White colors - Whats the difference?

[MoebiusStrip 238]

There are the following whites in the reaper line. From the swatches they all look ... white. Whats the difference between the colors?

• Dragon White  09439

• Solid White  09478

• Pure White  09039

• Pearl White  09100

• Unicorn White  89547

Pure White appears in a triad which makes me think this is truly pure white. Are some of the others also pure or are they off-color and in which direction? I really can't tell from the swatches.

[ttuckerman 9701]

5 hours ago, MoebiusStrip said:

There are the following whites in the reaper line. From the swatches they all look ... white. Whats the difference between the colors?

• Dragon White  09439 do not have

• Solid White  09478 do not have

• Pure White  09039 tealish white

• Pearl White  09100 metallic white (pearlescent)

• Unicorn White  89547 do not have

Pure White appears in a triad which makes me think this is truly pure white. Are some of the others also pure or are they off-color and in which direction? I really can't tell from the swatches.

Also Snowdrift White 09604 Bluish white

Bleached linen 09436 Yellowish white

Linen White 09061 Green-Yellow White

Spectral White 09680 Purplish White

[MoebiusStrip 238]

Yeah I skipped those where I could see from the swatches which off-whites they were.

[Inarah 43869]

9039 Pure White is the basic white.  Everything else has other pigments added to it. 

 

For a more detailed explanation tune in to twitch one morning and ask Anne, the creator of all those colors. 

https://www.twitch.tv/reaperminiatures   She is usually on at 11:30 central time. 

 

 

[WhiteWulfe 42144]

I thought Solid White, Dragon White, and Pure White were all fairly similar, just the first was an HD line (brought into Bones line as one of the fifteen lucky ones, instead of Rusty Red grr), Solid was MSP, and Dragon was Bones? 

[Serenity 4938]

If you don't get an answer here and if you're on Reaper's Discord, you can ask questions there.  This one would likely belong in Painting Platinum where Sadie often answers questions about Reaper paints.  Asking a question by email is also a way to go.  Sadly, many Reaper employees don't read the forums much, if at all.  Rhonda Bender @Wren  knows a lot about Reaper's paints, too.

 

I have Pure White and Pearl White.  Pearl White is glossy and has a shiny flake in it.  Pure White is matte and is a basic white, like Titanium white in artist paints.

 

Here's a link to Rhonda's response to a similar question:

https://forum.reapermini.com/index.php?/topic/89964-differences-between-reaper-white-and-black-paints/&do=findComment&comment=1914048

[ManvsMini 16014]

On 12/1/2020 at 8:52 AM, ttuckerman said:

Also Snowdrift White 09604 Bluish white

Bleached linen 09436 Yellowish white

Linen White 09061 Green-Yellow White

Spectral White 09680 Purplish White

 

And don't forget Snow White. She comes with seven dwarves... (I am marketing genius, Reaper!).

[Wren 8381]

The five whites listed in the top post are all true whites without other pigments added. Differences in brief:

 

• Dragon White  09439

Slightly brighter than Pure White. If you're looking for a top highlight white, use this. This brightness is due to other components than the pigment according to Anne. (I suspect it's just a little glossier which will make it reflect light a little more, which will make it appear brighter, but that part is conjecture, and there could be more than one factor at play.)

• Solid White  09478

Uses a different base than the other whites. So same titanium white pigment, it's the other parts of the mix that are different. Has higher coverage, but doesn't thin down for layering as well as Pure White.

• Pure White  09039

The highest amount of white pigment in any of the whites. Thins down well. Anne recommends this one if you want/can have only one, and it's one of her favourite paints out of all of the ones she created for Reaper.

• Pearl White  09100

This is a pearlescent paint, a white metallic. You can make your own metallic paints of whatever colour you want by mixing a paint or ink in with this.

• Unicorn White  89547

Similar to Pure White, but a little softer, so you may find it a bit easier to make mixes with. (True artist paint mixing whites are generally not titanium white or not only titanium white, but this is as close as Reaper gets I think.) 

 

Part of the reason you get so many whites is that there are separate paint lines. A store might want to order just the Bones paints or just the Pathfinder paints and stock those, so each line has to have a white and a black. Anne always tries to do something with the mix so no paint is identical to another, but there's only so much you can do with white. Up until a few years ago there was another paint line called HD. It was similar to Bones in formulation but different branding. The most popular of those paints were folded into the Bones paint line and the rest were discontinued. Those popular colours included Solid White.

 

There are stronger differences in the various blacks because there are more ways to make black. Solid Black is a warm chromatic black. Chromatic means it has a little bit of colour in it. (Or it's mixed from colours rather than using a traditional black pigment.) It's hard to see with the naked eye, but Solid Black has got some brown and blue in it. I find it much easier to blend with than Pure Black.  Dragon Black is a chromatic black with some blue and violet, so great if you like cold shadows. 

 

True white paints are generally either titanium white pigment, or zinc pigment. Zinc is weaker and a popular mixing white in artist paints. I don't think it's used in miniature paint mixing. Lead white is definitely not used in miniature paint mixing, and is pretty rare even in artist paints these days. Then you can have differences in the finish (glossy, satin, matte), or the ratio of pigment, or other elements related to the paints in general but not the whiteness so much.

 

The colours ttuckerman added are NOT true whites that only have titanium white pigment. They are all identifiably very light versions of colours. Many of us use them as 'near whites', and you may find that it is easier to mix colours with these than with the straight whites, but if you're trying to paint a true bright white, you need an actually white paint. There are at least one or two more more of these off-whites than ttuckerman listed. Ghost White is a bluish white compared to Snowdrift being a bluish-violet white. 

[MoebiusStrip 238]

Thanks, very informative.

 

10 hours ago, Wren said:

Anne recommends this one if you want/can have only one, and it's one of her favourite paints out of all of the ones she created for Reaper.

Wow talk about ringing endorsement.