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Author Topic: Contrast Paint  (Read 8800 times)

Offline Gankom

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #25 on: June 09, 2019, 08:48:40 PM »
I wouldn't compare them across the rows myself, so much as the colors themselves. They really do look like a paint AND a wash all in one. The fact that there is some variation across base coats is interesting though. I wasn't expecting that.

Offline The Black Knight

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #26 on: June 10, 2019, 09:47:24 AM »
Anybody had a chance to test them out yet? I am considering popping into the local GW store to have a go.
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Offline Zak

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #27 on: June 10, 2019, 04:45:15 PM »
Anybody had a chance to test them out yet? I am considering popping into the local GW store to have a go.


you go first and report lol  :::cheers:::
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Offline JAK

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #28 on: June 10, 2019, 07:45:57 PM »
I was away from home at the weekend so couldn’t visit my local GW to try them out. I did visit a store and was very disappointed in the attitude of the staff there. It was mid-afternoon and so they had quite a few examples done by I assume anyone who had turned up. Not impressed but they were probably the first goes of mainly normal painters not the Heavy Metal Team. They looked like what they are, a wash over a light background but didn’t look any better than any old wash over a light background. One of the staff asked me what I thought so I told him and said I hoped a go myself might change my opinion – but I was not offered that go. The only ones doing the painting were the shop's local painters and the staff were simply encouraging them to do more rather that give any of the reasonable sized crowd that was there a chance to have a try. I gave up and walked out when they asked one to paint a Space Marine in Pride colours and he didn’t know what they were.

Offline warhammerlord_soth

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #29 on: June 11, 2019, 06:53:12 AM »
I've been making my own version of this since forever....


This tutorial explained it in 2007 :


http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=16132.msg184288#msg184288

Later on I added thicker medium by Golden Acrylics. Works perfectly....
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Offline The Black Knight

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #30 on: June 11, 2019, 09:09:34 AM »
Anybody had a chance to test them out yet? I am considering popping into the local GW store to have a go.


you go first and report lol  :::cheers:::

dang xD now I feel obliged to go ;P oh the pressure!
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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #31 on: June 11, 2019, 11:13:31 AM »
I'm beginning to consider this might have been someone's idea at GW for a promotional effort to sell more than just mini's.

Oh wait, a person needs to buy mini's to use this paint, duh.  Some folks might even buy whole new armies, to try out a different paint scheme using these ... washes.  :icon_wink: :icon_lol:

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Offline Gankom

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #32 on: June 11, 2019, 02:49:31 PM »
I think its mostly an adept to cash in a bit on the casual crowd. It pretty much is nothing but a wash over a base colour, but for a real casual player that's exactly what they want. Something that combines two steps into one really. For experienced painters I really don't think its going to make much of a difference.

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #33 on: June 11, 2019, 07:24:41 PM »
Gankom ... quit being so reasonable. :icon_wink: :icon_lol:
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

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Offline Gankom

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #34 on: June 12, 2019, 02:29:50 AM »
It's all I know how to do!

Offline The Black Knight

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #35 on: June 12, 2019, 04:28:57 PM »
So I did have some time to play around with them at my local GW. The staff was very helpful in my case and provided me with all the colours I wanted to test....and a Stormcast Eternal model (ew).

They are bit hard to describe, but it's something between a wash and an ink. They are very highly pigmented and the colours are much more intensive than any wash that I've used, yet they flow around like stuff with glaze medium in them. The blues, reds and greens were very rich indeed. They work really well with cloth and smaller, well-detailed areas. I think they would be pretty good for churning out state troops, the puff and slash would be very easy to do to a good standard, with a single highlight on top. I also need to experiment tinting metallics with them, could get a good result and better than washes or glazes.

They do require a steady hand and dry slower than normal paints. They also struggle with larger, flat areas - the end result is a bit blotchy.

Pretty impressed actually. They are deffinietly not the magic sauce they are advertised as, but still seem pretty useful. Gotta think which ones to get.
« Last Edit: June 16, 2019, 11:05:51 PM by The Black Knight »
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Offline Zak

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #36 on: June 12, 2019, 07:35:10 PM »
So I did have some time to play around with them at my local GW. The staff was very helpful in my case and provided me with all the colours I wanted to test....and a Stormcast Eternal model (ew).

