Review of Contrast Paints

It’s finally here, the magic fix to unpainted armies in our hobby: one thick coat and your models will come out to a nice table top standard… or will they? Yes, that is right, this is going to be my review of the much anticipated Contrast Paint line by Games Workshop.

If you aren’t familiar with the line, here is GW’s introduction to it:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/05/23/contrast-meet-the-rangegw-homepage-post-2fw-homepage-post-2/

Basically, these paints are a middle ground between wash and paint that go over a light base coat as the start point, or a whole paint job. Their main role is to help get tabletop quality armies painted quickly. It should be noted that for the past year and a half, I and many other gamers have been doing a similar paint style with white base coats and washes; however, this is supposed to be even better.

Excited about the release, I quickly bought several paints to try, and then a few more, and then a few more…

Now, there has been a LOT of coverage of this release; however, unlike many of the reviewers, I did not write this after using the paints once or twice. Instead, I have painted several groups of minis over a period of about two weeks, trying to test out various things with the range.

The first thing concerning the release that I was somewhat skeptical about was GW’s announcement that to truly work the paint had to go over their new Grey Seer or Wraith Bone base coats, but was this actually necessary. Well, I base coated a model white, and then I started to try some colors on it. (Please note I have seen a number of people mention Corax White for their only test, and this was not one of the “suggested” colors.)

This was a huge failure…

As you can tell, the model came out splotchy with the browns and lacks the promised depth for the range, though the Aethermatic Blue turned out interesting!

After this model, I thought whelp that didn’t work… did I just waste a ton of money on crappy paints?

Not to be discouraged, I thought I would try a white base coat with a Nuln Oil wash first to give a bit more shading rather than a pure white start point. I then compared a piece of this model painted to a pure white model. The differences were pretty interesting.

As you can see, the pure white model’s green is splotchy, while the washed one has more shadows and layers. The skin on the orcs below was painted with the same exact color, but the one on the left was done over a white with Nuln Oil wash. As you can see, it looks MUCH better.

This shows me that, at the very least, contrast does not do best over a pure white base; the paint dries slightly opaque and ends up splotchy. I had a few of the pre-primed, ready to paint Wizkids D&D models, and I thought these would be great to test some colors and the range on next.

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These two models took a total of about 15 minutes to paint, and I think they finished decently. Yes, some drybrushing, etc. could make them look better, but that wasn’t the point of the test. Without any prep, in 15 minutes I got a nice tabletop quality, ready for a D&D game — not bad. This also shows that the paint takes quite nicely to the grey base coat of these models.

I specifically noticed that the heavily textured areas — the scaled armor, the fur, and the tattered pants — took to the paint really nicely. I was particularly happy with the blue turquoise finish of the scales. The less textured skin doesn’t look bad, but it does look a little weird next to the colors I chose.

This also showed me that the Wizkids models were perfect for this range, so if I were to start a Kings of War army from scratch, I would give this range some consideration, particularly their monsters.

Right, so by this point I had concluded that there was validity to this paint line. I had also discovered that while Grey Seer and Wraithbone weren’t essential, an off-white base was. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, these test models gave me some familiarity with the paint line so that I could really put them through some tests on other groups of models.

The paints themselves moved similarly to a thick wash, but the pigment was much more concentrated. In my trials I had discovered that thicker coats were actually less effective than pulling the paint as far as it will go to allow the highlights to come out. This left me wanting to try to thin down the paints a bit, so I picked up some Contrast Medium.

Now that I had far more paints than I initially intended, it was time for me to give some tries using them at batch painting, which was the method I foresaw them being most used for. After all, they were made to get armies on the table quickly. I had many models laying around for a game called Massive Darkness, which I thought provided the perfect models to try these on.

These five models took me 1 hour and 15 minutes to paint, which means I could paint a regiment of 15 models in about 4 hours — not bad at all! Quality wise, I think even an extra hour to drybrush up some colors, or some edge highlights, would go a long way toward taking them up a notch. That said, for a dungeon crawl board game, I think these turned out nicely.

I noticed the darker colors, particularly the browns, go on very heavily and would need to be thinned for future trials. I also tried using darker colors over spots of lighter ones where I had accidentally gone over details, and these darker colors actually covered over these areas pretty well. The hair for instance was a detail I tried this on.

Ok, so now that I had painted one group, it was time to try a second, time myself, and see if I could improve the quality of the paint job while maintaining the speed. One thing always worth noting is as you learn to use a paint/style you inevitably get better at it and get better results. This was apparent in the second group. I also base coated this unit with the Grey Seer base instead of white with a Nuln Oil Wash.

