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Okay, I need some help with this. How the heck can I get my Tau to have a white color scheme that the underlying plastic/color doesn't show through? Should I prime the model with some color other than white, than paint white over that? Or just apply multiple layers? Anyway I'm using Citadel Skull White paint.

I would advice with starting with a colour like space wolves grey and then work your way upp by adding more and more white over a larger area. I am no expert at painting white so you better try it out on something less important than a model first >.<
Or you could check gamesworkshops website out, I know they got a painting tutorial on how to do High Elves that includes white cloth, you should be able to adapt that to tau armour without too much trouble.

Good thing I was practicing on a gun drone. How many layers do you think are necessary?

Prime it white, then Thin (very thin!) layers of white until it looks 'right'

hmm...first cover the entire "white to be" area a layer of space wolves grey, then you can either make it fast and easy and only add skull white over that until it looks white, though I am sure it won't look terrible with some of the other colour visible, it might even add to the result *shrugs*
Just be careful not to mess things upp with the white, thin layers and watch what happens. I got some epic failures in the past with too much white.

Oh and I checked the High Elf painting article on GW:s site(You may find it under Articles in the High Elves area of Warhammer)
Its over a black base
Stage 1 : Paint with Astronomican Grey
Stage 2 : Shade with Adeptus Battlegrey
Stage 3 : Layer with a 50/50 mix of Astronomican Grey and Skull White
Stage 4 : Layer with Skull White

I Hope this helps

The two problems with white are covering the primer and getting enough contrast into the paint job to make it clear it is a white paint job and get it to look good on a model.

A pure white model just looks like a blob of white.

I would go for a white primer, then a pale grey basecoat and put several layers of white on top, gradually moving away from the shadow areas.

A quicker way of doing it would be white primer, wash with thinned Payne's Grey, then highlight with white.

Kilkrazy wrote:The two problems with white are covering the primer and getting enough contrast into the paint job to make it clear it is a white paint job and get it to look good on a model.

A pure white model just looks like a blob of white.

I would go for a white primer, then a pale grey basecoat and put several layers of white on top, gradually moving away from the shadow areas.

A quicker way of doing it would be white primer, wash with thinned Payne's Grey, then highlight with white.

This, only instead of grey, use another neutral color depending on if you want to lean on the cool side or warm side of color.

For example, on mine I painted a mixture of Bestial Brown mixed with Skull White as base color after a white primer so that it would give a warm feeling on the shadows. You can also try Space Wolves Grey for the cooler side. Codex, Astronomican, and Fortress Greys work too, but I find them too neutral for my tastes.

I think you need to consider how you are going to do the black lining element of your tau, if indeed you are.

Personally I'd prime it black, yes you are going to need a couple of coats of white, but you'll get great black lines in the crevices between armour plates.

Plus by adding layers of white you highlight at the same time.

Prime white.
Thinned Asurmen Blue wash.
Lenses red with gold drybrush.
Next model please.

Hangfire wrote:I think you need to consider how you are going to do the black lining element of your tau, if indeed you are.

Personally I'd prime it black, yes you are going to need a couple of coats of white, but you'll get great black lines in the crevices between armour plates.

Plus by adding layers of white you highlight at the same time.

I tried this, but The white just went right over the black lining, making the model just completely white. How should I get it to not do this? (Instead of priming black, would it be possible to use a black wash to fill the crevices?)

Also, If I use white citadel spray paint, would it give better coverage to where the plastic won't show through the white?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I seriously need some help with this, because I'm painting (or at least attempting to paint) firewarriors right now. I've got the white thing mostly down, but should I use a wash of badab black to fill in those tiny lines or what?

This is what I did with my white space marines:

1) Prime black (because at that time i only had black spray primer)

2) Layer skull White on the would-be white parts. Two or three layers before this is done.

3) Brown ink wash.

4) Layer Bleached Bone, leaving the creases with the wash on white for shading.

5) Highlight with Skull White.

If you primed white, you can skip 1 and 2.

wooooo! My guys are also base coated white. they will have fort gray and dark angles green sept stripes. i found that the white seems to show through also. After 2-3 coats, it seems to be fine. Btw, im a painting noob.

I haven't been painting all that long, but here is at least something to look at. I primed white, repainted white very thin 2 coats, then used a micron pen for the black lines, then did all the other colors, and then another coat of white to hide any mistakes. the model isn't very defined and looks a bit flat most places where it's white, but that is actually the look I was going for.

yes, primer first. It doesnt matter what color you primer because you can go over it with a foundation paint (grey). My recommendaiton would be to start with a grey and work up to white. You will get a very nice result if you end up doing your final highlight with skull white instead of painting the entire area white. I would just blend white and fortress grey to make a psuedo white and work up to the highlight. (see my Sanguinary priests if you have no idea what im talking about):

I tried this, but The white just went right over the black lining, making the model just completely white. How should I get it to not do this? (Instead of priming black, would it be possible to use a black wash to fill the crevices?)

Erm, don't paint over where you want the black lines showing.
If you look at my blog i'm doing an experiment on my squad of striking scorpions where i've primed 3 white and 2 black.

I always used to prime white, base coat and then ink wash, but this experiment has taught me that i much prefer to prime black and then paint the basecoat leaving the black lines showing in the crevices.

You could try a similar experiment, prime one black and one white, paint them both and see what the good denizens of dakka think.

@Element, how did you do you black lines? by leaving the undercoat showing or did you paint the lines on after the red? They're very neat.

just a thought if you're going for ease in painting

Prime white then this - http://www.thearmypainter.com/index.php

Useskaforevil wrote:I haven't been painting all that long, but here is at least something to look at. I primed white, repainted white very thin 2 coats, then used a micron pen for the black lines, then did all the other colors, and then another coat of white to hide any mistakes. the model isn't very defined and looks a bit flat most places where it's white, but that is actually the look I was going for.

What is a micron pen and where can I get one? (link please?) Because that is pretty much the exact look I am going for, except scorpion green lenses instead of red.

Micron pens are fairly cheap, you can even find them at walmart and I think they'd work fine, but actually I was wrong, I used a Rapidograph pen like these found here : http://www.jerrysartarama.com/discount-art-supplies/Pens-and-Markers/Koh-I-Noor-Pens/Rapidograph-Pens.htm?utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping

they're a lot more expensive and are really prone to breaking. but are higher quality (but quality you might not use). The only reason I used them is my wife is a graphic designer and had these left over from school.