Warhammer Tone Pro Paints + Drybrushes

[Hfran Morkai]

Interestingly enough this topic has made me reconsider what paint company I'll go with.

 

I'm in the lucky position that I have nothing painted currently so a clean slate (or canvas I suppose), I've always gone with GW paints historically because when I started that was pretty much all my local stores carried. I actually liked the older hex pots too, used them as painting handles

 

Maybe this time I break from GW (Sorry, Warhammer!). Admittedly I won't be able to just nip into a store and grab a couple of pots of paint because my local is a Warhammer store.

[01RTB01]

1 hour ago, de Selby said:

The only innovation that ever moved the needle on this was GW offering 10 victory points for painting your army. Suddenly the impossible was made possible.

 

 

 

Contrast paints I think helped a lot too. I've painted oodles because of them and if suggest I'm not the only one. 

[Arkley]

28 minutes ago, Hfran Morkai said:

Interestingly enough this topic has made me reconsider what paint company I'll go with.

 

I'm in the lucky position that I have nothing painted currently so a clean slate (or canvas I suppose), I've always gone with GW paints historically because when I started that was pretty much all my local stores carried. I actually liked the older hex pots too, used them as painting handles

 

Maybe this time I break from GW (Sorry, Warhammer!). Admittedly I won't be able to just nip into a store and grab a couple of pots of paint because my local is a Warhammer store.

 

The painting world is your oyster to be fair... If I didn't get 2TC I would have probably have gone with AK 3rd Gen.

[Antarius]

37 minutes ago, Hfran Morkai said:

Interestingly enough this topic has made me reconsider what paint company I'll go with.

 

I'm in the lucky position that I have nothing painted currently so a clean slate (or canvas I suppose), I've always gone with GW paints historically because when I started that was pretty much all my local stores carried. I actually liked the older hex pots too, used them as painting handles

 

Maybe this time I break from GW (Sorry, Warhammer!). Admittedly I won't be able to just nip into a store and grab a couple of pots of paint because my local is a Warhammer store.

I think both Army Painter and AK are good, widely available alternatives that are cheaper than GW. I was lucky to get a huge amount of second hand but barely used Contrast for what amounts to 40GBP, so I haven't really tried their contrast-y ranges, but I'd say that all their other stuff is quite good these days.

[Spazmolytic]

2 hours ago, de Selby said:

I often basecoat with un-thinned paint, relying on a wet brush to keep it smooth during application. Would that work with scale 75 or is any amount of water enough to split this kind of paint?

I'm not the biggest fan of Scale 75 paints but no they can take some water so a wet brush will be absolutely OK.  

[Lord Marshal]

3 hours ago, de Selby said:

I often basecoat with un-thinned paint, relying on a wet brush to keep it smooth during application. Would that work with scale 75 or is any amount of water enough to split this kind of paint?

 

You kinda have to drown most S75 paints to get them thin enough to apply with a brush, let alone through an airbrush - that appears to be the root of people finding them difficult to work with. These seem to be the total opposite where they come extremely thin out of the pot. 

 

Also, another Warhipster swatch short:

 

 

Edited Thursday at 01:47 PM by Lord Marshal

[Matcap86]

Just saw a launch date come by from one of my FLGS. Preorder 10th of october, launch 24th. So pretty soon!

[DarkMark]

On 9/22/2026 at 2:51 AM, Tastyfish said:

 

10:40 in the video that Kurgan posted above, the Erik Swinson & Albert Moreto Font one. Painting yellow directly to a black primed marine.

 

 

Direct time link below, hopefully.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

And when it dries you can see it needs a second coat, imo.

 

If the 5.45€ paint/ 6.50€ medium per pot price rumour, from Valrak, is correct then I doubt paint agnostic types will be switching too quickly. For comparisoin AK 3rd Gen is 3.3€ per bottle and 8€ for the 100ml thinner. 

[Lord Marshal]

6 minutes ago, DarkMark said:

And when it dries you can see it needs a second coat, imo.

