I think I speed paint weird. I never just use the paint straight out of the bottle, I always mix to get the right hue and tint, and various mediums and varnishes for consistency and transparency. I also work off a really vibrant colored zenithal, like deep greens, blues, reds, or magentas. With that in mind, my results have been very different from these pieces.
I think Xpress are probably the best for most cases, and only 3€ in my local store while SP are 4€ and Citadel 5.65€. GSW didnt seem to work very good appart from that green, however I don't even like the big 60ml format even though it is cheaper ml per ml. I rather buy 5 different Xpress than 3 GSW Inks, for the same price. SP have a great range that Xpress lacks, but they're working on expanding it soon. Finally I miss Scale75 Instant Colors in this video (I think is the only "contrast" range left available on the market as of today). I own a couple of them and they are nice, definitely on the less pigmented end.
Speed Paint definitely won out for me, which is surprising considering a lot of my hobby buddies didn't have great things to say. You should do another comparison for metallics, that would be cool to look at too.
It’s a shame we couldn’t get the Speedpaint 2.0 in time for this great review! We’d love to send you a set once we have them boxed up. We think you’ll enjoy the broad range of 90 colours, the consistency, flow, and coverage!
Is it still reversible? Thats a big minus for me at the first edition. The colors are nice looking and good to apply, but if u wanna give it a last highlight, as an example, they dont stay dry and mix with the other color.
On another note what will it take for AP to make primer spray nozzles and flow as good as GW makes them? I'd love for that to happen because the current ones are a deal breaker for me.
Just showing how the colors actually look like on a mini is extremely useful, it doesn't matter which brand they come from. Please do more videos like this !
I' was amazed by the fact that the paints where all organized and not inside a bag but then I realized that Ollie did it. thank you Ollie for bringing some organization to Ciara's life
Every other video I saw of dipping inks were getting similarly bad results but proclaiming "wow they're so good, citadel bad!" at the end lol. This felt much more natural and real. I think Army Painter held up really well given they do sets and are a little cheaper. Once they bring out their Speed Paints 2.0 with the fixed reactivation I think I'll grab a boxset.
I feel a bit scammed by Army painter they release a product that's not ready and then they go like we listened to you and fixed the product! All you have to do is buy it a again.
Where I live, SpeedPaints are about half the price of Contrast, so there's no contest IMO. The 2.0 range of SpeedPaints seems to be right around the corner, and it's a massive expansion of the range in addition to (according to AP) fixing the reactivation issue while still enabling easy wet blending due to a slow drying time. In combination with Xpress, I really don't see why I'd ever buy Contrast. Less paint in a worse container for more money, and the quality is not even superior.
Ive got the mega set of AP speed paints and tbh Ive never seen this reaction thingy. Mind you I use them as(I think ) they were intended ... base. Shadow hilight in 1 coat I dont glaze or such.
@@MrBizteck So do I, mainly. The reactivation is simply that the paint can become soft/semi-liquid if you wet it even after hours of curing. It happens more easily the more water you put on. So a wash will have more effect than acrylic paint etc. The issue was that people are used to paints curing completely once dry, and assuming the same goes for SpeedPaints. I personally think it is no issue, and that people should have looked into the properties of the paint more before use. But in the end we might get a better product for it, and I'm excited to see the new version once they release the 2.0 formula along with the expanded range.
Been using contrast paints for a while now and definitely loving the newer range. Just got some speed paints for Christmas though and honestly I prefer almost all of them. I have been very impressed by the speed paints and their ability to not pool on flat surface. Their skin tone also surprised me the most as I've found it to be the best for a quick white skin tone that doesn't look patchy
Skin - Speed Paint - Crusader Skin Purple - Speed Paint - Hive Dweller Purple Blue - Speed Paint - Highlord Blue Red - Speed Paint - Blood Red Yellow - Speed Paint - Zealot Yellow Green - GW - Ork Flesh Brown - Speed Paint - Hardened Yellow Other: I liked Vallejo's Purple (better for Hawk Lords or Soul Drinkers), Green Stuff World's Blue (more Turquoise), GW's Imperial Fist (much brighter, would need a wash for the recesses) and Green Stuff World's green for a different hue of green.
I've started seeing it as a paint-by-paint basis for my picking method, versus a particular brand loyalty. Especially with these contrast lines. I love most of them tbh. Great video!
Totally agree. I like GW because they're easily available, and they're consistent, but I'm always happy to try other things out. Whatever suits the job I'm doing right!?
For the yellows. That zealot yellow on a plate metal base. I did it accidentally once and it makes such an incredible gold. the orange tint to it shades and highlights to gold incredibly.
Appreciate this! Looking forward to the full review of them each. For me personally, being a majority Vallejo painter, ill get a set of Xpress. When Speed paint 2.0 comes out Ill get a set of those just to have a different color/look option. And Ill have a box of a bunch of test models or bases so I'll remember how each look.
"get them all" - maybe it's not the best advice but it's kinda true... I've tried both Citadel, AP and Vallejo and you kinda need to try them out to find your personal favourites. I love some of the AP ones and others not so much. I love some of the Vallejo ones and others not so much. And so on. I do love the consistency of the Vallejo Express Colors but in the end it's really about personal preferences.
I think we need a second part with like Orange ,white and other colors that was left out in this one. I'm very impressed with the Vallejo colors but then again it's Vallejo and their colors have never let me down yet.
