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Hey all

Wondering if anyone here knows of a paint that can be used to successfully tidy up Skeleton Horde Contrast paint (i.e. remove any coffee staining/blotches) without changing the colour and/or leaving an obviously visible patch?

I've tried Citadel Ushabti Bone and my pot of that seems too dark and it leaves an obviously visible patch, I've also tried Citadel Screaming Skull, and that's too light, and thus it also leaves an obviously visible patch. Citadel Wraithbone is also too light...

Thanks in advance.

Contrast works by providing a translucent layer of paint that tints the base color underneath. I don't think think there's an easy fix for stains short of covering the area with the base paint and putting Contrast over it again. Even then you need to apply it carefully to match the shade of the surrounding area.

Perhaps you could mix base and Contrast to mix a color that matches the shade that's on your model, but you still have to deal with putting that on a darker base and perhaps not getting the coverage to make it look smooth next to the regularly applied paint next to it. A lot of Contrast's magic is in the application. How thin or thick it's applied determines the shade of beige you end up with, as does the base color.

The best thing to do, is to be careful when applying the contrast paint in the first place. Try and prevent pooling of the paint in places, and try and go for an even coverage.

You might try thinning the paint a bit with Contrast Medium, if you are having a lot of pooling issues, as that helps the paint flow a bit easier, but will make the paint more transparent.

On smaller areas, just repaint the patch with the base colour then apply the contrast again.

On larger areas you may have to mix your own colour for it as I doubt any GW paint will match straight from the bottle.

When working keep a second brush handy and when you've a little too much in one region nudge the tip of the brush against the overflow to soak it up whilst its still wet.

Yeah as the above, basically. In short the whole 'one thick coat' marketing bollocks with contrast paints is... well, bollocks.

They're heavy wash/glaze mixes. Treat them as such and they're one of the most useful premix paints you can have in your arsenal.

Glazes work best with even, wide strokes. Use as little paint as you can, with as big a brush as is appropriate, with as long a stroke as you can - smooth, long pulls. Wick off excess from the brush onto a napkin or similar (something without too much fuzz/fibre).

Washing, similar technique, but have more paint on, too much and it'll pool where you don't want it. Just pull it to the recesses.Same wicking technique to avoid pooling.

Yeah apply them carefully and leave them to dry fully before touching them again. Coffee staining is usually because you touch the paint when it’s half dry so the dry pigments collect together bad you move the wet ones away from them. I think.

So to avoid coffee staining apply carefully, I tend to work in a downward motion because gravity will take the paint there anyway, and if too much paint pools at the bottom of you stroke simply wash your brush, dry it and then press is gently on the poool of paint to absorb the excess.

Being able to apply in contrast in one go is real pro move. I started with dark angles green which a very dark contrast paint and I almost gave up on them entirely cos I just didn’t understand why every thing was a thick green.

Skeleton horde is a brown I think? Applied on top a bone base? Browns really screw you up if you apply them wrong. I think some people even thin their contrast paints slightly which might help with the darker colours.

Like said above, as a general rule it's a good idea to try avoid the need for fixing. That being said, it's not always possible. Whenever I need to fix marks left by Contrast paints, I try to do so with light drybrushing or wetbrushing so that you do not lose the best property of Contrast paints, that is the smooth blends.

It's difficult to give an exact colour with which to fix Skeleton Horde because its colour depends on choice of the basecoat and thickness of the paint. Personally I am going to use a light bone colour to fix any marks and use it as an opportunity to add highlighting at the same time.

+1 on thinning the Contrast, especially the darker ones. They are much too strong, in my opinion, for straight use.

As for bone... bone is going to have some natural inconsistency in colour. Unless it's terrible, I'd let it lie.

You can achieve a much more controlled result with *adopts Duncan voice* two thin coats. I find it tough to get a consistent one-coat colour, so I just do two thin coats and it works well for me.

Hmm, OK, thanks guys. Guess I just need to practise a bit more.

For what it’s worth, using contrast, especially as a one-coat option, is a different duck to other painting techniques. That’s why I changed to two thin coats... that’s a lot more like how I would apply a wash to a model, but I have to do it twice to get the colour density I want.

I *can* do contrast as a 1-coat application, but I have to focus harder than I like to while painting. It’s hard to describe, but I found I needed to

1: keep enough paint on the brush to have a visible surface tension between the brush and model

2: no retouching the paint, have to get it right the first time

3: need to end my brush stroke against an edge or recess, and need to tip the brush upside down before taking away from the surface to create a well for the excess paint to flow into

4: but not so effectively that it drains the area of *all* the paint, leaving a pale spot instead of a dark spot.


So the extra concentration, for me, left me tired and less efficiently productive than 2 thin coats, which is much more forgiving to my concentration. The thin coats were easier for me to be consistent with, which was less stressful, which let me paint more / longer, and got me more production out of my time.

Even at that, I would typically have done two thin base coats, followed by a wash (minimum) so I tend to save at least one step, and the lighter colours like bone, when used as detail colours and not a main colour, I can often achieve in one coat, better than I could with an old-school approach.

You aren’t alone! Contrast painting is a different skill that needs to be developed.

I'd drybrush using the slightly lighter shade. You'd have to do the whole lot though. What models were you painting?