Glazes and Contrast paints

[Ben_S]

I didn't pay too much attention when GW axed their glazes. I guess it was around when they launched Contrast paints, since I get the impression that you can use Contrast over the top of something else to add a tint.

Can you do that out of the pot, or do you need to thin it with medium? (Or is this one of those things that varies from colour to colour?)

Is this the best approach, or might a shade work? (Ironically, GW have recently expanded their line here - though I haven't tried them since they switched to a new formula, which I thought was intended to flow better and tint less.)

 

[Chaos Moomin]

I only have the one contrast paint, but I feel fairly confident in saying you'll have to thin them down if you just want to tint with them - if they're designed to be usable with 'one thick coat' they're all going to be too strong.

Shades will be better, though I'd look at getting something like Vallejo's glaze medium as a medium, as it's more suited to the task than using the normal consistency of the shade. If you're not wanting to tint a large area, any old medium (or even just water) can work. It might depend on how clean and smooth the layer underneath is - if it's got some texture or dirt to it you can get away with the shade pooling a little here and there.

If you already have a shade in the colour you want, I'd give that a try; if not I'd recommend something like Vallejo Game Inks thinned right down with glaze medium or similar.

 

[Lyndon]

I've been using contrast paints straight from the pot as glazes, although your milage may vary.

They're a little thicker, but I didn't think they are too bad.

Probably best to have a play, but I found the lighter colours work better

 

[Tiny]

I use them as glazes from the pot and mixed with medium or water. It depends on the colour you're using and the intensity you want to achieve.

They vary quite a lot from colour to colour with some of them being super pigmented and needing thinning to even get a good smooth colour at all (looking at you dark blues and blacks) and others having much less pigment and being more of a tint (like skeleton horde or magos purple).

I would recommend grabbing a few colours, a pot of medium and some water and playing around with them to get the feel of them.

Glad I picked up a few pots of Lamenters Yellow Glaze though. Finding a replacement for that would be tough.

 

[Ben_S]

Is there a way of making normal paints more like a glaze? I've heard some people do this by thinning them down (either with water or medium), but of course that's the normal way to make a wash.

I have tried that (with water) only to get it running off, and/or leaving tide marks. I've not managed the glaze/tint that I was after, but maybe I'm doing it wrong.

 

[MusingWarboss]

Is there a way of making normal paints more like a glaze? I've heard some people do this by thinning them down (either with water or medium), but of course that's the normal way to make a wash.

I have tried that (with water) only to get it running off, and/or leaving tide marks. I've not managed the glaze/tint that I was after, but maybe I'm doing it wrong.

Vallejo glaze medium will help to achieve that, though it my may depend on the pigmentation of the paint.

You should experiment with a few before committing to a model. Water will cause the effect you’re talking about as you’re effectively breaking the paint formula. A little water can be fine to thin your paints but if you really want to dilute them then you need the carrier fluid, which is what the mediums are.

For best results with glazes I’d actually advise using some inks and glaze mediums.

 

[Chaos Moomin]

Is there a way of making normal paints more like a glaze? I've heard some people do this by thinning them down (either with water or medium), but of course that's the normal way to make a wash.

I have tried that (with water) only to get it running off, and/or leaving tide marks. I've not managed the glaze/tint that I was after, but maybe I'm doing it wrong.

It sounds like you're maybe applying your glaze too heavily.

Though a wash/glaze will be of a similar consistency, how you a apply it to the mini - and what it does when it's on there - is actually quite different. Where a wash is designed to achieve an intentionally uneven finish (by running into the recesses), you want a glaze to be as flat and even a layer as possible. Where you can often load your brush up with wash, slap it on the model, and let it do its thing, with a glaze you want to be wicking most of it off your brush before you apply it to the model so that it stays where you put it - still wet, and smooth, just very controlled. This is where the choice of medium can aid you. A Citadel shade, for example, is well suited for glazing as it's thin and transparent. You have to be careful, however, because its medium is designed to have a low surface tension (lower than water) to help run into the recesses. Glaze medium, on the other hand, does not have this problem and also slows the drying time of the paint so that it stays wetter on the brush, even after you've wiped most of it off, which is particularly important if you're doing a larger area.

To answer your question, you can absolutely make your ordinary paints into a glaze consistency, even just with water. The more transparent your starting colour, the easier a time you'll have; white, or anything with white in it, is lot harder to work with because it's so opaque. Reds and purples usually work well. This is why inks are a good starting point; aside from white most colours are very transparent.

