How to Paint White Uniforms?

[Benno]

Hello chaps and chapesses,

In a moment of weakness I have gone and got hold of some Victrix Austrians.
These, plus a few other boxes....


So what, I hear you say. Well, A slight problem has come up in that I have never painted white uniforms before.
I was thinking of spraying them white, painting on all the details and then getting the Army Painter stuff out. Would this work or is there a better way to do it. But please bear in mind there are a thousand of them.

Any hints, tips, advice or just plain laughter will be welcome

Thanks

[Ben Bob]

Hahaha!!!! You said it was OK

I painted the facings and straps of my 18mm French in two methods:
1) A dark gray base, with probably three-four highlights ending with white. This had the best visual effect because there was starker contrast, and a neater finish, but it took long.
2) An off-white base with a blue tint, gradually lightening until white. This would have been more realistic as the real people would have been in the sunlight, but there was too little contrast.

But considering there are 5x the quantity, and double the size, I would probably go for another method. If army painter is your thing, use that. Also look into oil washing techniques. I hope that makes sense and is a help!

[Den]

Hello,

i very often paint white shirts on soldiers of the 17th century. I prime them in white (revell or something) an take the pale grey wash by vallejo. Its just a light grey running very quickly in all folds. It looks really natural i think.

[Token Girl]

On my Miniart Grenadier and my "little men" I usually prime them either in a light to medium grey or a tan brown, usually this is because of the etch primer.
Then I tend to paint the necessary whites of the uniforms fresh white. when that is dry I use artists acrylics and vary the white with a little grey or black or red or whatever I feel it needs and then a purer/fresh white for the pipe clay straps. This method works for me, I'm not the greatest painter in the world but I'm happy with the results...just enjoy it, get your fingers dirty, (I rubbed a lot of whites onto my Alan Shepherd astronaut) and try stuff, after all if you don't like the result you can start again.
I hope this helps.
Fiona X

[MABO]

This will be a very great army, btw, I think!

[Xantippos]

I would spray them with light grey and then drywashing them with white. It's what I usually do.

[KGV]

Thanks for all the replies,and Paul, cheers for ther PM.
What I will try and do, is over the next few weeks, put together some figures, and paint one in each of the methods described. Then I will put up pictures, and you can let me know what you think.

But be gentle, I'm bound to screw a few of them up

Thanks again
KG

[MABO]

We are always gentle!

[PeterG]

Hi KGV!

In Your particular situation when You have such a vast amount of uniforms to take care of , I can advise You from my own experience ,that drybrushing is the fastest and easiest way - what You do is You DO NOT start with pure white but go from the darkest to lightest (some artists call it "from inside out") First layer -you need "dirty"white i.e. white with very little amount of brown or ochre -this layer You just paint over normally ,then 2nd layer you drybrush semi lightly you basically add more white to the previous mix .then 3rd layer just white drybrush but not too hard just the most sticking out points ,this way youll achive the depth and realism desired .I suggest experimenting on one or two pieces ,then since You have so many ,the only way is to 'mass-produce' it -you do first layer on lest say 30 of them ,then 2nd and third ...it is monotonnous so I recommend some good battle music along with it!:)Hope this helps !:)

[KGV]

Thank you PeterG, I will give that a try as well.

[KGV]

OK chaps and chapesses, it's been a while, and between getting sidetracked with other painting (I never seen to finish anything) and making a right royal screw up with a dozen or so figure , I have finally settled on a method that I am happy with.
So thank you for all the suggestions and tips, and please don't think that if your method wasn't chosen it was no good. Trust me, I tried them all, and I learnt that there are some talented people out there, and I'm not one of them!

I will just post the one that I got along best with, as the others were so bad that I don't think I would want to hurt your eyes.

I went for the drybrushing style, so thanks to all who put me onto that.







I wont bore you with a pikkie every time I finish a figure. So when I have a Battalion Painted and based I will update.

[vellek]

I've been keeping an eye on this thread since there's some good advice here. The white uniform looks great, and the "pure" white crossbelts really make them pop. Keep up the good work!

Cheers,
Kurt

[Beano Boy]

You`ve raised the bar here with your work on this figure.Well done. Now it`s down to painting all the others just as good.

[KGV]

Cheers chaps, I will try.
Also, Benno, if you read this, now I know what I am doing, is it worth moving this to 25mm Work in progress?

[KenzoSato]

Excellent

[Kekso]

Also, Benno, if you read this, now I know what I am doing, is it worth moving this to 25mm Work in progress?

I think you should start a new topic in WIP section or in Gallery section. But as I read that you will post photos of finished (painted and based) battalion, I think Gallery is your place to be.

Looking nice, btw. Do you plan to paint all those boxes?

[KGV]

Thank you Kekso, yes I do plan on painting all of them and I will start a new tread in WIP when I have finished some

Cheers.

[Kekso]

Looking forward to see them all

[Peter]

Looks real good! This will be a very nice regiment!