How To Paint White In 3 Easy Steps

By Drago | October 5th, 2017 | Categories: How To Tutorial, Next Level Painting, Privateer Press, Videos

Having issues with your whites? Take a look at these three easy steps that will take your white paint technique to a whole new level!

Commander Nemo gets some awesome accessories on his shoulder pads with some great weathering techniques. Using all P3 paints, including some from the new Grimkyn line, and an airbrush, painting white with smooth transitions has never been easier. To take a look at the full steps of getting white paints to pop, scroll down and press play on the video below!

The pieces of the model are primed grey. To start building the whites up, P3 Sickly Skin is mixed with Airbrush Flow Improver from Vallejo and sprayed in very thin coats over the model. Several thin coats will be required to create the eggshell/off-white color we are looking for as a base. P3 Morrow White is added to the previous mix to introduce the new highlight color and create a smooth transition and prevent speckling in the transitions. White is tricky, without a smooth transition, it can easily look out of place. After that first mixture, more Marrow White is added to bring up the highlight.

Bogrin Brown is used to establish a little bit of yellowing to the white color, bringing in a realistic staining into the model. The mixture in the airbrush is very thin, almost dirty water, to have a very delicate airbrush color and make everything very subtle over all. With the same mix, pin wash the nuts with a small paintbrush to bring out the shadows more. The same wash should also be added to recesses and any spot where shadows would accumulate.

The next colors are bonuses this time: Pig Iron in the silvers, Solid Gold mixed with Deathless Metal to create the bronze colors for the tubes, and Arcane Blue in the coils themselves. As with the larger coil on Nemo’s back, the smaller shoulder pad coils will have OSL added later.

To find out more about this model and the paints used, check out Privateer Press. Be sure to press play on the video below to see the entire process of painting these smooth white shoulder pads.