Hatchethead Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) I won't bore you with a tragic tale of paint gone bad. Place mislabeled box next to furnace, rage, end of story. Suffice it to say, the last few months have seen me slowly rebuilding my color palette from the ground up. As I ponder a new order of paint pots, I'm curious to know, what colors do y'all consider Must Have (capital "Must", capital "Have)? Is there a specific color or colors that you consistently find yourself dipping into, regardless of the mini? Me, off the top of my head, I need Menoth White Base and Highlight from P3 for mixing. Sanguine Base, yes please. Devlan Mud wash and Tallarn Flesh foundation are gotta haves. Bleached Bone. GW Chainmail. I tend to dabble in the Games Workshop, Vallejo and P3 ranges, but I'm open to other suggestions. I'm very interested to hear individual opinions, I would very much appreciate the input. What color(s) do you consider invaluable, indispensable, must have? EDIT: So far ... Vallejo Dead White (d'uh) (GC) Chaos Black (derp) (GC) Brown Sand (MC) Pale Sand x 2 (MC) Cork Brown x 2 (MC) Beige (MC) Red Beige (MC) Medium Grey (MC) Black Grey (MC) Bad Moon Yellow (GC) Electric Blue (GC) Royal Purple (MC) Falcon Turquoise (GC) Bloody Red (GC) Hull Red (MC) Flat Red (MC) Carmine (MC) Deck Tan (MC) Green White (MC) Green Ochre (MC) Flat Earth (MC) Orange Brown (MC) Model Air Black (for high fluidity and pigment) Model Air Metallic range GW Skull White (derp) Chaos Black (durr) Tallarn Flesh (FP) x 2 Astronomicon Gray (FP) Mechrite Red (FP) Ogryn Flesh (wash) Delvan Mud (wash) x 3 Fortress Gray Shadow Gray Catachan Green Dark Angel Green Dark Flesh Vermin Brown Bleached Bone x 2 Tentacle Pink (?!) Tin Bitz (metallic) Brazen Brass (metallic) Chainmail (metallic) x 2 Boltgun Metal (metallic) P3 Morrow White (derp) Thamar Black (doo) Coal Black Menoth White Base Menoth White Highlight x 2 Sanguine Base x 2 Brass Balls (metallic) Reaper Stormy Grey Muddy Soil Golden Shadow X-19 Tamiya Smoke (wash?) Testors Model Master Lacquer Airbrush Buffing Metallics Rakham Chitin Green Cote D'Arms Chestnut (Ink) Fleshwash (Ink) Vague Black and/or White GW Foundations GW Washes "Something Blue-ish" Edited February 3, 2011 by Hatchethead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratty Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Brown Sand Vj, which I prefer to Tallarn Flesh GW. I find it has good coverage and doesn't go as chalky. Pale Sand Vj, though bleached Bone will do, always using this to mix into highlights when I don't want to whiten the colour. Medium Grey Vj, really nice colour, good for mixing into colours in the highlights to fade out the colour, gives a worn denim type effect, but you can mix it into and medium/dark clothing colour. Ogryn Flesh GW, Great wash for flesh. Tin Bitz GW, Brazen Brass, Chainmail GW, Brass Balls P3 allows you to paint most types of metallics, unfortunately Brazen Brass is impossible to get any more. I have a big stash, I get the feeling the Vj Brass will be similar, but you will have to keep clearing the spout. Dark Flesh GW, Vermin Brown GW, Dark Angel Green GW. I use all these for weathering metals, rust etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Amos Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 I use at least four different flesh tones. I don't know if I could consider any one more important than any other. Although I had to get three different Light Grays, so that may be high on my list. Brown is pretty essential. I go with Vermin Brown because it makes a good wash. Blood Red, Royal Blue, Goblin Green, Chaos/Thamar Black, also important. I'v also recently aquired an off-white and have fallen immediately in love. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yazza Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 vallejo model air metallics, very fine metal flake since they need to fit trough a nozzle and model air black, high pigment rate, high fluidity, for freehanding and eyes tamiya smoke is also really good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yazza Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 also hallejo has a color called cork surprisingly good skin colour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brushmistress Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 P3 Sanguine Base, GWFP Astronomicon Gray & GWFP Tallarn Flesh. Could not live without those three paints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbdrand Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 (edited) ROFL! I was sitting here, listening to some Dio, painting up my Lucius crew and I was thinking about this very topic. I use a lot of Reaper paints (they are based out of Denton which is about 20 minutes from my house) and for me, my most used/favorite paints are (in no particular order): Reaper Stormy grey (base coat for pretty much any grey to white color) Reaper Muddy Soil (base coat for most of my bases and any red colors) Reaper Golden Shadow (base coat for anything that is gold colored) GW Devlan Mud wash (for coloring in cracks that I missed between colors and for layering on top of Golden Shadow for gold items) Edited January 29, 2011 by kbdrand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratty Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 ROFL! I was sitting here, listening to some Dio, painting up my Lucius crew and I was thinking about this very topic. I use a lot of Reaper paints (they are based out of Denton which is about 20 minutes from my house) and for me, my most used/favorite paints are (in no particular order): Reaper Shadow grey (base coat for pretty much any grey to white color) Reaper Muddy Soil (base coat for most of my bases and any red colors) Reaper Golden Shadow (base coat for anything that is gold colored) GW Devlan Mud wash (for coloring in cracks that I missed between colors and for layering on top of Golden Shadow for gold items) Have you ever tried Leviathan Purple instead for gold.. it looks very good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nilus Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Chaos Black! Personally I am one of those people that stops dead in my tracks painting if I don't have the color I want. So I tend to invest in a big ass paint set every few years and have the whole range. My wife got me the latest GW super paint set for Christmas and it has done wonders for my painting drive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yazza Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 i did a test with all gw washes over gold they al look cool some colours like the puprle are really interesting Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxvon_d Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 I think I use a bit of VMC Royal Purple on every model I paint these days. I also have a pre-mixed dark turquoise with a touch of flow improver which serves as a nice shading base for many colours. VMC Beige and VMC Pale Sand are good highlight colours. Agree re the Cork recommendation. I have used quite a bit of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbdrand Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 Have you ever tried Leviathan Purple instead for gold.. it looks very good. I have not, but I'll have to give it a shot next time I have some gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucklemonkey Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 gw mechrIte red foundation. It tends to find it's way on to practically all my non Mali mini's. Also boltgun metal. Is strange thinking about it, all my must haves are gw even though I tend to mostly use vgc paints. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchethead Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) Great response! Thanks everyone. I've updated the original post, listing the Must Haves mentioned thusfar (organized by range, in no particular order). Edited January 30, 2011 by Hatchethead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Amos Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 i did a test with all gw washes over gold they al look cool some colours like the puprle are really interesting I have a really swell Chaos Dragon that was painted Mithril Silver and then inked with GW blue ink and yellow ink. It's... um... really swell (Massively swolen. With awsome). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pipeline Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 fortress gray shadow gray catachan green menoth white hilight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNybbles Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Vallejo has something called "Medium Metalico" / "Metallic Medium" (French/English) which says it can be used by itself or mixed with other colors. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I believe it makes the other paint you mix it with metallic. I bought it so I can make metallic blue arachnids. Can anyone confirm this for me? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rathnard Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Well all my Malifaux models have tentacle pink somewhere on them, but that's more of a concious choice than a necessity. Other than that, GW's Devlan mud is the God of Paints as far as I'm concerned. I would never have finished my Warhammer Fantasy Goblin army without it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegel Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Have you ever tried Leviathan Purple instead for gold.. it looks very good. sorry I know this is a bit off topic but how is that done? pls? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratty Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 sorry I know this is a bit off topic but how is that done? pls? Just highlight gold up like you would normally do, I normally start from something like brazen brass, highlight up to shinning gold, and then mix in a tiny bit of Mithril silver in to the highlight. Then instead of washing over it with a brown or an ogryn flesh, wash it with Leviathan Purple. I could go into colour theory a bit here. Cezanne used to use the colour opposite to the main colour for it's shadow. gold is mainly yellow so you use Leviathan purple as it is directly opposite on the colour wheel for the shadow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchethead Posted January 30, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 (edited) Vallejo has something called "Medium Metalico" / "Metallic Medium" (French/English) which says it can be used by itself or mixed with other colors. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I believe it makes the other paint you mix it with metallic. I bought it so I can make metallic blue arachnids. Can anyone confirm this for me? Confirmed. It's great. It's basically a white metallic designed for mixing. You can add it to an otherwise matte color to give it a metallic sheen or a silk finish. Very cool stuff. One guy in my FLGS swears by it. Blue and red metallics everywhere. Just highlight gold up like you would normally do, I normally start from something like brazen brass, highlight up to shinning gold, and then mix in a tiny bit of Mithril silver in to the highlight. Then instead of washing over it with a brown or an ogryn flesh, wash it with Leviathan Purple. I could go into colour theory a bit here. Cezanne used to use the colour opposite to the main colour for it's shadow. gold is mainly yellow so you use Leviathan purple as it is directly opposite on the colour wheel for the shadow. Washing with "unconventional" colors can be addicting! Copying many a Golden Demon winner, I've recently started washing flesh with super thin purples and greens, which at first feels extremely counter-intuitive. Looks great, thanks in large to a healthy dose of color wheel logic, I'm sure. I'll update the OP. EDIT: Whoops. Missed a bunch last night when I tossed the list together. Apologies. I think I have everyone now, plus an indication should a specific color mentioned multiple times (x2, x3, etc). Edited January 30, 2011 by Hatchethead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegel Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Then instead of washing over it with a brown or an ogryn flesh, wash it with Leviathan Purple. I could go into colour theory a bit here. Cezanne used to use the colour opposite to the main colour for it's shadow. gold is mainly yellow so you use Leviathan purple as it is directly opposite on the colour wheel for the shadow. oh my god that's how it is done?! thanks so much!! :five: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxvon_d Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 I've played around with colour theory a bit recently and put a post up on my blog about it which some might find relevant and interesting. (Apologies for the shameless plug!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hatchethead Posted January 31, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 (edited) Great post, maxvon. In depth enough to be educational, not so much so that my eyes glaze over. Color Scheme Designer is brilliant, and the article you linked in the comments summarizing the different color harmonies is very informative. Edited January 31, 2011 by Hatchethead Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBugKing Posted January 31, 2011 Report Share Posted January 31, 2011 Hmm. Seems I've missed. Nothing beats Testors Model Master Lacquer Airbrush Buffing Metallics. This stuff is amazing. You can apply it with a brush and then buff it with a cotton swab up to a perfect shine. Amazing stuff. Beyond that, I use VGC Red, Blue, Yellow, White and Black. I mix all my colors. (Yaay color theory!) And a big thanks to Brushmistress and her classes at Gencon for turning me back on to acrylics! (Still stuck with the Metallics Jess. Can't touch um. And I'll convert you too eventually I think!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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