Hey, just a quick thank you! You sold me on Vallejo's Xpress paints. I've been debating it for some time now and after watching your comparisons I bought them and fell in love with them. I'll still use Citadel for specific colors but looks like Vallejo's Xpress will be my go to now. Thanks!
This is a great help. Everyone has their own preference. This shows that you need to watch this type of content and pick your preference for each colour.
I think the speedpaint Zealot yellow is a great base to then layer on some solid yellow on panels and raised surfaces. With the orange being a solid recess shade.
It also seems more comparable to Iyanden Yellow instead of any of the 3 new ones. I'd like to have a video (or series) comparing the brands in their totality instead of a single pot of each for each color, especially as Citadel has so many for each color.
This is a great overview! Thanks so much. I love that different specific paints win out from different companies, rather than one brand having the best overall. That Zealot Yellow Army SpeedPaint is going in my toolbox for painting "Yellow" Yu Jing armor from Infinity by Corvus Belli.
I'm totally on board with Speedpaints. I'm a bit miffed that reformulated Speedpaints are just around the corner after I JUST bought the Mega Set for Christmas, but I'm still super-happy with them. I saw a video about the reactivation issue and how to combat it, and it's just "use the Speedpaint Medium to thin out standard acrylic paints", which has worked wonders for me so far!
this is a great video, thank you! as someone who is just getting into the painting hobby, and starting to collect their paint inventory, this gives me a great look at which ones will give me the result i'm expecting from these style of paints. i assumed i would end up with a mix of different brands, and it this gives me a clear idea of which paints i want from who.
I am terribly fond of the Contrast line, but I definitely wanna try some Xpress and Speedpaints! GSW's Black Shadow dip gives a nice, even sooty texture when applied lightly, and with layers it's really good for darkening whatever colour is underneath. I did this on a brick red coat, putting more layers on the shadowed parts, and the result was REALLY lovely! Made it look both lightly weathered, shaded, and a very muted red/brown, like rich leather.
I absolutely love Blood Red from Army Painter. The only issue is its probably the worst offender for reactivation. However, as a one coat solution for Farsight Enclaves, its incredible!
Speedpaint camo green might be more to your liking if you liked the Greenstuff. In any event, I think it is a more useful green than orc flesh. Edit: Oops, it wasn't the color I was thinking, it's a darker desaturated green, not similar to the Greenstuff green shown here. Still preferable to the orc flesh, IMO.
Awesome vid. The goopiness of Army Painter Speedpaint is what I think allows it to dry so smooth, iirc they said that they formulated it to have a longer drying time so the paint can sorta flow and smooth out along the model rather than dry patchy.
Thanks for sharing. As you mentioned at the end, Citadel do have the biggest range and, as such, have a lot of alternative greens, blues, reds, yellows and browns that are closer to the "competitor" hues that were seen in the video e.g. Fleshtearers Red is much closer to Blood Red, etc.. That said, I confess, I am biased. Citadel have been my go-to paint brand for 30+ years and their contrast range are by far my favourites to date - I have every single pot, lovingly displayed in colour order with example painted bases attached to the shelf under each one for quick and simple referencing! 😉) re: pots comment - in the main, I like their pots but, after having more than one spillage (!!!), I now always use a "pot holder" to avoid accidently covering my paint station in a very quick and uncontrollable spill! 😆
Well, As an Aussie with children, I can tell you this... ...I'd go with Vallejo or Army Painter; because those are affordable here. Personally, though, I tend towards Reaper's HD paints, they usually hit the mark for my TTRPG minis and such. But they've recently started becoming more expensive, so Iv been looking at Vallejo and Army Painter paints to transition too... but even their complete boxes can really run up the costs ($220AUD for the 50-sets).
This is very helpful, despite not having definitive "answers" per se. I have mostly citadel contrast and that seems to be the overall most consistent brand, but unfortunately, there's no real winner, you just have to decide for yourself which color and level of contrast you really want/need. Darn, a difficult choice that no one can really decide for you ultimately, but having a video like this that demonstrates the results is still extremely helpful. Great job thanks!
I really like working with the Vallejo Xpress paints and they've expanded their range with a lot more colours now. The reason I prefer them is they have a longer drying time which for me, makes them much easier to work with. I've never quite got on with Contrast as it tends to dry before I can correct everything, leaving visible brushstrokes. That'll come down to my style of painting and the Vallejo range just compliments my slow style.
A GW Contrast Yellow with more contrast and quite the same great tone is Ironjawz Yellow. I use it mostly on my Escher Armor and it just looks brilliant.
I just tested a load of the next Xpress paints and was very impressed especially when you factor in the cost . They areover£1 cheaper. But it generally hard to compare brands as you showed
Speedpaints are currently let down by the spooky reactivation problem, but that is getting fixed in a revision this year. Agreed that their yellow is bizarre but fun.
Thank you for the video, I think this kind of comparison can be very useful. I am using Army Painter's Speed paints and I have to say I like them. Eager to try the other ones when I can afford more paints.
Glad to have found this channel, finally someone that talks and reviews like an actual human being and not another perfect robot-human painter that's also programmed to talk about paint professionally and all have the same opinion
I have a lot of Citadel's Contrast paints and I generally like them quite a lot. I would point out though that a lot of the paler Contrast paints have a tendency to separate a lot, and can require an incredibly amount of mixing before use. I've put an agitator into my pot of Apothecary White and it still takes a long time with a vortex mixer to get it ready to use, so that's something to bear in mind when shopping!
