Kenny from Next Level Painting is back with his secrets to painting miniatures white with depth tutorial for everything from Wings to White Scars!
White is one of the best colors to create a serious contrast between different parts of the model. However, white (along with yellow) is one of the colors that has always “scared” new painters. If you’ve picked up a brush and started applying white coats, you’ll know what we mean. It’s easy to become discouraged right after you apply the 5th layer and are still not getting a solid coat.
Well, we’re going over a way to get a perfect white so you don’t have to either, A) settle or what white contrast paint gives you, or B) stay away from the color white altogether.
Painting Miniatures White with Depth: Tutorial
Have you always wanted to paint those White Scars bikers, but can’t figure out how to tackle that damn white armor? Wait no longer! Kenny is walking us through a quick and easy method of painting some truly next level whites!
The first step to painting these killer whites is to use a nice mid-tone grey base color. Kenny went with Army Painter Wolf Grey primer. The key takeaway here is to use a color on which you can build up to a white. Don’t prime it black and expect to see a nice solid white magically appear. Prime smart!
Starting with a thin layer of Flat White that’s almost translucent, Kenny starts building up the different layers. Once the translucent layer is completely dry, Kenny aggressively dry brushes with more of the Flat White to get extremely strong white highlights.
Now that the base white layers have been applied it is time to lay down some of the Ancient Chinese Techniques. After gloss varnishing the wings, Kenny mixes some Dark Tone and Blue tone, along with some of the ever-amazing Quickshade mixing medium. This blue/black mixture is applied to the wing evenly to prevent awkward pooling.
When the wash has completely dried Kenny applies another aggressive dry brushing layer to finish out this kickass white! After seeing all this, you might have realized it’s a lot simpler than you may have first thought. There’s no need to be scared of lighter colors when you approach them differently from most darker shades! Check out this full video above to let Kenny do the talking.
If you liked this tutorial, you can also support Kenny on his Patreon page, and stock up on all the great Chaos gear over on his Heretic Swag store.
Have you been afraid of painting white in the past? Is it one of your favorite colors to paint with?
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About the Author: Wesley Floyd
Wesley Floyd
Job Title: Staff Writer
Joined: 2018
Socials: @RealmbrushPainting
About Wesley Floyd: Wes has been in the Warhammer hobby since 2015 and joined the Spikey Bits writing team in 2018. He is known for his satirist takes on trending topics and imaginative yet amazingly affordable hobby solutions to painting Warhammer miniatures.
Imperial fanboy, tabletop fanatic, and the self-proclaimed King of Sprues. He knows for a fact that Mephiston red is the best-tasting paint and is the commission painting equivalent of a Wendy’s 4 for $4. If you like what he writes and want to contact him or have your tabletop minatures painted (to a mostly okayish standard), message him on Instagram.
