Exploring Colors: White (How to Paint White) - HC 442

[@vivanjester431]

Vince is so powerful he can paint a portal back home while at adepticon just to give us a hobby cheating video

[@maximebemer3407]

😂 Is it possible to learn that power??

[@grimoirworkshop6623]

We already established he can mind control people too.

[@grimoirworkshop6623]

Maybe Vince is secretly prince of Amber? They knew the art if drawing portals.

[@Linkittytetris]

"Hello everybody! And welcome to another hobby cheating video. Today we're gonna talk about magic colors, and I don't mean Citadel's Aether-whatsit blue. Let's get into it."

[@Misterfairweather]

Sorry, sorry everyone, this is my fault I was rewatching all his prior white videos this week because every few years I decide to challenge myself by painting in white and black and Vince is my source for actually learning how to work with colors. Thank you for the color videos, they fill a big gap in my understanding of how to paint.

[@cybermbebe]

Oh yeah. These are A-MA-ZING!

[@philipgriffiths3106]

I've just watched this video & feel I want to have another crack at repainting my Young White Dragon. Now that is a challenge I've failed with more than once! But the idea of using pastel shades from the cold spectrum has given me food for thought & I certainly wouldn't have thought about using a green pastel as a cold white. Thank you for this insight. It's been a very informative watch 😊

[@jonahland]

5:47 I hate to do you dirty but while talking about using white for reflections your glasses and forehead are perfect examples!

[@VinceVenturella]

No shade in that all all. Only truth detected.

[@jillsyillsy]

Thanks so much, Vince. As a woodcarver, I use white all the time for painting Santas and snowmen and have the hardest time trying to shade and highlight. (And differentiate Santa's beard from fur on his coat). Great tutorials!

[@philgee486]

Vince is my encyclopaedia of hobby thinking, I watch other people paint, I learn things from Marco, from Riccardo, the Wappel, I'm inspired by Alex and many others but when I need a specific subject analysis, when I need that full understanding to slot into a project, when I want to paint black hair and get the halo right, when I want to take flesh tones in an evil or underground direction, when I have 50 yellow marines to paint, I come to my reference library that is Vince. I'm so grateful for it. There's no-one else that comes close

[@thornthallid950]

Loving all the MtG angels on the screens in the intro background.

[@Krullio]

Notice the one with all the different white tints/tones. Pretty applicable hehe. Subliminal messaging that technomancer Vince throws at us

[@AVS_uk]

This is super helpful Vince. My job is to paint the snow on Mount Blanc (most people don't know that snow actually falls blue and we Snow Painters have to paint it all white), so this video will really help me out. Your ski trip will look much whiter next winter

[@razzlebazzle420]

Are you new, i went on a school trip about 21 years ago and the last guy was killing it

[@AVS_uk]

@@razzlebazzle420 - ah yes, that would have been Old Bill - a legend in my field. He painted the slopes for 40 years, a real expert and genius at ice whites.

[@razzlebazzle420]

@@AVS_uk Glorious. Tell me, did he paint the ice-caves with all the sculptures too? His mastery of translucent glazes absolutely blows me away. One day I hope to gain such skills.

[@bragoen]

5:04 "Here's my first piece of advice to make white easy to paint" and in my mind I just go "Don't".... I laugh so hard when that's exactly what you said

[@jorgemontero6384]

That AK pastel purple is a killer that I am surprised you never mentioned in your list of favorite colors, because basically nobody else in mini painting makes it, and it's just as good illuminator for purples and magentas as ice yellow is for many other colors. Ice yellow just overpinks magentas. I just don't touch purple without it

[@mr.adamski6431]

I’ve been struggling with painting white for years. Thanks for the useful info and tips!

[@VinceVenturella]

Happy to help!

[@Slayernuke83]

Thank you for the video. I have the most difficulty in getting white to look right on so many items.

[@KujoPainting]

Something that helped me was just to think of it as painting a light colour, rather than painting white. So a light green, light pink, light blue etc. Then when it's surrounded by darker colours it reads as white even though it's not.

[@VinceVenturella]

Absolutely agreed! Hope you're doing well sir.