 

If the 5.45€ paint/ 6.50€ medium per pot price rumour, from Valrak, is correct then I doubt paint agnostic types will be switching too quickly. For comparisoin AK 3rd Gen is 3.3€ per bottle and 8€ for the 100ml thinner. 

 

I'm sure best practice would always be multiple, thinned down coats anyway as a 'better safe than sorry' precaution, but as somebody whose painted a full Baratheon army being able to cover yellow in only a couple of coats is still amazing (especially when Imperial Fist is good but Contrast doesn't lend itself well to getting mistakes on it after the fact). 

[appiah4]

I can recommend GSW Opaque Color range Blazing Yellow as a good fairly opaque yellow if you don't mind losing some saturation as a tradeoff.

 

 

4:19 for yellow

 

 

Edited Thursday at 03:33 PM by appiah4

[Kurgan the Lurker]

 

[appiah4]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DdrMwIxpFkj/?stkn=bzluampnaGw0ZzAw

 

ProAcryl self leveling, btw..

[Bouargh]

I don't know if it has something to do with the new range to be released, maybe I missed the info, but I've just noticed that there are some current pots of the range that went "sold out online". Mainly Contrasts, some Shades too and sometimes a few references of other types (Layer, Technical...), but far less. But Contrast range has been hit badly.

 

Is it for making space on the shelves for the new range? Getting rid at the same time of references with lower volumes of sales maybe?

 

Some will not necesarilly be generating any hole in the pallet (afterall IF yellow Contrast was barely contrasting anything and some other yellows available do the job better). But I will miss some. Drakenhof Nightshade for example... Seraphim sepia being phased out is even more puzzling as it is generaly speaking a tone that has been largely promoted in GW tutorials...

 

Interestingly, references marked sold out online may differ depending on your country of connection...

[Antarius]

Seraphim Sepia is going to be a problem for a lot of people if it's gone for good.

[appiah4]

I was in London last month, and went to the GW at Tottenham Court Road to pick up some hobby supply orders for a few friends, they were out of most useful washes and colors.  I inquired about the reason and the guy told me they were in the middle of a paint rebranding  (Citadel to Warhammer) which was impacting restocking availability.  I am guessing the priority was producing the newer range at the time, and now they will produce the old paints with the new labels to refill the racks.

 

But then, this is GW, you never know.  They may purposefully make the old line scarce to sell you the new one at a markup.  That's really not beyond them..

[Bouargh]

1 hour ago, appiah4 said:

  I inquired about the reason and the guy told me they were in the middle of a paint rebranding  (Citadel to Warhammer) which was impacting restocking availability.  I am guessing the priority was producing the newer range at the time, and now they will produce the old paints with the new labels to refill the racks.

 I like this possible explanation most!

[Kurgan the Lurker]

 

[lhg033]

2 hours ago, appiah4 said:

I was in London last month, and went to the GW at Tottenham Court Road.....

Element Games is maybe a 10-15 minute walk from the warhammer store so might have been worth popping to if you had the time too and were in the area.

 

...anyway,... Like others I am intereted in the yellows and will pick up the mid colour to try at some point. I have that many unstarted projects I could be convinced to try a new colour range if I like it enough though I wont be dropping a lot on this as I have a lot of paints already that I like (if they haven't dried out!)

 

[Deakz28]

23 hours ago, Lord Marshal said:

 

You kinda have to drown most S75 paints to get them thin enough to apply with a brush, let alone through an airbrush - that appears to be the root of people finding them difficult to work with. These seem to be the total opposite where they come extremely thin out of the pot. 

 

Also, another Warhipster swatch short:

 

 

So far ironically most reviewers have admitted that these new paints due to the incredibly high opacity need more thinning than most paints for airbrush and techniques like glazing, even though they’re thinner out the pot, oddly I’ve used S75 for years so unless they’ve changed they’re medium I’ve always found them extremely transparent that are ideal for glazes whilst poor for basecoats, although haven’t had to restock for a year or so yet so maybe they changed they’re medium

[Craig]

Might try picking up a pink and returning to the emperors children army I started. Layering up the pink panels from black really killed my motivation for the project but after watching ninjon's latest video I might give them another go.

