Greetings, figurine stainers. A few days ago I began to paint some figures with Army Painter’s SpeedPaint paints, and I was disappointed in the nose. Some colors did not behave well at all. And this happens for not trying things before. So I put the poor bastards aside and set about preparing test subjects to test every ink and wash I’ve got.
Which will be better, contrast or washes? Let´s see!
To do this I took a handful of Cthulhu card game tiles, and made a black primer with a white overhead light, using an airbrush. The idea is that there is a little bit of black “underneath”, but that the overall color is white to make it easier for the inks and washes to do their thing.
Also note that I’ve tried to balance the white level a bit in the photos, but haven’t had much success, so overall the colors look a bit lighter than they do on hand.
TESTING SPEEDPAINTS BY ARMY PAINTER
Army Painter’s alternative to GW’s Contrast paints, with a similar approach, paint in a single layer and get highlights and shadows without doing anything else. I thought highly of them before trying them, but have been a bit disappointed. Some colors are very intense and fluid (too much, as we will see later) and others are dense, opaque, ugly… And there is the issue of reactivation. I have the basic box of ten colors, and we see them in detail.
Blood Red SpeedPaint
Crusader Skin SpeedPaint
Zealot Yellow SpeedPaint
Pallid Bone SpeedPaint
Highlord Blue SpeedPaint
Ork Skin SpeedPaint
Gravelord Gray SpeedPaint
Fire Giant Orange SpeedPaint
Hardened Leather SpeedPaint
Hive Dweller Purple SpeedPaint
The problem with SpeedPaint is reactivation . If you apply another paint, or a thinner, or water… on top of a layer of SpeedPaint paint, you run the risk that the already dry paint will reactivate, and become fluid again, mixing and moving as if it had just been applied.
On this miniature I applied Zealot Yellow to the buboes on the back. Over twelve hours later, I used Vallejo Aero Black to cover it up, and went back to Vallejo Aero White. To my surprise, the yellow comes out above the black and white layer, to claim its territory. And as you can see, when I originally applied it, it bled quite a bit out of its zone. And after two layers of color on top, there it is. And by the way, piece mold line in the middle to round the image U_U
Reactivation is prevented by varnishing, for example. Which is very inconvenient if you are painting a mini and you need to “lock” the color layer to continue working the area (or illuminate what has already been painted). On the other hand, if you’re into improvisation and cool fading of colors, paints that don’t sit and remix like crazy can be wonderful for glazes and fades.
VALLEJO INKS
Vallejo inks are a contemporary classic. Although it seems to me that today, they are going to be replaced by the new range of «game» paint, so it will be difficult to find them in the near future. I bought them in a box of 8 colors.
These are inks, not all-in-one painting solutions like SpeedPaint, Dipping (which we will see later) and Contrast. In general, with Vallejo inks the finish is matte, except for a couple of cases where I indicate otherwise.
Red 72086
Violet 72087
Green Black 72090
Blue 72088
Skin Wash 72093
Yellow 72085
Black 72094
Green 72089
AK Interactive Inks
I purchased these inks to complement the third generation AK paints. For some unknown reason, they don’t have yellow ink (or I haven’t been able to find it). AK’s page is obtuse and its search engine absurd, so I had to go through the entire range of paintings until I realized that I couldn’t find it. Adding more drop-down branches to the search engine, for example, discriminating within the third generation paints the inks, metallics, etc… would be very good, instead of having to review the 500 paints that are within the range “acrylic third generation”.
In general, the finish of AK inks is glossy, so you have to take this into account.
Sepia Ink AK11219
Turquoise Ink AK1220
Skin Ink AK11221
Carbon Ink AK11233
Purple Ink AK1224
Dark Green Ink AK1226
Penetrating Red Ink AK11227
Night Blue Ink AK11228
I like the way AK does things and a lot of their products, but these inks need improvement. On the one hand, at the “branding” level, I have plenty of stage names. I prefer that the inks remain red, blue, green… while penetrating red or night blue, they don’t do me much good. In the immense range of colors that they have, I understand, because there are dozens of blues, and reds. But in ink, taking into account that they can get at most two or three of each color, with a red (and in his case, a “dark red”) it was enough for me. On the other hand, there are some whose color is very different from what is expected by their name (sepia and sienna, I look at you).