[@flowersofsulphur5532]

Some really interesting points. Thank you for taking the time to share. I was hoping you'd also cover the use of white to lighten colors and things to think about (e.g. for edge highlighting if you don't have a go-to pot of paint that is already lighter/brighter that meets your needs. So for example - what are the pitfalls? ... and do you need to sometimes think to offset by adding white + another warm/cold color?).

[@VinceVenturella]

In general, I just mix in a little bit of those pastel near whites into my base tone to knock out the edge.

[@billmalandrino8337]

Hello! I wanted to take a moment to reach out and express my gratitude. Your instructional videos have been a significant help in my journey through miniature painting. Just before my 43rd birthday, I decided to dive into wargaming. After consulting with friends, I selected a couple of games and purchased the miniatures. Understanding that painting them would be part of the fun, I began watching tutorial videos, including yours, which stood out to me. The knowledge I've gleaned from your content has been immensely beneficial. Although I still face challenges, I'm feeling increasingly confident with each miniature I paint, all thanks to your guidance. Interestingly, I've discovered that I derive just as much, if not more, enjoyment from painting as I do from playing the games themselves. So, thank you for generously sharing your expertise, and continue being amazing

[@VinceVenturella]

Wonderful the hear and always happy to help!

[@MarketResearchReading114]

Gloss+white is such a nice shout, thank you Vince!

[@Satli]

I bought the Golden SoFlat box after you did a video on it a while back. By far the best white paint I've tried.

[@ThePingouin2ter]

Thank you so much for this one. The pastel blue becoming a white when applied was eye opening.

[@kevinhayes517]

Another superb tutorial packed with the underlying theories (which you make easily understandable) and a lot of great tips for the painting process on this color……thank you so much for you time and effort to help us paint better!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@RookieBrushes]

My favourite series is back! Thank you for everything you do.

[@NickMagoteaux]

You have really opened my thinking up about whites! Thank you for the video!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@galatician8063]

I appreciate your black and white values: Painting over black: "Stop waisting your life". Painting pure white: "Just don't!" (Unless it's a glint).

[@mattbrown1306]

Another timely, helpful, and accessible tutorial. Vince continues to crush hobby content.

[@Ash-sf4gr]

Aw yeah! A long awaited return to my favourite series. Would never have thought to mix gloss varnish into white paint, very interesting.

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@huffinLeeroy]

This is the only hobby channel I need. There is so much here, and all of it is so well taught. It's comprehensive and relevant, all without feeling like a lecture. And not just WHAT to do, but also WHY (the why is something I need or I struggle to get a grasp). Thank you, sir. I greatly appreciate your work.

[@OlafKievit]

Thanks for stretching my ideas about "near whites" a bit farther out, much appreciated, Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

My pleasure!

[@alternate3787]

I got a lot of inspiration from the MtG set Mirrodin, where everything is made of metal. The amount of bright reflections while staying diverse enough to present a world is really something

[@KevinoftheCosmos]

Adding a gloss medium to pure white is brilliant. I can't believe I've never thought of that before. Cheers, Vince!

[@wpb5876]

So much appreciation for all your work and sharing your knowledge of painting. I’m planning to paint a white Manticore (based on the Dark Souls mini-boss) and this video is a godsend!

[@VinceVenturella]

Wonderful!

[@cordial001]

I love your hobby videos. You touched on how good the Pro Acryl off-whites are. I was blown away myself by how much better they are than most other lines on the market for those sorts of colors. I don't know how they do it.

[@jasontrinque]

That is a really interesting point about adding the gloss varnish to the white to make it read more white. Thank you for sharing that! I think I remember someone saying something similar for adding gloss black in shadows for reducing the graying effect that matte paint would cause. You have inspired me to try and experiment with going from trying a satin black shadow, matte layers, and then a gloss highlight! Fun!

[@TravisHi_YT]

5:03 I wish this was the first part of the video, I made the massive mistake of painting my Tau Army Scar White. I'll never use white as a feature color again. I'll always use a grey.

[@BaoZakeruga]

New painter here and today was my first time trying to paint white. This video came at the perfect time.

