So, what do we think of the new Contrast paints?

[JackStreicher]

41 minutes ago, Retro said:

Damn, never done it before. Guess I'll have to learn if I want to be a lazy painter!

Just buy the spray matte varnish and be careful to check the temperature requirements. 🙂

[Sleboda]

15 hours ago, JackStreicher said:

Yes it does, especially black and dark brown.

=> Sadly, I agree. In the quick photo below, the Arcadia Quest Raven character in the back had his cloak lose black paint from very basic handling.

11 hours ago, LoopyZebra said:

I think I will keep using Contrast to shave off time in the early stages.

I also used Contrast on some board game miniatures (Rising Sun) as well as on a larger endless spell model. Contrast looks terrible anywhere there's a flat surface

=> Agree on first part. In the picture below, the Zombicide Abomination has had two quick highlights applied to the leather and red areas, the rest is single coat contrast. It's early, and there is lots of learning to do, but I think there is potential here.

=> Also agree on second part. The pink is just awful on the pink Arcadia Quest model seen below.

BTW, be image, half the orcs and goblins are Grey Seer and half are Wraithbone.

[Fuxxx]

I'm lurking in this forum for far too long... 

I heard several times that matte varnish wouldn't be as resistant as the glossy one, all though I can't really speak for that, I use a matte varnish meant for cars - applied in a thin coat and haven't had any rub off since. Well... I hope it works for contrast as well. I'm especially worried about the durability of the paints on metal minis. 

Did anyone try zenithal with the new sprays on already black primed minis? I have tons of already primed Greenskins and with my German reseller only having 4 of the 14 colours I ordered in stock, I'll have to wait for a few weeks or however long gw takes to produce more paint to try it out...

[Overread]

@Fuxxx I came across this article a few years ago that goes into some detail on the varnishes and might prove very interesting reading on the differences between gloss and matt

http://iwillnevergrowup.com/2014/03/28/hobby-tips-gloss-varnish-vs-matt-varnish-the-logical-myth-explained/

[JackStreicher]

6 hours ago, Fuxxx said:

I'm lurking in this forum for far too long... 

I heard several times that matte varnish wouldn't be as resistant as the glossy one, all though I can't really speak for that, I use a matte varnish meant for cars - applied in a thin coat and haven't had any rub off since. Well... I hope it works for contrast as well. I'm especially worried about the durability of the paints on metal minis. 

Did anyone try zenithal with the new sprays on already black primed minis? I have tons of already primed Greenskins and with my German reseller only having 4 of the 14 colours I ordered in stock, I'll have to wait for a few weeks or however long gw takes to produce more paint to try it out...

I did, but you won't see much since I used the black contrast afterwards...
 

[Fuxxx]

9 minutes ago, JackStreicher said:

I did, but you won't see much since I used the black contrast afterwards...
 

Well, I'm thinking about painting around 500 Night Goblins, so if you tell me the robes look good afterwards I'd be really happy

[Fuxxx]

It seems I can't edit stuff... @Overread: thank you, now I feel a lot better about two thin coats of matte varnish.

[JackStreicher]

10 minutes ago, Fuxxx said:

Well, I'm thinking about painting around 500 Night Goblins, so if you tell me the robes look good afterwards I'd be really happy

It does =}

[Lior'Lec]

     @lord_blackfang     While I haven’t tried the new bases yet I do have the  Vallejo grey surface primer which I use quite often. It’s almost white when airbrushed; in fact it’s so close to a true white you won’t notice that it isn’t unless you actually put white on top or beside it. 

[RuneBrush]

10 hours ago, Fuxxx said:

It seems I can't edit stuff... @Overread: thank you, now I feel a lot better about two thin coats of matte varnish.

You get edit permissions after 5 posts

[soak314]

As someone who painted blacks with multiple coats of nuln oil, Black Templar is a godsend.  Minimum 1.5 hours drying time for 3 coats of nuln oil on my grots' robes, down to one pass of black templar for a near identical and smoother finish.

Snakebite Leather is also invaluable for saving time picking out tiny pouches and belts when batchpainting. It's both a very powerful pigment and quite transparent, it can go over pure black or pure white and still end up making the finish a shade of brown. If it goes on white, it's almost exactly the same shade as my old crystal pot of acrylic Snakebite Leather.

Blood Angels Red is great for dotting out red grot eyes in one clean go. Flesh Tearer red imo makes for better blood/gore than blood for the blood god.

Apothecary White is interesting, the finish isn't the smoothest in the world but I quite like the resulting shaded white it gives. With a bit of cleanup it could really help with a predominantly white paint scheme, even on a model with lots of flat panels.

