Whites.....

[Sambaman]

OK Planeteers, I am about to embark on my first real go at some major "white" coverage on figure, and wanted to get a quick census.

What do you use to shadow/tint your whites?

I'm an oil painter so consider that when answering! I have in some very small cases used Paynes Gray, but it turns quite blue as you know (too blue for my tastes here at least). I'm doing a Napoleonic Voltiguer so his white leather "straps" cross right over the white lapels of his jacket. Because of this I wanted to differentiate the two by maybe shading the whites on each with a different color. Would you recommend this? Or would it cause too much difference and end up looking odd? Thanks in advance for help that anyone can offer!

Jay H.
OKC

 

[KeithP]

Try this thread from a bit ago...

http://www.planetfigure.com/forums/index.p...painting+whites

Keith

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by Sambaman+Oct 11 2005, 06:43 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Sambaman @ Oct 11 2005, 06:43 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>I'm an oil painter so consider that when answering! I have in some very small cases used Paynes Gray, but it turns quite blue as you know (too blue for my tastes here at least). [/b]

Hi Jay, I agree. Even black+white is too blue for my taste and usually doesn't look right to my eyes since shadows on white are generally quite neutral.

<!--QuoteBegin-Sambaman@Oct 11 2005, 06:43 PM
I'm doing a Napoleonic Voltiguer so his white leather "straps" cross right over the white lapels of his jacket. Because of this I wanted to differentiate the two by maybe shading the whites on each with a different color. Would you recommend this? Or would it cause too much difference and end up looking odd? [/quote]
No, not at all. Actually a good idea in my book. I would maybe add a touch of ochre to the whites for the fabric and keep the straps slightly on the brown side, mixed from Titanium White, Burnt Umber and a black (use Mars Black if you have it).

Einion

 

[Kandor8]

White is always "fun".
I too paint mostly with oils and always use Permalba white for for my kick-off choice and seldom premix it on my pallette prefering to work wet-on-wet directly on the figure. If I'm going for a stark "new" white I'll add a TOUCH of ultramarine blue to the entire base white and shade with a mixture of paynes gray or lamp black with still just a bit of the UM blue. Don't try and hightlight your white areas! Losing battle unless it is almost completly dry. I shade and adjust as I go.

I like to use burnt sienna, yellow or gold ochre, burnt umber, van dyke brown, indigo blue, etc. for shading, It all depends on what effect I want to achieve. The thing with shading white is that a little bit goes a looong way. I will put just a touch of my base shade color directly where the dakest shadow begins, wipe the excess off my brush and the start pulling the shade color into the white, removing excess off my brush as I go. I am actually blending on the figure. Restraint is the key. Some painters are known to paint their whites in acrylics and the dry brush the shading with oils directly on the acrylic base, bypassing any use of white oils. Tried it, didn't like it.

Best!
Ric :lol:

 

[Tarok]

I used "The Bannerman method" of painting whites - available over at M-L. The only change I made in the end was to shadow with Sepia (neat) instead of Mark's mix.

 

[pkess]

I think the key to painting whites with oils is never start with pure white for your base color. You can go cold or warm and can even use the two for contrast between belts and uniforms.
For warm whites, I mix mars yellow in with tit white. Any warm brown or yellow can be used. For cool whites, I prefer to mix in either Sepia or Raw Umber.
Just keep adding more of your "tint" color for the shadows. My deep shadows are almost pure Sepia or Burnt Umber.
I use pure Tit White for the highlights. All wet on wet. Once everything is completely dry, I go back and reapply the pure white highlights.
The same goes for black. Never use black as your base color. Dark green, blue, brown, etc. That allows you to use pure black for the shadows.

 

[Sambaman]

Gentlemen...
your sage advise is both appreciated and will be implemented! I think I can go into this a bit more confidence now. I will likely use a bit of all the advise, at fist, as practice to get just what I want before I actually go to paint the figure. Wish me luck, and thanks for the help!

Jay H.
OKC

 

[Bob Keville]

Check out Hardy Tempest's article on the Greek Hoplite on his web page - he explains how he paints white with oils. (Rembrandt and Old Holland make a number of Sepia oil paints - you can get them from www.dickblick.com if you have trouble finding them at your paint store)

http://www.hardytempest.moonfruit.com/

Cheers,

./Bob