They are bit hard to describe, but it's something between a wash and an ink. They are very highly pigmented and the colours are much more intensive than any wash that I've used, yet they flow around like stuff with glaze medium in them. The blues, reds and greens were very rich indeed. They work really well with cloth and smaller, well-detailed areas. I think they would be pretty good for churning out state troops, the puff and slash would be very easy to do to a good standard, with this plus a single highlight on top. I also need to experiment tinting metallics with them, could a good result and better than washes or glazes.

They do require a steady hand and dry slower than normal paints. They also struggle with larger, flat areas - the end result is a bit blotchy.

Pretty impressed actually. They are deffinietly not the magic sauce they are advertised as, but still seem pretty useful. Gotta think which ones to get.



nice thanks  :::cheers:::
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Offline JAK

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #37 on: June 13, 2019, 07:59:43 AM »
I painted these two in 20 minutes without my hobby glasses so couldn’t see that well and I know I didn’t give each coat sufficient time to dry so there is some merging of colours. Figure on left is Grey Seer undercoat and one on right the Wraithbone. Initial thoughts are that while it is a very light grey this undercoat makes a significant difference to the resulting colour. The colours I chose to use were what I hoped would be the closest to pure red, yellow, green etc. looking at the bottle shade and the name and on the Wraithbone I’m reasonable happy that this is what I got. You have to apply the paint quite thickly and with as few strokes as possible to achieve the effect, but if you apply too much overbrushing or trying to wick the excess off can ruin the finish as it removes too much paint from the hollows and can let the undercoat colour show.

Of the colours I’ve tried I don’t think the two dark shades, black and purple worked as well as the lighter shades on either undercoat (purple looks better in photo than real life) and I prefer the finish of the Wraithbone as it does give a greater contrast.

It’s a different way of painting which may or may not work depending on what result you’re after. With a few highlights and a bit of detailing I think I could be happy with what I’ve seen. I would have liked to have had time to mix a few colours together and to have painted the pox and boils with Contrast paints both before and after using the block colour just to see what effect that would have.

Initial costs are a big drawback at £4.75 a pot and while the pot is bigger they expect you to use more to get the full effect (I pay £1.20ish for alternative paint). They are targeting the army builder so the 2 or 3 required for that would be fine.  I am however planning to buy a handful just to have a play with as I’m sure that some good effects could come from blending or mixing these shades.

Only problem I’ve had is paint does rub off even with minor handling so I’d paint block colours, varnish then add highlights and details.



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Iyanden Yellow
Blood Angel Red
Gryph Hound Orange
Warp Lightning (green)
Talassar Blue
Terradon Turquoise
Shyish Purple
Black Templar
Aethermatic Blue

Offline Warlord

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #38 on: June 14, 2019, 02:21:00 PM »
Thanks for this new info guys!

See I’m looking for two specific colours / effects.
1 - a good rotting flesh colour for zombies
2 - a good white effect for a Riekland army I have been too dainted by to start painting.

If these work like an ink / wash, then it wont help me all that much, because it means I will need a decent white undercoat and I generally undercoat black because I find white sprays terrible.
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Offline The Black Knight

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #39 on: June 14, 2019, 05:44:35 PM »
Thanks for this new info guys!

See I’m looking for two specific colours / effects.
1 - a good rotting flesh colour for zombies
2 - a good white effect for a Riekland army I have been too dainted by to start painting.

If these work like an ink / wash, then it wont help me all that much, because it means I will need a decent white undercoat and I generally undercoat black because I find white sprays terrible.

Yeah, these paints require really light undercoats to work. GW recommend's using off-whites actually, the new wraithbone and the other one are more beige / grayish. These sprays seem much smoother when applied. I've heard it is notoriously difficult to create an acrylic based white primer that works well, due to the properties of titanium white (not many other options, as lead white is just too poisonous to use).

