Good White Base Coat?

[doom-kitten]

I've been using Fortress Grey as my white base coat for awhile now but I've been wondering is there a better method to painting white, I've been told it's hard to paint pure white but I've haven't had to much trouble with it and whats a good wash for white I'm not a huge fan of bright colours and I'd like to dull it down abit without ruining the overall look. People have suggested dull coat spray but I don't like the starchy feel it gives the model or how much it 'dirtys' up the white any suggestions or am I just being anal?

[Cosmiccastaway]

I've been using Fortress Grey as my white base coat for awhile now but I've been wondering is there a better method to painting white, I've been told it's hard to paint pure white but I've haven't had to much trouble with it and whats a good wash for white I'm not a huge fan of bright colours and I'd like to dull it down abit without ruining the overall look. People have suggested dull coat spray but I don't like the starchy feel it gives the model or how much it 'dirtys' up the white any suggestions or am I just being anal?

Hi Doom Kitten, I've been painting my Imperial Guard white lately and you can find them in this thread....

http://www.lounge.belloflostsouls.net/showthread.php?t=13588

Is that the sort of thing you're looking for? Or do you want a much cleaner white?

[FastEd]

The dheneb stone foundation paint works quite well if your looking for something to paint white over if your looking for an alternative. As for washes, if your doing a gray base then I would tend toward a gray or gray/blue wash. The asurmen blue and badab black washes from GW are a bit dark/intensely-pigmented for whites unless your going for a stark contrast. You could try to water them down even more to potentially dull them out of a bit, but I think you are better off making a paint wash by just watering down a paint you feel is roughly the right color. Either way, the gray or gray/blue will give it a cooler, cleaner, more neutral feel.

On the other hand, using a tan base will lend itself toward using a tan or brown wash. Gryphonne sepia is good for this if you don't go overboard with application, while the devlan mud wash is a bit too dark. Again, you can still make a paint wash from any paint you have by watering it down (with actual water, or flow extender) to the right consistency. The brown will give you a warmer, more dirty/earthy (obviously) feel then the blues and grays.

One of the difficulties with white and black is always shading and highlighting because of how they fall on the color wheel (e.g. they don't). Normally with colors you can just go slightly darker or lighter, or choose the complementary (read: opposite) color from the other side of the color wheel to give a very natural shadow/shade since complementary colors naturally form grays/browns when put together.

Hope that helped. :)

[doom-kitten]

Lol Thanks guys I really didn't understand most of what you wrote FastEd but I think I got the gist of it, anyways I'm hoping to have some picks up soon they should give a better idea to what the white on them look like. I'm a huge fan of dark colours so when I put my tanks down the first thing to see is that white fluer de lie and it's very bright compared to the rest of the tank.