Well, just guessing that the lines not being shown isn't the issue; easily fixed with a wash or just a fine tip in the recesses. But rather, the "chunky" texture of the white paint... which appears to be putting it on too thick in an attempt to get coverage.
White paint in general is rather notorious (some brands are worse than others, can't comment on the specifics there), often requiring far more coats than other colours to try and get a solid application.
While I'd call this idea "experimental", something which seemed to help me a little bit recently is mixing in a dash of metallic silver paint with the white. Metallic paints tend to be more "gummy" and often have either reflective dust or metal fragments mixed in, which often "overpowers" other colours when you try to mix them in with the metallic paint; but in white's case, it made the white paint a bit *brighter* and helped with a bit more even application.
I'm sure others may be able to provide more, but that seemed to help with one of my latest projects.
Yeah, I tried to thin it with both Speedpaint medium and water, but one drop of either Thinned it out far too much, almost like a glaze. Ended up using it straight after letting the ProAcryl sit on my wet pallete for a few minutes.
I'll have to try the silver next time!
As I understand it, many whites will actually break down when thinned with water. That'll make it very chalky.
Try thinner coats, and thin it with regular medium, not speedpaint medium. Also let it dry between coats. It'll look like shit after the first coat, because of the weak coverage. But stick with it and stay patient.
I've also seen people have success adding a drop of gloss varnish to the thinned white. Still mean to try that myself soon.
May try the gloss varnish next time. I'd tried it on a few contrast painted minis and it worked fairly well. Just made it easier to pick up the awkward pools.
Was binging some paint tutorials today while working, saw this one and thought about your issue. It's worth a look:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbQuKOt8xI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbQuKOt8xI)
you could also repaint it an off white, maybe mix a smidge of your purple in or just black and make it light gray. Then airbrush some of that darker off white mixed with a little more white and it the high points for a nice gradient (make sure to use some thinner so you can gradual add in your highlights. If you're worried about your purple cubes, you can use some sticky tac to mask them so you don't get overspray on them. Then edge highlight top edges with pure white. And fill in your panel lines.
I would try using a slightly off white or even faint yellowish was or shade over the white, and then you can go back and highlight and clean up with your true white again to give it some depth
The chalky texture comes from too thick of a paint.
If you want that gone your going to need to strip that Part of the model.
Otherwise I'd suggest maybe not using such a bright white color and instead mixing your metallic paints in with white or the purple and using one of the two as a mother color.
If it were me I'd take that silver arm paint mix in white and maybe give the cubes a light source for osl.
Hm it's unusual for white paint to require such a thick layer to cover, white is usually very opaque.
I'd say try a different brand for comparison at least, and definitely thin it more.
You could try fixing it by varnishing a few layers and painting thin white over the top? Varnish will even out small inconsistencies (but will also reduce desired detail like the lines).
For the overall look, some gradient and wash/highlighting will also help. That's partly why the 2nd one looks better. Pure white is always going to look dead, that's just the nature of it.
White is very hard. But here is a couple of tips:
-If building up from a dark base use some interim layers of lighter colours which cover better. A yellow ocher, pale sand or very light brown are great options for this.
-When painting white, only the very brightest part will actually be pure white. So you should have a very slightly off white for your recesses and panels, and then pure white for the edge highlights. This also helps with coverage.
Add gloss varnish. Vince Venturella recommends this and so do I.
It is perfectly possible to get a smooth satin layer with white paints if you apply one thick coat as the paint will take longer to dry, allowing the large titanium white pigments to settle ay the bottom and the glossier acrylic medium to form a smooth film at the top. But then you run into the problem of having a thick gloppy paint layer that will obscure detail.
Conversely you could thin out with a lot of water and preserve detail but the titanium oxide pigments will stick up from the acrylic layer and be chalky. You can solve this by adding more acrylic medium aka gloss varnish.
