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just got a quick question. i have been stuck on a certain part of my painting. i'm doing an arctic theme on my tyranids. i've had a lot of people tell to wash the model with a black wash, but i don't know exactly how that will turn out on a white base coat. any info would be helpful. i've only realy got my flyrant done with pics but i'm waiting to see what kind of info i can get about washes.

i wouldn't wash white with badab black...
it just ends up looking dirty/messy...

Maybe try adding shadows with a grey and highlighting with a lighter blue than the rest of your model?

Sounds good in theory...

Let us know what you decide on

Hey xjester40K,

Good to see another Jax player on the forums. Badab Black could produce a smoky effect on the white base, but if you're careful about application and go back over it to touch up any areas you don't want it to show, I think you'll be fine.

You could also go with Asurmen Blue, tinting the white with a pale blue tone. This would work best if you dilute the wash with water or an acryllic medium so that you can build it up in layers on areas where you want it to show most (the blue) but still have an effect on the white areas as well.

Finally, you can use both shades to get a multi-toned effect, but I think you'll be best served using one or the other. Any chance I'll see you at Suncoast?

cool thanks for the input guys. i'll have to try some of those ideas out. i've been to sun coast a few times. i'm just trying to find the time to go and play. i'm new to jacksonville, so i don't realy know many people in the gaming world up here lol. when i did go in there it seemed like people didn't want to play against the new guy, so i was up there for about an hour or so with my 1k pt space marine army, and prety much did nothing

Use thin washes of blue & purple.
Line with black once these are dry.

Test on a spare mini first until you get the result you like.

try a thin wash of ice blue

Leviathan purple or Asurmen Blue washes?
Might work well for your nids.

I like Bubber's idea, too. I know I get sloppy with washes and always have to go back and touch up the base color, but as long as you're neat, it shouldn't be a problem. BTW, I'll be at Suncoast this evening (wearing a shirt that matches my avatar) and maybe Sunday if the wife lets me out to play!

man, i'm glad i got on here. you guys all have great ideas. i'm gonna have to break out the test minis and have some fun. i've been painting for awhile but never doing washes/inks. so what do you use to thin down the washes? or i should say, what is the BEST to thin down washes with? and where can i get most of this. i do like the idea of a thined down ice blue, but i didn't see that on the GW site. if anyone is woundering i've named my Hive FLeet Ragnarok. thanks again in advance for all the help.

You can thin with water, but a mixture of water and acryllic medium would work best to retain the consistency of the wash. You can get acryllic matte medium at most art/craft stores. Welcome to dakka!

xjester40k wrote:just got a quick question. i have been stuck on a certain part of my painting. i'm doing an arctic theme on my tyranids. i've had a lot of people tell to wash the model with a black wash, but i don't know exactly how that will turn out on a white base coat. any info would be helpful. i've only realy got my flyrant done with pics but i'm waiting to see what kind of info i can get about washes.

It's not exactly a wash, proper, but you might try a mix of 1 part Futura Floor Wax (an acrylic wax)/4 parts water with 1-2 drops of blue acrylic ink (I'm using one from AC Moore). The acrylic wax thins down the mixture, so that it really settles in crevices and the like. This will darken the crevices of the model, but will not darken the entire model nearly as much as a GW blue wash will do.

Of course, you could also just thin the wash down with acrylic medium too.

The wax/ink mixture will make the tyranid look glossy. This will help protect it, but you can also just hit it with a matte spray if you don't like it. Another nice feature is that you can paint right over the acrylic wax, as the paints are acrylic too.

I normally do this on a lot of models with a black ink/wax mixture (as my eyesight isn't what it used to be, and it covers up a LOT of minor flubs), but on a model with such a pale color scheme (very nice, though), I think it would make it look too dark. The blue would look good, though, I bet.