Testing the Official New Contrast Method: Super Easy, Big Impact?

That red looks thick as hell compared to the rest. 😅 If you told me it was reg acrylic, I'd believe you.

While you still have just a little less splotches, you have dramatically less brush strokes. Really good tip for sure, though.

Baal Red is the color of the Carapace of my Nids, and I applied it vie stippling and I have loved the look it has given me. Seeing this videos proves I am not bias and it is in fact a pretty smooth look.

How can you not be a Skaven fan! cries in ratfolk

So here's what's going on in terms of the physics. Any form of wash intended to pool in recesses and create shadow works via a combination of gravity and capillary action. Gravity pulls the liquid into deeper and lower locations. Then capillary action causes the deeper wells of liquid to "suck" adjacent liquid into itself. What goes wrong with many attempts at applying washes for shading? Treating the wash too much like glazing. If you think you're using enough liquid you may not be. Without enough liquid there isn't sufficient volume for the liquid to quickly and forcefully run down into recesses. It begins drying in place too quickly. And it dries before capillary action can pull liquid away from raised (and flat) surfaces. Which leaves "coffee stains".

Even with washes not intended to function as "contrast" paint, you should be using a lot of liquid initially - and then quickly dabbing away dripping excess and genuine blobs of liquid that form after settling. The dabbing application style being talked about here and in the GW video is just depositing a ton of liquid fast and forcing gravity and capillary to have an immediate effect.

Getting actual Contrast-brand contrast paint to work well still does require a strategic manipulation of the liquid as you lay it down. You have to use a LOT so it has enough weight and volume to flow quickly and smoothly. But rather than just leaving it sit there (unless it's a mostly opaque color like Baal or Imperial Fist) the brush should then be used to quickly flick certain parts of the surface towards recesses and crevices. Leaving the open flatter areas smooth and glazed.

Army Painter's Speedpaint avoids coffee staining by simply having so much darn medium in it, it runs like quicksilver. But that has its own oddities and strengths / weaknesses.

Licoln Wright said that japanese illustrators use that technique to not only speed up the coats of paint you have to apply but also gives it a nice finish. I'm glad that I've learned of said technique before watching this video which is a pleasant surprise.

Doesn't a lot of it depend on the level of viscosity?

Interesting, thank you for the video!

Game changer! Subscribed

I saw that contrast dabbing video too and wondered if it would really work. I'm glad you tried it out for me :D

No matter how you apply Baal Red it really doesn’t leave tide marks unless the coat is really thin. It just has a high level of opacity and coverage.

Lyla mev is nerdy but a freak in the sheets,

For what it's worth, I did an Astra Militarum Sentinel with Speedpaints Camo Cloak, and on the cockpit I basically just grabbed a huge brush, loaded it up, and just put a coat on as rapidly as possible. I think it turned out great, but that may mostly be because my standards are... not necessarily the highest, I admit. My goal is just to get where a mini is going to look good at three feet from me while on the tabletop. I have zero expectation of ever winning a "best painted" award at a local event, much less at anything larger-scale.

Hö?! You never had the idea of dab it on? I have noticed with my first use of contrast paints that u have denser pigment concentration where the brush leaves the mini, till that Realisation I dab my contrast paints on my minis.

Still way too expensive....

It was always stated in the early days of Contrast that the recommended paint method was to use a dabbing motion but this advice sort of disappeared over the years. It doesn't help when watching videos of 'the experts' it always looked like they were brushing rather than dabbing. I think the reason the method seems to have changed is that most of the paint channels now use Contrast/Speed/Xpress etc paints not in the way that they were originally advertise ie not simply as a 1 coat answer. Good to see a video that revisits some of the earlier advice, even if it was something that was new to you.

Try a gloss / semi gloss { NOT matte } clear coat and let it dry before contrast paints & washes
You might be surprised

Little strokes are surely usefull for some pieces but I still feel chary now I use airbrush thinner to avoid contrast problems. It has a wider range of use!

This style and info of this video got a subscribe from me! Very thorough.

I use tiny short brush strokes, basically a dabbing motion. I love them for basically everything on the model.