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This group of orcs took me 1 hour and 48 minutes to paint. There is one more not pictured making it a group of 6, but the biggest time sink was me using traditional paints to paint the bone jaws on their faces, the metal, and the rings. This still means you could finish a regiment of 15 in about 4 hours; however, I liked the results from this test even more.

In this second batch I tried thinning the contrast paints a bit more with contrast medium, applying about 2–3 drops on my palette for each color. This created an end result that is much more pastel but allows more “highlights” to come through. I also noticed that the contrast paints went over more smoothly and with a better finish in this batch, lending some validity to using GW’s recommended base colors.

One of the details where this better coat is most apparent in is the pouches on the orcs. Below, the orc on the left was painted with a Grey Seer base, while the right was white with a Nuln Oil wash. Notice how the left test model has a less blotchy finish?

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After painting these two groups (in just about 3 hours!), I wanted to try a larger model. I theorized that on large models in particular the Contrast line would really shine. So I prepped a cool ogre monster from the same board game and went to town. This model for reference is about the size of a GW ogre.

This model took me 35 minutes to paint! For the time investment I thought that it turned out nicely. The ogre was painted over a white with Nuln Oil wash base.

The wood in the club turned out well, but the thing I was most impressed with is the blue fur, which was done with dabs of undiluted Talassar Blue and Terradon Turqoise. The definition and details of the fur really pop. The skin I also think turned out pretty good using a slightly thinned down Guilliman Flesh.

Ok, so you have seen my tests, you have heard some of my thoughts on the results, but what are my overall thoughts on the paint line?

The Good

These paints are fast! I am no stranger to speed painting, but these paints cut my process down by at least 35%, even with me learning how to use the paints. This time saving became more apparent when batch painting. I could see myself churning out hordes with these in a matter of days, rather than weeks.

The chromatic colors go on great! The blue of the ogre’s fur could not have been done nearly as good, or as quickly, with traditional washes. I also quite liked the greens and reds I tried. These colors, despite one quick wash, pop and are vibrant. With the right amount of planning this could mean that certain armies (Salamanders, Abyssals, Trident Realm, etc.) could be painted quickly and look great!

The Mediocre

The browns and blacks are less impressive. They go on great on heavily textured surfaces, but they are less impressive on smoother ones. This could be because the GW brown and black washes were already very good, so these felt more comparable. It is worth noting that the browns on the Grey Seer base coated models went on significantly better, so if you are painting an army featuring a lot of browns, use the GW recommended bases.

The Bad

These colors do a terrible job on metals. I have seen GW advertise its “basic Nonmetallic Metal.” It’s not; it comes out looking weird and splotchy. Spend the extra time, paint your metals, and give them a wash. For a little extra effort, your end result will be much, much better.

Small details are impossible with this paint. Even medium details, like hair, can be challenging. I would recommend using traditional painting methods on these details, especially as that saves a step with repainting the base color.

New painters may have trouble with this paint line as it is more difficult to control than traditional paints. However, when asked for feedback I find myself regularly telling new painters, “That would look better with an Agrax Earthshade wash,” so doing it all in one step probably will help in the long run.

Conclusion

I liked the Contrast paint line. Yes, it was overhyped and oversold, but it still returns on some of its promises, namely a simple and easy way to quickly get armies done. It is pretty much as easy as advertised, and it gives a decent result if used correctly.

Like most paint lines, some of the colors I love, and others not so much.

I will plan future projects, particularly speed paint projects, around some of the stronger colors in this line. I think if you pick 1–3 of the larger details of an army (fur on Ratkin, robes on Elves, skin of Orcs, etc.) and paint these with contrast, but use traditional methods on some other details and a little extra work on faces, you could get a very nice tabletop army done quicker than usual.

If you are curious about Contrast Paints, I highly recommend picking up 2–3 colors and giving them a try. Like any painting, it takes time to learn to use them; experiment before jumping into an army project.

Parting Tips

• Buy the Contrast Medium and thin out the paints, particularly the darker colors.
• Do not paint over a plain white base; at the very least use a Nuln Oil wash first.
• Use actual metal paints!
• Less is more; apply a little paint and pull it around on the model. Much like a wash, a little goes a long way.
• Give yourself time to learn to use the product. Like any painting, skill and experience yield better results. After 19 years of painting, my first Contrast model still looked like crap, but after trying some different stuff it got better.