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So just got back into the hobby after many years away and started to paint my new tau army. I oped for a white colour scheme similar to the one on the box but wanted a cleaner look. I painted my first fire warrior as a test and it came about alright (alot better than 10 year old me dis with my nids ) but he isn't quite right. The wash in the gaps was super easy to cover up and ruined the effect. I sprayed white, the added the black. Then k washed with nul oil and repainted all the white to make it, well, white. Any one advise on how to make it look better?
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It's worth mentioning that Duncan uses a big, flat brush to get the even basecoat. Trying to get a near-white nice and flat using a round brush is really hard.
I would forget using washes for white, just prime in black then base in ulthuan grey and then coat in white. Avoid getting paint in any of the gaps in the armor.
Personally I like to start off with a white primer and work my way down in to the shadows with shading. This means I'm not trying to do lots of layers to build up the white so it's easier to avoid getting visible brush strokes.
It's worth mentioning that usually when you paint white you want to paint a slightly off white rather than a pure white. Pure white tends to look a bit cartoonish, but then that might be the effect you are trying to achieve, for the most part reserve pure white for the edge highlights.
Another thing that helps in the long run, but thin your paints. I can't really tell from the picture, but it appears that you may not have...
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Tippman98x wrote: I would forget using washes for white, just prime in black then base in ulthuan grey and then coat in white. Avoid getting paint in any of the gaps in the armor.
Will try that on my next model. Donthave any gray so would several layers so white do the same thing?
Automatically Appended Next Post:
Tactical_Spam wrote: Another thing that helps in the long run, but thin your paints. I can't really tell from the picture, but it appears that you may not have...
I do thin my paints.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/12/07 10:41:39
If you don't have any grey I would suggest getting some. If you apply layer after layer after layer of white over black then you'll get there, but you'll need the patience of a Buddhist monk and for a really smooth finish you'll need to be thinning it right down, increasing hugely the number of layers you'll require.
3 layers of Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall Grey, followed by the same again of VGC Ghosty Grey and then as many layers of Vallejo Model Colour White gets you this:
I have layered a few shadows in there but the above is necessary to build up to the white.
There's nothing wrong with using a wash on white, just don't use a straight black like Nuln oil and target it in the recesses rather than slopping it over the entirety of the armour. On something like the winged shoulder pad I use Vallejo Pale Grey wash.
sockwithaticket wrote: If you don't have any grey I would suggest getting some. If you apply layer after layer after layer of white over black then you'll get there, but you'll need the patience of a Buddhist monk and for a really smooth finish you'll need to be thinning it right down, increasing hugely the number of layers you'll require.
3 layers of Vallejo Game Colour Stonewall Grey, followed by the same again of VGC Ghosty Grey and then as many layers of Vallejo Model Colour White gets you this:
I have layered a few shadows in there but the above is necessary to build up to the white.
There's nothing wrong with using a wash on white, just don't use a straight black like Nuln oil and target it in the recesses rather than slopping it over the entirety of the armour. On something like the winged shoulder pad I use Vallejo Pale Grey wash.
Thanks for the advice. Beautiful model you have there. I'm trying to go for darker/black in the gaps in armour, to make the white stand out more but it's really hard to do in jut get the areas I want, as they are very small.
You can do one less coat if you use grey first, and it will look better. I like the technique they used in the GW video but apply a wash only in certain areas has a huge room for error and will take forever. Either way painting white is tedious but rewarding.
xana666 - Thanks. Ah, ok, you want the blackline look. The easiest thing to do there then would probably be to prime grey, paint black into the areas you want it, tidying up any overspill with grey. Then use the grey as a base for your white, layering up. The key with white is patience, precision and thin layers.
Talys - Cheers,man.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/12/08 10:44:04
You can add a layer of gloss varnish before you apply the wash. I find that makes washes a lot smoother and you'll get much cleaner black lines. It also prevents the larger flat areas from getting stained, or the wash from soaking in too much and drying murky. It's also easier to clean up if you make a mistake. If you don't like the gloss finish you can just go over it later with matte varnish, and it will look matte again.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2015/12/08 23:51:20
bag!"
