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


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On 7/8/2019 at 12:57 PM, a74xhx said:

I've got a bunch of Troggoths I primed in Mechanicus Standard Grey a few months back, but never got round to painting.

I'd like to contrast paint them in bright colours.

Wondering whether to Zenithal prime them with wrathbone. But am worried they might come out a bit dark.

Contrast on top of Mech Grey will give you a fairly washed out effect.  As well as being darker, you'll find that it sucks some of the vibrancy out of the contrast colours.  Personally I'd hit them with a zenithal of wrathbone followed by white to really boost that vibrancy!

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3 minutes ago, Lobeau said:

What contrast color would y'all use to for blonde hair? Are there any good matches, or best to paint it in the ol' fashion way?

On top of Wraithbone... Aggaros Dunes thinned with Contrast Medium to various degrees.

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6 minutes ago, Lobeau said:

What contrast color would y'all use to for blonde hair? Are there any good matches, or best to paint it in the ol' fashion way?

Might sound odd but personally I'd suggest trying Skeleton Horde, and then if needed just a few extra little highlights to really make it pop. It's what I used on buns of steel here (head and boot hair!)...

 

 

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Edited by JPjr
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Goobertown on youtube made some very convincing home made contrast paints.  His basic recipe is an equal amount of acrylic ink and matte medium and a bit of flow aid.  I imagine if you used fluid matte medium it would be even closer.  Or a mixture of matte medium and matte varnish.

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Which are contrast?  Which are his DIY mixture?  He shows in like the next few frames.

 

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I mean 5 Inks from the company he used are 30€. I get less than 5 Contrast Paints for that. You'd need the mediums as well but I guess you can get cheaper ones out there. Would not know where to store the stuff I make with it though and would be worried about the colours being different each time...

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I tried them back when they were released, and in my humble opinion, the feeling is similar to most GW painting&modelling products: not that worth it.

They had what could be the heaviest marketing in miniature paint history, but I sure wasn't convinced by the magical properties of the "one thick coat" trick when tested. Way more is needed to have a model "completed" (imho, of course). Works well as a complement to other types of paint, but not sure I'd require Contrast for that.

Like with other crafts and hobby products, other companies that do most things just as good (or better) for cheaper and make it very hard to justify buying them. As Goobertown puts it, you can easily make something similar with a better price/quantity value. Or even GSW has some stuff that ain't that different straight out the pot for a fraction (candy/intensity inks). Contrast, like other GW crafts stuff, feels like paying extra just for "the brand" and convenience. Nice try, but pass.

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Having now tried them out on an actual project I'm less convinced than I was. I still think that the idea is great, and that if you're a good painter then you can probably get great results for it. Unfortunately I don't think I'm really good enough to get it to work, and certainly wouldn't recommend it to beginners. Unfortunately I ended up having to touch up the contrasted areas so much after painting everything else that there wasn't much of it left in the end. I know most people will have better brush control than me, but it was still frustrating to see what was initially quite a cool effect gradually disappear.

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On 7/11/2019 at 3:30 AM, Fuxxx said:

I mean 5 Inks from the company he used are 30€. I get less than 5 Contrast Paints for that. You'd need the mediums as well but I guess you can get cheaper ones out there. Would not know where to store the stuff I make with it though and would be worried about the colours being different each time...

Artist inks and paints tend to be more consistent than hobby stuff.  I think he goes into the inks being often a single pigment source product in the video.  So the burnt umber ink literally has burnt umber particles finely ground in some acrylic binder.  So as long as you write down your recipes, you'll be good.  I also found that Reaper and Green Stuff World both sell excellent dropper bottles for a reasonable price, but I imagine there are even cheaper options.

It's also worth noting that one of the examples in that image above is made not with fancy inks, but with craft paint.  And not some nice name brand, but the cheap store brand stuff.

So anyone who wants to make a contrast version of an existing paint can probably just mix it 50-50 with some matte medium, add a drop or two of flow aid and get painting.  I've also noticed that dishwasher rinse agent (the clear or barely blue stuff that people put in their dish washers so there's no spots if they have hard water) can be substituted for flow aid.  Bear in mind though that being transparent, colours are going to be shifted.  A red might make an orange or a pink when cut with matte medium.  A blood red might make a good medium red.    But if you're like "I need to paint all the straps on these shields and belts" and you just grab some brown and mix in some matte medium and flow aid, you'll be fine.

