So while I wait for delivery of my new delusion of grandeur project I've been taking a browse through the painting tips and I can see there are 2 schools of thought on undercoating - black or white.
Now I've only ever painted 15mm upwards and have always gone for a white undercoat - never questioned it as it was taught to me by my dad who is a keen model railway type (garden layout capable of carrying tea).
However a 10mm is new to me I thought maybe it's time to reconsider.
So what's the opinion of the wise men / shaman / grand poobahs of the forum? Black or white? And what are the advantages of each?
Thanks.
Grey ;D
Lets you see the detail like white but doesn't leap out if you miss a bit. Lightens, brightens colours when compared to black...
There are plenty of other options :-\
Ummm yeah grey for me to with black Vallejo shade wash over the to bring out the details
Though I don't see any reason it wouldn't work with white
Brown.
It gives a much more naturalistic tone underneath the colours.
http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/seven-years-war-with-maurice-part-two.html (http://luddite1811.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/seven-years-war-with-maurice-part-two.html)
I tend to use black because that way the bits I miss become shading :)
I've also used grey, black highlighted white and white depending what I'm painting. I'm afraid my technique is a bit "suck it and see."
Black at the moment as that is what I have handy.
Nearly always white
Take care
Andy
I prefer grey for the smaller scales of 6mm and 10mm. But the best way to go is choose a few figures and try white, black, and grey for yourself and see which produces the result you like best. ;)
Or brown. ;) :D
Grey. I find white too bright to make out detail, black eats light, plus painting Prussians or Union is a nightmare: dark blue on black.
Also Grey is good for cutting down painting times on Austrians and Rebs.
There you have it. Black, white grey. Only 3 colours that people undercoat with. There are not any others. No Sir-ee
I've used a brown for some armies, esp. Zulus. For the rest, do a search here on the subject and you'll find hundreds of posts, since this is a recurrent question.
Neither white or black.
I prefer a yellow-brown/khaki. Wash over with a darker brown and most if not all of the natural stuff – like wood, skin, fur, hide, horses, and dirt (plus bottles) – is as good as done.
www.michaelscott.name/1809/1809blogpost80.htm (http://www.michaelscott.name/1809/1809blogpost80.htm)
Cheers, Michael
Grey for me. Found white made things too bright and never got on with painting over black.
White
White primer followed by black or dark brown wash. Detail leaps out, colours are less muted and there is instant shading.
It appears I've asked the wargaming equivalent of "how long is a piece of string?" Or "what's the in flight velocity of a swallow?"
I think Fig.ht is right - I going to have to try and see what suits......
From all the answer above, Vambo, it looks as though your best bet would be to have a bit of an experiment, and see which one suits your style of painting the best.
(Or which one you think gives the best effect.)......Fig.ht is quite right !
Rather than forking out on lots of different colour undercoats, I wonder if it would give you an idea if you sprayed a handful of figures white.....'Slap on' an appropriate colour as a 'pretend' undercoat, then paint on to the top of that.
It'll give you an idea, and you can always strip the paint from any figures you don't like.
Just an idea.
Cheers - Phil
Black for the "if I miss a bit, its a shadow" effect followed by a heavy wet brush of mid grey, so I can see what the feck I'm painting (plus colour lightening as others have mentioned.
A friend undercoated his 28mm Russians red about 10 years ago for Warfare in The Age of Reason. Then for yonks they were still red with his basing applied. They looked really good.
Especially as the opposition was in green!
Now he's finished painting them. They look great, but we all miss the effect.
Black undercoat with a dark brown drybrush over the top to bring out the detail, then paint as required.
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!
Quote from: Luddite on 20 February 2015, 10:07:25 PM
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 (http://www.wilko.com/wilko-tester-pot-75ml-java-bean/invt/0283309)
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.
Black for me; every time.
Black undercoat for shading, then drybrush colours over the top.
Dare I mention that some people use light grey. I do for vehicles.
I have used both black and white when undercoating, not at the same time!, but still undecided on whats best. :-\
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.
I favour a grey undercoat myself. A very flexible base for any colour you might want to use over it.
Quote from: Atavus on 03 March 2015, 11:59:54 AM
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 :-\
Quote from: getagrip on 03 March 2015, 12:11:25 PM
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.