Coloured Primers

[Pig Of Sparta]

Just a quick question really, are coloured primers such as the Army Painter's range considered cheating? I ask because I've only recently come across them and they seem like the could be great time savers when combined with normal 'by hand' painting (I'm not interested in 'quickshading'). To me it seems that using these coloured primers would be akin to using GW's spraygun (which incidentally I purchased and have used twice due to it's awkwardness) to basecoat a mini after undercoating it, but all in one go. However I wanted to know what others thought about this subject.

 

I know that most of you will think, "why's he worried, they're his mini's...." well I guess in a way I shouldn't be worried about something like this, but I don't want to be seen as a 'cheater', if such a thing exists in the painting side of the hobby (well, aside from pretending stuff that someone else has painted was done by you but hey, I'm not talking about that).

 

So, what do you think?

 

James

[DarKHaZZ13]

I wouldn't say they were cheating. Lets be honest, when you 'basecoat' your models, you are effective painting them 1 sahde of 1 colour.

 

for example;

blood angles.

 

A quick way to paint a base coat for red is to use foundation mechrite red. So what do you do? essetially you paint the whole model red.

Spray or the Spray Gun is just quicker.

 

I mean, if you're then gonna go back and work up highlights and blending and shading then I see no 'cheating' anywhere.

 

However. To spray it all one colour, then use something like armp painter shade dip...now thats a little different, you know what I mean?

but then you still have to go and paint the weapons, the details, the blended highlights, the freehand and so on.

 

 

at the end of the day you rightly said. They are your mini's

and the big E knows that painting is hard enough as it is.

Why not give yourself a helping hand?

 

 

Just to note, I have never used one. but thats because they don't do one in my colour, and I have had bad experiances (quality) with spray guns.

 

my two frags

[averykess]

It isn't cheating at all. If you can use a technique that delivers results you are pleased with, use it. I don't use a typewriter when a word processor is available. There is nothing wrong with base-coating with a spray or airbrush or toothbrush. It is all about results.

 

Besides, if anyone gives you grief about spraying a model, ask them if they use brush on primer. :P

[CarbonCopy]

Saving time is never cheating. Might as well ask if making and using custom decals is cheating. Or using decals at all.

 

The same kinds of questions came about when the first Moog Synthesizers hit the market in the 1960's. They were seen as cheating, too (if not downright "unnatural").

 

Some miniature painters take extensive advantage of using an airbrush for base-coating, shading, highlighting and even detail work. Is this wrong? No. Absolutely not.

 

Always, always use the best tools at your disposal to model & paint your miniatures. Someone else might use slightly different tools and techniques to accomplish same result. Sometimes the techniques and tools are vastly different. The net result is the same; an excellently modeled/painted miniature.

 

I've seen some amazing work done with very quick "fast shade" paint can techniques that rivaled highly controlled airbrush work. I've also seen some really bad, sloppy airbrush work that looked like it came out of a sputtering spray can.

 

I use Adobe Illustrator to make custom decals (and sometimes back banner art). Why? I know how to use it and I want save the art for later use. I can do it by hand if I wish, but I like to have the digital file on hand for other use. It is potentially portfolio work.

 

Is this cheating as well? No. Anyone who says otherwise is insanely jealous because they can't pull it off at any level, with any technique, with or without technology.

[Freakiq]

I use them all the time and they really speed up the painting.

 

Be sure to read the instructions carefully though, you need to spray closer than usual to avoid getting the models all fuzzy.

[Pig Of Sparta]

Thanks very much for your comments guys, I feel much better about buying and using Coloured Primer's now. I was thinking after I posted last night, I'm pretty sure that GW used to do coloured sprays back in the day, so I guess I'm doubly covered ^_^

 

cheers

 

James