Painting white for a newbie

[Brother Michaels]

Hey guys

 

Like the title says how do I paint white?

 

I'm quite new to painting but I want to make a colour scheme primarily white so are there any simpleish ways of doing so and making it look good?

 

Cheers!

[wildweasel]

The biggest tip is this: white actually isn't what you will be painting. Rather, you want your main color to be a slightly off white, and use white itself as a highlight. For Citadel paints, that means using Ulthuan Grey as your coverage color, with White Scar as a highlight.

 

For shading, Nuln Oil, unless applied super sparingly, will be very harsh. You may want to consider a thinned down (with Lahmia Medium, not water) Agrax Earthshade, thinning down Dawnstone into a wash, or looking outside the Citadel range for something like Secret Weapon Miniature's Soft Body Black wash.

[Xenith]

This is 4 thin coats of ceramite white drybrushed over a black undercoat, then shaded with 50:50 badab black and lahmian medium. That would be 1 part nuln to 3 parts lahmian.

I'd recommend drybrushing a grey layer down first, like ulthuan to give better coverage on the white.

[Quixus]

This is 4 thin coats of ceramite white drybrushed over a black undercoat, then shaded with 50:50 badab black and lahmian medium. That would be 1 part nuln to 3 parts lahmian.

Wouldn't 50:50 be one part nuln and one part lahmian medium?

[Major_Gilbear]

No, because Nuln Oil is rather darker than Badab Black., so the greater dilution makes sense.

 

Also I don't think Xenith meant to write that he drybrushed the white on - rather, I suspect that he just brushed it on normally.

[Goonbandito]

 

Duncan shows how to paint White Power Armour:

* Prime White

* Base the entire model with Ulthuan Grey (make sure it is thinned down for a smooth finish!)

* Recess shade with Agrax Earthshade (use a detail brush to paint it only into the recesses of the model)

* Edge Highlight with White Scar

[Bloody Legionnaire]

^^^ QFT!

 

Ultuan Grey is an excellent color for a white basecoat.

 

If you're going to be neat and add wash to the recesses only it really helps to spray the mini with a gloss coat because the wash will flow a lot better.

[Guiltysparc]

For my 30k world eaters i used corax spray as the base and then an all over wash with Nuln Oil diluted with water and medium..the nuln reeeeally needs to be diluted because its pretty dark on its own.  I then drybrushed with Ceramite White and added in some extra edge highlights with White Scar and i was really happy with the results.

 

Ulthuan Grey is a great option also, you can use it as a touch up color for the above process or as a second base after the diluted nuln wash instead of the Ceramite White drybrushing (avoiding the recesses of course).  White Scar would still be the edge highlight color of choice.

[Xenith]

No, because Nuln Oil is rather darker than Badab Black., so the greater dilution makes sense.

 

Also I don't think Xenith meant to write that he drybrushed the white on - rather, I suspect that he just brushed it on normally.

 

Spot on with the nuln vs badab intensity. I find nuln to be roughly the same as two coats of badab.

 

Also on the 'drybrushing'. I wasnt particulary careful, its the same motions as drybrushing, but with a loaded brush. Wetbrushing?

[Arkaniss]

 

*snip*

 

Also on the 'drybrushing'. I wasnt particulary careful, its the same motions as drybrushing, but with a loaded brush. Wetbrushing?

 

I call it heavy dry brushing :P

 

I always hate painting white so thanks all for the tips here - I will get myself some Ulthuan Grey :)

[Black Cohort]

Personally I would try to find a light grey primer, then ulthuan grey, then highlight with white scar.

 

Also if you are basing a model in white or grey, some colours work far better if you paint that bit of the model black first. Darker reds and blues and metallics mostly.

[Xenith]

I always hate painting white so thanks all for the tips here - I will get myself some Ulthuan Grey

Before ceramite came out, I did a base of fortress grey, then added a spot of the old grey base paint to white and it improved the coverage 10x, then I finished with a coat of skull white.

Ceramite makes it so, so easy. Ulthuan is approximately my old colour, and probably works great, but ceramite is a base paint and covers black just fine, add the tiniest amount of water, and it dries super smooth.

[sockwithaticket]

The problem with Ceramite White is that it requires constant maintenance to remain usable, it dries out ridiculously quickly. I used to use it and binned it because I got just as effective results without it, with the added bonus of not having to bin the paint pot before I'd got my money's worth.


Shading white depends entirely on the look you want, some people use blue, some use Sepia.  I go for light grey shading either using Vallejo Stonewall grey + varying amounts of white painted into the recesses (having already done the area completely white) or Vallejo Pale Grey wash on things like chest aquilas. Nuln oil looks too harsh to my eyes, but black lining is a style and as with any style/technique YMMV.