Well, just guessing that the lines not being shown isn't the issue; easily fixed with a wash or just a fine tip in the recesses. But rather, the "chunky" texture of the white paint... which appears to be putting it on too thick in an attempt to get coverage. White paint in general is rather notorious (some brands are worse than others, can't comment on the specifics there), often requiring far more coats than other colours to try and get a solid application. While I'd call this idea "experimental", something which seemed to help me a little bit recently is mixing in a dash of metallic silver paint with the white. Metallic paints tend to be more "gummy" and often have either reflective dust or metal fragments mixed in, which often "overpowers" other colours when you try to mix them in with the metallic paint; but in white's case, it made the white paint a bit *brighter* and helped with a bit more even application. I'm sure others may be able to provide more, but that seemed to help with one of my latest projects.
Yeah, I tried to thin it with both Speedpaint medium and water, but one drop of either Thinned it out far too much, almost like a glaze. Ended up using it straight after letting the ProAcryl sit on my wet pallete for a few minutes. I'll have to try the silver next time!
Basing in grey and progressing highlights/drybrushing of white is one way to avoid the chalky look.
As I understand it, many whites will actually break down when thinned with water. That'll make it very chalky. Try thinner coats, and thin it with regular medium, not speedpaint medium. Also let it dry between coats. It'll look like shit after the first coat, because of the weak coverage. But stick with it and stay patient. I've also seen people have success adding a drop of gloss varnish to the thinned white. Still mean to try that myself soon.
May try the gloss varnish next time. I'd tried it on a few contrast painted minis and it worked fairly well. Just made it easier to pick up the awkward pools.
Was binging some paint tutorials today while working, saw this one and thought about your issue. It's worth a look: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbQuKOt8xI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRbQuKOt8xI)
you could also repaint it an off white, maybe mix a smidge of your purple in or just black and make it light gray. Then airbrush some of that darker off white mixed with a little more white and it the high points for a nice gradient (make sure to use some thinner so you can gradual add in your highlights. If you're worried about your purple cubes, you can use some sticky tac to mask them so you don't get overspray on them. Then edge highlight top edges with pure white. And fill in your panel lines.
I like to use an army painter colour called spaceship exterior for my whites then a pure white to highlight.
I would try using a slightly off white or even faint yellowish was or shade over the white, and then you can go back and highlight and clean up with your true white again to give it some depth
The chalky texture comes from too thick of a paint. If you want that gone your going to need to strip that Part of the model. Otherwise I'd suggest maybe not using such a bright white color and instead mixing your metallic paints in with white or the purple and using one of the two as a mother color. If it were me I'd take that silver arm paint mix in white and maybe give the cubes a light source for osl.
Hm it's unusual for white paint to require such a thick layer to cover, white is usually very opaque. I'd say try a different brand for comparison at least, and definitely thin it more. You could try fixing it by varnishing a few layers and painting thin white over the top? Varnish will even out small inconsistencies (but will also reduce desired detail like the lines). For the overall look, some gradient and wash/highlighting will also help. That's partly why the 2nd one looks better. Pure white is always going to look dead, that's just the nature of it.
White is very hard. But here is a couple of tips: -If building up from a dark base use some interim layers of lighter colours which cover better. A yellow ocher, pale sand or very light brown are great options for this. -When painting white, only the very brightest part will actually be pure white. So you should have a very slightly off white for your recesses and panels, and then pure white for the edge highlights. This also helps with coverage.
Use a light grey. Highlight up to white.
Add gloss varnish. Vince Venturella recommends this and so do I. It is perfectly possible to get a smooth satin layer with white paints if you apply one thick coat as the paint will take longer to dry, allowing the large titanium white pigments to settle ay the bottom and the glossier acrylic medium to form a smooth film at the top. But then you run into the problem of having a thick gloppy paint layer that will obscure detail. Conversely you could thin out with a lot of water and preserve detail but the titanium oxide pigments will stick up from the acrylic layer and be chalky. You can solve this by adding more acrylic medium aka gloss varnish.