"Playing with Contrast Paints" Topic

This week, I have been trying out the GW Contrast paints that people either love or hate. Tried them on a mixture of figures – plastic, metal and resin; historical, fantasy and sci-fi.

First up some Frostgrave figures.

Some 'Waylaid by Bandits' figures.

Some Doctor Who figures.

More on the blog – nozzawargaming.blogspot.com

Really interesting thanks! You know, there is something about the look of these painted minis that reminds me of White Dwarf/Citadel in the mid 1980s (I meant this in a good way in case you wonder!).

And you can save yourself some money to spend on mini's,

YouTube link

Norrins, your figures look terrific. I bought some of the new contrast paints but haven't been as happy with my results. They don't look nearly as nice as yours. I'll keep experimenting with the colors I bought but I was surprised how expensive the contrast paints are. I probably won't buy any more and they certainly won't replace my existing craft paints and my preferred method of painting (drybrushing). But it's fun to mix it up and try something new. Who knows, maybe some more puttering around will yield better results on my LEG Deadites. Thanks for posting!

I think what it is with these contrast paints is that one needs to be somewhat talented in the first place to get a really good result.

And THAT I fear… is what leads to my demise.

So far, I'm not totally sold on contrast paints for my 15mm human figures, but I absolutely love using them for horses! I admit I've never really liked painting horses, but I'm really pleased using contrast paints on them now.

And, as Skipper John points out, perhaps it is a comment on my painting skills more than anything!

My guess is that Vallejo will sooner or later release their own range of contrast paints.

Contrast Paints have their place. They are not a 'silver bullet,' but if you don't slop them on and don't expect them to work exactly like staining or washing, they can be huge time savers. You still need to detail and touch up with regular paints, in my experience. They are in between an ink wash and paint. Yes, there are 'homebrews' out there, but if you're trying to consistently hit a color, it's hard to beat what comes out of the pot.

The trick is a light neutral primer, like ivory or light gray (I airbrush my primer and avoid spray primers). I use Contrast to block out large areas of color, then use regular paints to do detail. I've also experimented with different color primer coats and Contrast coats with good success.

It seems to me that their actually harder to use unless you just using one all over or almost all over.

Yes, contrast paints are a time saver. So far I've only tried them on a white primer.

If you take this figure that I painted on Sunday, it uses two contrast paints and one metallic paint to update the details. Took less than 15 minutes to paint!

Tony S: I agree wholeheartedly – the contrast paints are very good for horses!

Norrins, what is the yellow colour you used for the hair?

Is that "Iyanden Yellow" or "Nazdreg Yellow"?

I've never used the yellows, that colour looks pretty cool.

wmyers – It is Iyanden Yellow.

A couple more questions.

1) What colour undercoat did you use? Was it the GW ones for Contrast?

2) The viking type with the two short swords, what colour did you use for his hair and wrist guards?

3) What colour did you use for the flesh of the same figure referred to above?

wmyers

1) Halfords hite car primer
2) Skeleton Horde
3) Darkoath Flesh