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Hello fellows,

A few months ago I took on the foolhardy task to paint a snow-themed Space Marine army. This means the primary colour is white, followed up by some blue, gray, and swaths of gold/brass. I've experimented with a few methods, the main problem is that it takes a terrible amount of time. The method I am using right now includes: Basecoating black, painting a layer of Astronomicon Gray, then using usually 2-3 layers of thinned out skull white.

My main problem with this method is, it takes a lot of time. The white dries up quickly on the palette, making me having to mix out a bit of more every 5 minutes or so. Painting the layers to make it look fluid and nice takes some time, white is an especially touch colour. I paint from a black base as that is what have been suggested to me by GW staff and friends, it supposedly makes the white look better in the end, and from my experiments with basecoating white, the results do look better.

I've heard the foundations white that you can only get if you buy the foundations kit is a lot better for this kind of stuff. Not sure if it would become too thick, however, even when thinned out.

Do you have any good suggestions on how to paint white in a better, or more importantly, faster way?

Black prime, astronimicon grey all over then do your other colours

astronomicon grey is a grey-white foundation paint that should cover like a dream over black and will allow you to paint white and lighter colours with ease.

When im painting white, such as an apothecary I prime the model white, and then use washes into the creases and details of the model. Starting from black to me just takes more time and the white looks blotchy sometimes, depending on how you layer. But its all about what you want really, if your painting the model mostly white, I would base it white and detail in with washes and black in the armor joints and so forth.

Well, spraying it white would be a great start, painting white over black is never going to be easy, if you really want to prime black, get a spray gun to make basecoating faster, spray the whole thing astronomican grey, then hit it with skull white

I'm in the middle of painting my CSM army white - its so much easier with a white basecoat + wash into recesses. Note that a black wash works best, I've found, to bring out the depth.

Am working on a similar colour scheme with CSMs. Would love to see pics.

I will see if I cant get some pictures of the ones Ive done up later, for review.

EmperorsChampion wrote:When im painting white, such as an apothecary I prime the model white, and then use washes into the creases and details of the model. Starting from black to me just takes more time and the white looks blotchy sometimes, depending on how you layer. But its all about what you want really, if your painting the model mostly white, I would base it white and detail in with washes and black in the armor joints and so forth.

I agree. I spray skull white, wash black, then drybrush white again, then go over solid areas (big armour bits on SM) in solid white. This avoids the endless layers of white over black

prime white to get the best results for white.

black over any areas that you prefer to be darker or that metal will go over.

black primer+ astronomicon grey is a crap substitute and will require alot more work to make it look decent.

I only use astro grey on parts that will be white on very few areas.

Otherwise prime white or light grey.

my tau army is mainly white and i HATE this problem. the best advice i can give if you want too stick with the black basecoat( like i do) is too do 3/4 coats of verry thinned skullwhite, ill be checking this thread too see if anyone else has a stroke of genius goodluck

Having done a White Scars and a White Consuls army- Scars I did a white base coat and went in for grey detail work in the creases(back when the GW inks were utter trash) and it was a ton of work but it looked good.

The Consuls I primed grey, then drybrushed the white on, then hit some grey ink on the flex points. From there I did some wet highlights of white on the character models and it came out as some of the best white work Ive done yet.

I did some Inquisitorial figs white off a black base coat- and that was an enormous amount of work- white just doesnt cover black well and always looks dirty- and too many layers covers details and can run the risk of lumpin up in the recesses. I avoid this technique now.

Base coating black for white figs is just adding a ton of extra work and layers of paint- with the excellent washes available now to darken the recesses theres little need to go with a dark base coat unless you really enjoy adding extra layers of paint

Seriously- 5 layers (or more) vs 2/3 +wash with results that are close to the same is something that most people find worth the effort/time saved

When ever Im painting light colors over a black basecoat I use a light foundation paint like astronimicon grey or something like Bleached Bone it can normally cover the black prime with 1 to 2 coats.I havent tried painting white over bleached bone or the others yet but I have done it with bright yellows like Bad Moons Yellow

When i painted my Nova marines, i started with black primer. For the white sections of paint I first put down a coat of Space wolves Grey as a base coat, then i put the white over it, really helps it stand out.

I'd recommend also adding some retarder to the paint if it's that bad (on top of, as others have said, priming white)

Don't any of you have any pictures of your results???



Please?

I would recommend looking to a grey primer too.

Start with white spray, and dip / wash the shadows. Much faster, I think.