joys of the white undercoat

A friend wrote he had gone off trying a white undercoat and was returning to using black. This prompted me to try a little step by step exercise using my usual white undercoat with a series of paint washes. This is just 'what I do' and is not intended as a masterclass or a how-to-do.

I chose 4 Essex 25/28mm Auxilia for this as they were already undercoated and close to hand. I'm intending to use these chaps as escorts for late Seleucid elephants. 

Left to right, 1) basic white undercoat. Looking at the figure I almost wish I'd given it another light spray of white.
2) Added flesh. Just using a wash of Tanned Flesh from Miniature Paints and letting the water and the flow of the paint control any shading.
3) Red tunic. I used Bright Red by Miniature Paints.  Again I just vary the water and paint mix and control the flow with a brush. The paint over the white undercoat creates its own shadows and highlights.    
4) The same red was used for this figures, but a little thinner and more water. Gives it a slightly different look. Added yellow wash as an undercoat for the broze helmet. I undercoat with yellow or gray for anything to be finished as metallic.  

Left to right, 5) Added grey undercoat for spear point.
6) Painted spear in sand.
7) Shoes and scabbard in a dark-brown wash. I'll do a different brown on half the figures.
8) A wash of gold over the yellow for the bronze helmet. It may be a bit too bright but I like it that way.  A wash of steel over the spearpoint.
 

As I was painting the figures I was thinking about the crest and the shields. Originally I was going to do everything in shades of red, but as I painted I decided I wanted a contrast.  Here are the figures so far with white crests and white shields.  

l rebased the figures from the temporary bases to 20mm square bases.   

Added the shields. This is the point where I have a good look to see if I've missed anything. It wouldn't be the first time I've done several figures only to find I've missed painting some hands or the odd scabbard.    

And the view from  the back.  Not too bad overall.  A couple of small bits of white I need to cover.  

The next post will show the final wash and the basing.