[@martinsteward1657]

Brilliant video! Shocked at how white those paints looked on the model.

[@edgarbaez516]

This video has been on my wishlist for awhile, I'm excited its finally here!

[@Isaac-hm6ih]

I'm looking at painting an entire army with white capes soon, so this is convenient timing. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a few extra tricks on top of your old videos, which already taught me to paint white well.

[@johnbruce4004]

I watched this virtually in slo-mo, so much info. Really, really helpful and superb explanation. Have a great rest of Adepticon. Thanks.

[@milamilla1977]

I was making fairy garden for kids and used your advise to paint white parts of the project. Turned out really well!

[@gerritvandenbosch4681]

This reminds me of my graphic design work in printing. White is easily tainted by other colours, but when near whites are next to white you almost never cam tell, and sometimes looks better than unprinted white areas.

[@HedoniteOfPaint]

Amazing to see the color series extended! Thanks again and hope you are enjoying Adepticon

[@notnubilous3804]

Honestly the thing that really taught me about using white effectively was using artist grade acrylic mixing white, which doesn't really desaturate colors as much as a titanium white. But it really showed me how much depth of white you can get from just one color while mixing it with something else. I highly recommend it to everyone to try out.

[@PhD777]

Vince, another excellent informative video! There was an excellent, more in-depth article on painting white some years ago on Planet Figure about painting a French Imperial Guard 3rd (Dutch) Regiment large scale figure wearing a white uniform. It was done with warm shadows similar to your cape. On Historical figures from the late 18th to mid/late 19th C. You will find "dead white" used on belts, straps, and similar, especially when painting 15/18mm miniatures to make the belts, straps, and similar stand out.

[@oleww50]

Not sure how you do it but you always seem to read my mind with these videos! White is on my agenda 😅🙏❤️

[@tjthehobopainter9173]

Another great lesson ^^ And nice to see Larry make his guest appearance again 😄

[@michaelshaw1782]

You can tell it's a good Hobby Cheating when you come away with more questions than you started with. How do I desaturate and darken my compositions to make the whites pop without losing the impact of my colours? Can I use varied tones to add visual interest to otherwise very flat white compositions? Very interested to try starting at a bone hue- previously I've been painting my way up from a tan/zandri dust kinda startline. Suddenly I'm excited to play around with white as a colour rather than avoid it

[@VinceVenturella]

Let me take these in order. 1) The darker the piece, the less you have to go to white to make it seem like white, the more the value can lower and still feel like white. 2) Yes and you should. 3) Absolutely!

[@erinweatherly6539]

What a great video. I forwarded this to a friend who is just starting out. I said the trick to painting white is just don’t do it. I didn’t explain it very well. Vince is a great teacher

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@brkfstfd]

I've been doing some of my highest highlights on S2D lately with the updated game color Verdigris. That's a really great way to see how composition and surroundings influence how color reads. No one would assume it's verdigris without being told. It reads as 99% dead white next to so much payne's gray and black.

[@paranelmanterlyzastratatum885]

I'm trying to figure out how to paint my sororitas armor to look like porcelain or ceramic with that glossy white, and I think this helps a lot. I'm considering going from a cooler blue-grey to a more orange-ish white given that I'm pairing this with light blue cloaks, then covering the armor in a gloss varnish, which seems to get the look I'm going for with that last segment. Thanks again Vince, your videos are always the best!

[@cyagen9782]

I enjoy this Serie a lot more than I should. Thanks Vince

[@AM-uw3gp]

I love your screensaver Vince I can’t stop looking at the winged people

[@VinceVenturella]

I love MTG angels :)

[@Nurgüii]

Thanks vince you gave me the inspiration for a heresy project i’m working on.

[@ariellouit8523]

Hey @vinceventurella please continue the series! I think there is maybe some more colors to talk about. Greys or blacks? Fluo? Metalics?

[@Xaltotun]

The timing of this video is perfect, as I am starting to build a Sisters of Sigmar warband for Mordheim.

[@Wijkert]

One of my favorite series is back!

[@wolfofwarYT]

Great video as always. Especially love the part about complimentary colors as tint/shade on the white.

