Need help on what primer to use: black or white?

[ikim]

I am building a bretoninan army, based on the Aslan\'s army of Narnia, and I have built 3 elector count gryphons to be pegasi.
Since this unit will be my center piece, I would like to make such unit neat and clean, but don\'t want to spend a whole month on such unit.
So, to make things faster but neat, what should I use to prime my figures: white primer, or black primer.
thanx in advance.
cheers

 

[Ogrebane]

I suppose it depends on what color you are going to paint them. Your going to get 25 different versions of why you should use which undercoat from the first 20 people that respond.

If you want if done quick you should undercoat whilt and do a black wash. Then dry brush a dark brown and then dry brush your highlights.

NEXT............

 

[orctrader]

Originally posted by Ogrebane
If you want if done quick you should undercoat white and do a black wash. Then dry brush a dark brown and then dry brush your highlights.

I agree.

 

[Wolf Fang]

i use grey primer works well on dark and light colours

 

[Roddo]

A smooth finish primer is more important than which color to use in my opinion. I like white primers myself though.

 

[bayrodney]

Originally posted by Wolf Fang
i use grey primer works well on dark and light colours

I was just about to say the same, but then WF said it first, lol
Grey Primer is good because its the middle between white and black, meaning you wont have to spend so much time getting a White, White, and you wont have to spend much time getting a Dark Dark colour...

 

[ikim]

Ok, thanx guys, I think I\'ll got for the grey primer than.
Does Gamesworshop make these?... Oh, well, I\'ll go to a store and ask.

@Ogrebane: thanx for the advice, but for some reason, I never get the appropriate look when I prime white and use inks for shading... ???

I usually prime white when I want to paint good quality minis (latley I am trying out zenithal light source), and black when I want to paint fast for table top; but this is som\' in between, and I am (rectius: was) a bit confused.
thanx to all... I\'ll keep you posted.
cheers

 

[orctrader]

Originally posted by ikim
Ok, thanx guys, I think I\'ll got for the grey primer than.

Brush on or spray?

For brush on I use 4:1 white:black primer mixed.
For spray I use Halford\'s car spray - the one that just contains paint as opposed to the one that contains paint and primer. It always tells you on the back of the tin.

 

[Einion]

Originally posted by ikim
Ok, thanx guys, I think I\'ll got for the grey primer than. Does Gamesworshop make these?...

Automotive primer is cheaper, tough and reliable. If you\'re in the US you could try Rustoleum, #1980.

Originally posted by ikim
latley I am trying out zenithal light source

In that case maybe use both black and white! Prime black, spray white (or grey) lightly from the top and it\'ll give you a guide to how to highlight.

Einion

 

[ikim]

Originally posted by Einion
In that case maybe use both black and white! Prime black, spray white (or grey) lightly from the top and it\'ll give you a guide to how to highlight.

Einion

This is what I was working on, before starting the narnian army

I used zenithal, and it works great, but it also takes up a lot of time.
With my gryphons, that will be light brownish (kind of snakebit leather-ish, plus a whole mixture of browns and yellows), I wouldn\'t want to spend too much time on them, since I have to finish painting a 9 knight lance, and still have to build and paint other 2 lances, and 10 light cav.
cheers

 

[ikim]

How about a transparent coat? what do you guys think about it?

 

[vincegamer]

haven\'t seen a transparent spray.
Some guys around me swear by something from the craft store called stained glass medium.
I have used it and it works fine. if you add a tiny bit of blue or black ink to it, it pops out the details for painting.

p.s. love the plaid. What\'s he stuck to in that pic?

 

[EricJ]

I 100% always prime white. That isn\'t to say I always want to start from a white basecoat, usually different parts of my minis will start from white, others from black. If I prime white it is A LOT easier to paint sections black, than priming black and puting on about 10 coats to get it back to white.

 

[Roddo]

I start with white for the same reason as Ericj. Black to me just hides to many details to start out.

 

[Wolf Fang]

forgot to mention it earlyer.... self etching primer works AWSOME on metals..... just be EXTREAMLY carefull on plastics... or dont use it at all on plastics if you can avoid it.... however for metals... BAM its a buetifull thing!