Hi from Germany! This time the combination of learning vocabulary and painting is great. New for me was „splotchy“. Wow, I like the sound. Anybody should make a song of it. Mmh, perhaps: Splotchy or not, everyone‘s equal. Yeah, splotchy or not, everyone‘s equal. Oh, getting serious again. Thanks for the video. Before, I watched the last episode of Reginald the Vampire. Does anybody know if there will be a season 3?
To me it’s the greatest vampire series since Buffy and Angel.

To prevent as much pooling, I lay the miniature down. Then I pull the speed paint thicker where I need the shadow. They dry so quick that it takes no time. I agree about using the dabbing technique for shading. Lyla, you have a taught me a lot and I love your videos. Thank you for helping us become better painters.

Still squarespace? at least its an interesting video. I had also never heard of this technique, which is surprising since i've been using contrast paints since the beginning. but from your tests it doesn't look like it worked very well. think i'll skip it.

Ball red, red as balls

Preface: I'm nowhere near as good a painter as Lyla!

I've found that I don't get coffee stains on cloaks, dusters, long coats, etc when I use SpeedPaint 2.0. I'm probably going to get rid of most of my Contrast paints now with the exception of a few key colors. (Baal Red being one that I must keep!)

No. Just, no.

I really dig your vibe❤

dabchop?

I was given this advice when they originally came out from my local warhammer store employee. That being said I understand a lot of people struggle with this concept.

Great video thanks for sharing your thoughts on the technique… very insightful 🇬🇧🫡👍🍻

Interesting timing I have to say, I've heard a lot of talk from behind the scenes about these paints and how they fit into the hobby funnel approach to how GW markets products.

Essentially the marketing people were kind of pushing Contrast as a beginners product, but it's just paint and there's all sorts of ways to use it.

It's not been a secret, but not exactly common knowledge, that you have to get the paint to level itself for a decent finish and I'm glad they've put out a video sbowing you how to do it, I usually just ise very short strokes but the dab is pretty interesting.

I recently started using contrasts myself (actually, Vallejo Xpress color; same concept, different brand). What I found what helps pooling a lot more is using contrast medium. It flowed better and did a smoother coverage

Well that's something I've been doing intuitively pretty quick after I tried Contrast paints for the first time. Glad to find out it's the official way to go 😅

I kinda figured this out on my own. Glad to see people are figuring it out

Way too much paint on the brush. No room for streaking with all that glob going on at once.

I am now a Lyla simp

Tapping Vs Sweeping with speed paints and washes. You want to tap on smaller areas or on things like trim where you want colour in the middle and brighter edges , use sweeping when you want to have more pigment in the crevasses and less on the raised area.

Interesting technique, nice tip.

Baal red over slapchop. Thank me later

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Bhaal red is very opaque, and I feel very flat. It is a vibrant red, it is almost not a contrast paint.
I think better control and a 2nd bush or working in sections to control pooling/coffee staining is a better technique. I often use the coffee stain to my advantage. I either dont care and appreciate the variation if it is minimal, or I cover it with layers, shades or highlights as appropriate.
What I do varies on the nature of the mini. Blasting them out for a tabletop? Contrast, details and done or one highlight after details and done.
Characters, more interesting minis etc. Contrast are just a basecoat that helps a bit and informs the areas for highlights and shadows. That or as shades and filters for other colors.

The correct way to use contrast? Any way you choose

Eh this method is bs, it is impossible to be precise with "dabbing".

The red looks fantastic. Keep up the good work.

Reminds me of the old "dipping" technique from way back in the day. high volume of paint, let the natural pool dry into the recesses.

This video is great, I had no idea about the "recommended" application. Appreciate your review!

it is a super cool model, awesome result!

I was mid comment about to go ACKSHULLY when you identified that the Baal Red just behaves differently. It's really one of the best contrast paints for not doing contrast - it covers so well and bright over white or bone primer, almost like an Ink. There are a few others from the GW line that behave similarly. It's a staple in my paint arsenal but Blood Angels Red is much better for that 'natural shade' effect.

This technique was new to me, had you ever heard it before?