What do folks think about those new Contrast paints from GW?

[Primarch]

As the thread title says, what do you think of GW's upcoming line of Contrast paints? I know that they haven't been officially released yet, but there are lots of videos and pictures out there on the web now.

Looking at how they are supposed to be used, they seem useful for minis which are largely one colour (Marines for example), but less so for more colourful figures (anyone want to try Harlequins?). As someone who is not a particularly neat painter, I can imagine myself using these to quickly do a mini in one colour and then doing every other colour the traditional way. As they have to go on top of a light coloured primer, I think I'd end up with overlaps between colours and a pretty uneven paint job.

Looking at my collection of historical minis, I can see a couple of uses for these new paints, but GW's ranges tend to be pretty vivid compared to the colours I usually use for Bolt Action and the like. I really doubt GW will produce German Field Grey or Olive Drab in their Contrast range sadly.

So I'll probably pick up a few bottles. How about you?

[The Other Dave]

There's been a lot of buzz. As for single-color minis:



That's done just with the contrast line - no further highlights - aside from the metallic base paints, and took, the guy says, a couple hours tops. (And it actually seems to do NMM very well - I've seen stormcast done up in contrast yellows and necrons in contrast grays straight over white that look frankly pretty damn good.) And if you want to kick it up a notch, I've seen pictures of models done with just contrast paints plus some basic highlighting and it's, well, basically as good as I can do. You do have to be careful about overlap, but apparently the coverage is such that touching up with white and repainting the contrast paints over it is seamless.

I'm mostly excited about its utility for flesh tones, which I loathe painting, but really if I do another whole army at some point I'll probably give it a shot.

[Primarch]

There's been a lot of buzz. As for single-color minis:



That's done just with the contrast line - no further highlights - aside from the metallic base paints, and took, the guy says, a couple hours tops.

I believe that painter has a couple of Golden Daemon awards under his belt and some Armies on Parade awards too, so I won't expect my minis to look quite that good or to come out as neatly.
Still, if it allows me to churn out models even faster, I'm all for it.

[The Other Dave]

I believe that painter has a couple of Golden Daemon awards under his belt and some Armies on Parade awards too, so I won't expect my minis to look quite that good or to come out as neatly.

I mean, literally all he's bringing to the table here is "stay within the lines," though?

[Primarch]

I mean, literally all he's bringing to the table here is "stay within the lines," though?

That didn't work for me in colouring classes in kindergarten and it doesn't work for me now.
I'd probably spend more time touching up the undercoat than I'd save by using all Contrast paints. That's not to say that I won't be using them, just that I doubt I could paint so well with them that I could produce a figure like the one shown above. So I'll probably stick with Contrast for the main colour(s) and then do all the other stuff with standard paints that don't require the white basecoat. In the hands of good painters though I'm sure awesome results will be possible.

If the yellow and white work as advertised, I am pretty excited about that. Those colours are always a pain to work with and an easy way to paint them would open up a lot of new possibilities.

[Auxryn]

I'm interested in trying them but I don't really understand how they differ from standard paints. Could anyone enlighten me?

[Primarch]

I'm interested in trying them but I don't really understand how they differ from standard paints. Could anyone enlighten me?

Most standard paints need a wash and a highlight to add depth to them. The Contrast paints are an all-in-one type of paint that naturally shades and highlights itself. From what I can tell they are a form of 'super' wash. Put down a white undercoat, brush this stuff on and you're done.

[me_in_japan]

tbh, I dont see how using contrast paints is any more difficult than using regular paints, vis a vis staying in the lines. If you can do it with regular paints, you can do it with contrasts, surely?

fwiw, I can totally see myself using these on my nurgle stuff, as tbh that's already what I did on my poxwalkers, only I used actual inks rather than fancy new fangled paints. Same end result, though. Kinda depends on price, though, as I'm a tight fisted kinda chap when it comes to paint. If it's significantly more for 12ml of GW contrast paint than it is for 20ml of Vallejo ink, I know what I'll be getting, new fancy be damned.

[Primarch]

...vis a vis staying in the lines. If you can do it with regular paints, you can do it with contrasts, surely?

Not everyone paints the same way you do. I don't paint within the lines, I get the first layer in roughly the right places and then tidy up as I go.


On the left hand figure, notice the overlap on his shield rim, between his sleeve and right hand, his spear and right hand, trousers and left foot and pretty much all the metal work covering the straps and belts on his torso, up and over his face. That is how I paint.

[The Other Dave]

tbh, I dont see how using contrast paints is any more difficult than using regular paints, vis a vis staying in the lines. If you can do it with regular paints, you can do it with contrasts, surely?

fwiw, I can totally see myself using these on my nurgle stuff, as tbh that's already what I did on my poxwalkers, only I used actual inks rather than fancy new fangled paints. Same end result, though. Kinda depends on price, though, as I'm a tight fisted kinda chap when it comes to paint. If it's significantly more for 12ml of GW contrast paint than it is for 20ml of Vallejo ink, I know what I'll be getting, new fancy be damned.

My skinflintishness will probably be the deciding factor, yeah. I'm guessing they'll be the same cost as the washes and such, so, what, 600 yen a bottle? (It doesn't look like they're in the double-size bottles shades are in.) A bottle of ink and a bottle of acrylic medium from Vallejo cost me the same as that for more milliliters, with more flexibility in how I use it. I can see picking up a color or two, but not a whole range.

'Course, on the other hand, part of what you're paying for here is consistency and reliablity, which is worth a lot TBH. I'm pretty good at mixing up a batch of ink and acrylic medium to do something that does a similar job to GW washes, but it's still always a heart-in-the-throat moment when I put that on the mini and see if it's actually the color and consistency I thought I had when looking at how it flowed on the pallet. And that's after a lotta years doing it, too.