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad you liked it!

[@ILikeYous]

When using wash/ink white to recess wash lines so you can color them and make them look like they are glowing, like a 40k Space Marine Librarian Armor or a AoS Chaos Lord do you use one of the near white colors or go straight for flat white in whatever mixture you use? I know oil washing is popular but I am referring to acrylics as I don't break out the oil paints unless I am going for bulk painting or display/contest quality stuff.

[@VinceVenturella]

Either can work really.

[@Wijkert]

I have been experimenting with mixing in white ink into regular acrylics. Ink is glossy as well, so seems to have a similar effect to your suggestion of mixing in gloss varnish into pure white. One extra advance of adding gloss to white paint is that it counteracts the grainy finish. I have "fixed" physical texture with gloss varnish in the past (i probably learned that trick from you Vince... 😉)

[@darthmelsie]

I have been struggling for SO long with painting white and just never knew that the issue starts with the inherent roughness of the pigment. It's not really surprising in retrospect because the quality of white paints among different brands is _remarkable._ Army Painter used to have one of the worst whites I've ever worked with, but have had luck with AK these days. The only ways I approach it anymore is 1) using GW's Apothecary White Contrast over flat white for something quick or 2) a Foundry-style buildup from dark grey to white for something that looks good *but* takes a while. For once, I actually feel excited for the next time I need to paint something white lol

[@rhag1394]

Great guide again! I stilm find white very challenging to paint, but artists acrylic zinc white has helped me smooth the colours together. It's not chalky at all and you can even glaze with it but it's not the most straightforward paint otherwise. I got the idea from a Marco Frisoni video.

[@SigurdBraathen]

I never thought of mixing white with gloss varnish. Thanks for a great video!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bunionsandcabbage6764]

Man, I wish this video had come out like 2 weeks earlier. This was great info and I had just finished a black and white wasp for a commission.

[@daniellof453]

What are your thoughts on zinc (or mixing) white? Not just mecha had a great case for highlighting without losing saturation instead of titanium white.

[@VinceVenturella]

I think it's viable

[@MaskedRiderChris]

Oh yes, I still dread painting white even after what, 14-15 years of painting! But this is, as usual, an excellent video full of good information, thank you Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

You can do it!

[@rikardsandstrom]

This thing about warm shadows need cool highlights and vice versa, where is that coming from? Do you have any video on the subject?

[@VinceVenturella]

The short answer is nature. It's actually just how light in nature works - if you look, the shadows from the sun are more blue, where as at night, the shadows are warmer. I have talked about it in a few videos, never as the focus.

[@Razyrazer]

thx Vince this is exactly what i needed for my marines.

[@alanwesley598]

Everyone who paints minis needs this video.

[@Benry87]

Another killer tutorial. Great job as always!

[@RussellThornton-f9z]

Thanks for the usual great tips. Question. What about a pure white acrylic ink when needed? I love your recommendation about using Paynes Grey acrylic ink as a universal shade.

[@VinceVenturella]

It can be good to mix into other colors and get them more flowing and smooth.

[@Ryadic]

What kind of white would you recommend to put down as a base for glowing colors? I'm new and the first time I did this on the Ultron MCP model, I put down Bold Titanium White from Pro Acryl on the glowing underparts of his model and then glazed over colors to give it that glow. Can't remember where I learned this, but you didn't seem to mention using white for this. I'm wondering now if a white that leaned towards my glow color would have been better.

[@Jfk2Mr]

Well, white being the best colour for fluorescent paints (for pretty much same reason as for contrast paints) was mentioned in HC 369

[@VinceVenturella]

No, you were fine, for that kind of undershading, pure white is great.

[@markgnepper5636]

I love all Vince Ventrella Stuff 👏👍

[@kingkreaghan]

So helpful! I actually have a miniatures that has white armor. So great video for me to see! Awesome and informative as always.

[@VinceVenturella]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@redv.7686]

Hello Mr. Venturella! I love your Exploring Colors series, they have been a major help with how I approach colours. However, it appears that you have omitted the video on chartreuse from your playlist, seeing as this recent Exploring Colors video has entered the list. Just thought I'd let you know. I look forward to the day when you do an Exploring Colors episode on the colour black!