[Sete]

On 9/24/2026 at 10:09 AM, sarabando said:

i just find it really funny that we can have a paint that basically is magic one coat, washes for shading and then clear and easy drybrush shades for high lights and texture paints in pots and preglued tufts of grass etc its never been easier or quicker to paint and i know i just KNNNNOOOOWWWW that people will still find some excuse for how they have an unpainted army. 

Stop harassing me!!!!

[Kurgan the Lurker]

Another video from Ninjon:
 

 

[Dosjetka]

8 hours ago, appiah4 said:

I was in London last month, and went to the GW at Tottenham Court Road to pick up some hobby supply orders for a few friends, they were out of most useful washes and colors.  I inquired about the reason and the guy told me they were in the middle of a paint rebranding  (Citadel to Warhammer) which was impacting restocking availability.  I am guessing the priority was producing the newer range at the time, and now they will produce the old paints with the new labels to refill the racks.

From what I've heard/been told, this is indeed what is happening.

 

@Bouargh the out of stock Contrasts and Shades are likely the old product codes being retired. They should be back soon (with new labels and new product codes).

Edited Friday at 05:22 PM by Dosjetka
Syntax.

[Arkhanist]

I'm genuinely quite intrigued by tone pro, because the scuttlebutt is they've based them on liquid pigments, which could potentially be something different than Yet Another Paint Range.

 

First; liquid pigments are not new - but I think the way they're being used might be.

Generally, the modelling paint we use has much the same things in it:

- Pigment: insoluble coloured particles.

- Binder: a transparent acrylic polymer that dries into a film as the water evaporates.

- Water & dispersants: these keep the pigment particles in suspension.

- Fillers: talc, silica, etc. These add body and matte down the glossy binder.

- Thickeners: sets the creaminess/body of the paint

- Retarders: extend working time.

 

There's a bunch you can do with playing with that chemistry, the amount of dry pigment (weathering powder is basically just this part), self-levelling, flow, satin vs matt finish, how much the different pigments that are combined to make up a colour can separate with water etc etc, and that's largely where you get the differences between e.g. citadel, AK gen 3, vallejo's reboot, fanatic, pro acryl, scale 75 etc etc.

 

One problem is that many vibrant pigments are organic, and their refractive index is similar to the binder, so they are also quite translucent. So you need something to provide opacity (coverage) - and that's TiO2, titanium dioxide  e.g. white, which is honking large, or more filler; either way you're pushing the paint towards physical chalkiness, and white scatters all light, so you reduce saturation - it makes it pastel. You can still fiddle plenty with the chemistry, and that's what we've seen over the last couple of decades. Hence the usual trade off - acrylic inks are basically acrylic paint without the fillers, thickeners and modest pigment load - they're quite vibrant, very liquid, and translucent. Great for airbrushing intense colours over white, but their coverage and control is pants with a brush. Then think of a typical light colour, like yellow - to get that coverage, it's likely chock full of filler and TiO2, runs the risk of going chalky if diluted for e.g. edge highlighting, and is either weak coverage or pastel.

 

Liquid pigments are very finely milled, and dispersed in water with dispersants - usually a very high pigment load. This stuff is what they use in high-grade artists acrylics for example - or if you've ever seen them mix custom colour paint at the DIY store by squirting a little liquid colour into a white base then shake it to mix, well that was liquid pigment.

One advantage of liquid pigment is because it's very well dispersed and not clumpy, you get more tinting per gram. And you can buy organic pigments with better opacity if they come in this format.