I think contrast paints will also work  on light greys etc. so zombies would be pretty easy to do. They also do make a contrast paint called Apothecary White supposedly designed for quickly shading white models, but I have not tried it out. I'm sure there is gonna be a million youtube videos on every possible paint combination in a couple of weeks and someone will try it out for you  :smile2:.
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Offline StealthKnightSteg

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #40 on: June 15, 2019, 11:04:56 AM »
I saw a vior'la t'au (the white one with red accents) done by the contrast paint which looked ace!
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Offline Zak

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #41 on: June 16, 2019, 02:32:24 AM »
watched a guy paint a Eldar wraith guard tonight with blue it was fast and was not bad but HOLY cow they are expensive
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Offline Victor

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #42 on: June 16, 2019, 11:34:19 AM »
Here is another test video, which also compares the GW products to similar products from other companies - it's in German, but very well done and should be easy enough to comprehend what's going on:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paOJHidqmv8

Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #43 on: June 16, 2019, 01:04:46 PM »
This is a thread of quality, thank you gentlemen. :icon_cool: :::cheers:::
"Not all who wander are lost ... " Tolkien

"... my old suggestion is forget it, take two aspirins and go paint" steveb

"The beauty of curiosity and creativity is so much more useful than the passion of fear." me

"Until death it is all life." Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Offline King

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #44 on: June 16, 2019, 07:24:44 PM »
I am also interested and next wed will go to my local games store to try them out before buying....but yes they are damn pricey
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Offline Victor

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #45 on: June 16, 2019, 08:46:56 PM »
As the guy in the test video above points out, the price per liter for contrast paint is 350€ ....


Offline Qrab

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #46 on: June 23, 2019, 04:14:20 AM »
Back in the late 80s & early 90s I was making my own “contrast paint” with Liquitex matte medium and citadel inks. It made batch painting pretty easy, but you have to be careful not to let the paint pool in recessed areas or it obscures details. Amazing that GW finally figured out a technique that’s been out there all along.

Offline Rutgar of Wissenland

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #47 on: July 19, 2019, 12:35:50 PM »
Hi Guys.  I haven't posted in a few years, but with the Contrast Paints, I was tempted to actually finish that Empire army I had in the closet.  I'm running DnD for my son and his friends and am going to introduce a big war.  What better way than to pull in some 8th Ed WHFB or maybe some 9th Age?  So, I thought I could try these things to paint up.

By the time I started to buy the paints, some colors seem to be absolutely sold out in the entire US.  The Black, Basilica Grey, and white are all gone.  Since I'm doing Wissenland colors, this....is a problem.    I did buy the flesh color.

I had some models already primed white with some cheap Walmart spray paint.  I applied the flesh wash....and it is very good!   For my rank and file troops, it is fantastic.  I'm very pleased.  It makes me want to try the others.   

Two friends have tried it.  One used it on Space Marines that had been primed black.  He bought the new white primer and sprayed over it, but not too thick.  When he used the red contrast paint, the pictures of it look fine....but if you look at the model, you can see a bit through it.  Translucent.  It just doesn't cover it.    On other models that he has primed white or off white from plastic....it turns out very nice.  His reports are that his favorite colors are red or blues.   

My other friend that has tried it bought about 15 colors and has been using it for some odd mini games he delves into.  They are all characters, but not as important as WHFB characters.   He did them all with official primer and their stuff.   Let's see if this image comes across:



If you can see, the colors are all pretty darn good.   I'm told he did all this in 30 minutes.   If you are looking for doing rank and file, I think this is fantastic.   

I'm told the Snakebite Leather is good, in particular.  The leather jacket of the lady on the right is that color and I swear it looks just like the old one.   

Last night I bought Snakebite Leather, Skeletal Horde, and Space Wolf Grey.   The State Troops have a lot of bones, skulls, and scroll work on them that the Skeletal Horde should do easy enough.   I might just try to do the hair with Snakebite, but I'm not sure.   I am torn between how much variety of hair colors that I want to give.   Maybe depends on how much my old colors have dried up.   

I am uncertain about the Space Wolf Grey, but want to try out a grey.   I have about 40 Swordsman that are primed in black.  I am thinking of using some cheap Walmart spray paints to get them to white.  I'll do grey and then white.  I'll try a little bit of that directional lighting technique, but I won't go too far into it.  I'm worried about losing detail, but.....they are State Troops.   I am thinking that the Grey and White will be pretty easy to do with Contrast Paints. 

Offline Rutgar of Wissenland

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #48 on: July 19, 2019, 12:40:26 PM »
Since that picture worked, I can show you some of the pictures that my friends have shown me of their Contrast Paint jobs.   These are all done with just Contrast and the official primers.











These are some of mine done on metal minis with cheap white spray paint.  I only had the flesh...




Offline Gankom

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Re: Contrast Paint
« Reply #49 on: July 22, 2019, 03:16:46 AM »
I've seen some very interesting results from the contrast paints. They're a bit expensive for my tastes, but the results certainly seem real nice.