[@MattCexwish]

Thanks for this Video, Vince! :) I remember how back in the day, the great José Manuel Palomares Nunez (JMPN) and Alfonso Banshee Giraldes were showing how one can paint the White Robes of the Knight Model's Anakin vs. Obiwan Diorama with different shades of orange and green, yet still achieving an amazing perceived White Effect! As a rule of thumb, never use pure White in anything (similar to how you should never use a pure Black) and mix in tiny amounts of accompaning tones found in the scene to tie the piece together. Keep those Videos coming :)

[@aspect0]

Not really a white painter, but those pastel colours look super unique compared to other ranges! Going to get the set now, they seem very versatile for general simple highlighting

[@milamilla1977]

Master! You experience is invaluable!

[@76trizzy]

Thanks Vince! Very helpful

[@PhthaloGreenskin]

There's a very easy trick to white I learned from Greg over at GRG miniatures. Basecoat kantor blue/Moletow Petrol then spray white ink from above sortof like a zenithal highlight. Super easy and great for stuff like white Armor.

[@leejesm]

Ok. Mixing/zinc white. Thoughts? Any use for it in your stuff?

[@VinceVenturella]

Haven't really used it too much, so I don't have good thoughts to add.

[@SigurdDecroos]

Golden Soflat has some new colors added to the range, a lot of pastels and near whites. They paint really smooth.

[@Kevin-lr8ip]

Do you have any tips for using Pro Acryl Heavy Warm White? I'm struggling with its satin nature. As a base coat, other paint struggles to stick on it, and the shine shows through less opaque layers as well. I can't figure out what the use case for this paint is!

[@ricardoflummiremus]

The bottle says loaded brush if you look closely / search for it. Despite this I’m having the same issues but different. I know it’s meant to highlight things with or without loaded brush technique but I can’t seem to find a reasonable color to do it with aside from skin. Maybe watch some more Ben Komets Videos, I’m sure he demonstrates it at some point. Other than that, I figured it’s like pale sand, and you can basically dry brush everything with it so to say Cheers

[@VinceVenturella]

It's definitely not your base coat color, you want it for highlights, feathering, and final highlights, that is where it shines.

[@goforitpainting]

Cool as always. 🖌

[@Wadtomaton]

Great video Vince. Shout out to Larry's dumptruck 🤘🤣

[@earthenavenger]

Vince do you have any advice for painting albino scales/reptiles? I’m going to paint the new saurus from underworlds and could use some tips

[@VinceVenturella]

Albino doesn’t mean white. It means soft blues, pinks, and pastels. Work in high tint white adjacent colors and rich shadows.

[@earthenavenger]

Thank you my Tribal Chief 🙏🏻 I will try my best!

[@barry7963]

Really great video. I have been struggling with white for a really long time and I gave up on it. This has inspired me to get my 90s elves back out and give their robes a try again. Do you have a recommendation for a paint recipe that would be a good starting point for warm white robes that could take some of the guess work out of deciding what colours to play around with?

[@VinceVenturella]

Something like you see here, start with warm grey shadows like a reddish grey and just build up through some off-whites of choice into the final pure white.

[@SiusBleach]

Hi Vince, I know this is a late comment on the video, but I'm a mostly rookie painter that could use some help. I've been trying to develop a birch or ashy paint scheme for Sylvaneth. Weirwoods from Game of Thrones and Japanese White Birch trees. The story I want to tell is that the souls of the Sylvaneth are incompatible with the trees, causing them to burn a little from the inside out (think Wrenn & Six from MTG). I felt that would give me a good ability to go from black to white with red to provide pops of color on the leaves, glyphs, chest cavities, and faces, but it's been difficult to do this transition cleanly. Also, I've been using various greens and browns to have a little bit of life in the bark and to help reduce the wall of white. Do you have any paints or techniques you'd recommend to help smooth the transition? Would adding more cool, bluish grays help sell that transition? Thanks for the wonderful videos. Appreciate ya

[@terrydactyl2077]

God this video was what I needed! I haaaaate all my whites. But I’m grabbing then ProAcryl set soon finally.