I learned a lot about glazes (and a lot of other things) from Vince Venturella. He has a couple of videos on the subject, if you've got 45 mins:

Understanding paint transparency, glazing and underpainting was one of those things that seemed super obvious once I'd seen a few videos about it, and has opened up a lot of techniques for me.

 

[Raven Morpheus]

My £0.02 -

I've been using contrast paints quite a bit on recent models. Technically they are a glaze as I understand it. I've not consciously used them as a glaze, I just tend to slap them on, but I see no reason why they can't be used in the way you would use a more traditional glaze.

As a general rule of thumb I thin contrast paints at least 50/50 with contrast medium (other, more cost effective mediums may work, I've not tried them). It helps to somewhat avoid the blotchy look, usually. And if the colour isn't strong enough I can always put another layer down.

Some contrast paints come out more opaque than others, unfortunately GW don't tell us which one's, so it seems to me to be a case of trial and error and seeing if anyone else on t'interwebz has any insights.


Here's Vince Ventruella's videos on contrast paint, they may be of help -

And his video on the new shade formula -

@MusingWarboss - I'll add my vote for Vallejo Glaze Medium. It was like night and day when I started using that for glazing - no more tide marks!

 

[almic85]

Not that I like linking to other forums but this reddit post has the photos taken by The guy from GW Chelmsford store that has all of the contrast paints painted over different base coats on the same base for comparison.

It’s fairly useful for figuring out which contrast paints are more or less saturated and if you want them or not.

There are a small number of them that are quite faint colours and then are a small number that are essentially a normal base coat colour and everything in between.

 

[Halbling]

Is there a way of making normal paints more like a glaze? I've heard some people do this by thinning them down (either with water or medium), but of course that's the normal way to make a wash.

I have tried that (with water) only to get it running off, and/or leaving tide marks. I've not managed the glaze/tint that I was after, but maybe I'm doing it wrong.

I usually use a normal games workshop paint and mix it with lahmia medium to create a glaze. It works well for me to soften the transitions at the end. I have a few contrast paints which I use after applying a base color and only after I thinned them down 1/1 with lahmia medium to avoid them being too strong. Regarding the new (2022) GW contrast paints and the new shades I don't have any experience so far.

 

[Badaab]

I didn't pay too much attention when GW axed their glazes. I guess it was around when they launched Contrast paints, since I get the impression that you can use Contrast over the top of something else to add a tint.

Can you do that out of the pot, or do you need to thin it with medium? (Or is this one of those things that varies from colour to colour?)

Is this the best approach, or might a shade work? (Ironically, GW have recently expanded their line here - though I haven't tried them since they switched to a new formula, which I thought was intended to flow better and tint less.)

at the beginning of covid lockdowns i picked up the original run of contrast paints as i thought they might be fun to experiment with, but in all honesty, there are maybe only about half a dozen or so colors i've used more than once (disclaimer: i should mention that as i use black primer on basically everything non terrain these days, the contrast paints don't get much use as intended by gw- i tried it out over white and the application process didn't save me time or get solid coverage in one coat, and i can get that same coverage with traditional opaque paint in 2 coats, so its not saving me time or effort in this regard).
for tinting things, like metallic areas, contrast paints can work great, though if you haven't invested in any already, i would just go for inks to do this job as they're more versatile and will do the job just as well.

recently i've been playing with the greenstuff world and scale75 inks (both lines are called 'intensity' which is a little confusing) for glazing and boosting color saturation, and while i haven't experimented much with using them to tint areas (ie metallic areas), they work better than contrast over underpainted areas.
vallejo game inks and washes are also very nice and similar to the older citadel color washes, inks, and glazes in the way they perform (depending on how much you dilute them).
in the near future i'll likely also be grabbing some of the creature caster/cuttlefish color paints (if my local brings them in) to experiment with, as they apparently have a thinner formula designed for glazing over underpainting.

 

[MusingWarboss]

Scale75 inks (both lines are called 'intensity' which is a little confusing)

They’re “Inktensity” aren’t they? Considering how GSW got into a spat with Vallejo over ‘Color Shift’ I think they went with the pun (and more copyright friendly) instead.

But yeah, Inks are the traditional way most of these techniques were born from, people just missed them up theirselves back in the day. Also check out Artist acrylics too, like Windsor & Newton.