I happen to use Citadel over a long time and they never got the separation under control. So i looked for other options and vallejo is a solid and cheaper alterative for me.
Army painter speedpaint looks sooo amazing. Ive heard so much bad about their paints but they look so great. I am sooo excited that I get to use them tomorrow!
Looks like I need to get Vallejo paint, I really like my models being bright and vibrant. Contrast is all in the way you apply your paintjob. It might take longer, but the result is more personal, and dramatic.
Army painter speed paints have a few that need improvement but overall army painter has produced an awesome product at a price point that’s not as high at GW.
Tough job, especially because the comparisons seem a bit arbitrarily judged on their names. I think that with paints there are winners and losers across all brands. Retributor Gold is a staple while Citadel's white paints are notoriously bad. Vallejo does superb skin tones but I've found some of their reds to be even more transparent than other brands, almost functioning as bad as yellows and oranges. Out of all of these, the standout instant classic is Speedpaint Hardened Leather, what an AMAZING color! For me I only have a small selection of contrast paints. Gharaghak's Sewer, Black Legion and Templar, Bhaal Red, Imperial Fists Yellow and Plaguebearer Flesh. They're all very different and I've been 100% satisfied with all of them. I've used the Gharaghak one on an ork bomber jacket and it's the perfect saturation and intensely saturated brown for that exact purpose. Black Legion is a full on replacement for black layer/base paint. It dries matte, no need for thinning or mixing, easy to apply, one coat, magic in a bottle, instant staple. I've used Bhaal red for all sorts of things and it's great - My favourite use so far has been through an airbrush for a base coat and it looks fantastic. The others are very good too. I think knowing how to use these sort of paints and for what is key. I'm not going to paint trees with the sewer one, it's not suitable for that or for leather armor. I'm not going to use Bhaal Red for blood or armour panels. I'm not going to use plaguebearer flesh for grass or Salamanders armor. With that in mind, all of these contrast paint variations are useful in some way or another.
"the more I use dropper bottles... The more I hate the he pots" 😂 i remember like a month ago when you posted that you were putting your paints back in gw pots on Instagram 😂
5:10 - It's important to note that to GW, the contrast line is for thin paints that cover in one pass, not necessarily paints that are translucent and darken in the recesses. That's why the second wave of contrast paints included ones like Baal Red, Bad Moon Yellow, and Sigvald Burgundy. These are intended to produce a flat, even coat of their color over any surface primed white. Yes, it's confusing, and yes, it defeats the purpose of the name 'Contrast Paint'. I have no idea why they didn't just make a new line for these.
"when applied over a light undercoat of Grey Seer or Wraithbone, gives you a vivid base and realistic shading all in a single application." Even worse when the description literally says it also produces shading. More likely the contrast paints just aren't that good at it. Which makes sense as it's a v1.0 product. Everyone will improve on it and from what you said it sounds like GW is going go back around for another try at it.
@@CTCParadox Actually, all of the flat paints are from the 2.0 wave of contrast paints. They actually had a special name for this particular set of paints in the initial promotional material, but it doesn't look like they're continuing to highlight them as being different in new materials. Not sure what's up with that, as they're fantastic at what they do, which is provide a smooth, opaque one-coat solution for a flat, unshaded basecoat.
Thanks for the video, I'm often looking for other paint/ink options for my painting arsenal. While I must admit I'm more traditional with my miniature paintings, I do see the advantages of speed painting. Looking forward to the next video. God bless 🙏
Great video guys, pretty much my own conclusion from my experiences too. Was great to see some of the colours I havent used from these brands on miniatures. That vallejo ork skin tone 😍 . Keep the great videos coming you two
I have been using more Contrast paints since they came out as a starting base coat and highlighting/shading with regular Vallejo paints for layering. I was not too impressed by the Speedpaints except for a few exceptions, but Vallejo is stepping up into this territory and I wanted to see their color range. I love the comparison, would love to see more of the other paints of the range and see what they can do. Looks like I will be picking some from each.
Thank you so much dor this video. I made a list of what I want and you made me realise that sticking to just one company isn’t the best strategy. Getting them all would be nice but a bit of a waste for now… Maybe one day!
I liked the Green Stuff World’s Green because it will help with my Black Orc team of Blood Bowl; they are supposed to be a more saturaded green than the other Orcs
Fun video and comparison. I guess the main take away is how those apply since the outcome is so very varied depending on pigment and the range as a whole (for example, GW does a purple more similar to the express colour one). I really like the approach though, the results are perfect to get a good feeling for how the paints look dry. A perfect video would be to see the whole range of paints applied this way. But that is a shit ton of work
I would enjoy seeing you do another video like this. Comparing more of the colors between the lines. Ciara's reactions are fun to watch/listen too and being able to see different paints tackle different colors. Separate reviews are fine, but side by side comparisons like this help you see things that you wouldn't notice otherwise.
This is a GREAT video!! Thanks a lot! I was about to start using Speed paints for the first time in a very important set of miniatures for me, so I had some doubts. You tested three important colors for my project and gave me the confidence I needed. My results are great. You are also funny😊
A few of the paints you enjoyed had more closer matches such as the yellow! Contrast have a yellow that looks like the speed paint with the orange tones
Purely in terms of sheer amount of Paint Juice you get, GSW dipping inks must always be considered. For example, picking up azure dip if you paint lizardmen. Dropper bottle, a shit ton of paint, good coverage, bright, seems solid to me.