[@bradlothrop4076]

Why not get into mixing? Titanium makes pastels when mixed but a "zinc white" is a good mixing white for lightening a colour due to being a bit transparent. I find this fact is where many paints go wrong much like titanium is added to a colour as more a gouache (to make opaque). This was observed a bit with the Army Painter Fanatic paints. Zinc white is the little known hero of how to lighten a paint and maintain some level of saturation. Great video and good note on gloss to make white read better.

[@TerrierHalo]

I did get the Monument white just to see if it was real, and now I find myself mixing paints with it all the time so that kind of backfired. :D I would get their off-whites to make my life easier but they’re kind of expensive and hard to get over here, so that’s on the some-day list. I have been trying to paint some white on a black banner and have not been happy with the end result, the (off) whites end result don’t look quite right, will have this fresh in mind on my next attempt, thank you kindly.

[@VentiChristopher]

How do you always coordinate your videos with the projects I’m working on? Thank you!

[@MisterTingles]

stellar as always!

[@shaunkrogulski9619]

Great information as always!!

[@VinceVenturella]

Glad it was helpful!

[@joshuabrown722]

Great tutorial. One problem I’m having is I want to transition from the lighter grey I’m using as my “white” to a true white on the top of a rounded surface like a helmet. I’m struggling to get the true white and the light grey to blend together. Glazing doesn’t really work because it’s white and stippling leaves brush marks that are very visible on a white surface. Any tips?

[@VinceVenturella]

So a couple of options, you can glaze with the near white, it's harder, but it can be done. You can greatly reduce the size and increase the number of stipples, if you go to a more pointalism, you can blend those lines with the very tiny dots.

[@ricardoflummiremus]

@@VinceVenturellathis tip is gold. Thank you so much! And happy painting!!

[@th3galaxer]

If you were going to paint something like white scars, or another mini where the model is almost entirely white, would you go for a near white or use the 50 gloss 50 white technique? My only worry with using near whites is that it will become more obvious that it isn't white when used over large areas.

[@VinceVenturella]

I would restrict the pure white to only the highest points, I would make it mostly off warm whites.

[@codyschmidt1266]

Vince unrelated to this video but please may you share some knowledge. I bought the AP Fanatic set and I’m trying to run the acrylics through the airbrush but keep dry tipping. Could you recomend a good recipe and psi for this set to put through the air brush ?

[@VinceVenturella]

Haven't seen any issues, I use an 80/20 mix of thinner/flow improver and run at 18 PSI.

[@candidgamera]

Yeah, I have a few pure whites from various lines, and honestly, I am tempted to just toss them in the trash .. but the idea of a mix with gloss medium is interesting.

[@brib9716]

A timely video since I'm starting an LRL army. Do you have a recommendation on how to paint shields separate from the models? As in how and what to mount them on?

[@VinceVenturella]

I use something like the GW paint handles and blue tack them to the side.

[@markdorn8873]

I wish I'd seen this video before painting my Shining Spears. Thanks for sharing! Also, I don't think I've ever seen a video where someone says, "Let's grab Larry out, and we're just going to paint his butt." 😂

[@Wolfie21384]

Everytime I watch your videos I get an epiphany about painting. ❤ I've been struggling with nmm and I think I've been missing adding the gloss to the white because it keeps going flat

[@chrisbarrett1006]

Thanks for another great video Vince!

[@VinceVenturella]

My pleasure!

[@terrydactyl2077]

I wonder Vince, sir. Do you happen to have a video on how white paint is used in mini paints to make them more opaque? And how this can affect colour mixing and lead to more desaturated colours? The guys at my hobby store were talking about this today and I found it interesting and it’s something I didn’t know.

[@VinceVenturella]

Nothing specifically, but its a good topic for the future.

[@ChuckShillingford]

Vince, what's your take on painting larger scale models. Your prime example is approximately 1/24th, how about 1/12th scale, 1/8th or 1/6th. Do these same principles apply? Thanks.

[@VinceVenturella]

Same principles apply, though you don't have to push contrast as much the larger things get.