Black or White primer

[Steve Brodie]

All,

Just wondering why some figure painters prime their figures / busts in black - is their a specific reason ?

 

[Mjølner]

Hi Steve

I know some who prime there figures in black, because all the small spots where it is difficult to get to will light up in white, if you are unable to fill in the colour in use.
I prime in white or grey because I am having trouble to see the details properly, you know old age and poor eyesight

 

[Metal Extremo]

As you like. I always prime in grey.

I don't like black cause i must give more layers to take de colours, specially with clear colours, and at the end the painting is darker. But is for my way to paint. Korean painters prime in black and with acrylics and glaces make marvellous works.
Never primed in white, so i can't give talk about.

 

[DaddyO]

Hi Steve it's something which I've wondered about trying (black primer that is) but as ME mentions I worry about the number of coats needed to cover, so I guess it depends on the main colours of the figure - a deaths head hussar might be easier primed in black, but an Austrian drummer of the same Napoleonic period perhaps not.

For my next one I'm going to add a wash of black/dark grey on the white primer before painting which will help my aging eyes and hopefully cover up any of those irritating little white gaps

I also wondered about a black initial prime then spraying white primer from the light source direction over this before painting begins. . .

Paul

 

[kagemusha]

You mean like this.......


black over sprayed with a dust coat of white.......

 

[MCPWilk]

I use Humbrol matt white spray. My son used black for his warhammer figures. Those modellers who use acrylics appear to prefer black, those who use oils and enamels, white.

Mike

 

[Alex]

I like grey, good compromise

 

[mick3272]

I normally use a light grey primer, but the last time I primed a couple of kits up I used a DARK Grey as I was away from home and couldn't get the light Grey.
NEVER NEVER again I couldn't see a bloody thing. Ended up applying a thin coat of off white.
So for me Light Grey.
Mick

 

[billyturnip]

Just goes to show we are all different. I have tried white primer and I couldn't see any details, just bright white.

 

[Paul Kernan]

I've done both depending on the final effect I'm trying to achieve. Majority of my pieces are primed with mid grey. Although, I generally don't use black, I have if I'm going for a dark, earthier look like our Russian painters (just not their quality ). The piece I'm working on right now, I did a mix priming the shako/plume with black and 'halo'ed' with grey. I wanted a more vibrant finish for the uniform, so I used white on the pelisse/dolman

 

[sippog]

For my next one I'm going to add a wash of black/dark grey on the white primer before painting which will help my aging eyes and hopefully cover up any of those irritating little white gaps

I also wondered about a black initial prime then spraying white primer from the light source direction over this before painting begins. . . Paul

I've been doing this for some time now. Either grey first - then black from below and white from above - or sometimes black with white over it. I find it really helps me see the detail, the black helps to pick out the shadows and saves time when lining.

Mostly I do it with spray cans, using the fine Tamiya white to avoid clogging detail. Here's an example (it's paint not metal that you can see) :

I've also started expanding this pre-shading technique by using colour primers (the Army Painter ones work well)
I've done it with groundwork so far quite successfully but want to start with figures soon.
(The big incentive for this was finding out you can buy different types of nozzles for spray-cans to produce (supposedly) a variety of fine lines - graffiti artists have been using them for years.)

I don't see myself chucking away my airbrushes just yet but I reckon I could get a good head start on a figure this way and maybe save some of the 'grunt work' of blocking in areas of colour.

 

[m@rp]

Right now I am using only grey primer and it works well for me. may be when i will be be much old I will use black primer. But we are not there for now.
Pascal

 

[Forté]

I used to use black for most things when I was painting for gaming and would work from the darkest tone to the lightest which worked well for layering.

Now it depends on my planned scheme but I'll usually two part prime:
Black with grey or white (or both) dusting.
Grey with white dusting.

The lighter colour stayed to give me my light reference.

Few examples.

 

[Eludia]

I mainly prime in grey but recently I've been trying out the white over black pre-shading method and the results have been good. It works particularly well when using transparent oil glazes as the pre-shading effect is still visible through the glazes.

 

[sippog]

I used to use black for most things when I was painting for gaming and would work from the darkest tone to the lightest which worked well for layering. Now it depends on my planned scheme but I'll usually two part prime:
Black with grey or white (or both) dusting. Grey with white dusting. The lighter colour stayed to give me my light reference.

The other 'foundation' for painting apart from shading is texture. It didn't strike me until I watched a video by Alfonso Giraldes that all that grain and spatter you get from spraying (especially from a can) is actually a good thing. I focus a lot on texture now using stencils, brushes, swabs, sponges and anything else that's handy.

That's partly also because I have an aversion to the ultra-neat style of painting that seems to win awards and partly because, after depth, texture adds the most interest to a figure - in my opinion, of course.

 

[Forté]

a video by Alfonso Giraldes

You had me at this. Which video? All I've managed to see is his Facebook posts and discussions and I've picked up many tips and ideas from those.

 

[Steve Brodie]

Thanks for all the replies

Got a couple of Viet marine busts, so primed the heads in black - will now try white from above and see if that gives me some highlights to reference and see where we go from their ( in between building a 1/35 GAZ tiger and some review models lol , oh and my 101st female bust.

 

[sippog]

You had me at this. Which video? All I've managed to see is his Facebook posts and discussions and I've picked up many tips and ideas from those.

Here you go - it's down near the bottom of the page

http://www.miniaturementor.com/painting_tutorials.html