I really liked that paint.. it was one of my personal favourites. If it looked that good over a straight spray can zenithal, imagine what it'd look like with more refinement!
Unreal how army painter speed paint actually made a solid contrasting speed paint that gives depth and the rest of these still need a wash to make the colours have any kind of effect… otherwise they just look like thin medium base coats where army paint speed paint does all the work immediately… wild… guess I’m gonna get the 2.0 as well
I think the Army Painter reds look good, but they are the most susceptible to the Speedpaint reactivation issue, which makes it a bit of a pain to use as a base coat unless you spray varnish between steps.
Blood Red made me gasp the first time I used it, I was so surprised by the vibrancy. Fantastic color. I've personally always seen the reactivation as a tool rather than a shortcoming, but it does limit certain kinds of workflows. If you like the range beside the reactivation, you might want to check out the new formula coming out sometime in the spring. Sounds like those will give us the best of both worlds.
Nice work. I bought all the Dips and never painted full things. Ive played with them in small patches and I like alot of the effects. Ork Flesh dip is always a fun one.
Yeah, the Dipping Inks overall do look disappointing, both in tone and in the behavior of the paint, glad I did not go for that range despite to awesome balue with the big bottles. Got a Speedpaint 1.0 Megaset and before that a few Contrast paints, and I'm pretty much set with that and gotta say that I like the speedpaints better than Contrast overall now, not just the better price. Xpress Colors tempt me to maybe add a few colors that I don't really need to my collection, and Speedpaint 2.0 is on the horizon and looking even better, too! Don't know yet what I will replace colors that go empty with between these two. The mixing ball that is pre-added into the Speedpaints might be the deciding tip on the scale in the end! :D
I’m assuming that’s not the Speed Paint 2.0 series that Army Painter is about to release? It would be good to do an update video later with that range as well.
The trick on that yellow is that Citadel has two, and the Army Painter yellow shades to orange just like Iyanden, instead of a clearer, but less interesting Imperial FIst.
Army painter is expanding the Speed Paint line and also will be adding speed paint metallic paint. There's a few shades in-between some of the Speed Paints I'd like. I do like the Hardened Leather for leather bits and Dark Wood for trees/bows - and brown hair.
Speed Paint Blood Red is what im using for my Votann over a Zenithal. Its a really nice red but Im still experimenting as I find I'm having to do a lot of work over the top to push the contrast further. In that regards the reactivation isnt bad because it helps blend a little better.
What are your favourites and what do you think of speed painting techniques and colours?
I'm interested in Speed Paint 2.0. Until then, I'll stick with Contrast.
are you not missing scale75 s instant colors? I heard they are more like an ink and very useable
I think I speed paint weird. I never just use the paint straight out of the bottle, I always mix to get the right hue and tint, and various mediums and varnishes for consistency and transparency. I also work off a really vibrant colored zenithal, like deep greens, blues, reds, or magentas. With that in mind, my results have been very different from these pieces.
I think Xpress are probably the best for most cases, and only 3€ in my local store while SP are 4€ and Citadel 5.65€. GSW didnt seem to work very good appart from that green, however I don't even like the big 60ml format even though it is cheaper ml per ml. I rather buy 5 different Xpress than 3 GSW Inks, for the same price. SP have a great range that Xpress lacks, but they're working on expanding it soon. Finally I miss Scale75 Instant Colors in this video (I think is the only "contrast" range left available on the market as of today). I own a couple of them and they are nice, definitely on the less pigmented end.
Speed Paint definitely won out for me, which is surprising considering a lot of my hobby buddies didn't have great things to say. You should do another comparison for metallics, that would be cool to look at too.
It’s a shame we couldn’t get the Speedpaint 2.0 in time for this great review! We’d love to send you a set once we have them boxed up. We think you’ll enjoy the broad range of 90 colours, the consistency, flow, and coverage!
And next time, share the wine 🍷
That sounds good to me, I'd love to give them a try. I was pleasantly surprised with some of the colours here! 😀
More wine for the next one!
Is it still reversible? Thats a big minus for me at the first edition. The colors are nice looking and good to apply, but if u wanna give it a last highlight, as an example, they dont stay dry and mix with the other color.
On another note what will it take for AP to make primer spray nozzles and flow as good as GW makes them? I'd love for that to happen because the current ones are a deal breaker for me.
lol I think army painter auto win the other 3 for showing they care about the reviews
Just showing how the colors actually look like on a mini is extremely useful, it doesn't matter which brand they come from. Please do more videos like this !
I' was amazed by the fact that the paints where all organized and not inside a bag but then I realized that Ollie did it. thank you Ollie for bringing some organization to Ciara's life
All in nice neat little rows.. definitely NOT Ciaras doing.
Every other video I saw of dipping inks were getting similarly bad results but proclaiming "wow they're so good, citadel bad!" at the end lol. This felt much more natural and real. I think Army Painter held up really well given they do sets and are a little cheaper. Once they bring out their Speed Paints 2.0 with the fixed reactivation I think I'll grab a boxset.
I feel a bit scammed by Army painter they release a product that's not ready and then they go like we listened to you and fixed the product! All you have to do is buy it a again.
@@ml6158 I can understand that, yeah. Always make sure to wait for reviews first, that's how I approach it.
Where I live, SpeedPaints are about half the price of Contrast, so there's no contest IMO. The 2.0 range of SpeedPaints seems to be right around the corner, and it's a massive expansion of the range in addition to (according to AP) fixing the reactivation issue while still enabling easy wet blending due to a slow drying time. In combination with Xpress, I really don't see why I'd ever buy Contrast. Less paint in a worse container for more money, and the quality is not even superior.