My White looks like so:
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2016/3/26/788072_sm-.JPG
http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2016/7/23/815351_sm-.JPG

I basecoat with Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall Grey, then cover that with VGC Ghosty Grey and that get's covered by Vallejo Model Colour White (this is unequivocally the most vibrant white paint I've ever used.


You don't need to grab Ulthuan Grey either, only if you're wedded to GW paints for whatever reason (supporting LGS maybe). There's a plethora of off-whites out there in the various ranges (especially Vallejo) some of which may better suit your purpose. I have VGC Ghosty Grey (grey) , Wolf Grey (grey blue) and Glacier Blue (blue) as well as VMC Ivory (cream) which all offer different off white hues to start with.  Not to mention that Vallejo is typically a bit cheaper, larger bottle size (17ml vs. 12ml) and comes with a dropper bottle. Reaper also has a bunch, but I don't own any of them yet.




 

[Guiltysparc]

I like the recess shade you have on that model, is that from the wash or a grey base that you have worked up from?

[Soldier of Dorn]

Keep in mind that I'm by no means the best painter on these forums (far from it,) but I did do a one-off White Scar last year, and I thought it turned out pretty nice.

 

 

 

My technique for painting the white was very simple: a basecoat of Ceramite White over my usual grey primer, a wash of Seraphim Sepia, and then a layer of Ceramite White everywhere except the recesses to clean it up. It's not perfect, but if you want something quick and effective it is an option.

 

I've also not been able to photograph it properly, apparently. It looks a bit better in real life.

[Xenith]

The problem with Ceramite White is that it requires constant maintenance to remain usable, it dries out ridiculously quickly. I used to use it and binned it because I got just as effective results without it, with the added bonus of not having to bin the paint pot before I'd got my money's worth.

 

 

I think its more a 'your mileage may vary' thing. My pot is over 2 years old and I achieved the above results with it.

[appiah4]

There is no short answer, you paint it painfully. I've tried long and hard at painting cool whites, with blue shades, and I just kept failing terribly. A warm white is much easier to achieve from a bone basecoat shaded with fairly watered down yellows:

That said, I'm not happy with this method.

sockwithaticket is on the right track and has a marvelous white. I've been told Payne's Grey is great for shading white for a similar effect.

[sockwithaticket]

I like the recess shade you have on that model, is that from the wash or a grey base that you have worked up from?

Rhank you. Depends which model and which bit you're thinking of. The Devastator sergeant had his chest aquila washed (because it's easier to do it that way), while all the other white parts you can see on both actually had me paint the white and then go do the shading afterwards by brush, kind of 'layering down' from white to Stonewall Grey.

 

 

 

The problem with Ceramite White is that it requires constant maintenance to remain usable, it dries out ridiculously quickly. I used to use it and binned it because I got just as effective results without it, with the added bonus of not having to bin the paint pot before I'd got my money's worth.

 

 

I think its more a 'your mileage may vary' thing. My pot is over 2 years old and I achieved the above results with it.

 

Ah, you've had a lot more luck than me then, Xenith. I went through two pots (that I used pretty frequently given how integral to my scheme white is) and they both dried out quicker than a Guardsmen in the deserts of Baal if I forgot to put water in them regularly. Even if I remembered they got pretty lumpy. I've seen simialr complaints about it elsewhere on the web. I don't generally use GW paints, for a range of reasons, but the drying out is a big one and I found Ceramite White to be head and shoulders the worst for it. All the best to those of you managing to make it last, though, it is a useful tool, it just wasn't one I was prepared to keep trying to use given there were easier opions available that yielded a result I liked.

 

appiah - thanks for the compliment.

[Bryan Blaire]

For a grey to white, I prefer to start with Celestra Grey as the base coat, shade with Vallejo Light Grey Wash, then do the mid-tone with Ulthuan Grey. I am planning on doing the edge highlight with either a 1:1 Ulthuan:White Scar and bright point highlight with White Scar, or just doing plain edge highlight with White Scar. You can see painted examples (not highlighted yet) in my Angels Encarmine thread.

 

For the blued white feathers on my Angels Encarmine Terminator sergeant sword, I used Ulthuan Grey, and shaded with Guilliman Blue, then highlighted with Ulthuan Grey, and edge highlighted with White Scar. You can also see that in my AE thread.

[Brother Michaels]

Thanks for the tips guys! I'm looking to test out a couple of these schemes and hoping to find one that's easyish... I have a large army here that will be majority white so I gotta get this right!:)

[Race Bannon]

If I may add: P3 white primer, Vallejo Game Color Dead White and Vallejo Game Color Pale Grey Wash in the cracks, nooks and crannies. Done. ^_^