[GeneralZero]

@Lior'Lec I also invested in an airbrush with valejo primers (black white and your light grey) but didn't try them. I'm totally a beginner for airbrushing.

- what do you think of the valejo primer? are they solid enough (like the GW ones)? I mean, do they stuck well to the plastic/resin?

- did you try zenital with black then gray or white? 

[VascoPinto]

22 minutes ago, GeneralZero said:

@Lior'Lec I also invested in an airbrush with valejo primers (black white and your light grey) but didn't try them. I'm totally a beginner for airbrushing.

- what do you think of the valejo primer? are they solid enough (like the GW ones)? I mean, do they stuck well to the plastic/resin?

- did you try zenital with black then gray or white? 

I have used vallejo primers many times. I have used black, grey and white and also other colored primers. It never caused problems but from my experience I can say they do rub off easier than spray can primer. That might have happened because I tend to thin (to avoid dry-tip) them and they are not meant to. If you do thin them, use airbrush thinner and no flow improver (this slows the drying time, and that's not what you want with a primer). I would always let the primer layer dry 24 hours or at least overnight before you go to town on them.  I don't know if it's just me but it seems like the primer rubs off easiest on colored plastic like the plastic used for warhammer underworlds warbands.
I would also advise using the grey primer instead of the white if you want to go light. The grey is really light but is much easier to use then the white primer which has super large pigments. It will dry your tip often, especially when you don't thin it. 
Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps a bit. I found airbrushing pretty daunting in the beginning. It would have helped  if I knew this back then.  

Edit: to answer your second question; when I do zenithal priming I use a black primer. Let it dry. Then use (non-primer)cold grey (it's a better tone between black and white then grey primer which is almost white) and (non-primer)white on top. 

Edited June 18, 2019 by VascoPinto

[Lior'Lec]

     @GeneralZero, I’m also a novice when it comes to airbrushing and mostly use it just for priming and single color (whole model) basecoats, but I have played around a good bit just trying to learn how to use it.  @VascoPinto  already answered your questions quite well but i’ll add that if you don’t thin the primer you can begin painting on top of it after just a few minutes. It is best to wait three days after priming but I’ve started brush painting figures in a little as 15-30 minutes after airbrush priming single figures before (with 2 thin coats of primer directly from the bottle). If I do thin the primer for batch painting I’ll stick them in the drying box for anywhere from three days to a week before trying to paint them. 

     Vasco’s advice for a zenith highlight would be the best way to go about it I believe but if you really want to try it with primer alone I would say black, followed by 1-1 black plus grey, followed by 1-2 black plus grey, followed by pure grey. I tried it on a couple of models myself just to play around and it did come out nicely using that approach however I didn’t like how washed out the colors looked and a second layer of thinned paint hid all of the effects of the zenith highlighting so i quit bothering to try.

[GeneralZero]

I think that I'll try this for my speed painting FEC: I'll aibrush prime in black, then zenital light grey. When super dry (after several days), I'll go contrast painting them, mostly 2 main colors + wing color+ (skeleton/bones colors when/if present on the miniature).

I just don't know yet what will be those 2 colors. I've seen sheme in pale green (don't want it), pale violet or grey violet (maybe), or pale skin + red (classic and probably default choice). I just want it fast and efficient.

[Sleboda]

5 hours ago, soak314 said:

Snakebite Leather is also invaluable for saving time picking out tiny pouches and belts when batchpainting.

Try Goregrunta for that as well if you have not. It's the equivalent of Mournfang but in contrast format. It's very good.

[JPjr]

First model done, first thoughts from a not particularly talented painter...

Wraithbone went on so much better than the last couple of models I did with Corax White. So massive thumbs up there.

Snakebite Leather is WONDERFUL. Such a lovely effect and will make doing little leather details so much easier. Skeleton Horde is another total winner, used it on the furry trim on the boots and his hair, love it.

Darkoath Flesh ended up making the dude look like he’d fallen asleep under a tanning bed so had to do a major correction with that, just ordered Guilleman Flesh to try that out. DoF wasn’t bad just too dark and made his little leather panties blend into his skin, not quite what I wanted.

Initially tried Black Templar on the silver metals and Iyadan Yellow on the contrasting metallics. BT was ok but I went over with proper metallics in the end. IY just looked like a plastic gold so bombed that. 

Consistency and opacity seems to vary a lot, I had to do a bit of tidying up around the Red I used (Blood Angels Red) as it flows everywhere very easily.

