Undercoat - black or white?

[toxicpixie]

Black. Except when I use white/grey or a tan/brown or a red oxide. Sorry, depends on the project and what I want!

Black and a block paint is quick and gives a decent result, but can wash out/darken colours, white/grey works very well with a heavy wash (magic wash, Army Painter if you've money to burn!), a brown/tan I find looks really nice with a lighter "GW STYLE" (or Vallejo or...) wash (I use Reiksland Fleshshade usually) - got some Ottomans I want to get a decent photo of using that technique to enter in the comp!

[Roy]

Brown.

For me too.

I use Wilko Java Bean £1 paint tester to undercoat. Base and figure at the same time.

http://www.wilko.com/wilko-tester-pot-75ml-java-bean/invt/0283309

[Subedai]

Used to use black exclusively in all scales, now I only use it on all 6mm figures and it depends on what I am painting if larger. Sometimes it's black or white with a black magic wash over the top to fill in the creases and. The only thing is that I use enamel undecoat not acrylic.

[getagrip]

Black for me; every time.

[SerialLoser]

Black undercoat for shading, then drybrush colours over the top.

[Hertsblue]

Dare I mention that some people use light grey. I do for vehicles.

[jambo1]

I have used both black and white when undercoating, not at the same time!, but still undecided on whats best.

[ecka65]

Well, as a newcomer who has painted 1000's of 6mm but hasn't got off the mark yet with 10mm...

I use white washed with a homemede black ink wash.  Even with an excellent light and reading glasses I can't see what I'm trying to hit when I used black.  Plus yellow, and some reds (often banes for any painter) work beautifully over washed white and abysmally (for me anyway) over black.  One of my early discoveries painting small (back "in my day" I was 15mm DBA and 28mm everything else) I found I needed to hit the small guys with a few shades lighter and brighter than I'd use on a bigger fig.  Black makes that a pain.

[Atavus]

I favour a grey undercoat myself.  A very flexible base for any colour you might want to use over it.

[getagrip]

I favour a grey undercoat myself.  A very flexible base for any colour you might want to use over it.

How do you black line?

Having seen your painting I suspect you don't

[Atavus]

How do you black line?

Having seen your painting I suspect you don't

You suspect correctly, my friend    I think things look better with 'natural' shading from basecoats/ink washes.  However, if I do need something like a black outline, I just use black ink to carefully wash the specific area.