Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Digits on May 12, 2020, 09:57:37 AM
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I really struggle with this. Can anyone please put up their guidance on painting good looking whites, specifically for Nap figures and the like?
I just can’t get the shading etc.
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Not a Naps painter but i remember this combination from a few years ago for a warm white - Vallejo Medium Grey, Deck Tan highlight with Silver Grey.
You could mix them with each other for softer transition. :)
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I don't paint historicals, but I do paint quite a lot of white cloth on my miniatures, like the Citadel scientist below:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--XJZozdgAwY/Xo3Ck_xaK0I/AAAAAAAAUKw/lByfGKmtZYghnPvc-7iPhUBvtV28FjJ7ACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Techs%2B2.JPG)
The method is (over a black undercoat):
1) Basecoat with a high-pigment off-white (I use Citadel's Pallid Wych Flesh). Usually I do 2-3 thin coats
2) Wash with a thinned brown wash (I use Citadel's Agrax Earthshade at 1/3 wash to 2/3 water)
3) Highlight with the basecoat
4) Optional second highlight with 50/50 off-white and pure white
It's pretty simple and quick method that I like the look of.
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As my Spanish involve a lot of white, & I need to churn them out to take on
Digit's French horde, an more tips?
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Many, many years ago I helped Gary Morley paint a lot of 15mm Battle Honours Austrians using a grey undercoat and highlighting with off white & white.
It also depends if you want a cold white (grey base and lighten to white) or a warm white (such as Foundry Boneyard).
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These are great tips, thanks. Keep them coming....
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The Dr. Faust painting you tube channel had a very nice tutorial for a 'warm' white that I use (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00QK8aMb-Xk)
I guess if you need to paint quickly, have you looked at all the one pot solutions out there, ie contrast paints? The white one seems to do a decent job.
LS :)
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Paint off-white. Wash of diluted Payne's Grey ink. Job done.
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Quickest decent looking white I've found is a GW's Contrast Apothecary white over a white base/under coat. Quick and gets the job done; tho being as it's a GW product the wallet winces more than I would like.
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Quickest decent looking white I've found is a GW's Contrast Apothecary white over a white base/under coat. Quick and gets the job done; tho being as it's a GW product the wallet winces more than I would like.
That is the method I wanted to try... turns out this particular GW color is OOS in every places I looked so far... :-[
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I use two methods at the moment.
First is a white spray undercoat (usually Humbrol matt white) then inked with a GW brown of choice (thinned 50/50 with a flow improver), then build the highlights back up to white, with white, in a couple of layers. The ink for these was Reikland fleshshade as it’s warmer (and more suitable for Mars) than the others.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/36/2619-281118175658-3646654.jpeg)
The other method is standard Halfords grey primer, then a mid layer of Foundry slate grey light and then a final highlight of white (sometimes in two layers as above). The other colours are done using the triad method.
(http://leadadventureforum.com/gallery/46/2619-120520175218-46331777.jpeg)
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Lots of interesting ideas for my Egyptian & Sudanese forces in this thread. Thanks for starting the conversation Digits!
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May have to look at the contrast paints, they sound interesting.
The video is about the best result but I fear doing all that on 36 troops may be too much for me. Shame because I always start from a black prime.
I want to be able to achieve Something close to this ( taken from Perry site)
(https://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b76/DigitsDavid/1%20Napoleon/5E7A2723-4400-4D5C-8DEB-7963D321E480.jpeg)
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I use the CDA White Triad a lot. LINK (https://www.blackhat.co.uk/product/cdatr03-white-triad/)
Photo isn't great, but you get the idea. (I paint from a black undercoat.)
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For Star Wars Stormtroopers (a cold white) I thinned down Citadel Nuln Oil wash with Lahmian Medium.
It was quite a heavy medium to wash ratio (at least 2:1, probably more) if I remember correctly. Hopefully I have written it down somewhere, as I have more of them to paint at some point ;D
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Scalecolor White 'Quadrad'
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49888103566_4785fc207b_o.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2j1rz7E)
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I do a base coat in white ( with an airbrush) . Then I use a vallejo light grey wash and a highlight with the same white I used for the base coat . Looks like this then:
(https://wargamesgazette.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/fullsizerender3.jpg?w=1400)
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Napoleonic Spanish painted using the 'block paint and ink' technique.
Payne's Grey wash for the uniforms, sepia wash for faces and leatherwork.
