Painting White, or How To Make A Neutral Grey Wash?

[appiah4]

I'm considering painting a couple of figures white.  I'm not very fond of the blue shaded cold white, and I don't like the strong contrast black or dark brown washes create.  I want to achieve a nice, neutral white armor, preferrably shaded grey in the recesses, very very light grey overall, highlighted up to white.

 

Obvious method is to paint grey and layer white onto it.  This would've been incredibly easy with an airbrush, but I have none.  I do have a grey primer and white spray paint, but I'm really not very confident that the result will be similar.

 

Which leaves me with option 2; paint white and wash grey.

 

But how do I wash grey?  There are no grey washes in the GW line or any other line as far as I know.  Thinning a paint with water and slapping it on works REALLY BAD and yes I tried adding dishwashing detergent..

 

Is there a simple method to this?

[Iron-Daemon Forge]

Using the Lahmian Medium & mix that with the grey paint your wanting to use.  Medium great for create your own wash &/or glazes, just mix this with the paint until it is a watery look or just using a small amount to thin down your paints.

Also best having a spare model or part to test it out & make sure your happy with the mix?  Just in case you need to add a little bit more grey or medium.

I done this for my Apothercary for my Ravenwing army, using Russ Grey & Medium after using White Undercoat.  Or I'll have a mix brown paint & use medium so I can give my Iron Warriors stubble/shaven look.

[Chaeron]

White layers, applied with paint the consistency of milk, will eventually get you there. I'd personally go for a black wash over a white basecoat, and highlight up from there, leaving the darker recesses alone.

[appiah4]

White layers, applied with paint the consistency of milk, will eventually get you there. I'd personally go for a black wash over a white basecoat, and highlight up from there, leaving the darker recesses alone.

 

Black wash over white and then layering back to white ends me up with very hard shadows in places I would rather have a soft grey; I don't want this much contrast on the model, it looks cartoonish.  I used to paint like this all the time, but it's no longer my style and wouldn't fit in well with the rest of the force.  So that easy copout is not an option.

 

Layering over grey is a possibility but it takes damn ages, not to mention that so many layers means eventually you will lose patience and botch up.  Painting milky consistency white and avoiding all the cracks for 10 layers is hard.

 

Someone, help me please, there's gotta be an easy way?

 

I remember reading on a blog at one time or another, possibly years ago, that Paine's Grey (?) was great for watering down and washing over a figure with but I have no idea what range that color is from, how to get it, or if there is a GW equivalent..

[Chaeron]

 

White layers, applied with paint the consistency of milk, will eventually get you there. I'd personally go for a black wash over a white basecoat, and highlight up from there, leaving the darker recesses alone.

 

Black wash over white and then layering back to white ends me up with very hard shadows in places I would rather have a soft grey; I don't want this much contrast on the model, it looks cartoonish.  I used to paint like this all the time, but it's no longer my style and wouldn't fit in well with the rest of the force.  So that easy copout is not an option.

 

Depends on how many layers you go for - otherwise, you could prime grey and work up? Entirely up to you - I don't think it's an "easy copout" necessarily, although perhaps if you want Golden Daemon standard you're going to need to go for the slog working upwards and lighter.

[winterdyne]

Vallejo do a nice pale grey wash.

[Kierdale]

I'd go with Insane Psychopath's suggestion of using Lahmian Medium with a grey paint to turn it into a glaze.

[White Wolf]

I Mix Vallejo pale grey and black wash to give a mid grey and find that this works really well over a bright white armour to dull it down and act as a bit of a pinwash.

ATB WW

[Subtle Discord]

Consider a bottle of Vallejo White Wash if you want to mix your own pale washes. It's a milky white that takes light pigment really well, and I've started using it to mix custom pale washes for my headlights and searchlights.

 

Also always remember that washes don't need to be slopped on heavily; they lend themselves very well to a straightforward cover everything application, so many people tend to think that's the only way. If you use the wash more like you would a paint, carefully apply it to the edges and places you want shadow, and build it up over a few layers, you'll get more control and a cleaner result. A bit of back blending with clean white can produce super clean surfaces with nice defining shadow, and it won't be too crazy to do it in a reasonable amount of time.

[Blissful Brushes]

For Gamesworkshop paints try using an alcohol based thinner, it keeps the pigment together far better than water. Gamesworkshop paint isn't quite anti-water, but it isn't far off