Contrast Primers

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Never an early adopter I’m thinking of dabbling with contrast paints. Contrast primer isn’t available on the OTT store just now so I’m wondering what I can use instead.

What is it that makes contrast primer a contrast primer? I’m guessing two things: light colour and smooth texture. I have Halfords grey and white, both of which I think may grab the pigment too well. I also have Army Painter Bone Something and I’m guessing this is a good base.

Am I right here? Or do I need the “proper” Citadel primer? Or the “proper” Halfords primer? 🙂

[jodain 12433xp 1]

I paint with contrast over Halfords Grey Primer, I do have the Wraithbone primer as well which I use for lighter colours.  I haven’t tried it over Halfords White Primer yet (have some to do so with).

My Wolves of Caliban are all Zenithal highlighted with GW Black, then Halfords Grey and Wraithbone primers, then painted over with Space Wolves Grey Contrast.  Works well for me.

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Thanks @jodain I’d never even considered zenithal highlighting.

[laughingboy 20725xp 5]

You don’t need anything special, I paint almost exclusively with contrast paints and do it over a black primer with white zenith and I am happy with the results… else any grey primer will do.

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

I use Halfords matt black (the one that says to use a grey primer on a sticker on the lid) and zenith with white.

I made the mistake one time of using Halfords black automotive primer – it was a disaster! It’s designed to resist “orange peel” effect, so tends to clump and “smooth out” super-fine details. The matt black (non-primer) paint shrinks into the details really really nicely.

I use matt black, white zenith, then slap on the contrast paint – it works really well, keeping the shadowed areas in a nice dark shadow, and helping identify the high spots (which I then follow up with an edge highlight or a layer of “one-shade-brighter” to really make them pop). For me, the trick is to have the confidence to leave some areas of your minis almost black, while bringing the edges up to almost white for the highest highlights.

 

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

Thanks folks. I always keep Halfords grey and black handy.

[144artist 25544xp 1]

Sometimes I will just use regular acrylic paint as a primer, ivory or light grey, and that works just fine.

[captainventanusParticipant 4936xp 1]

Never got the GW primer because I prefer to airbrush the prime coat for miniatures. As primers I have used Vallejo, MigAmmo and AK Interactive and with none of them I ever had any issues. Nor actually using contrast over other colours like Vallejo Game colours.

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

With the weather in the UK right now a non-rattle can primer is favourite. I love my light grey Vallejo primer. This may be the answer I need!

[darkvernonParticipant 1601xp 0]

Except for a far and few references (Apothecarey White!!!) I don’t really like nor use Contrast paints. But you don’t need any special primer. I use Vallejo’s Acrylic-polyurethane white with my airbrush, and there’s never been any problem…

[blinky465 17028xp 2]

I know everyone has been saying you don’t need a special primer – and it’s true, you don’t for contrast paints to do their basic job of adding colour and shade. *But* an actual primer paint (which has a rougher/key texture) does create a different, darker finish than on a smoother/glossier surface. I use both to achieve different effects – for a cloth-like texture, I’d put contrast paint over a “key” surface (rougher primer) – it creates a nice rich colour and nice, deep shades.

But if you give your model a quick cover of a smooth surface paint, or even a slight satin varnish coat, the contrast paint behaves slightly differently – you still get the nice deep shading, but on the very highest points, the paint pulls away, creating much lighter coloured highlights; you can use this effect for slightly shinier surfaces or to create “pop” without spending hours and hours on edge highlighting (personally I still like to add highlights but if you’re batch painting or looking to save time, contrast over a slightly smoother/glossier surface will give you colour, shading and basic highlights in one pass).

So yes, you don’t need special primer for contrast paints. But sometimes you might want to use one.

(I use Halfords matt black with a white zenith for about 90% of my models, but occasionally will paint areas or even entire models with a smooth off-white paint to get the highlight-and-shade-in-one-go finish).

 

[holly 12044xp 3]

Agree with Blinkys comments above.

Contrast paints do their magic thing of creating shade, base and highlight when applied on a smooth primer. The GW ones do that very well, although as can be seen – people are finding ways of making their own equivalents.

in my experience, I’ve found that contrast gives me the bright pop-y finish on the contrast primers. Like this Skaven:

and these dwarves:

however, when applied over basic rattle can primers to create a zenith, I can get a very different look. In this case, the contrast tends to “soak” a lot more so it doesn’t behave in quite the same way. However, a black/grey/white zenith mix with contrast over the top gives some great effects, like this vampire:

and this orc:

[blinky465 17028xp 2]

@carlospictor – great examples (and, pretty impressive painting too!)

[somegeezer 18431xp 1]

Thanks both. I’d wondered about contrast over a “grabby” traditional primer and it’s clear now. I have an Army Painter (Something) Bone I’ll try, maybe a second test model with Vallejo grey.

They’re Napoleonics so a bit of variation is absolutely fine. Will have a play when the paint arrives from OTT.

PS nice vampire!

[onlyonepinman 18060xp 1]

You can pretty much use contrast paints over any white or very light primer. As an alternative to Wraithbone you could try Army Painter Skeleton Bone; it’s a little darker than wraithbone but could work. Similarly you can use white instead of Greyseer but it’s a little brighter.  You can even get some fantastic results painting over metallics like leadbelcher.

I have used several different primers and they all produce really nice effects if the paints are used properly.  That said, I would still recommend using the contrast primers when you’re first starting out just because that’s what they’re intended to work with.

However most GW primers are out of stock pretty much everywhere.

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