And why don’t they have yellow ink? ^_^
Glossy finish is another topic, we put up with it in the old days because it was what it was, but nowadays the company that has a great product like “ultra matte varnish” also sells gloss finish inks. It would be nice if in a future development the inks were as good as the paints, and with a matte finish. That if you want shine later, there are varnishes and lacquers to give it.
One thing I forgot about badabaduuu … while other inks and washes “smear” when I put them on a paint palette, making a little puddle, the AK inks “swirl”, like a fat drop, which makes me think that their surface tension is very high, and that must affect their behavior for sure (although not badly, because they spread perfectly on the miniature). In times we used to put a drop of soap in the ink pot to deal with it, and favor the dispersion. I repeat, there is no problem to distribute the ink, but it seems curious to me and that is why I comment it out loud.
Well na, if the people of AK read me, they already have things to discuss about new products. And if they’re not working on it yet, ACRYLIC WASHES! Enamel and oil is fine, but I don’t want another thinner and other brushes for my shit, I want acrylic products to complement my acrylic paints. Take note, gentlemen of AK.
ARMY PAINTER QUICKSHADE WASHES
These Army Painter washes are the acrylic version of their varnish pots for dipping minis, the famous technique that AP’s patented and that is still the usual bitumen, but made easy. I can already tell you that these washes are very good at what they do. These colors bounced into a big color box and I didn’t think I’d use them, having the Quickshade pots. But after trying them, they seem very nice.
Flesh Wash
Soft Tone
Strong Tone
Dark Tone
GREEN STUFF WORLD DIPPING INK WASHES
This product is a recent novelty, and from the reviews I’ve seen it has very nice colors and pretty MEH colors! I bought four colors, looking for a cheap wash to stain minis. The main feature of this product, what put it in my cart, is that the 60ml bottle costs five arcane leuros (four and a half with a “promotional” price), which makes it the cheapest non-home wash.
It is advertised as other all-in-one paint but works more like a classic wash, staining and shading. The finish is uniform, matte and shades perfectly. At first I got four neutral colors, but in the future I will buy some primaries to test things. This formula does not reactivate once dry, so they can be easily lightened or repainted.
3481 Papyrus DIP Green Stuff
3491 Elfwood Brown DIP Green Stuff
Black Shadow DIP Green Stuff
3492 Skeleton Brown DIP Green Stuff
I have yet to try more GSW dipping paints, such as black, the red-blue-yellow triad, and some other secondary color (green-orange-purple). And I don’t think they work like “paints.” But as washes, to paint over grisaille, and for quality, quantity and price, I think they are a great option. In fact, right now it is the best option on the market with its 60ml bottles at five and a half euros. If they don’t get greedy, they have a winning product.
VALLEJO WASHES IN LARGE FORMAT
This Vallejo product was quite unknown, however I saw it in a traditional modeling store (not wargames). Let’s just say it’s Vallejo’s alternative to Army Painter’s Quickshade. It is an acrylic wash in a 200 ml bottle, and with two colors, sepia and black. You have to shake it well (it decants and separates the pigment from the solvent, which is outrageous) and after shaking it makes plenty of bubbles. But it works great and has a very nice price of about 10 euros a bottle… if you find them. I think it’s a discontinued line from Vallejo, and you’ll see it in fine arts or modeling stores, but with slow replacement.
These washes work perfectly, and shade beautifully. If I have to put a “but” on them, it is that they have to be moved quite a bit with the brush after applying them, to eliminate bubbles or distribute it well and not affect the result by leaving stains or marks.
Vallejo Game Wash 73301 Black
Vallejo Game Wash 73300 Sepia
Well this is it. I go back to the painting table, which I have to continue where I left the little monsters.
Hey, to do things. Greetings and paint.
