Tabletop Warhammer?

Anyone managed to do a good job of Marines/Contrast?
I am realllllllly torn. I was originally thinking Dark Angels Contrast + a layer of nuln oil and additional colours for guns/detailing, but I HAVE seen very bad contrast jobs, and one of my friends keeps banging on about thin coats of Caliban green, and then edge highlighting etc. (as he is not fond of contrasts for anything non organic, and also because of how wrong it can go).

I am NOT a fan of painting, I never have been, so I want to aim for a 'battlefield+' layer of impact, whilst maintaining speed. I was intending to Zenithal undercoat, to aid the impact of whatever I go with over the top, but the more I can cut out, whilst still retaining a decent look on the battlefield, the happier I am.
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Anyone managed to do a good job of Marines/Contrast?
I am realllllllly torn. I was originally thinking Dark Angels Contrast + a layer of nuln oil and additional colours for guns/detailing, but I HAVE seen very bad contrast jobs, and one of my friends keeps banging on about thin coats of Caliban green, and then edge highlighting etc. (as he is not fond of contrasts for anything non organic, and also because of how wrong it can go).

I am NOT a fan of painting, I never have been, so I want to aim for a 'battlefield+' layer of impact, whilst maintaining speed. I was intending to Zenithal undercoat, to aid the impact of whatever I go with over the top, but the more I can cut out, whilst still retaining a decent look on the battlefield, the happier I am.
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Watch the war hipster for contrast painting. He has som wood the best easy to follow guides.
 
Apologies if I’m teaching you to suck eggs, I just don’t know what your painting experience is.

Contrast paints are tools, not cheats. As with any tool, they are suitable for some tasks more so than others. Contrasts paints come in to their own when used on detailed/textures areas, where the flow of pigment sits in the recesses rather than the raised areas. This makes them great for faces, flowing cloth, pitted metals. But for prestige space marine Ceramite, with large areas of flat/smooth armour, not so much. As such you’ll need to paint using a 50:50 mix of Contrast Lahmian medium. This will stop the heavy polling of pigments on flat areas, making your armour look patchy.

Because of the way contrast wants to settle in to lower areas, your undercoat is quite important. The Wraithbone spray has a more satin finish on it to encourage contrast to slip in to the lower areas - using a normal white primer might be too grippy, resulting in a splodgy finish or grainy effect.

My opinion on the fastest way to paint Dark Angels whilst still maintaining a good level of quality? Spray them in your desired base coat then pin wash EVERYTHING, maybe with something like Basillicum Grey or whatever it’s called (the grey contrast paint). This will help everything stand out without the need to edge highlight everything. You could even do this with a zenithal if you wanted to spray the model black, then do the base green from a higher angle only.
 
Yes I used the basing stuff to hide the rocks I didn't want to paint. Yes I will paint the rims black.


Am I right in thinking that a mat or satin varnish will help protect the paint when you are picking them up all the time playing the game, etc? Is it as simple as just getting a spray one because anything more involved than that and I'll probably not bother.
 
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Yes that’s the point in varnishing, hence why I don’t bother (I seldom play the game). You will end up rubbing the varnish off eventually but that’s better than layers of paint.

Just a spray is fine but read some reviews. People complain varnishes sometimes go cloudy.
 
Noxia said:
getting a spray one
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Dont do spray varnish if you want a matte or satin finish. They are super tempremental and can ruin a paint job.

The best I have found is to get Ultra Matte Varnish from AK interactive, and Citadel Contrast medium and mix it up in 50/50 (duncan recommends this), you can then use a big brush to cover the model quickly. Alternatively Stormshield from GW is a decent quality though a lot more work because its quite thick.
 
Oooh ok interesting. So seems Kindai's method could be a safe bet, plus can just apply a little and see what it does instead of spray a whole model lol. I have some contrast medium already.
 
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Bigpig said:
Watch the war hipster for contrast painting. He has som wood the best easy to follow guides.
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I have watched a few of his videos, I will rewatch them once I am getting close to painting, just to remain fresh. I also have a few marines I had set aside as ones I'd be willing to paint and repaint a few times if necessary as testers :)
MoNkeE said:
Apologies if I’m teaching you to suck eggs, I just don’t know what your painting experience is.

