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Guys,

I'm currently painting up a squad of death company in white. So far I have got a to a really nice crisp white by undercoating them a cool blue then painting white over that.

I want all the detail to to stand out, but I also want the recesses to become visible.

Would you say the best way to do this would be to black wash then dry brush white again? Or would you recommend a different colour wash?

Or is there another way to get the desired look?

All comments useful

Undercoat blue with white layer.... sounds interesting. Have not done it myself before.

Any shots to give us an idea of what you're doing?

Most common advice with whites is that white itself should only be used for the final highlights, and the rest should be some off-white. A cool grey or blue wash in your case might work.

They're already a crisp white,

I had to paint them blue first, as I'd already, admittedly in poor planning, sprayed them undercoat black, so using a pale blue, enabled me to paint a nice white colour in only two coats, rather than three or four to cover the black completely

What I think he meant is you go for a slight off white then use pure to highlight as if you get a pure you can't get a better white to highlight with. Of course if you're not worrying about it it doesn't matter then.

I'd say put up a picture first. Black wash could work, but with the blue undertone a blue wash may work out better instead. Depends on how they appear so far.

Here's a photo so far, and there are spots of blue showing in areas that will be painted in other colours, so I'm not too fussed about that at the moment, I am to paint all the death co insignia in the usual blacks and reds, but I'm inking the wash for all the recessed was.

Let me know what you reckon, wether its worth using a wash and the retry rush white or if another method would be better.

(Apologies for the bad light)

It would help if I got the photo the right way round

Blue wash then a lightish drybrush of white. Then try another pic to see how it is. Try not to make the wash too strong, want white not light blue.

Think you're going to need a lot more shading there.

The pic resolution is not very good, but from this perspective here, your models just look like they've been undercoated white. A lot of the detail has been lost.

Suggest you wash gently with a dilute solution of Space Wolf Grey. Blend your white back in, and maybe, just maybe, take some Shadow Grey and flow that back into the deepest recesses of the armour.

And perhaps draw the eye lenses of the helmets in a strikingly different colour - say red or lime-green.

I'd say the same as above make a wash out of a light grey but make the wash even thinner than the normal washes then just paint around the parts you want washed in white again. I'd say lime green for the eyes (gw moot green) would work really well. I do agree that the whole model needs to be slightly off white to show your highlights. Possibly try adding a few drops of black to a fresh tub of white and only use it for that. Post some more pics as you progress

i would try doing a dark blue oil wash. This would seep into the details nice. Then just clean up with a qtip and mineral spirits. This will create nice deep shadows and help make the edges pop a lot more.