips? I just don't see why or how brown comes into the picture

[Redfinger]

Any other tips? I just don't see why or how brown comes into the picture

 

 

Sigh.....

 

The first thing you need to understand is that paint is made up of certain elements, all in proportion to one another, namely the components are pigment(color), binding agent(what makes it stick) and carrier(what allows it to go from pot to brush to surface.) Based on the type of pigment that the paint is made of will determine in most cases what the ratios are of the other elements.

 

Hobby company's like GW price and manufacture their paints on the idea of volume, meaning whether you buy black or yellow, you are getting the same vloume of paint...this marketing ploy results in some paints covering better than others, becuase certain colors need more pigment than others to produce a nice even opaque coat. Traditional paint manufactures sell paint based on the color, so a 8oz tube of black is going to run you about 7 to $10 a tube, while a 8oz tube of yellow could run as much as $40 or more a tube...the reason for this price difference is that yellow takes considerably more pigment(which cadmium is already a very expensive mineral) to produce the same amount of opacity that a much smaller amount of black pigment that it would take....hope that makes sense.

 

This example shows why hobby companies like GW sell paint by volume, because simply painting your army a certain color could effectively double the price of your army...

 

So what does this have to do with undercoating white with brown? Well white happens to be a color that requires a significant amount of titantium to produce to create a nice opaque coat. In other words generally speak white paints have poor coverage and as a result are significantly influenced by the color that is underneath them....You indicated that you wanted an alabaster colored white, which in my mind is somewhat od an off to ivory colored white. By basecoating in a beige brown this will influence the white and help acheive that effect, making the job of applying the white easier.

 

unfortunetly, do to the nature fo the white paint, unless you went with an oil paint, it will take some work to acheive a nice coat, the brown will speed things up.

 

Ashton

[puck]

You could also look around for Dark Angels Deathwing painting schemes. They paint their terminators a bone whitish color. That might give you some ideas.

[Hrvat]

Deneb Stone in my experience is an execellent basecoat for white.

[Subtle Discord]

Start with White primer. Black should only be used if the majority of the miniature will be dark. White will change how 'bright' many colours are, but as has already been said, it will speed things up many times over. If you use secondary colours that are now too bright because of this white you'll need to pick them out with some Black or another suitable dark colour.

 

I would start with a Bleached Bone or even pure White for a base. Bone for an aged and yellowed look, White for a brighter 'clean' white. Make it very even and clean.

 

From there, add a very light yellow-brown or orange-brown Wash, and it will help speed all of the darker blending in the nooks-and-crannies. Work limb-by-limb and try to keep the wash to the edges of armour plates and/or in seams, vents, etc.. As I always say, keep a second clean damp brush close to push and move the wash a bit. Use the second brush to 'soak-up' excess wash if you apply too much. Depending on how aged/dirty/tarnished you want the armour to look you might do many layers, but it's up to you. Just be sure to let layers dry completely before doing another.

 

Once you've added some depth with the washes, follow up by blending back to Bleached Bone on all of the open/bright/upturned areas. Continue towards White if you want brighter, or start with White if that was your base. Be sure these paints are very thin, and keep the clean damp brush close for blending edges. Whites (Pale colours in general) will take several layers to make a nice smooth blend. Due to all of the pigment that was mentioned, whites will be a bit 'chalky' and extra layers help avoid that.

 

You can start with a darker Brown base and just blend straight up to Bone and White, but I find the wash method will get the darker blends with much less work. The wash adds the shadow quickly, and you only need to clean the edges and blend from there. As always, this is just personal preference.

 

As for how brown in general comes into play, colours are not always what they seem. White is a good example of how it can be different at it's base - Brown-White like bone and eggshell and Blue-White which is more like fresh snow or a room painted white. To get a bone/eggshell effect you need to change the White slightly Brown, and add Brown shadowing. For a Blue-White you'll use a very pale blue to add depth and shadowing.

 

White is also a good example of a colour that is effected (contaminated) by it's surrounding colours. A white shirt worn in a green room will catch and reflect lots of green, for example. The only way to paint white with depth is to chose what kind of White you're painting.