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Here's my dilemma. Normally what I do when I get a new figure is I would prime it in white and then go back after with a very very diluted black paint at about a 10-1-1 Water,Paint, Dishsoap Mix and dip the model in so I can see the details and it makes it easier to paint.

Well a buddy of mine while trying to help out and learn about painting primed 2 of my new HQ's and an entire custom modeled Elite squad in black spray paint...

I know I can strip the paint off but I have a ton of GS conversions on them all and I am sure that that will all melt off as well.

My primary colors are Green and brown but since these are Unique units they don't really have to be the same color and well I am getting a bit bored and want to try some new colors.

Soooo

What colors are best when going on top of black. (What can I use that will come out clearly with the least coats) I know all the metallics do great on top of black and Red, blue, and Yellow are a much harder to get on. But besides that I know white green and brown do well but I really want to try some new colors.

Well, as far as "unique" models, they are the HQ's for your force, so they should be painted appropriately. If you had a small army of say, Ultramarines, you wouldn't paint all of them blue and then paint the Commander red. He would be blue so he looks like the rest of the force.

But to answer your question, any color can go on top of black. It is true that some colors (red, yellow, and white mainly) are more difficult (i.e.- takes longer) to do over black, but it can be done. When paint is applied correctly, you should almost always have multiple layer, specially over a black undercoat. Furthermore, not all metallic paint should have a black basecoat, Black basecoats are commonly used with any grey metallic (boltgun, chainmail, etc.) and brown basecoats are used with gold, copper, and brass colored metallics.

Try drybrushing a shade of dark grey over the whole model and see if that helps pick out details and makes your process easier. It might (I don't usually do this, don't know) make it easier to highlight later.

My entire army is based off "Black base, red trim, white detailing, gold metal" and I have to say after doing it for a while if you're not stingy with the red (Blood Red) it goes on rather easily, sometimes only takes one coat to make it look nice. Plus it pops really nicely against the black if you add lighter colors in to detail other things.

Well, whats the army? Colors that look great on tau may not look so good on orks.

why not just hit them with a few very light dustings of white primer over the black so you can get back to your normal standard? first dusting will give you a grey shade but a follow up will get you closer to your prewash state. Im talking super light coats here, so be careful.

Jollydevil wrote:Well, whats the army? Colors that look great on tau may not look so good on orks.

O my bad these are guardsmen and it is the Creed HQ Yarrik HQ and a whole team of custom storm trooper Elites I took like a week to mod....

I am going to try just doing a white wash over it I guess. But not till I test it on some spar or stuff from my bits box. So many Bolter Turrets. Soooo many...

Ignore the one painted arm. It got lost so that guy got a transplant

From my experience when painting over a primed white or black model the paint has a slightly different hue. The white primer tends to make the colors more vivid and alive while the black seems to make the model more grim. Just my observations from experimentation.

what your doing is called pre-shading. White primer, then black wash to outline all the details. You might want to try a heavy drybrushing of white or maybe a very light grey then apply your wash over that. It's a technique I've seen used here:

Grayscale Washing V2

And depending on the opacity of the paint your using , black primer will usually tint your colors to a darker shade while white primer will produce brighter tones. It doesnt matter as much when using foundations or basing colors as those are high opacity paints meant to go onot black primer with little to no change in color tint.

heavybolter wrote:what your doing is called pre-shading. White primer, then black wash to outline all the details. You might want to try a heavy drybrushing of white or maybe a very light grey then apply your wash over that. It's a technique I've seen used here:

Grayscale Washing V2

And depending on the opacity of the paint your using , black primer will usually tint your colors to a darker shade while white primer will produce brighter tones. It doesnt matter as much when using foundations or basing colors as those are high opacity paints meant to go onot black primer with little to no change in color tint.

That's how I painted nearly my entire 80 man infantry. The only thing I did was rather than using washes I just use allot of water and a paint pallet.