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This may seem a strange question but what is the best method for painting white armour for space marines? I have two options I can think of:

1. Undercoat white, Black wash, paint on white

2. Undercoat black, dark grey base, white highlighting

I think the first will be easier but as I've never had to do this before I wondered what others thought was the best way?

Craig

The answer depends on what sort of feel do you want to the color scheme. Using black for the shade will give a stark, possible cartoony look. The White Scar below was done with a brown shade for a earthy, outdoor sort of look. Blue or Shadow Grey will give an icy look.

Ran is right. It depends on what you want your white to feel like. I have White Consuls and they were primed black, undercoated with shadow grey and then white to give them a blueish crease between the white. Astronomicon Grey will spread nicely and give you a more blank crease under your white. Ran did a good job finding a more reddish/brown example.

Think about what you want them to look like more on the outside and try to match a lighter shade of that for undercoating.

Thanks for the tips. I always thought white was the easiest to paint until I actually get round to doing it on such a large scale. I'm thinking a white prime with a grey wash and the raised areas painted off white may be the best option.

I started that way.

Ive moved on to codex/fortress then a few watery coats of white.

Stuff that looks "white" usually isn't. It's usually a very pale grey with white highlights.

I sure hope by 'black wash' you mean 'carefully use a fine tip to apply black ink into edges and recesses' otherwise your models are going to end up looking like dirt. But yeah, priming white and then using a watered down grey or really, really white blue/grey for shading, then filling in the lines with a darker colour is probably the easier and better looking way of painting white dudes.

and consider using art pens to do the lines and recesses - they come in all colours, even greys