Contrast - Built with us in mind?

[Trench]

I would be pleased with that if it was mine, looks more effective then all my previous black paint jobs over the years, keen to try this on the clothing of my Goff Boyz when it is back in stock as it was sadly sold out before I could order this morning. 

[Bryan Blaire]

The example model by Ciler looks pretty good, except for the black and red! But it's unlikely that any paint is going to have great results and be easy for all colors - almost all formulations are going to have weaknesses somewhere. For my blacks, I prefer the gloss black appearance, rather than a dark, dark grey with shadows.

[Chaoself]

I tested the flesh tearer red with black templar on the shoulder pads. I like the result that black gives a lot. :)

[Marshal Vespasian]

The Bolter would habe profited from another pose with less pooling.

 

However 30 minutes for that is goddamn impressive.

You could propably do a box in less than 2 hours if you assembly lined it and that is good news for everyone with a huge number of standard troops to get through.

[Ciler]

The Bolter would habe profited from another pose with less pooling.

Yes, though actually the painter is as much to blame. One thing to take away from that demo is that you can't just slap this on willy-nilly, much like with washes, you still have to be a bit careful and look for pooling. Although you can't really see it on the photograph there's also a bit of pooling on the bottom of the greaves. Those new paints will have their own learning curve, I believe.

 

However 30 minutes for that is goddamn impressive.

You could propably do a box in less than 2 hours if you assembly lined it and that is good news for everyone with a huge number of standard troops to get through.

I don't know about two hours, but in an afternoon no doubt. The paint has a longer drying time than the regular stiff, so assembly-line painting would definitely be the best way to manage it.

[Chaoself]

One of the tricks is that you have to pull the brush over the miniature.

 

You have to paint all parts with one coat. You see it then there are two coats of contrast one some parts of the miniature.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Two coats in that video is definitely better than the single coated Reiver. I would be curious to see how the Intercessor would look with a matte varnish applied, like Lahmian Medium (or whatever it's called now.)

[Lord Raven 19]

I think it is a misspelling of Raven Guard

[Eberious]

So dropped into my local GW to try me some contrast. pleasantly happy with the first time results. I reckon a little practise, some hard edge highlights and the rest of the stuff painted ammo pouches, grenades etc etc will look dam good. Thought I'd share it here just for more examples of what's already floating about.

 

Flash

 

 

 

without flash

 

 

 

 

Fellow son of Dorn.

 

 

Didn't have time for a Crimson Fist though.

 

But yeah, If you don't mop up excessive pooling quickly as it goes sticky fairly quickly then you will end up with a poor finish and gaps in the colours where you try and correct it. 

[Marshal Reinhard]

Don't like how it splotches over flat surfaces. Like on the shins. It's also uneven. Perhaps if given a heavier, thicker coat, that might be counteracted? Or simply practising with how its applied?

 

Is this over a white primer? I wonder how it'd look over a dark primer that then had been prepped with some brighter zenithal highlighting.

 

Regardless, appreciate seeing the pictures of it in action

[Ciler]

Don't like how it splotches over flat surfaces. Like on the shins. It's also uneven. Perhaps if given a heavier, thicker coat, that might be counteracted? Or simply practising with how its applied?

 

Is this over a white primer? I wonder how it'd look over a dark primer that then had been prepped with some brighter zenithal highlighting.

 

Regardless, appreciate seeing the pictures of it in action

I think the splotching is lessened with a more practised application (you're really supposed to drag the paint around), but I think even then there will still be some unevenness/splotching to an extend. I think more organic surfaces are better for this type of process.

 

Flat surfaces are definitely a problem as demonstrated in this test : https://youtu.be/h-UmUq0e9g4?t=103 (brushstoke are clearly visible on flat armour panels).

[Eberious]

@Reinhard, yeah, I think a bit of practise and the splotches should ease. I was a little light on the application on the legs when starting out as wasn't sure 100% how much/little to apply.  So because of that the pooling is more notable on the legs, the upper half was a little more generous. 