One of the biggest strengths of GW is colour matching, but contrast paints lose this.  If you put contrast paint blue on something and then mess it up later when painting a nearby area a different colour, to fix it you won't just be able to use some kantor blue or whatever and fix it.   So if people take the time to actually see the colours they are using and be less reliant on GW's names, that will only be a good thing.  Hopefully doing transparent paint over white primer will help some people start to actually understand the colours they are using.  The first time people paint ultramarines using contrast with yellow shoulder pad trims and get green where it meets the blue, hopefully it will spark something.

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I found contrast paints to be great at two things:

1. Basecoating SMALL details of organic nature such as leather accessories, mushroom heads, flowers, small areas of skin, etc. However, it is not such a time saver, as due to the nature of the paints, I have a significantly lower control over it, thus, there is a lot of cleaning up afterwards.

2. Airbrushing over zenithal - they work great as colour filters, but only with airbrush. Great substitute for Vallejo inks and discontinued GW glazes.

Brushing larger areas with them is pointless, the final effect is sloppy, it looks dirty. I prefer classical methods. Even a single basecoat with regular paint looks better than a contrast version.

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I'm really enjoying contrast paints. I used them on some parts of these (hair, skin, red cloth, bone, base) it definitely speeded up my painting. The speed that the contrast bits done in was amazing. I think they are an aid to getting a good paint job in less time. Where they fall down is when you lose control & need to touch up. Then they offer no advantage over conventional methods

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Just painted 20 old metal night goblins in under 3,5 hours... Without the green. I got the paints now but they're at my parents place... Did anyone try different greens for Greenskins? I saw warpstone glow once but I'm not sure if it's too deep/dark. I know it's a bright colour but with a darker base tone if you know what I mean... What are you using for your Gobbos?

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  • 3 months later...
  • 1 year later...
32 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Now it is over 18 months since the contrast range was released. What are people's thoughts on the contrast paints? I have nearly finished painting my Seraphon and will be getting some new paints to start on my Gloomsprite Gitz next.

I like them a lot for troops, especially as it give me more time to finish my leaders. That said, I have noticed a bit of chipping on them

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As could have been expected, some are bad, some are not really useful, some are good and some are literal godsend ; )

Wyldwood for instance might best thing to happen to painting since Devlan Mud - all those annoying  pouches, hilts, straps and so on that are the only leather object on the entire model and you never had a patience to paint them properly (or shoes that will be only half visible through the grass)? Done in one stroke.

Apothecary white might be the first quick way of painting white that actually works (you'll need to dilute it a bit, otherwise it can look a bit too grey).

The black works marvels on textured surfaces and with a bit more of a careful application, on the smooth ones as well.

I've personally noticed that if you pint the important colors reasonably well, the base can be just done with contrasts and it will look absolutely fine.

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^ For instance, if you look at my not-gyrocopters, the birds themselves are basically apothecary white and wyldwood on a white base (and a bit of blue glaze near the lightning effects)

However, anyone who had a bright idea to promote contrast yellow as an alternative to gold deserves some sort of punishment, because it looks ugly as hell and should never be done.

Edited by dekay
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I personally love Contrast, but the thing is that it is a tool in the arsenal rather than something I would use exclusively to other paints. I love to put a layer of contrast on top of a zenithal'd model, but then I go over with more opaque colors to draw out details and highlights. Currently working on an Ogor, Idoneth, Rebel Alliance and Death Guard armies where I use contrast strategically.

There are few clear winners in the Contrast paint range:

  • Black Templar
  • Snakebite Leather
  • Guilliman Flesh
  • Skeleton Horde

Honorable mentions:

  • Volupos Pink
  • Nazdreg yellow
  • Wyldwood

Personally I find the best success with Contrast when I layer them with other paints. You also sometimes need to tone them down to not get the "candy" look you sometimes get with Contrast. I painted a ton of Poxwalkers using Plaguebearer but contrasted it further by using Agrax Earthshade on top.

 

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