Painting White, The Fred Way

I will start off by saying (yet again) that I am by no means a great painter, I’m probably average at best. However, I have found something that works for me and I want to pass that along in hopes that it does help some folks out there that may be struggling with painting whites on miniatures. There are allot of amazing painters out there that are beyond any level I will probably reach, and some even put out guides. But in striving to put together a hobby blog I figured what I can bring to the table I will, at the very least someone with more experience may comment back with a better method, and then we have all learned something more!

For the longest time I avoided whites, keeping my minis draped in darker cloaks and colors. Most times when I posed the question as to how to attempt whites I would get the same answer back: “lots of layers”. While that is true, it didn’t quite get me there. Layering splotchy white on splotchy white only got me thick splotchy white, it wasn’t until I messed around with some of the colors on my palette did I come up with this method. Hope ya’ll enjoy!

What You Will Need

White Model Paint
Light Grey Model Paint
Vallejo Sky Blue (Or other light color you wish to experiment with)
Paint Brush
Palette
Model (Painted to the point it is ready for the white)

Step 1: Prepare Model

Starting off you will need to have a model painted to the point it is ready for the white color. For this article I will be painting Games Workshop’s Cirion, “Boldest of the Bold” from their Middle Earth line. I would suggest the white color be the last color you paint on to the model and all washes be done before you begin.

Once you are ready, basecoat the entire area you wish to be white a light grey.

Step 2: Mix the Off White

Before we get to pure white highlights (if you wish to go all the way), we begin with an off-white basecoat. For this example, I am using Vallejo Sky Blue as it is the first color that I found to work with this method and I think it makes a nice off-white for Cirion’s cloak. You can however experiment with other light colors or even greys to achieve this off-white. I suggest making this off-white as close to white as possible while still allowing the paint to go on smooth and solid.

Mix your white paint and Vallejo Sky Blue (or other light paint color) on your palette in a 5:1 ratio.

Step 3: Apply Off-White Layer(s)

There is truth to whites being all about layers. With this method you usually only need 2-3 light layers of the off-white we created in step 2 to get a successful coat.

Apply thin coats of the off-white color to your grey area created in Step 1. If your off-white color is not white enough for your liking, mix more white paint into the off-white created in step 2 and reapply. Continue this process until you are satisfied with the solid off-white color (typically 2-3 thin layers).

NOTE

Your third (last) layer should almost just be a touch up layer to cover areas you don’t feel are solid enough. I would not suggest going much beyond 3 layers as you risk creating too thick a coat of paint.

Step 4: Apply White Highlights

Now that we have a nice off-white basecoat that is near enough to white for out tastes, we can now give a nice finishing effect of white highlights that are meant to give depth to the cloak. These highlights should be no more than 2 layers as the off-white we basecoated should be white enough that the true-white color goes on smooth.

On raised details of the off-white section of the model, apply thin highlights of white paint. If required, repeat this step a second time to give a smooth finish.

You’re Done!

If everything has gone well you should have a nice white cloak or portion of your model that you are happy with. Cirion’s cloak and White Tree of Gondor came out much to my liking and now he is ready to lead the warriors of Minas Tirith to battle in a cool-guy white cloak that surely will be muddy as hell by the end of the day. I guess its all about the entrance.

Apologies if I don’t have the best pictures. I need to sort out my lighting on my desk to actually take a proper picture. It’s also not helping I’m taking a picture of white which is just reflecting the light right back at the camera, but I hope in the end you get the idea of what we are trying to achieve with these steps.

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions to improve this process I would love to hear them. Should my articles do one thing at all I hope it generates some sort of discussion amongst the readers. These hobby related articles are turning out to be some of my favorite to do vice game related ones. Helping people in the hobby and sharing my hobby processes with others feels much more rewarding than ranting about gaming. But don’t worry I have some cool game related stuff in store (*cough* Battle Companies *cough*).

Till then, this has been Fred on Fantasy!