Another quick one from the D&D Board Game series today – Hunting Drakes! I asked Marouda what colour I should go with and she told me “blue”. I wanted to use Contrasts on them, and wanted to go with something that wasn’t too strong a blue, so I used Terradon Turquoise over the spray prime of grey-white, followed by a drybrush of GW Sotek Green (?!), and then Sotek Green ligthened with Vallejo Ivory. The “bone” parts were done with Contrast Skeleton Bone, and then given a subtle highlight once dry with Vallejo Bonewhite.
This is the sort of thing that Contrast Paints are perfect for. Sure, I could have done much the same with traditional means of basecoat and washes and highights, but using Contrasts did allow me to finish these fast, and I think the models do have a bit more …contrast to them as well – which may not suit everything, but does suit these particular models well.
Done! Quick and Easy and Effective!
Azazel's Bitz Box. 
Those look lovely! I’ve actually tried contrasts for the first time today, and I’m not quite sure yet. Having painted for 20+ years over a black basecoat, priming white feels weird. The consistency will take some getting used to, I think, as I did end up with a very blotchy look especially on untextured surfaces. Might be time to dig out some old minis with scales, fur or something similar! Your series of contrast paint experiments have definitely been one of the main things encouraging me to give them a go, so thanks for that!
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Thanks Mikko. I tend to prime white or grey, but also prime black. Basically, I choose the primer colour depending on the model I’ll be painting and the overall scheme I intend to use on it – so darker colours or metal get black, and lighters gets white. For the Contrast paints, I recommend having the medium handy at all times, preferably decanted into a dropper bottle. (like, next to your palette, lid unscrewed, ready to grab at a second’s notice).
I’m still learning with it, though – and I’ve found that the truth of it is that it’s a separate learning experience with each of the Contrast paints due to the different opacities they have and how they end up looking on different models. Those Bromstone models from the other day are a good example, but there have been a lot more small failures that I’ve had that were more easily just adjusted. (so, no photos or posts about them).
It really does need some texture or definition to work well, though I have a bunch of thug and civilian figures I intend to speedpaint at some point soon, so they’ll be a much larger experiment for me.
Also – contrast over base coats can work well. Essentially using them as a coloured wash (or glaze, depending on the paint) with slightly different properties.
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I love my Contrast paint I t is pretty much all I am using at the minute.
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It really comes into it’s own on smaller models.
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Anything with fur or rough bits its ideal, not so good on flat armour types eg space marines.
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Yeah, it didn’t work well at all on those Trun Hunters. I’ll try on some of my more …disposable marines down the road and see how it works. 😉
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Worked really well on Chaos marines and okay on the marines.
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Looking awesome
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Cheers! 🙂
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These have come out very well indeed. Contrast paints are still something I have yet to dabble in. At some point I must give them a go.
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Thank you! Like a lot of us, I’m finding some extra time to play with them lately (even though I still have to go outside to work in the Plaguepocalypse!)
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These look great! 🙂 I really like the blue!
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Thanks John – I was thinking old-school Cold Ones when it came to the colour choice!
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Nicely done dude!
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Cheers, Alex!
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Excellent work mate, the results on these is awesome, and I really like the look of the model as well
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Yeah, these ones are pretty nice sculpts – and a real good example of how variable the models in these games can be. I can see one of these being a RPG character’s pet! (or an Inq28 figure!)
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Looking good, and I think they key here was how you mixed contrast with regular paints for a great finish.
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Thanks Dave. In this case they did look good “as-is”, but adding some touches with standard paints did bring it up a notch. Best use of the stuff is alongside, in my opinion.
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Really nice models, and I love the blue, quite “Pulpish” but works very well, the contrast paint works a treat too on these,enjoying your “experiments immensely!
Cheers Roger.
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Cheers, Roger – yeah they are much more cartoony than realistic, but given the context of the Drizzt board game and my nostalgia for the old-school Cold Ones it was a happy choice!
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They look great and if it is a quick paint job then so much the better in my book.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Yeah. Spray primed in the afternoon. Did the “bone” bits at night just before bed. Did the blue the next morning. Left them for a couple hours, then did the bone highlights, skin highlights and eyes/mouth/teeth, bases – then finished around lunchtime.
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Very effective use of the contrast paints, terradon turquoise is a nice color. I’m finding, very similar to you, that the contrast paints are a useful add on tool. Though I’m such a slow painter that I gain no speed! One thing I’ve found is that my dry brushing over contrast paints seems less effective for some reason.
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I’ve found that keeping the drybrushing light (in pressure and in colour) seems to work well. Just to make the lighter parts of the model enev lighter, and even then only the parts near the top of the model. Like on these I only did the upper half of the torso and tail, and the top half of the muscle striations.
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These look sharp and I would say this is the perfect paint job for something that is fodder for your tabletop heroes. They will stand out and look imposing but the fact that they were quick to paint is perhaps the best part of all 🙂
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