Shading white

[Hells_Clown]

I'm working on learning how to paint white clothes and it's hard going.  How do I get those nifty shadows without making the entire thing look muddy? I can always highlight the raised parts back to white, but when I try using an ink wash for example, it gets too dark (even when thinned) or looks uneven, etc.

 

Anyone have any tried n true techniques?

[Kheprera]

It depends on what color white I want.

 

Yes, white comes in different colors, warm and cold.  :oo:

 

For a warm white, I'll use Hawkwood, Linen White, and Dragon White and blend them, although you could also use the layering technique. Washing white doesn't generally work out the best advantage.

 

If you want a colder white, then use a blue like Slate or a medium to light gray color and blend or layer up to white.

 

Inking and washing doesn't generally work because white has a bad tendency to vividly show how unsmooth a paint job is in reality, no matter how smooth or non-grainy your paint is. Small imperfections in the metal can keep your inks or washing from running smooth over the white, which in turn accentuates the imperfections.

 

Did that make any sense?

[FreeFall]

I've had good luck with very subtle shading using linen white as my base and shading down to Dove Gray.  Then I use a highlight of Dragon White.  I finish this off using Black Ink on a very fine brush and basically black lining the deeper creases to give it more definition.  

 

The thing about white is don'e get discouraged and don't start learning on your best fig.  Shading White just plain sucks.  I found it very hard to get the hang of.

[Enchantra]

For white I usually basecoat a color called icy white or winter white which has a hint of blue in it.  Then I will use white and mix it with the winter white in various concentrations and layer up to pure white for highlights.

 

Now and then I will do a very light blue wash, but only if I feel there are no imperfections in the metal that could make the wash dry funny.

[TKD]

I start with an off-white and work upwards to white. For bone, for example, I use an ivory followed by a near-ivory, then an off-white or two, highlighted with white. For cloth, I use a light tan (I have a color called "Nubby Linen" by Anita's) and shade that up to pure white using off-white colors.

 

That seems to work well enough.

[Digital M@]

I am doing a white cloak currently and used a pure white and a light blue.  I painted the entire cloak a light blue and let it dry.  I then took the white and thinned it until it was good and transparent.  I then painstakingly add layer by layer of transparent white until it looks right.  It is time consuming, but is very forgiving.  Very clean smooth look.

 

I also just did a dirty white, think Obi Wan in Star Wars.  It worked pretty well, my friends all love it, but I can't remember what I used.  It was just one of those figs that everything went right (until I dropped him while taking a photo).

[Mengu]

I am interested to hear more white recipes as well. My problem is that I look at what some of the best painters have done, and in any white surface, there seems to be very little actualy white paint. And when I look at the shdows, they are deep yet not overwhelming. Starting with a bone or light blue, or light grey is great, but it doesn't provide near enough shadows.

 

Take a look at this picture:

 

 

This picture was obviously taken with a lot of light (mostly sourced from the upper left side of the picture). You can see the shadows are a blue grey. You can also see there is very little actual pure white. If you look at the creases, it is not a light grey, but actually a medium grey.

 

Here is another great picture:

 

 

You can see some of the shadows are almost black. Of course my attempts at duplicating what I see, has mostly failed. So please continue to suggest away your recipes.

[Vaitalla]

I painted the entire cloak a light blue and let it dry.  I then took the white and thinned it until it was good and transparent.  I then painstakingly add layer by layer of transparent white until it looks right.  It is time consuming, but is very forgiving.  Very clean smooth look.

That is exactly how I do it, for the record.  I usually start with a color about the tone of Granite--anything darker is too much so, anything lighter doesn't show unless I'm working on something 72mm or larger.

 

--Anne

[DarusGrey]

as some people have suggested..when shading white..its best to use varieties of blue for a more natural look.

 

Afterall..the only color the human eye sees is the two extremes..and everything inbetween in actually a shade of blue.

 

(ever wonder why those ott lites and reveals shed BLUE light but look natural?) ;>

[Hells_Clown]

Here's an update (cuz I know you're all on the edge o yer seats waiting to read this  :p )

 

I have to Reaper Templars that I'm trying to paint in a fairly realistic fashion, ie with white tabards.  On one of them I base coated with a mixture of ivory and beige red (mostly ivory, just a drop of beige red to give a slight reddish tint).  The other I base coated ivory and field blue (a nice blue/gray color -  all colors are Vallejo model colors).  I painted up the reddish tinted one first.  I was a bit too heavy handed with it and covered nearly all the red tint but do have a nice pale yellow in the nooks and crannies.  The only problem is I don't think it's dark enough, as the shading isn't very noticable from a distance.

 

I'll try the blue tinted one tomorrow and see how that works.  Thanks for the tips so far.

[Whizard Hlavaz]

Afterall..the only color the human eye sees is the two extremes..and everything inbetween in actually a shade of blue.

Huh? Wa? Wow. Really? Could you explain more (so long as Hells_Clown doesn't mind the hijacking...)? I'm fascinated.

[DarusGrey]

Its pretty simple, the atmosphere is blue when hit with light(WHY its blue is a whole nother can of worms thats beyond scope of this question ;>), so all the light that hits us here down on earth, is tinted slightly from the atomosphere in blue as it comes down to us.

 

The Reveal/Ott lights use a gas in them thats similar to the effects/coloration of Ozone, without being horribly dangerous/toxic.

So that the light from the filiment gets filtered through the gas as it sheds light creating that more "natural sunlight" look and feel.

[Vaitalla]

Of course, that isn't to say that you need to use pure blue for your shadow.  I've only ever seen really blue shadows when the light is being filtered--usually through water or water vapor, as with clouds, snow, ice, and, well, water. *grins*  Usually a cool (blue-toned) grey or a mix of blue and grey (Reaper Slate or Night Sky with a little grey added) brings the best results to my eye.  Now, I suspect that if an object is either not of the purest white or doesn't filter light in a particular way you won't see the blue in those shadows particularly, unless you're painting an evening or moonlight scene, and that's an *entirely* different can of worms!  But, to quote Lord Byron, I digress...

 

--Anne  :)

[DarusGrey]

Of course, that isn't to say that you need to use pure blue for your shadow

 

That wasnt my intention of implying either.

But whenever I make a shading color I typically add one part light blue to 20parts the normal color. Its very subtle but I like the effect still