Black or White... The everlasting question...

Hi everybody,

Its been forever since I updated this blog... and its been equally as long since I did any painting... However I have started picking up the brush again and have done a little work on the savage orcs.

I have been using facebook to get some inspiration, liking a large number of other miniature painting artists and I am forever in awe of the levels of skill out there. Something that I would love to be able to do, however I am no where near that standard YET! I emphasize the word YET, because as with everything in life, practice makes perfect. I have improved a lot in the last 12 months with my painting and there is only more improvements coming.

Anyway, my question

for today is Black or White, Do you undercoat with black (or some other dark colour) or white (or some other light colour)? As someone who has traditionally collected Eldar and Orks and Imperial Guard for 40K, I have always undercoated in white. This allows for brighter colours on a traditionally colourful army.

However since I picked up the brush again in 2011, I have only collected Warhammer Fantasy. Now as you can see from the photos, the Orcs work well with the white undercoat. However, I recently put in an order for the new Dwarfs that GW have released and with all that shiny dwarvish metal and rock, I am anticipating that white undercoat may not be an ideal base.

I might grab some other old minis and experiment with black undercoat. Or have a look at some other colour undercoats from other suppliers. I tried the brown undercoat on a skaven army that I bought way back when, but I dont think that the conditions were ideal for it and it just left a chalky residue on the rats.

So if you could all provide some insight into the undercoating process that any one else uses or even just some tips, please feel free to comment.

Thanks all and happy painting.