Ive got the mega set of AP speed paints and tbh Ive never seen this reaction thingy. Mind you I use them as(I think ) they were intended ... base. Shadow hilight in 1 coat
I dont glaze or such.
@@MrBizteck So do I, mainly. The reactivation is simply that the paint can become soft/semi-liquid if you wet it even after hours of curing. It happens more easily the more water you put on. So a wash will have more effect than acrylic paint etc. The issue was that people are used to paints curing completely once dry, and assuming the same goes for SpeedPaints. I personally think it is no issue, and that people should have looked into the properties of the paint more before use. But in the end we might get a better product for it, and I'm excited to see the new version once they release the 2.0 formula along with the expanded range.
Been using contrast paints for a while now and definitely loving the newer range. Just got some speed paints for Christmas though and honestly I prefer almost all of them. I have been very impressed by the speed paints and their ability to not pool on flat surface. Their skin tone also surprised me the most as I've found it to be the best for a quick white skin tone that doesn't look patchy
This calls for a part 2. With more wine on the house!
Let the wine flow!
Painting with the wine.
More wine incoming!
@@BroadswordWargaming Awesome!
More please!
Skin - Speed Paint - Crusader Skin
Purple - Speed Paint - Hive Dweller Purple
Blue - Speed Paint - Highlord Blue
Red - Speed Paint - Blood Red
Yellow - Speed Paint - Zealot Yellow
Green - GW - Ork Flesh
Brown - Speed Paint - Hardened Yellow
Other:
I liked Vallejo's Purple (better for Hawk Lords or Soul Drinkers), Green Stuff World's Blue (more Turquoise), GW's Imperial Fist (much brighter, would need a wash for the recesses) and Green Stuff World's green for a different hue of green.
I've started seeing it as a paint-by-paint basis for my picking method, versus a particular brand loyalty. Especially with these contrast lines. I love most of them tbh. Great video!
Totally agree. I like GW because they're easily available, and they're consistent, but I'm always happy to try other things out. Whatever suits the job I'm doing right!?
Please do another video with more colors. This will become a must-have reference for painters
Yes please!
For the yellows. That zealot yellow on a plate metal base. I did it accidentally once and it makes such an incredible gold. the orange tint to it shades and highlights to gold incredibly.
Yep, that’s how I do my golds! It’s incredible!
Yep and also if you want an older more brassy gold use Sand Golem
@@QuimFreecss I also use leather and thinned reds a lot for different bronzed effects.
Appreciate this! Looking forward to the full review of them each. For me personally, being a majority Vallejo painter, ill get a set of Xpress. When Speed paint 2.0 comes out Ill get a set of those just to have a different color/look option. And Ill have a box of a bunch of test models or bases so I'll remember how each look.
"get them all" - maybe it's not the best advice but it's kinda true... I've tried both Citadel, AP and Vallejo and you kinda need to try them out to find your personal favourites. I love some of the AP ones and others not so much. I love some of the Vallejo ones and others not so much. And so on. I do love the consistency of the Vallejo Express Colors but in the end it's really about personal preferences.
Thank you so much for this. I'm just getting into miniature painting and this really helps me with my paint choices, especially as a beginner.
Glad I could help!
I'm a big fan of Army Painter myself. Solid colors and not expensive. Plus, they come in dropper bottles. :)
I think we need a second part with like Orange ,white and other colors that was left out in this one. I'm very impressed with the Vallejo colors but then again it's Vallejo and their colors have never let me down yet.
Great to see a video portraying all of them. I must say I am very impressed with the Army Painter Speed paints !
Hey, just a quick thank you! You sold me on Vallejo's Xpress paints. I've been debating it for some time now and after watching your comparisons I bought them and fell in love with them. I'll still use Citadel for specific colors but looks like Vallejo's Xpress will be my go to now. Thanks!
This is a great help. Everyone has their own preference. This shows that you need to watch this type of content and pick your preference for each colour.
I think the speedpaint Zealot yellow is a great base to then layer on some solid yellow on panels and raised surfaces. With the orange being a solid recess shade.
It also seems more comparable to Iyanden Yellow instead of any of the 3 new ones. I'd like to have a video (or series) comparing the brands in their totality instead of a single pot of each for each color, especially as Citadel has so many for each color.
This is a great overview! Thanks so much. I love that different specific paints win out from different companies, rather than one brand having the best overall. That Zealot Yellow Army SpeedPaint is going in my toolbox for painting "Yellow" Yu Jing armor from Infinity by Corvus Belli.
I'm totally on board with Speedpaints. I'm a bit miffed that reformulated Speedpaints are just around the corner after I JUST bought the Mega Set for Christmas, but I'm still super-happy with them. I saw a video about the reactivation issue and how to combat it, and it's just "use the Speedpaint Medium to thin out standard acrylic paints", which has worked wonders for me so far!
Please make this a series and do more! ⚡
I'm not a brand loyal painter, I pick what works best for me from all over the place. ☺
Thanks a lot! It helped me to decide and across the board my faves were the Speed Paints!
Glad I could help!
this is a great video, thank you! as someone who is just getting into the painting hobby, and starting to collect their paint inventory, this gives me a great look at which ones will give me the result i'm expecting from these style of paints. i assumed i would end up with a mix of different brands, and it this gives me a clear idea of which paints i want from who.
