The Army Painter Speedpaint Mega Set, 24 Dropper Bottles of Non Toxic 18ml Acrylic Paints with Mixing Balls including 1 Monster Paint Brush

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Gryph-Charger Grey Contrast Paint: This is one of the more subtle colors in the citadel contrast paints line. It’s a desaturated grey/blue. I use it a lot when shading blues of any color. Let’s proceed with some more tests and see how Speedpaints apply on a metallic basecoat. I sprayed an Intercessor with Plate Mail Metal from the Warpaints Air range, though you could also use Plate Mail Metal Colour Primer or Leadbelcher Spray.

The Army Painter recommend their Matt White Colour Primer, but for better comparison with Contrast I used Greyseer Spray Primer for both models, which is a light grey primer with a satin finish. The smooth satin finish allows the medium of Speedpaints and Contrast paints to spread more evenly. Nevertheless, the many flat areas of the Intercessors’ power armour will present quite a challenge for either paint. To complement my Speedpaint 2.0 review, I made a hand-painted colour swatch of all 89 colours on white primer. Professionally photographed under neutral 5500K light. In this post you can find this and more charts for Citadel Contrast, Vallejo Xpress Color, and Dipping Inks from Green Stuff World, so you can compare colours across brands. It’s the highlight and shadow that gives your miniature contrast. That will make it look much better than a flat coat of paint. It reads as more “real”. Contrast paints are integral in the popular “SlapChop” painting method.When painting with contrasts you want to paint with lots of paint on the brush. This is another thing that differs from how you paint with acrylics, where you want to apply multiple thin coats. Instead you want to put a bunch of contrast on the model and start moving it around. Generally my rule of thumb is it should be saturated but it shouldn’t be dripping off the brush and I should still see the bristles. If you’re painting and it’s looking streaky, don’t panic, get more paint on the brush and start reapplying.

Guilliman Flesh Contrast Paint: This is always on my desk within close reach. It’s great for skin tones, and for shading gold metallics. One of my favorite contrast paints by far. As a saving grace, I found if you just apply a few thin highlights in a similar colour to the Speedpaint you are painting over, the reactivation isn’t much of an issue. Edge highlights with Wild Rider Red and Jokaero Orange over Blood Red Speedpaint

Speedpainted pieces both digital and traditional are considered by artists to be an excellent exhibition of the subjective skill of a painter, as the time constraint requires efficient rendering of form and detail and a deep understanding of their chosen medium to capture a complete, strong image, and leaves little time for noticing and correcting mistakes. They often need multiple coats to achieve a similar level of richness. Also, the pigment-based formula doesn’t really work with zenithal shading, as the opaque pigments will gather in the dark recesses and make them brighter, which is not exactly what you want. For this Speedpaint 2.0 review I took a few more samples from the new range. I tried to reactivate the paints after 30 minutes, 2 and 24 hours. So, after reading the original version Troy over at Sonic Sledgehammer Painting Studio decided to give it a go, and here are his excellent results:

Using an innovative resin medium that flows perfectly over your miniatures, Speedpaints create an unparalleled painting solution to help you get more time for gaming.This range released 24 colors originally and has now come out with Speedpaint 2.0. This range has 90 colors and includes a reformulated version of the original 24 colors in it. This model was done using almost entirely one-coat paints outside the armor paneling. This used some advanced techniques like changing the base coat from white, glazing over contrasts, and thinning contrasts using medium Baal Red Contrast Paint: One of the new contrast paints. Bold, bright red color that really makes things pop. I am a fan of keeping most things muted and desaturated, and then adding in one or two small areas of bright bold color.

Over the years the Goonhammer crew have put together a vast and expansive library of painting guides. Appropriately titled “How to Paint Everything” we’ve got schemes and recipes for 100s of models. They all, however, assume you know the difference between wet blending and glazing or what the hell “zenithal” means. Welcome to Hobby 101. This series will lay the groundwork to teach you the fundamentals and best practices to make your models shine. Each specific color has it’s own unique properties. Even different colors from the same brand. The brands do have some small distinctions which I’ll cover below. While I’ve been off work I’ve been painting a 1000 point bolt action force in around 3 days, which would normally take me around 3 months and not look anywhere near as good. When applying, I noticed that Speedpaints are a bit thinner and runnier than Contrast, and the medium pushes the paint into the recesses more aggressively, which helps to create a smoother result even on flat areas. On the other hand, I found Contrast paints slightly easier to control because of their lower viscosity. I felt it was easier to put them on smaller details without accidentally spilling into adjacent areas.As you can see, the Speedpaints go on very nicely. With colours like Zealot Yelow, Sand Golem, and Fire Giant Orange you can create interesting shades of copper and gold or go wild and try out bolder metallic hues, like Plasmatic Bolt on the right leg. Now, what you CAN do to increase reactivation is to use Speedpaint Medium instead of water. I soaked a cotton swab in Speedpaint Medium and rubbed it over the edges of the Plaguebearer’s sword to remove the paint and enhance the highlights. This works better than just using water. But I feel it’s still a bit more difficult and tedious to pull off than with the old formula. Maybe some other painter or YouTuber can find a better way to make the blending work. Please let me know in the comments about your experiences. The expanded palette Learning how to use contrast paints is worth your time, and it’s not very difficult. Just understand it’s not one single method. Contrast paints are a tool. If you look up your model, for example this Primaris Lieutenant, scroll down to the bottom. You’ll see a section called “ HOW TO PAINT“. They have Classic Method and Contrast method available to toggle between. This lists the paints they suggest to achieve the look on the box art.