 

It's strongly suspected that the mono-colour contrast paints (the 2nd wave ones, like baal red, imperial fist etc) are liquid pigment based. The clever bit is if they've managed to turn that approach into a an opaque brush-ready paint. For starters, by starting from fixed liquid pigment concentrates, you squirt that in the rest of the brew, and you get the same mix of binder, thickeners and additives, rather than customising them based on the specific performance of the pigment combo (rubbish coverage, add moar filler). which gives you very similar behaviour across the range - something several of the pre-reviewers have called out. This is often used for this exact reason in industrial tinting. Instead of relying on so much white and filler to give you opacity, you've got your liquid-only organic pigments, and a higher pigment load to do it - so you don't have to sacrifice saturation for your lighter colours (which are still likely the midtone + white at the heart). There's several ways to do self-levelling; maybe flow aid. 

 

Where this setup will breakdown is glazing. With such a finely dispersed high pigment load giving strong tinting, you need to add a LOT of water to get down to the translucency you'd expect from a traditional acrylic modelling paint. Dilute your binder too much, it's going to be hard to control, and it'll dry patchy, tide-marks, lift easily etc. Hence the shading medium, as you have to put more acrylic binder in, not just water when you're thinning it right down.

 

This approach is not new. Golden, Liquitex, Daler-Rowney etc use liquid pigments already, but their target market is people with a 6 foot canvas, not a 30mm hard plastic figurine so a) they sell it in like 200ml bottles or tubes, b) even liquid versions tend to be pretty thick so it intentionally holds brushstrokes, and usually stays open for a long period so c) getting it to an appropriate consistency/flow/finish for use with models and a size 0 brush can involve quite a bit of mediums and becoming a bit of a chemist. (pro-tip those mediums though, way cheaper per ml). d) when you're mixing tints to cover big areas, you tend to stick to single pigments. No pre-mixed subtle pentad graduations for you, you mix them yourself. e) artists are prepared to pay top-dollar for the best pigments, and toxicity is tolerated for saturation. This is not true for stuff intentional sold to children next to the plastic toys, with a much higher chance of ingestion.

 

Closest example of the artist approach in the hobby space would probably be Kimera Pure Pigments. Single hue high load pigments. With a range of 39, you need to mix them yourself. Coverage depends upon the underlying coverage of the pigment itself, so traditional weak coverage for certain hues (yellow etc). Satin finish. Mixing needs to be very careful, as strong pigments will overwhelm weak ones. £5 a pot. All absolutely great for pros who love mixing their own graduations, are blending and glazing individual miniatures to an incredible standard.

 

Not so great for slapping down your army base coat and wanting repeatable highlights in identical shades over and over again. Biggest downside of course is the cost - high intensity liquid pigments plus the rest is not going to be cheap, plus it's not going to be as low-toxicity with the extra stuff (self-levelling, consistent flow etc), plus GW tax. But Two thin paints is £4.50 a pot, and lots of people love those. So I don't think the price alone is a breaker. The pots are, well, GW sees them as a highly recognisable brand that nobody else uses, and you can paint direct from them, so that's not going to change. And really try to break the habit of licking your brush with them I suspect, i.e. the 16/18+ label - if bacteria laden dirty rinse water isn't enough. So not for everyone, absolutely.

 

But a liquid, high flow paint, that's consistent between colours, isn't chalky or spidery off the brush, with strong coverage and decent saturation? Sounds like everything I've ever wanted for an edge paint. I already have good coverage base paints (airbrush, pro acryl etc), contrast type paints are great for speed and organic texture, but I've been looking for better edge paints, in a decent pre-mixed range. Reaper MSP is hard to get in the UK, and my existing pots are really showing their age, and coverage is so-so. Fanatic paints are nice, but edge painting with them seems harder than it should, Gen 3 is all over the place range wise (though I'm trying out some). I find myself keep going back to citadel layers, simply because I can get them to behave even if it is pastel city. If the top ends of Tone pro aren't it, then I'll probably give TTC another go now the range has widened.

 

 

[Kurgan the Lurker]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DduQwlTJusF/?stkn=N2VjanpkaWNtcGpk

 

ProAcryl vs. TonePro from Darcy Bono.