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I tried drybrushing yellow on some Imperial Fists, but as the pigments fuse during the process, it's almost impossible to correct mistakes.
After rewatching some videos I...saved...from a specific GW painter who will remain nameless, I realized something:

I had painted a test World Eaters model earlier this year; the white was done with a Wraithbone prime and a zenithal of Krylon Flat White, followed by a pin wash of Agrax, and a layer of VMC White on the highest areas. I then hid the sharpest transitions by sponging leadbelcher and Mournfang to dirty up the model. It was easy to correct mistakes, even with Black, because a combo of 1-2 layers of Wraithbone followed by the VMC white covered really, really well.

I'm thinking of trying something similar for my Imperial Fists, given that Yellow is a similarly bright color. Is there a good spray yellow (preferably with a matching pot/dropper paint) that would be good for trying this? Looking for a yellow that has good coverage to where 1-2 layers of it (or 1 layer white/Wraithbone plus 1 layer of the yellow) can hide even mistakes with Black.

EDIT: Adding pictures for reference.

You don't need sprays necessarily. For yellow it just requires a decent base coat and using layers. A light tan works well, as does pink or orange. You have to put some work in with yellows. Theres no quick fix for it really.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
You don't need sprays necessarily. For yellow it just requires a decent base coat and using layers. A light tan works well, as does pink or orange. You have to put some work in with yellows. Theres no quick fix for it really.

I just don't want it to take 10 hours. 5-6? I can accept that. 10 for a single basic Primaris Marine seems excessive. But I still want it to look good.

Looking for a yellow spray to get the base yellow down faster, that's all. I don't have an airbrush yet, so I'm doing what I can in the meantime.

Also hoping for something that's easy to correct as I seem to struggle with accuracy with cabling, shoulder trim, sharp corners (gun to hand connection), and the carapace in the joints. I know I will make mistakes; I just want to be prepared and have the means to correct them in fewer layers.

If you don't think layering something like Averland over a light tan like Zandri Dust will add a lot of time, I'll think about it.

I’ve never tried the yellows specifically, but liquitex and Vallejo sell yellow sprays. Tamiya sells a very bright yellow spray, again I’ve not tried it but I like other Tamiya sprays I’ve tried.

You might want to hit it with a light brown or white spray before hitting it with the yellow if you’re getting coverage issues.

If you can’t find a matching hairy brush paint, an option might be just to get a big arse tank brush and use a stippling motion to build up the hairy brush yellow over the sprayed yellow. So long as they’re close-ish it won’t take more than a minute or so per model, but it won’t work quickly/easily if they’re very different.

If you want good coverage, favour ochres over bright yellows, like averland sunset or vallejo yellow ochre.

What’s your goal in terms of how much effort you want to put into each model? I’ve seen some good techniques for painting imperial fists quickish.

If you are happy with a warm yellow, then find a yellow spray primer and just add Cassandora yellow



A bit of sponging in dark brown and silver for weathering. If you need to touch up then you can use the cassandora yellow to match back into the main colour.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

If you want good coverage, favour ochres over bright yellows, like averland sunset or vallejo yellow ochre.

What’s your goal in terms of how much effort you want to put into each model? I’ve seen some good techniques for painting imperial fists quickish.

Speed is a concern, but I'm not expecting to speed paint these marines. The goal is to shorten time where I can and have a base yellow that won't be a pain to color match when I make a mistake with, like, black or something.

Vallejo has a Sun Yellow spray and pot paint that might be close-ish to Averland? Not sure if it's ochre enough.

 Flinty wrote:
If you are happy with a warm yellow, then find a yellow spray primer and just add Cassandora yellow



A bit of sponging in dark brown and silver for weathering. If you need to touch up then you can use the cassandora yellow to match back into the main colour.

OK, I didn't know that Cassandora Yellow could help match a yellow color. Thanks!

You can use it as a glaze to even out tones if touching up doesn't quite match the base coat.