Anyway just a quick, simple go but I was pleased with the results, didn’t take me long at all to get something I was just about happy enough with and then I had more time to tidy up a few bits and add some details. With practice and getting the hang of all the different paints and how they work, I should hopefully get quicker and with better results.

This for me is the real selling point, I can get something basic over the whole model that won’t make me totally gag quick enough that my monkey mind doesn’t get bored, and then I  have time to go back and add details at my leisure.

I purposefully picked this chap as I thought he’d suit it and 100% this will be amazing for anyone painting loads of models with lots of bare skin, fur etc. I’ve around 50 squigs sat here now waiting to be built & painted and I reckon I’ll smash through them. Tempted to buy some models like Plaguebearers or Ghouls just to paint them as I reckon this will be great for them too.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by JPjr

[Fairbanks]

Something I noticed on the two paints I tried, Akhelian Green and Creed Camo. Both provide a glossy finish (on Vallejo Greys and Whites). Regular washes (I tried both Athonian Camoshade and Coelia Greenshade) don’t create this reflection after drying. It is particularly noticible in the shadows (see below photo, and note the whitish cross in the reflection of green’s chest vs tan’s. This shine isn’t as visible when you point the model slightly down).

[RuneBrush]

3 hours ago, Fairbanks said:

Something I noticed on the two paints I tried, Akhelian Green and Creed Camo. Both provide a glossy finish (on Vallejo Greys and Whites). Regular washes (I tried both Athonian Camoshade and Coelia Greenshade) don’t create this reflection after drying. It is particularly noticible in the shadows (see below photo, and note the whitish cross in the reflection of green’s chest vs tan’s. This shine isn’t as visible when you point the model slightly down).

Some of the contrast paints do have a bit of a glossy finish.  What I would say is to make sure you shake the pot - I don't mean a quick swill, a proper shake of the pot (the colour naturally falls to the bottom of the pot)

[Sleboda]

4 hours ago, RuneBrush said:

Some of the contrast paints do have a bit of a glossy finish.  What I would say is to make sure you shake the pot - I don't mean a quick swill, a proper shake of the pot (the colour naturally falls to the bottom of the pot)

I'd suggest going even further. Use an old think brush and actually stir them with the brush smooshed into the bottom of the pot. I'm seeing some colors where shaking still leaves sediment.

[Charleston]

On 6/18/2019 at 3:42 AM, Lior'Lec said:

     @lord_blackfang     While I haven’t tried the new bases yet I do have the  Vallejo grey surface primer which I use quite often. It’s almost white when airbrushed; in fact it’s so close to a true white you won’t notice that it isn’t unless you actually put white on top or beside it. 

How do you get it through the Airbrush? It clogs almost instantly in my Airbrush whenever I try to airbrush it 😮

I´ve decided to try drybrushed shades with contrast paints today. Both techniques were new to me and I am pretty happy about the outcome. So far the mini has a Valejo Black Surface Primer Coat, drybrush with Celestra Grey, Ulthuan grey and light layer of ceramite white (which added a bit of unwanted texture due to the size of the pigments, won´t repeat this). Afterwards I´ve added Blood Angels Red on the Skin. I really love the current look and have even concidered to keep the miniature this way without changing a lot beside some minor details.

[MitGas]

On 6/18/2019 at 11:17 AM, GeneralZero said:

@Lior'Lec I also invested in an airbrush with valejo primers (black white and your light grey) but didn't try them. I'm totally a beginner for airbrushing.

- what do you think of the valejo primer? are they solid enough (like the GW ones)? I mean, do they stuck well to the plastic/resin?

- did you try zenital with black then gray or white? 

They are the very definition of trash. Take em, throw em away, order Stynylrez and thank me later. That one is almost as strong as spraycan primer, the Vallejo ones are good for absolutely nothing. It WILL rub off and it WILL ruin your models sooner or later. Search the internet, you'll see hundreds of guys complain about them. Only thing you can do is use a spraycan primer at first for the raised parts that will get handled and then do the rest of priming with the Vallejo ones. Else it'll come off. Sorry to be the partypooper.

[whispersofblood]

If you are having problems with Vallejo primers I suggest switching to the mecha line, and using a touch of flow improver. Best primer coats I've ever had.

[GeneralZero]

Too bad I bought 3 200ml vallejo primers (black white light grey). I'm super beginner with Airbrush (never touched one before). So, your advice is not to use the vallejo primers?

[Tenshi]

I've been using Vallejo Primers for years without problem. Most people around my area with an airbrush use them, and I haven't heard anything bad about them.