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In Short: I'd love to use nothing but Games Workshop paints, but don't want to go to a GW store to be tought all about those paints. Nor do I want to dish out a hundred bucks for a book on it. How do these paint types work?

In long:

I was close to titling this topic "The heck GW. What's with the paints?", but then thought better of it.

Hi all,

Pardon my first post being a question. I'd love to have seen it otherwise but I'm uttely lost.

After not having been in the game for about a decade, I'm looking to get back into painting miniatures. I eBayed my way to a full Witch Hunter warband, and am now looking to go and paint the evil louts. Having painted Chaos, Undead and Dark Elf armies before (for the Horde!!!) I was looking forward to settling back into my old ways, until I reached the point where I was about to get myself a bunch of paints.

The heck!

So what's with all the different types of paints? Are they any good?

I'd love to use nothing but Games Workshop paints, but don't want to go to a GW store to be tought all about those paints. Nor do I want to dish out a hundred bucks for a book on it. How do these paint types work? What do I use first?

Feel free to "shoo" me off to a citadel painting guide PDF of some sorts, I'd appreciate anything at this point

Cheers!

- Dirk

The "How To Paint Citadel Miniatures" book and DVD set really helped me with the very basic stuff, but it is overpriced although you may find another means to acquire it, take that as you will. Maybe a friend has a copy.

I use almost exclusively GW paints and my typical method is:

1) Spray a coat of Chaos Black undercoat.
2) Spray a coat of one of the new spray base coats they have, although colors are limited. Army Painter has colored spray primers that acts as a primer and base coat, and they have just about every color. I hear they are very good but have never used them myself, maybe it's worth looking into.
3) Apply a wash, GW has several washes and all GW paints are labeled on the pot, i.e. Mephiston Red is labeled as a base, while Agrax Earthshade clearly says wash on the pot.
4) Apply layers, drybrush, whatever efffects you want. Again, all GW pots are labeled, so it will say on the pot whether it's a drybrush paint, layer, glaze, etc.
5) Base the model with Elmer's glue and some kind of flock.
6) Seal the model. I used to be a Purity Seal hater (GW's matte spray varnish) but recently I have used it to great effect, it's just very finicky and has to be used in the right conditions. Always test anything you're going to use on your model on a piece of sprue beforehand.

That's about all I can think of right now. Welcome to the forums.

Thanks very much, Zultan :]

Cheers for making me aware of said DVD. I'll see if I can obtain that somewhere

So layer paints are pretty much what used to be the standard paints (eg, bleached bone and the like?)

And, what's the reason for spray-painting a base color? Is that just to make sure it's as thin a base as possible? I used to do pretty much everything (except the chaos black base coat) by brush.

Again, cheers for the quick response!

The way the GW "system" is supposed to work is very simple. Base, Shade, Layer, Layer and if the effect is needed, Drybrush at the end.

They have a handy color chart on the website if you want to use the colors they do for those same models, like Blood Angels reds (Mephiston Red, Carroburg Crimson shade, Evil Suns Scarlet layer, final layer as Wild Rider Red.)

The glazes are kind of tricky. Ideally it's like laying down a piece of glass that's green/blue/red.yellow and making everything appear like it's tinted that way underneath. Best use of them is probably to tone down highlights you feel came out too bright. That's what I see it used for most commonly, at least.

GW has structured their paints into a basecoat/wash/highlight system. Their paints are categorized roughly into this system - walk into a GW shop and have a word with the shopkeep, and he'll explain the system to you.

It's great for beginners, but the same system is applicable to any other type of paint brand. Pick your basecoat, wash or shade with a darker version of the basecoat (or a complementary colour of the basecoat), then work your highlights with a lighter version of the basecoat to make details pop.

DirkVB, mate, if you need some advice on painting miniatures, and you are based in Sydney, Melbourne, or Adelaide, check into OzPainters, particularly the Facebook page.

OzPainters is getting into holding regular workshops. The Sydney affair is at Hall of Heroes, and we'd love to see you there - it's hosted by Mark Soley, the winner of the Slayer Sword at the very last Golden Demon.

If you're in Melbourne, get in touch with Angora, and he'll take care of you. Either him, or Maria.

Cheers for the elaborate responses all.

SRSFACE; Sounds good, but also sounds like mixing paints will be yield different results then when you're mixing paints that are of similar consistency.

I could be wrong there, of course :]

gohkm: Yeahp, I'm in Sydney alright. I prefer being a bit of a recluse though, so I doubt you'll see me around at Hall of Heroes. And I don't like the ridiculously hard sell driven at GW stores so avoid them at all costs.

I'll most definitely check out the FB page. Punch right through that like button.

VB wasn't a beer reference btw

The consistency of the Base and Layer paints is identical, just so you know.

But, yes, obviously different consistencies, mixing changes things up. I've actually utilized the green glaze with basecoat paints to make a darker glaze I used on a black shield I highlighted with greys, to then turn everything a much darker green color to make it look like jade. Was pretty neat.

No dramas, mate. Mark is usually on Facebook anyway. Direct your questions on painting towards him, and he usually responds pretty quickly.

Cheers once more. I'm guessing updates on the progress of my warband are appreciated elsewhere on this site; I'll make sure to contribute a bit.

Don't think that you are stuck using the system they have designed. Look At the colours and see what works best for you.

All acrylic paints will mix with each other. I mean you can easily mix Vallejo with Citadel, or put them on top of each other and so on, without any ill effects.

The main thing is to stick with modelling paints, because artist's paints come in different weights and need to be mixed down for modelling purposes.

 soitra wrote:
Don't think that you are stuck using the system they have designed. Look At the colours and see what works best for you.

Sounds like a plan.

 Kilkrazy wrote:
All acrylic paints will mix with each other. I mean you can easily mix Vallejo with Citadel, or put them on top of each other and so on, without any ill effects.

The main thing is to stick with modelling paints, because artist's paints come in different weights and need to be mixed down for modelling purposes.

Oh heck yeah, never intended to use anything other than modelling paint, would just love to stick to GW since I actually don't mind their product.

Go to YouTube. There are so many tutorials you should be able to find one to fit your style.

As an Australian, the advice I have to give is to not use citadel paints. We pay an extra premium for them over the premium others pay. You can pay $6 for a 12ml pot of citadel paint or $3 for a 17 ml bottle of vallejo (or similar for other hobby ranges). Pay 50% less for 50% more, for an (arguably) better product. The glazes, bases etc. are largely irrelevant when proper use of mediums can create the same effects from any colour which will also make you a better painter. In theory ; p

Feel free to ignore if you're deadset on citadel paints, but it has to be said imo.