 

The primer as I recall, was the grey seer. I think with the contrast finish anything darker, (primer wise) you might as well just chaos black spray. But I ain't a painting guru to be fair and haven't tried it... yet. 

 

@Ciler, indeed, One idea would be to air brush it on, then go over the recess areas with the contrast. Might work, might not.  

[Ciler]

One of my mates tried to airbrush it, it didn't work, like, at all. The consistency and flow property of the paint do not seem to do well in an airbrush.

 

Edit : having said that, do feel free to try, maybe you'll pull it of and we'll be the better for it !

[Bryan Blaire]

Contrast paints were designed to work with a brush - an airbrush throws all the properties of the paint out the window and forces it to work like a glaze/tint (because that's what it has been thinned/broken down into to work in an airbrush).

 

From what I can tell by people's examples, Contrast will not only require some practice, but it also appears that they don't quite work well for Primaris Marines' (haven't seen much in the way of classic Marines done using it) armor panels, though the smaller ones turn out better, but even the hip tassets seem to cause the paint some issues. Also, some of the colors definitely seem better suited to the Contrast and it isn't all the bright ones, or all the dark ones. The black seems to be more blotchy than the dark grey from the examples I've seen, while the dark red seems to be less blotchy than the lighter red. The yellows seem to work well, but the dark blues and dark greens seem to come out more blotchy than the lighter blues and greens, and the white seems to dry more on the blotchy side than not.

 

Hopefully once people really get to experimenting and practicing with them, we'll be able to see what tweaks are needed to get each color going well, but right now the most impressive uses I've seen with Contrast have been the blends people have done with the medium and a color, fading it into the Wraithbone primer/base color.

 

I'm looking at getting started on my Gate Hewers VII Legion "Another Brick in the Wall" Successor Chapter, but aside from maybe the Aquilas, I don't think Contrast is going to change much of anything on how I paint Marines. Tyranids and Orks likely to have much different results, maybe even Eldar, but Contrast just doesn't seem to offer much for Marines.

[Marshal Vespasian]

There might be some shortcuts there for lenses, screens, leather bits and so on. The armour I have seen so far has not really made me want to go and shell out for contrast.

I'll see if I can do some experimenting on tuesday, wanted to check out my local gw anyways.

I think I might do my Gellerpox mutants in contrast as I don't know how I want to paint their skin anyways so I might as well try it out. Then again I dont really like the poxwalker skin colour they have shown so far. Maybe it looks better when mixed with a bit of fleshtone.

[Bryan Blaire]

I am wondering if the solution for the armor plates might not be to carefully do a plate at a time, that way you are using less paint at once and have a smaller surface area to control it over, plus with less paint, it will hopefully help pull more to the center of the plate (or if you really want to get tricky, tilt the miniature so that the pool slides toward the part of the plate that would be more shadowed - which isn't always going to be the bottom of the plate).

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I finished work a bit early today, and my office is about 300 metres from our new shiny Warhammer store. (Well, the sign at least.) I went in and painted myself a Space Marine.

 

I must say, I'm pleased. I used two coats of Black Templar for the armour, Flesh Tearer Red for the bolt rifle, and had a go at Apothecary white for the shoulder pads and eagle.

 

I'll try and post a pic later, but the Armour came up well with just two coats, I achieved a nice even coat and the 'highlights' are good. I may take a pass at some edges again, but the results are worth a try. The Bolt rifle came up amazingly well as did the purity seal (Skeleton Horde)

What I was less impressed with is the Apothecary white. It may work alright on its own, but it's too grey for my liking. I think I can achieve better results with Ulthuan.

 

I also used standard metallic base paints for the Gold and Metals, as they are pretty decent.

 

As far as I can see, I think I have a place for it in my future painting. It's not a replacement for everything I currently do, but it's definitely a useful tool.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

My efforts

 

 

The one on the left is the Contrast Marine, he's actually less glossy than my last efforts, which surprised me. I think the part I am most pleased with is the red Bolter, this was so much easier to paint than the traditional method of paint, wash and edge highlight.