The Yellow Speed Paint is kind of clever. Usually Yellow shades are oranges and reds since adding black will just make it a greenish brown.
The AP ones reads as orange and not yellow though.
I am terribly fond of the Contrast line, but I definitely wanna try some Xpress and Speedpaints! GSW's Black Shadow dip gives a nice, even sooty texture when applied lightly, and with layers it's really good for darkening whatever colour is underneath. I did this on a brick red coat, putting more layers on the shadowed parts, and the result was REALLY lovely! Made it look both lightly weathered, shaded, and a very muted red/brown, like rich leather.
I absolutely love Blood Red from Army Painter. The only issue is its probably the worst offender for reactivation. However, as a one coat solution for Farsight Enclaves, its incredible!
Its pretty much the same as blood angels red from GW, but that doesn't reactivate. Sadly I won't be touching the army painter series.
Speedpaint camo green might be more to your liking if you liked the Greenstuff. In any event, I think it is a more useful green than orc flesh. Edit: Oops, it wasn't the color I was thinking, it's a darker desaturated green, not similar to the Greenstuff green shown here. Still preferable to the orc flesh, IMO.
Awesome vid. The goopiness of Army Painter Speedpaint is what I think allows it to dry so smooth, iirc they said that they formulated it to have a longer drying time so the paint can sorta flow and smooth out along the model rather than dry patchy.
Thanks for sharing. As you mentioned at the end, Citadel do have the biggest range and, as such, have a lot of alternative greens, blues, reds, yellows and browns that are closer to the "competitor" hues that were seen in the video e.g. Fleshtearers Red is much closer to Blood Red, etc.. That said, I confess, I am biased. Citadel have been my go-to paint brand for 30+ years and their contrast range are by far my favourites to date - I have every single pot, lovingly displayed in colour order with example painted bases attached to the shelf under each one for quick and simple referencing! 😉)
re: pots comment - in the main, I like their pots but, after having more than one spillage (!!!), I now always use a "pot holder" to avoid accidently covering my paint station in a very quick and uncontrollable spill! 😆
I appreciate the wine break, that's exactly how I paint!
Well,
As an Aussie with children, I can tell you this...
...I'd go with Vallejo or Army Painter; because those are affordable here.
Personally, though, I tend towards Reaper's HD paints, they usually hit the mark for my TTRPG minis and such. But they've recently started becoming more expensive, so Iv been looking at Vallejo and Army Painter paints to transition too... but even their complete boxes can really run up the costs ($220AUD for the 50-sets).
This is very helpful, despite not having definitive "answers" per se. I have mostly citadel contrast and that seems to be the overall most consistent brand, but unfortunately, there's no real winner, you just have to decide for yourself which color and level of contrast you really want/need. Darn, a difficult choice that no one can really decide for you ultimately, but having a video like this that demonstrates the results is still extremely helpful. Great job thanks!
I really like working with the Vallejo Xpress paints and they've expanded their range with a lot more colours now. The reason I prefer them is they have a longer drying time which for me, makes them much easier to work with. I've never quite got on with Contrast as it tends to dry before I can correct everything, leaving visible brushstrokes. That'll come down to my style of painting and the Vallejo range just compliments my slow style.
I love Marmite though. Also I'm so stoked with the AP Speed Paints. Loved them from the start. Continue to love them.
Great video. Love the format. One of the neat things is how all the paint ranges are all different, but in good ways. Lots of choices.
i was thinking about which paints i should buy and then this angel shows up and makes a video just in time, nice!
A GW Contrast Yellow with more contrast and quite the same great tone is Ironjawz Yellow. I use it mostly on my Escher Armor and it just looks brilliant.
That hardened leather speed paint did look pretty good.
I just tested a load of the next Xpress paints and was very impressed especially when you factor in the cost . They areover£1 cheaper. But it generally hard to compare brands as you showed
I think it's a really subjective thing, and each paint is really different. There is no "best" paint, just nice paints. :)
Speedpaints are currently let down by the spooky reactivation problem, but that is getting fixed in a revision this year. Agreed that their yellow is bizarre but fun.
Thank you for the video, I think this kind of comparison can be very useful. I am using Army Painter's Speed paints and I have to say I like them. Eager to try the other ones when I can afford more paints.
I like the bottle of wine at the start of the vid on the left. It also became an essential part of the hobby for me. Cheers!
Glad to have found this channel, finally someone that talks and reviews like an actual human being and not another perfect robot-human painter that's also programmed to talk about paint professionally and all have the same opinion
Ah thanks so much, glad you like it. Honestly, we like to give genuine opinions (as unbiased as possible) about things. :)
I have a lot of Citadel's Contrast paints and I generally like them quite a lot. I would point out though that a lot of the paler Contrast paints have a tendency to separate a lot, and can require an incredibly amount of mixing before use. I've put an agitator into my pot of Apothecary White and it still takes a long time with a vortex mixer to get it ready to use, so that's something to bear in mind when shopping!
I have the same issue.
I happen to use Citadel over a long time and they never got the separation under control. So i looked for other options and vallejo is a solid and cheaper alterative for me.
Army painter speedpaint looks sooo amazing. Ive heard so much bad about their paints but they look so great. I am sooo excited that I get to use them tomorrow!
Looks like I need to get Vallejo paint, I really like my models being bright and vibrant. Contrast is all in the way you apply your paintjob. It might take longer, but the result is more personal, and dramatic.
