"Black, grey or white?" Topic

I normally prime my figures black, but I read a couple of posts saying that grey with a black ink wash was good. So, I thought I'd give it a try with some 10mm SYW Austrians, as well as a unit in black for comparison and post the results on my blog.

link

Personally, I still prefer black. I think at this scale it gives a slightly crisper end result, although the grey is by no means unsatisfactory.

What's your preference?

Black prime, though if painting troops with white uniforms, I use grey.

Matthew

I only use white myself on everything.

I also tend towards black….

I have seen and used black prime with a light grey or white dry brush to help lighten up certain areas before adding colors.

Sort of the opposite of the white with black wash idea.

I use black but have lately been experimenting with gray.

I have heard of the white drybrush too, but I think that as long as the black is matt enough then it's not too much of a problem picking out the detail. It's when it comes out shiny that I have issues. Thankfully, for larger figures, the gesso I use is very flat.

If I had to choose between those three, I'd choose white, but my preferred method is to prime with the base colour. I usually use my airbrush but if I'm feeling lazy I use spray primer.

Black, unless the colors have to "pop" or it's stonework or spacecraft (or modern navy/air, if I did those), in which case white for the color pop and gray for the stone/ships.

As I work in 10mm almost exclusively, black helps make certain the hard-to-reach recesses remain dark shadows.

I switched exclusively this year to grey with black ink wash, after years of black priming.

I noticed that I was having difficulty seeing detail on 15mm figs.

Tried all three and grey with black wash works best on 6mm for me – which is what I mostly paint.

Black gets worse with age – much more difficult to see details, even with a drybrush.

White prime everything . But I only do 28 mm stuff . definetly not definitly not black definitly not .

It depends on what I am painting. For larger figures I prefer neutral grey, but for smaller sizes (15mm or smaller) I use black.

I use white all the time

I use black most of the time. But for stuff like My 1882 Egyptians I used white.

I don't paint well enough for it to matter. But I usually go with black.

To be honest with you I can't tell the difference between the two and that could be based on my computer, not your painting. I liked both units and it really is a personal preference.

I tend to use Black primer on larger figures 15mm and up and Grey primer on 10mm and down.

Black usually. Grey if the figures have white uniforms, Same as 45thdiv.

Black usually. Grey if the figures have white uniforms. Same as 45thdiv.

Brown is an interesting alternative…used on all my native indians

Eric

Grey

To be honest with you I can't tell the difference between the two and that could be based on my computer, not your painting.

It could also be based on my photography! :)

I admit that the difference isn't huge, but I found that I had more leeway with the black in creating shadows. And, as I point out in the blog, it's a touch faster as the black is already blocked out. If they were wearing grey or white hats and gaiters then it would make a lot more sense.

black for dark, heavy stuff stuff, grey for lighter colored stuff. prefer to paint on grety though.

I usually use white I find black deadens the colours too much on 6mm figures. I might try the black with a white dry brush idea as a test though.

I prime black, then highlight with white or gray. Not because it looks better, but so I can see what I am trying to paint. Otherwise there is no depth for me to perceive.

I mostly use white primer, though it depends upon the base color of the minis.

For my WH40K Khorne troops, I use a rust red primer, sometimes called an oxide red.

I've also taken a shine to the new Warpaints color spray primer & basecoat combo. They have a Barbarian Flesh that worked great on a large Celtic army that's currrently on my table. Saved me a ton of time. Likewise, I used their chainmail for my Caesarian Romans. Saved me a bunch of time and layers.

BUT….. mostly it's white primer. If I need a grey or darker base, I use a white primer with a wash of black over top. Works like a champ.

Gray. I'll use white for specific types of figures. Never use black.

"Black, grey or white?"

YES

Depends upon what I am painting, ships (grey hulls) get sprayed grey as do horses that will be greys.

Russian Infantry and other figs that are dark in colour; black.

Austrians, Neapolitans, Wurzburgers; White.

It varies

rabbit

I used to use white, then passed onto black to hide better missed patches. I quite like grey the few times I've used it.

I HATE black undercoat! Whenever I use it I end up with a muddy looking mess unless I use really thick coats of paint. The only way I've found to counteract that is to undercat black then dry brush with white or first with a mid grey then white on top
I normally use a white undercoat or sometimes a pale grey or blue for white or pale uniforms,
These Austrian grenadiers have been undercoated dark grey then dry-brushed white. They're glued to header cards from their bags to speed up painting.