The Army Painter Speedpaint Mega Set, 24 Dropper Bottles of Non Toxic 18ml Acrylic Paints with Mixing Balls including 1 Monster Paint Brush

Product Information

All Speedpaints come with two high-grade, rust-proof stainless steel Mixing Balls already loaded in the bottle, making it easier for you to get the perfect consistency. To come up with the 2.0 formula, The Army Painter collaborated with some well-known painters from the YouTube community. A brilliant approach to designing products in my opinion. Goobertown Hobbies, Dana Howl, and “Watch it paint it” were asked to provide their input, and even come up with a bunch of new colours themselves. Speedpaint 2.0 contains a more stable acrylic resin which forms a stronger bond. It is promised to no longer reactivate after a curing time of about 2 hours depending on the environment. Which means there should be a time window of at least 2 hours for blending and reactivation. Or shouldn’t it? Spoiler: yes but no. To find out which Speedpaints reactivate and which do not, I painted all of them on my trusty sheet of plasticard and let them dry for over 24 hours, to make sure that really all of the medium has evaporated. I’m using Spaceship Exterior Warpaint to paint over the left halves, and Corax White over the right halves, which are both very light greys. As you can see, no matter which Speedpaint I’m painting over, the paint reactivates and discolours my acrylic paint. Neither Warpaints or Citadel paints make a difference. The contrast paints do most of the work. Paint flows into recesses and keeps a light color on raised surfaces. If you already paint miniatures any of the larger brushes you use should be just fine. Citadel Contrast Paint Range Colors Release 1 and 2: Speedpainted pieces both digital and traditional are considered by artists to be an excellent exhibition of the subjective skill of a painter, as the time constraint requires efficient rendering of form and detail and a deep understanding of their chosen medium to capture a complete, strong image, and leaves little time for noticing and correcting mistakes.

Yes you can make your own contrast paint with contrast medium. Citadel sells their contrast medium in pots and you can combine it with other acrylics to make your own formulation. With both Speedpaints and Contrast, you’ll get the best result when you apply them generously, wait a little while for them to settle, and then soak up any excess with a damp brush where too much paint has gathered. This way, the medium can do its job and you’ll get a smoother result and more pronounced shading.

British Late War Infantry Citadel Contrast Painting Guide

So before I start this Speedpaint 2.0 review with my honest thoughts on the new Speedpaint formula, I would like to start with a brief recap of why Speedpaint divided the hobby community. The original formula Speedpaint was released on February 22. They were hotly anticipated as they were the first real alternative to Games Workshop’s popular Contrast paints. The Army Painter’s marketing fuelled the hype as they boldly claimed the paints to be even better than the other one-coat paints on the market. And indeed, Speedpaint had a more homogeneous consistency and pigmentation. The flow properties were slightly better than many of their Contrast counterparts. Perhaps most importantly, they were more affordable. However, after the initial YouTube hype died off, painters like Juan Hidalgo and I pointed out that dried Speedpaints reactivate and dissolve when you paint over them with a wet brush or paint. The reason you want to prime white is because of the transparent nature of these paints. In the picture below I have a mini that’s been primed both white and Death Guard Green and went over it with The Army Painter’s Peachy Flesh. You’ll see that you get the “true” color over white and over the green, the undercoat shows right through. Iyanden Yellow Contrast Paint: Depending on what you’re looking for, this is my favorite yellow. It’s not overly bright, it’s got that little bit of brownish orange to it.

Consistency-wise, they are quite thin, similar to pre-thinned airbrush metallic paints. From left to right: Broadsword Silver, Talos Bronze, and Hoplite Gold from the Speedpaint 2.0 range

What is Speedpaint 2.0?

Zealot Yellow is a little more orange than Iyanden Yellow, Fire Giant Orange a little more tomato red. Blood Red and Blood Angels Red are almost identical. Slaughter Red is a bit more crimson and produces slightly more prominent highlights, whereas Flesh Tearers Red is a little darker. Purple Alchemy is clearly darker than Volupus Pink and should perhaps be thinned with a little bit of Speedpaint Medium. Hive Dweller Purple is also slightly darker than Shyish Purple, but dries much less patchy.

In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/or http://www.youronlinechoices.com. The far left of this model was primed Death Guard Green instead of White Scar. You’ll notice the left side is a bit less of a pure flesh tone than the right sideJust be aware your paint job might look different across multiple figures if you craft your own mix. It might be good to note how much medium to how much ink or paint you use.

These paints are designed to make details pop on the battlefield so over-exaggerate the contrasts, which may or may not be your thing. For me, they are perfect and what I’ll be using for my WWII, Sci Fi and Fantasy Forces (Napoleonic players, these would be perfect for you too!) Dark Angels Green Contrast Paint: I love this for grass and leaves. The citadel contrast paints line has a lot of greens, so you can choose your own favorites. For example, Guilliman Flesh Contrast Paint is excellent as a caucasian skin tone on its own. Lay down a white or off white prime, put on a layer of Guilliman Flesh right out of the pot, and you have a good skin tone with contrast to it. For this, I rubbed the upper half of the bases with a wet cotton swab to take away the paint from the edges, aiming for an easy highlight effect. As you can see, after 30 minutes, yet despite rubbing hard, I could barely get any paint off the edges of the details. Though a slight discolouration was visible on the cotton swabs. In some areas, I was able to scrape off the paint, but that was more due to the mechanical stress. After 2 hours of curing time, there is even less discolouration going on. Except for a few colours like Tyrion Navy. After 24 hours, reactivation is almost a non-issue, though I can still detect minor discolouration for some of the colours.

German Afrika Korps Citadel Contrast Painting Guide

This is helpful if you want a very specific color. Contrast paints work by allowing the medium the pigment is suspended in to flow into recesses and give a darker look while keeping a bright look on raised surfaces. However, there is one thing I don’t like about Speedpaints that no one is really talking about: Even when they’re dried, they will reactivate when you paint over them. Here are some spots I wanted to touch up with Greyseer, and even though I applied multiple coats, the Blood Red Speedpaint keeps coming through, turning the Greyseer pink. I reached out to The Army Painter and they told me it is due to the composition of the medium and most prominent with Speedpaints containing a high amount of yellow pigments. Blood Red bleeding through Greyseer paint on top Vallejo is the newest entry into the Contrast alternatives with their XPress Color line. There are 24 paints available as I write this, which includes the base medium. So 23 colors + medium. More presumably to come. They come in 18ml dropper bottles. If you look up your model, for example this Primaris Lieutenant, scroll down to the bottom. You’ll see a section called “ HOW TO PAINT“. They have Classic Method and Contrast method available to toggle between. This lists the paints they suggest to achieve the look on the box art. Prime in either Games Workshop Contrast Undercoat Wraith Bone Spray or Army Painter Color Primer White