Contrast paints

Went into my local GW store today to check out the contrast paints. There was a lot of enthusiasm in-store but I found them a mixed bag.

First, they're harder to work with than you might imagine: you can just slop them on. The paint has to be guided to pool correctly in recesses. You have to apply it fairly lavishly yet if you use too much it tones down the effect.

Second, they're quite thin and slow-drying as acrylics go. That makes it difficult to paint adjoining details in different colours: the paints tend to mix at the border and you can't get enough colour on to make it work. I'm guessing you'll need to wait for each to dry and apply several coats.

Third, some pigments are better than others. Bold primary colours seem to be the best. The paler and darker tones don't work so well. There are no metallics.

You can see all this on my test figure below. Right now I remain unconvinced. They could be good for figures that use large areas of bright colours (i.e. Tyranids) or used as a wash over conventional paint as it gives a better gradient. For wider applications, I'm unconvinced.

I’ve kind of cooled on them myself. I think there are definitely applications (like the 50 skeletons I’ve been dreading to paint) and I think they will work wonders for certain things...but I’m not seeing a need to suddenly pour out the old pots and invest in this line. And it is really expensive- $8 a pot here in the US.

Some of the results I’ve seen have been amazing...but they are from folks like Mengel, who are already awesome painters. So I think what we will see is that painters of average to low talent will likely be as satisfied with their finishes as they would be with regular paints. I think it could speed up the process for batch painting though, certainly.

I think they'll be ideal for things like space marines or eldar where you can just paint the whole thing with contrast paints and then pick out the details later with regular paints. I can't see them speeding up the process much for more complicated minis though - things wearing clothing or with lots of bags and bits and bobs hanging off them.

I painted a marine at the local store Saturday. The manager showed off a beautiful Space Wolves model. My Dark Angel - when complete - looked very meh. The manager pointed out how I would need to spend some time pushing the one thick coat off sizeable armor pieces like the legs and shoulders to get a good effect. He said he is shipping back all his air paints to make room for the contrast line.

You know, I was thinking about it yesterday, do these paints in the hands of an average painter really produce quicker or better results than Base/wash/drybrush? I kind of don’t think so.

I have come to conclusion that these are really getting hyped as an “easy button”, and also as a method for those who don’t -want- to paint to get some color on their models. And I do think they might be great for Skaven, Orks, Tyranids, and other bulk armies.

I’m going to do these skeletons to see how it works but even then, is it faster than color prime, wash, drybrush?

I was initially intrigued by contrast paints, especially for doing batch painting... but I enjoy the process of base painting, washing, dry brush/layering. I am not a great painter, but I have invested in lots of paints over the last two years... and to be honest, I enjoy the process I have now. I might pick up a pot or two just to see how they work, but for now, it's steady as she goes.

Yeah, you know what, I’m actually becoming more excited about the new base paints that have barely had any press at all! Some really cool colors coming out Saturday with no fanfare at all.

I believe it’s 11 new base paints including a replacement for the notoriously shitty Ceramite White- Corax White.

Lots of deep, darker colors- Lupercal Green looks especially nice. Also a new metallic, Iron Hands Steel which is a brighter silver than classic Leadbelcher.

I don’t even bother with all the new types. I’m a basic level painter and I’m fine with just base/layer/washes. If I need something for dry brushing or highlights I just wipe off the excess/mix what I need. Whenever I bought the GW highlights/air paints, I was always left disappointed.

I just painted up two Nolzur’s Displacer Beasts in about 15 minutes with Contrast and two drybrushes, no big deal.

It seems pretty good, but you have to expect a finish somewhere between “Chinese factory” and “tabletop”. It definitely looks good, not great, and I think highlighting is still needed.

Really, this stuff is basically Base plus a color wash. You can really tell that it is an evolution of Nihilakh Oxide and last year’s ghost paints:

I like it, but it is not for every application I think.

I tried this today with some bottles the store has on random stuff, and it's really great for what it is. It's even more awesome for smaller scale minis. For 28mm, it's better for non-GW minis actually, since there's not so many intertwining parts. It's translucency and how it's kind of runny mean it takes *real* planning to take *real* advantage of these paints.

But yeah, I could knock 20-30 decent looking dudes in a weekend with this.

I picked a few of them up today.

I guess I should state my status as a minis painter, as that is a huge part of determining if these are for you or not. I hate painting. I enjoyed it at one point but for whatever reason, I do not enjoy it anymore. Yet I still get it in my head every once in awhile, I’m going to get back into painting and goddammit, Warhammer stuff looks so cool and I want in on it. But it never really sticks and I get burnt out pretty quickly.

So I picked some of these up today to test on my Hellboy minis because I love the character and I’m really enthusiastic about this game. Got a few colors for Hellboy himself, Snakebite Leather, and whatever name they’re giving black and red. Gave HB a primer coat of Seer Grey, as recommended. I’m not done with the mini, but I’m pretty damned happy so far. Started with the red, didn’t have any problems, moved on to the black and was blown away. I hate paining black and even more, I hate highlighting black. This particular color is a godsend. I started doing his belt using the brown and that was really cool, too. I went back in and did some black on his hair and beard and had no problems with it being thin and runny.

I dunno. I feel like I might be the target audience for these? They’re not going to produce good looking minis if you have zero experience and they’re not going to take the work out for you if you’re someone who could do a better job of you’re willing to put the time in. For someone like me though, they’re kinda perfect. I’m still going to go in and do some detail with normal paints, but for the large, general areas, I’m sure these will be my go-to. I’m heading back out in the next couple days to grab more.

It seems they are aiming at the players that hate painting and have little experience with it but still feel they should give it a basic coat for the tabletop. And as someone mentioned in a review video, it might also do well with the boardgaming crowd that's gotten into the mini heavy kickstarters. I also think that many miniature companies are looking at the trend towards skirmish games. If you want to ship larger amounts of miniatures, you'll have to find a way to get them painted quick.

Of course Army Painter has tried to corner that niche already, but contrast seems to take it one step further. In that sense I am less interested in the comparison of contrast to other painting techniques for individual minis, than in comparing speed with Army Painter.

moved on to the black and was blown away. I hate paining black and even more, I hate highlighting black. This particular color is a godsend.

YES the black is amazing, so far it has been the best one out of the line. I almost always either mess up black highlighting or leave it undone. This is the best black paint I’ve ever seen, and it auto-highlights. And you don’t get that too thick, fudgy texture.

So far I’m really into them. I did a Carrion Crawler yesterday in about 20 minutes. It’s a little sloppy but it looks totally fine.

You really do have to change the way you paint though. And I would HEARTILY recommend having a pot of Grey Seer or Wraithbone on hand because you can paint over mistakes and redo them easily.