Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

This is something with which I have always struggled.

I prime with either grey or white primer to begin with.

And the only two miniatures where I ever succeeded with a decent White was when I used liquid frisking over the area that was to be white, and then used a series of grey, blue, red, and green washes over it, before using a sponge to blot the wash off the highlighted areas afterward.

OR.... Used an airbrush (this was what I was planning to use from then on.... But the wife thing happened with stealing everything I owned).

But.... I am now faced with having a bunch of white shield surfaces in the Goblins and Orcs I am painting, as well as eventually having white all over the place with the Noldorin Elves I will be doing later in the year.

So.... I need some tips on maybe how to get a decent white with a paintbrush.

MB

I'm getting some reasonable results with white glazes.

White basecoat, grey wash (of whatever intensity /shade that you want the recesses to be), then build up white highlights with a glaze.

Usually, it's a white paint:glaze medium at a 1:2 ratio and it can take quite a bit of fiddling before I get what I want.

Hardly the fastest way to get it done, but I find that just drybrushing the white over the top ends up really chalky, too.

 Chillreaper wrote:
I'm getting some reasonable results with white glazes.

White basecoat, grey wash (of whatever intensity /shade that you want the recesses to be), then build up white highlights with a glaze.

Usually, it's a white paint:glaze medium at a 1:2 ratio and it can take quite a bit of fiddling before I get what I want.

Hardly the fastest way to get it done, but I find that just drybrushing the white over the top ends up really chalky, too.

Doh!

Glazing medium!

Thanks....

In looking at my non-pigmented painting supplies, I realized that I had intended to buy glazing medium, retarder, accelerator, and other non-pigmented medium as well about a year ago, but forgot.

Currently all I have is clear medium (sometimes called "thinner," even though it thins completely differently than water). And I am almost out of that after discovering two days ago that I remembered I need to use it to paint flesh.

Time to make a trip to the game store (I think I'm going Saturday for a game anyway).

MB

Start with an off white or linen color, then with progressive layers of lighter colors move slowly up to white. A lot of the pure "white" colors that we see are more off white anyhow, so you might find that a step or two before you get to pure white looks more natural or better to you.

Myself, I use a mix of paints, and I normally start with P3 Menoth White Base, then the P3 Menoth White Highlight, then move to a Skull White. Starting at an off white color gives you more covering ability and you can get a brighter white in the end than if you just went straight to a Skull White color, or at least one without putting 1500 layers of pure white on the model.

The struggle for a nice and smooth shaded white with a reasonable amount of time taken is annoying -_- My last attempt was: airbrush prime white > wash thinned black wash > airbrush thinned white, more from above than from below. For how quick it was to do and for a first attempt at the technique I'm content. I think it'll be good for high-volume miniatures once I practice it more.

I never use pure white for white except for the final highlights. Even with a black base primer I never had problems with it being chalky or thick. The key is using progressive thin layers of "slightly white" colors until you reach the topmost, extreme highlight. For example:

(I'm using Vallejo Model Colors in the example)

Warm white would have Sand Yellow > Beige > Pale Sand > Pale Sand + White > White

Cold white would have Blue Grey Pale > Pale Grey Blue > Pale Grey Blue + White > White

Neutral white would go something like Neutral Grey > Medium Sea Grey > Sky Grey > White Grey > White

 heartserenade wrote:
I never use pure white for white except for the final highlights. Even with a black base primer I never had problems with it being chalky or thick. The key is using progressive thin layers of "slightly white" colors until you reach the topmost, extreme highlight. For example:

(I'm using Vallejo Model Colors in the example)

Warm white would have Sand Yellow > Beige > Pale Sand > Pale Sand + White > White

Cold white would have Blue Grey Pale > Pale Grey Blue > Pale Grey Blue + White > White

Neutral white would go something like Neutral Grey > Medium Sea Grey > Sky Grey > White Grey > White

I think this might also be a problem.

I have been using too much pure white, when I need to go to a more off-white with most of the applications of the color I am using.

I seem to have realized this when doing linen or plain "wool" clothing, but I still forget when doing things like claws, teeth, or fingernails (something I stopped doing when I was younger, but which seems to have crept back into my work from laziness).

Thanks for the reminder to pay attention to the shades and tints involved with lighter colors that we tend to think of as "white."

MB

like heartserenade says, i build up to a pure white final highlight...

you can see the step-by-step here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/599549.page

this may be a more complicated process than you are after, but pics are worth a thousand words...

good luck...

cheers
jah

I'm lazy and I actually like the look of a pure white, so I just start with a white base and then paint my shades in and blend the shades rather than trying to work from the darker colour up to white.

 jah-joshua wrote:
like heartserenade says, i build up to a pure white final highlight...

you can see the step-by-step here:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/599549.page

this may be a more complicated process than you are after, but pics are worth a thousand words...

good luck...

cheers
jah

I don't think there is anything about painting minis I would consider "too complicated" if it produced acceptable or desired results.

I was one of the first people to use stencils on Space Marines in the 1980's, and people said "That's too complicated."

But now everyone does it...

So... I will go through the tutorial in the hopes of learningsomething that will help. I am tired of my minis looking like I am 19 again all the time.

MB