"Inks, washes, shades..." Topic

What do you make of all these products, what are the differences, which do you use?

Citadel – They work very well.

Washes, I make my own using future Floor wax.

Citadel. Recommended by my local game shop. They work great.

I'm not actually sure if they are inks, washes, or shades, though, nor what the differences among those things might be. I call them washes, because that's how I use them: I wash the miniature and most of the product settles into deep places.

I prefer washes and most of mine are from Citadel (although I do have others).

I also have inks – from many different companies – I don't use them as much as the washes.

Tony

I used to use Wonder Wash products until they went out – now I use Citadel.

I use inks as washes. Or washes as inks maybe. I dunno. I put flowy pigmented thing on top of thicker pigmented thing to make painted things. 😀

Coat d'Arms has Super Washes. I've tried the brown and dark brown, and rather like them. They seem to me to be like ink that's already watered down for washing. (If there is more to it, tell me!)

The same range also has ink washes. Haven't tried these, I assume these are just inks.

There are also Super Shaders. I have no idea what these are, haven't tried them yet.

Ditto Inari7's comment.

The trite answer is they are all pigment in a medium to a particular type.

You'll just have to play around to get the effect you're after.

db

I like Army Painter washes and have quite a few Vallejo inks and washes. As far a the difference I think washes are just heavily diluted already you can get the same results with inks but you have to water them down with something.

Instars Alpha range work very good for me

I use Citadel washes mostly because I can buy them locally [well, not at the moment]
I'd be lost without them as there's no way I can actually paint the shading myself any more.
I'm still ignorant however on other stuff that people refer to eg pigments, mediums or whatever.

Washes Vallejo & Citadel.

I tried inks and it didn't go well for me something about surface tension from what I understand. I've used Didi's Magic Wash worked well but only either black or a medium brown. Now I make my own wash out of Vallejo Smoke, Speedball Warm Black, Liquitex Matt Medium, Liquitex Flow Aid and Distilled water. It probably give a little more shade than some commercial washed but I'm happy with it.

I use the army painter washes and am happy with them. I have not tried the Citadel washes. For those that have, what do you like better about them?

@EvilGong A bit of snark but he is spot on.

Roughly speaking you can think of these things as belonging to one of several categories:

• Paint: Pigment in an opaque medium
  
• Ink: Very fine pigment in a transparent medium
  
• Wash: A thinned ink or paint applied over others.
  
• Dip / Super Shader: A wash with some surface tension breaker added. This allows it to settle in the crevices and folds thus "shading" the figure. Future + Ink + a couple drops of dish soap is the home brew recipe.
  
• Contrast Paints: Basically a "Dip" type product but one that has a lot of pigment and is designed to go voer primer so as to do both a base color and highlight at the same time (in the 70s and 80s this technique was popular and was called "stain painting")

The Army Painter products, Coat d'Arms Super Shaders, Didi's Magic Ink, etc. etc. are all just different recipes of teh same basic idea.

Pretty much only use the thinnies for washes. Army Painter strong, Army Painter soft for flesh, Citadel's Nuln Oil, and Didi' sepia are my favorites.

I use Citadel washes, and they work wonderfully!

+1 What Mark said. I use various manufacturer's paints and washes and a lot of liquitex and daler rowney inks. I spend more time on my skirmish or rpg figures than my armies.

I like a lot of the new contrast paints as they are fast to use and give a cleaner finish than the dip but they are not cheap. Of course if your painting skaven block painting with a dip is perfect and inexpensive. I used essentially FusilierDan's recipe for my dip.

Dyed in the wool, classic, Dip'er (Minwax Polyshades Urethane Stain Tudor/Royal Walnut), and classic Magic Wash'er (Pledge Floor Finish + acrylic craft paint). Relatively inexpensive, great appearance, at arm's length. I also average around 10 minutes of total painting time, per figure, when painting large groups of miniatures, organized, and preset, for assembly-line painting.

Been a Dip'er, and a Magic Wash'er, since around 1997. I've churned out a lot of painted mini's, thus far, which would never have happened without these favorite techniques! They are an army painter's* most treasured tools, within their kit.

*: In my definition of, army painters, we value quantity, over quality. One of life's little compromises. ;-)

Determined to finish painting my toys, and making every single one, a veteran, having fought multiple battles on the tabletop, before I pass, and they get chucked in the trash, after my family disposes of my worldly possessions. Cheers, Folks!

rampantlion asked:

I use the army painter washes and am happy with them. I have not tried the Citadel washes. For those that have, what do you like better about them?

I haven't tried others, so I don't have a basis for comparison.

I use them all. They all have good uses and effects. I don't dry brush any more.

Anyone care to share their home-made wash formula?

My home made wash starts as 50/50 Future acrylic floor wax and paint. Then I adjust as needed for the particular job.

@darthfozzywig
I use inks as washes. Or washes as inks maybe. I dunno. I put flowy pigmented thing on top of thicker pigmented thing to make painted things.

Eloquently stated