Wow, those Speed Paints from AP are... quite amazing to be honest.
Thanks for this video it did help a lot I'm new to figure painting and choosing paint is a minefield with lots of potentially expensive mistakes ahead
Army painter speed paints have a few that need improvement but overall army painter has produced an awesome product at a price point that’s not as high at GW.
Tough job, especially because the comparisons seem a bit arbitrarily judged on their names.
I think that with paints there are winners and losers across all brands. Retributor Gold is a staple while Citadel's white paints are notoriously bad. Vallejo does superb skin tones but I've found some of their reds to be even more transparent than other brands, almost functioning as bad as yellows and oranges.
Out of all of these, the standout instant classic is Speedpaint Hardened Leather, what an AMAZING color!
For me I only have a small selection of contrast paints. Gharaghak's Sewer, Black Legion and Templar, Bhaal Red, Imperial Fists Yellow and Plaguebearer Flesh. They're all very different and I've been 100% satisfied with all of them. I've used the Gharaghak one on an ork bomber jacket and it's the perfect saturation and intensely saturated brown for that exact purpose.
Black Legion is a full on replacement for black layer/base paint. It dries matte, no need for thinning or mixing, easy to apply, one coat, magic in a bottle, instant staple.
I've used Bhaal red for all sorts of things and it's great - My favourite use so far has been through an airbrush for a base coat and it looks fantastic. The others are very good too.
I think knowing how to use these sort of paints and for what is key. I'm not going to paint trees with the sewer one, it's not suitable for that or for leather armor. I'm not going to use Bhaal Red for blood or armour panels. I'm not going to use plaguebearer flesh for grass or Salamanders armor. With that in mind, all of these contrast paint variations are useful in some way or another.
Strangely helpful. I really like the red wine and the GSW green, Vallejo brown and GW yellow - which is not very contrasty but nice.
I actually laughed out loud at the 'rubber duck yellow' comment.
I picked up the SpeedPaints recently and Hardened Leather might be my favorite paint period.
It is brilliant, I was surprised. I generally have a relatively dim view on AP, but they've made some great colours here!
Watching this I laughed a lot more than usual when watching videos about paint. And it was useful too. Another great upload, folks! 👍👍
"the more I use dropper bottles... The more I hate the he pots" 😂 i remember like a month ago when you posted that you were putting your paints back in gw pots on Instagram 😂
So fickle! haha Maybe I hate all the options lol
5:10 - It's important to note that to GW, the contrast line is for thin paints that cover in one pass, not necessarily paints that are translucent and darken in the recesses. That's why the second wave of contrast paints included ones like Baal Red, Bad Moon Yellow, and Sigvald Burgundy. These are intended to produce a flat, even coat of their color over any surface primed white. Yes, it's confusing, and yes, it defeats the purpose of the name 'Contrast Paint'. I have no idea why they didn't just make a new line for these.
Yeah. They should have used blood angels red and Iyanden yellow for this test.
"when applied over a light undercoat of Grey Seer or Wraithbone, gives you a vivid base and realistic shading all in a single application."
Even worse when the description literally says it also produces shading. More likely the contrast paints just aren't that good at it. Which makes sense as it's a v1.0 product. Everyone will improve on it and from what you said it sounds like GW is going go back around for another try at it.
@@CTCParadox Actually, all of the flat paints are from the 2.0 wave of contrast paints. They actually had a special name for this particular set of paints in the initial promotional material, but it doesn't look like they're continuing to highlight them as being different in new materials. Not sure what's up with that, as they're fantastic at what they do, which is provide a smooth, opaque one-coat solution for a flat, unshaded basecoat.
"In summary I have no idea." Best answer for contrast paints demo. Appreciate the show case. "Just get them all." The struggle is real!
I really like the hardened leather speed paint. I've only ever used GW and Vallejo paints before but I want to try some of the Speed Paints now
Yeah, it's a lovely paint! 😍
look out SPEED PAINTS... take off when you want to get second layer or you puting varnish on.
Thanks for the video, I'm often looking for other paint/ink options for my painting arsenal. While I must admit I'm more traditional with my miniature paintings, I do see the advantages of speed painting. Looking forward to the next video. God bless 🙏
@Broadsword Wargaming you might need to reread your heading it's reads like the first word is a typo
Great video guys, pretty much my own conclusion from my experiences too. Was great to see some of the colours I havent used from these brands on miniatures. That vallejo ork skin tone 😍 . Keep the great videos coming you two
I really like zealot yellow . It is how I imagine contrast.
I have been using more Contrast paints since they came out as a starting base coat and highlighting/shading with regular Vallejo paints for layering. I was not too impressed by the Speedpaints except for a few exceptions, but Vallejo is stepping up into this territory and I wanted to see their color range. I love the comparison, would love to see more of the other paints of the range and see what they can do. Looks like I will be picking some from each.
Thank you so much dor this video. I made a list of what I want and you made me realise that sticking to just one company isn’t the best strategy. Getting them all would be nice but a bit of a waste for now… Maybe one day!
I liked the Green Stuff World’s Green because it will help with my Black Orc team of Blood Bowl; they are supposed to be a more saturaded green than the other Orcs
Good video. Nice to see the various brands put side by side, lets folk decide for themselves which they prefer.
Thanks man! Yeah, I think that's it.it so subjective really..Everyone has their own liked and dislikes.
