Black or white undercoat?

[Dave]

I was just curious to see what other people use for undercoats? I like black because it makes black lining easy, and I prefer to build up my highlights from a dark shade (almost black at times) to bright highlights.

Dave

 

[Lurch]

For me, it depends on the figure and the color scheme I have chosen. If my base color is dark I go with a black undercoat. If It is to be light, I usually go with a light grey. Very rarely will I use pure white.

 

[GunjiNoKanrei]

Most of the time I use black primer. But sometimes I use a combination of black and white primer for different parts of a miniature.
Fantasy minis are an exception since they mostly have very colorful paints. Here I use white primer.

 

[elouchard]

black is seductively easy to work with and get nice contrasts, but white gives the most flexibility in colors as you can paint a dark shade over it. For gaming figures - black all the way.

 

[Flashman14]

Black . . .

To get the both of both worlds,
and before applying your colors, lightly drybrush your black primed figures with white. This makes the highest spots on subsequent layers the brightest and also uncovers hard to see detail - conversely, this will also reveal any mold lines you failed to trim. But it\'s a useful tecnique if you want the brights bright and the darks dark. (don\'t look at my minis for examples - lately I\'ve been sticking to solid black - lazy more than anything)

 

[UberTek]

Black for Gaming.

White for Display.

 

[ZaPhOd]

The Dark Side has always been stonger!

Black for everything. In fact, I tried white recently and almost threw my mini against the wall.... Hmmm. Anyways, I find that using black for a base allows you to cover up the tiny little recesses you may miss (like deep under the armpit or something) and it looks better than a white spot when you are done. It is also great for contrasts and building up to very light highlights with lotsa layering and patience!

 

[Temperance]

I\'ve pretty much moved to always doing white, mainly because I like bright colors. My painting style is then paint everything the final color I want in, ink/wash the recesses making it very dark, and highlight from there. Not sure if that\'s the best method, because it does end up with several coats of paint. I might need to change that.