(https://i.imgur.com/jx8KZzX.jpg)
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vallejo German cam. beige, deck tan,ivory,white.
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For large battalions of troops I would also use GW washes.
Go ahead and base coat with black (if you must though I would use white). Hit the uniforms with a solid white, then you can blacken the rest of the mini, such as the equipment, flesh, etc and tidy those areas up. I have come to us GW Nuln Oil and it works pretty good. For your first layer you will need to go very lightly to get a bit of a greyish effect. You will need to experiment on what mixture of wash and water you need to get the look you want but I would start with at least a 50/50 mix. Don't overdue it though. Once you have an overall light greyish look you can use the Nuln Oil to add depth, such as around the straps, using a normal brush. Once again, you will need to find the right consistency so the liquid doesn't go spilling about. But Nuln Oil can be used almost like a regular paint to. Then highlight the really bright white stuff such as the straps so they pop from the uniform.
This is one of those things where you need to practice on a number of figures first until you get your technique down. Darker washes on lighter colors are more difficult to judge the final result and require a bit of skill. Once you are confident you can use the Nuln Oil without splotching it all over the mini, and using it to add depth, then you can go into mass production mode.
I think the GW washes lot quite good at adding depth to light colors. Just go easy, practice a bit first and you should be fine.
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Do you have an example please Ray?
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Do you have an example please Ray?
I don't ATM because I'm usually working with smaller groups of minis.
If you'd like I can give a go at the "mass painting" technique I was talking about to show you, but it will take at least a couple days.
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Too bad your not nearby... I have a lot of Sudan Egyptians you could practice on. lol
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Hey Digits, mate.
I'm still recovering from my pneumonia and haven't touched a brush in weeks.
Here is what I am talking about. This mini's white has been washed in Nuln Oil:
(http://i.imgur.com/8G9FrpH.jpg) (https://imgur.com/8G9FrpH)
For a mass paint job I would call it good here and just repaint the belts white so they pop out. I think this mini has had a tad too much Nuln Oil applied, but that is up to you. Also remember that in those areas where you want more depth, the Nuln Oil can be brushed on just like paint, for example to get more contrast between the belts.
You can see how the painter does this at time 10:50 of this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYY94zR8CSE
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This might be a bit of a dead conversation, but I found this interesting tutorial recently: http://napoleonicwargamingadventures.blogspot.com/2016/11/painting-spanish-napoleonic-line.html?m=1
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Not dead at all...and thanks all, especially Ray for getting back, cheers.
I’ve ordered a bottle of the contrast white from gW so I’m going to try with a combo of that and washing with Nuln oil I think.
I may just practice on a few spare minis first though.
Thanks all.
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I may just practice on a few spare minis first though.
I have a bunch of minis which were butchered in some way for mods (head chopped off) and I always practice a new technique on these folks. I save minis for this purpose. Sometimes it is just a shade combo and I'll do a dudes arm, for example. If I'm not happy I'll try something different on his leg, etc. I have a small compartment in my painting box where I store them with my paints so they are always close by if I need them.
Looking forward to see what you come out with. I'm sure it will look smart!
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For my Neapolitan and Austrian Nappies I undercoat white, army painter stain then retouch white...looks good and a lot less hassle than all the other time consuming techniques I have tried; but then I am not an artist like many of the gents around these parts 😉
Oh and did you want those Chasseurs legs?
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Pm incoming fella, thank you.
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I have a very simple method using Vallejo over white primer:
From dark to light
VJ Stone Grey
VJ Silver Grey
VJ Off white
I prefer the look using light warm greys rather than cool greys for the darker tones.
You can use White in place of off-white if you want a brighter appearance but I prefer to keep the brilliant white for cross belts to give a subtle contrast between pipe-clayed leather and the wool based uniform.
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Lot's of interesting technique's here, thank you for sharing!
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The Foundry Austrian White triad is quite good.
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/paint/products/067-austrian-white
I am not really a proper painter like so many contributors to this thread. I have found for a decent quick wargames standard, white primer, followed by a thinnish black wash then highlight with a bright white such a the Foundry Austrian white “C” looks okay.
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For my Greatswords, I used Apothecary White over white basecoat like many others here, the rest of the model was inked using Army Painter Dark Tone (which I use for almost everything).
(https://coronasan.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/empire-greatswords-3-1.jpg)