Loved the effort you put into this video. For a novice like myself, this video helped me in what I want to buy.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for this comparison. I wish that you address the bleeding effects where the colors get into locations it shouldn’t.
Fun video and comparison. I guess the main take away is how those apply since the outcome is so very varied depending on pigment and the range as a whole (for example, GW does a purple more similar to the express colour one). I really like the approach though, the results are perfect to get a good feeling for how the paints look dry.
A perfect video would be to see the whole range of paints applied this way. But that is a shit ton of work
Este video no tiene desperdicio, lo he visto varias veces y se que volvere a verlo en el futuro. Gracias, muchas gracias.
I would enjoy seeing you do another video like this. Comparing more of the colors between the lines. Ciara's reactions are fun to watch/listen too and being able to see different paints tackle different colors. Separate reviews are fine, but side by side comparisons like this help you see things that you wouldn't notice otherwise.
The Speedpaint Yellow looks like it is matching Citadel’s Iyanden Yellow, which is more orange yellow as well!
This is a GREAT video!! Thanks a lot! I was about to start using Speed paints for the first time in a very important set of miniatures for me, so I had some doubts. You tested three important colors for my project and gave me the confidence I needed. My results are great. You are also funny😊
A few of the paints you enjoyed had more closer matches such as the yellow! Contrast have a yellow that looks like the speed paint with the orange tones
Purely in terms of sheer amount of Paint Juice you get, GSW dipping inks must always be considered. For example, picking up azure dip if you paint lizardmen. Dropper bottle, a shit ton of paint, good coverage, bright, seems solid to me.
That Valleyo Xpress Ork Skin would be great for Fallout Super Mutants, the yellowish green would look absolutely stellar.
I really liked that paint.. it was one of my personal favourites. If it looked that good over a straight spray can zenithal, imagine what it'd look like with more refinement!
Unreal how army painter speed paint actually made a solid contrasting speed paint that gives depth and the rest of these still need a wash to make the colours have any kind of effect… otherwise they just look like thin medium base coats where army paint speed paint does all the work immediately… wild… guess I’m gonna get the 2.0 as well
I think the Army Painter reds look good, but they are the most susceptible to the Speedpaint reactivation issue, which makes it a bit of a pain to use as a base coat unless you spray varnish between steps.
Yeah, the reactivation is a pain. But the coverage is awesome :D
Blood Red made me gasp the first time I used it, I was so surprised by the vibrancy. Fantastic color. I've personally always seen the reactivation as a tool rather than a shortcoming, but it does limit certain kinds of workflows. If you like the range beside the reactivation, you might want to check out the new formula coming out sometime in the spring. Sounds like those will give us the best of both worlds.
Nice work. I bought all the Dips and never painted full things. Ive played with them in small patches and I like alot of the effects. Ork Flesh dip is always a fun one.
Yeah, the Dipping Inks overall do look disappointing, both in tone and in the behavior of the paint, glad I did not go for that range despite to awesome balue with the big bottles. Got a Speedpaint 1.0 Megaset and before that a few Contrast paints, and I'm pretty much set with that and gotta say that I like the speedpaints better than Contrast overall now, not just the better price. Xpress Colors tempt me to maybe add a few colors that I don't really need to my collection, and Speedpaint 2.0 is on the horizon and looking even better, too! Don't know yet what I will replace colors that go empty with between these two. The mixing ball that is pre-added into the Speedpaints might be the deciding tip on the scale in the end! :D
I’m assuming that’s not the Speed Paint 2.0 series that Army Painter is about to release? It would be good to do an update video later with that range as well.
I'm just getting back into the hobby. Yall did a great job, and this is supper helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
The trick on that yellow is that Citadel has two, and the Army Painter yellow shades to orange just like Iyanden, instead of a clearer, but less interesting Imperial FIst.
A lot of work. Thanks for taking the time to do this exercise!
You're welcome!
the from-the-bottle wine sip is what got me to subscribe! Love the painting tips!
...and now I've gone and bought a load more paints.
Thanks.. I think?
Great review!
Haha, sorry about that! It was all necessary of course!
Army painter is expanding the Speed Paint line and also will be adding speed paint metallic paint. There's a few shades in-between some of the Speed Paints I'd like. I do like the Hardened Leather for leather bits and Dark Wood for trees/bows - and brown hair.
I'm actually very happy with the Vallejo range. Combined with the new Game Color acrylics, they just work amazingly.
Yeah, I think they're really good!
This is what I've been looking for for a couple of days, thank you so much!
Great video. Genuine. Funny. Natural. Fantastic. Well done
I think the issue with Citadel contrast paints is using it straight from the bottle. Watering it down improves the contrast effect.
That was a really great comparison video! Thanks, Ciara (and Ollie)!
Absolutely fantastic video. I’m just getting into painting miniatures and this video will be so helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
I''ll get them all! Except that Dipping Ink flesh. Thanks for the review and enjoy your wine!
Helpful video ❤ just got back into painting miniatures so this was great. Getting some 30k era Ultramarines legion space marines painted.
Speed Paint Blood Red is what im using for my Votann over a Zenithal. Its a really nice red but Im still experimenting as I find I'm having to do a lot of work over the top to push the contrast further. In that regards the reactivation isnt bad because it helps blend a little better.
I like how Ciara was consistently straight from the bottle throughout the video, including the wine!
recently started using the Army painter line of speed paints and they seem to work very well for me
Nice! I've never been an AP fan, but some of these are lovely. Always good to have a few paints in the arsenal!