Contrast paints are tools, not cheats. As with any tool, they are suitable for some tasks more so than others. Contrasts paints come in to their own when used on detailed/textures areas, where the flow of pigment sits in the recesses rather than the raised areas. This makes them great for faces, flowing cloth, pitted metals. But for prestige space marine Ceramite, with large areas of flat/smooth armour, not so much. As such you’ll need to paint using a 50:50 mix of Contrast Lahmian medium. This will stop the heavy polling of pigments on flat areas, making your armour look patchy.

Because of the way contrast wants to settle in to lower areas, your undercoat is quite important. The Wraithbone spray has a more satin finish on it to encourage contrast to slip in to the lower areas - using a normal white primer might be too grippy, resulting in a splodgy finish or grainy effect.

My opinion on the fastest way to paint Dark Angels whilst still maintaining a good level of quality? Spray them in your desired base coat then pin wash EVERYTHING, maybe with something like Basillicum Grey or whatever it’s called (the grey contrast paint). This will help everything stand out without the need to edge highlight everything. You could even do this with a zenithal if you wanted to spray the model black, then do the base green from a higher angle only.
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Done a little practice a few months back, but before that hadn't painted since third and forth edition (and badly haha). I completely get why contrasts are not cheats, that said I'd seen SOME Marines in contrast I thought looked quite good, and the additional shadowing impact it gave looked quite nice, but as you say it can look patchy/or just plain wrong if done badly. If done well however it can be a nice effect, if not as fast as some would make it look (aka the cheat).

As I'd been intending to do Zenithal, (I've been using Colourforge Sprays) I had been going with a base Hyrax Brown (Rhinox Brown) for the shadowing, with Zenithal Wightbone (Wraithbone) from above; followed by anything else over the top. This colour worked for both my Tyranid flesh, my D.Angels as an undercoat, and theoretically as I'm using Wraithbone equivalent Zenithal, makes painting Deathwing much easier!

I then have the option of using one of the mud, rock style basing materials (once I finish painting the model itself) to hide the mess I make of the base and add some extra flair :)
kindai said:
I absolutely hated working with DAG. It is one of the worst contrast paints in my opinion.


Depending on the shade you are looking for, id suggest Army Painter Absolution Green
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I already have both CG and DAG, so was happy to stick with them as I liked the shades. I also considered ProAcryls' Dark Green as my LFGS stocks these and other ranges.
 
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Noxia said:
Oooh ok interesting. So seems Kindai's method could be a safe bet, plus can just apply a little and see what it does instead of spray a whole model lol. I have some contrast medium already.
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Yes and I have found doing 2 layers of the 50/50 mix is "safe" compared to other varnishes which can over gloss or over matte a model. While also giving the extra durability of a second coat.
 
kindai said:
Dont do spray varnish if you want a matte or satin finish. They are super tempremental and can ruin a paint job.

The best I have found is to get Ultra Matte Varnish from AK interactive, and Citadel Contrast medium and mix it up in 50/50 (duncan recommends this), you can then use a big brush to cover the model quickly. Alternatively Stormshield from GW is a decent quality though a lot more work because its quite thick.
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That's something I'm hoping to do for my character models first as I've put a lot more effort in to them.
 
Was super unhappy how my doomscythe turned out so moved onto the tomb blades instead.

Went for a clean simple scheme instead and think they turned out absolutely spiffing! Will go for something similar on the doom scythe once it has finished disolving in IPA.

This was 5 mins after the second layer of matte/contrast varnish as detailed above was applied.

IMG_20231108_215438.jpg
 
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Noxia said:
Oooh ok interesting. So seems Kindai's method could be a safe bet, plus can just apply a little and see what it does instead of spray a whole model lol. I have some contrast medium already.
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It’s well worth while picking up the 3 types of varnish. I have the 3 from Vallejo air which apply great by brush but as kindai says AK matte is the king.

Gloss helps with transfers and techniques like pin washing. Then you would go over it with your choice of finish. Satin or matte.
 
Bigpig said:
It’s well worth while picking up the 3 types of varnish. I have the 3 from Vallejo air which apply great by brush but as kindai says AK matte is the king.

Gloss helps with transfers and techniques like pin washing. Then you would go over it with your choice of finish. Satin or matte.
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Going to see if I can pick it up locally tomorrow.

Unfortunately my hands shake and it's getting worse with time so I'm going to make a start on my primachs...with Lorgar first.
 
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