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So I am not so good with painting white. I tried something with Menoth white as the base coat, painted Game Color Dead White, drybrush of Model Color Vallejo Sky blue, an armor wash with secret weapons because I was painting the armor white and drybrushed Game Color Dead White on it again and did not turn out so good.


Is there any hints and tricks anyone knows to paint white or any videos (I know there is the one from Miniwargaming, I want to check out other methods as well) for painting white? Thanks in advance!

I really highly suggest that you thin your white paint with some matte varnish. You will be amazed at how nicely it goes on, Give it a try!

 JohnDoe1990 wrote:
I really highly suggest that you thin your white paint with some matte varnish. You will be amazed at how nicely it goes on, Give it a try!

I'm curious as to what difference you see thinning white with matte varnish as opposed to water.

White is tricky. I started a Biel Tan Eldar army recently, so I'm getting a lot of practice with white. Still haven't completely mastered it. For me it's getting the shading right that is really difficult. I struggle to get my shading to get to look anything close to the example here, such as the folds in the Farseer's cloak and the recesses in the helmet. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the shading transition to be this smooth when painting white.

Use grey... White is only the final highlight usually.
Paint in really thin layers... painstakingly thin tbh.
Be patient about each layer drying before doing another, purchase a cheap crappy travel hair dryer if you just cant wait between each one.

1) Basecoat in a light grey color. Don't try to build up your white from any other color than grey.

2) Work with very thin white paint, with the consistency of milk or thinner. It should look like dirty water. This will help you avoid chalking.

3) Lots of layers. I have painted pieces in white that required 30-50 coats.

4) For the love of god, never drybrush white. Avoid the rookie mistake. White builds up chalky and nasty.

5) Don't paint white if you can avoid it. It's one of those colors that is really hard to get right without an airbrush.

Don't use pure white, use many layers of near white instead.

Murrdox wrote:

 JohnDoe1990 wrote:
I really highly suggest that you thin your white paint with some matte varnish. You will be amazed at how nicely it goes on, Give it a try!

I'm curious as to what difference you see thinning white with matte varnish as opposed to water.

White is tricky. I started a Biel Tan Eldar army recently, so I'm getting a lot of practice with white. Still haven't completely mastered it. For me it's getting the shading right that is really difficult. I struggle to get my shading to get to look anything close to the example here, such as the folds in the Farseer's cloak and the recesses in the helmet. I'm still trying to figure out how to get the shading transition to be this smooth when painting white.

Try it and tell me. I find that it makes the successive layers much easier to paint and it sticks better to the base layer of grey etc.

Undercoat white, wash with an appropriate colour wash with flow improver and watered down appropriately. Use a clean damp brush to clean the wash off the raised portions of the model.

invest in an airbrush if you see ur self doing alot of all over whites.
2-4 thin layers with airbrush can go right over many colors even black, if you only need little bits here and there, Armored Ceremite bye GW is actuly really soild a few thin layers and you will be in busnuisse before you know it. GL YMMV

Chootum wrote:1) Basecoat in a light grey color. Don't try to build up your white from any other color than grey.

2) Work with very thin white paint, with the consistency of milk or thinner. It should look like dirty water. This will help you avoid chalking.

3) Lots of layers. I have painted pieces in white that required 30-50 coats.

4) For the love of god, never drybrush white. Avoid the rookie mistake. White builds up chalky and nasty.

5) Don't paint white if you can avoid it. It's one of those colors that is really hard to get right without an airbrush.

Yeah, it is only for some of my Knight orders for Infinity, so I paint white relatively on and off, but I should practice this with some of the cheap clip-on space marines to practice with.

Slipknotzim wrote:invest in an airbrush if you see ur self doing alot of all over whites.
2-4 thin layers with airbrush can go right over many colors even black, if you only need little bits here and there, Armored Ceremite bye GW is actuly really soild a few thin layers and you will be in busnuisse before you know it. GL YMMV

I really do not see myself painting white a whole lot, but I think I might check into it in the near future for some of my other painting needs.

 Chootum wrote:
1) Basecoat in a light grey color. Don't try to build up your white from any other color than grey.

2) Work with very thin white paint, with the consistency of milk or thinner. It should look like dirty water. This will help you avoid chalking.

3) Lots of layers. I have painted pieces in white that required 30-50 coats.

4) For the love of god, never drybrush white. Avoid the rookie mistake. White builds up chalky and nasty.

5) Don't paint white if you can avoid it. It's one of those colors that is really hard to get right without an airbrush.

This.

White is the oddball color. You can pull some pretty backwards methods to get shading on other colors but not white. If you paint something solid white, you will never add depth to it without ruining it and going through these steps anyway...only your "grey" is actually ruined white lol.

My tau have solid white on pieces of their armor, and even that tiny bit of their gear (its a highlight basically to contrast the dark colors) is a total pain in the ASS to get a solid, even coat on of white.

Technically nothing is straight white, and thats the issue. Everything has many shades, and shaded white is grey. The brightest level of said color is the point that is hitting the most light, which in this case is indeed white. Those robes in the before-shown picture for instance, only the ripples and edges are actually white...the rest is grey mixtures.