I've been trying to stay positive about the new GW paints, but at this point I am not a fan of the change. Generally speaking (and that is the only way to speak given how impossible it is to remember the paint names) the new paints have worse coverage and larger pigment sizes. On the plus side these paints are pre-thinned, which will really help new painters who painted directly from the pot before. This makes the new range more accessible to the newbie, and I think many more higher quality miniatures will show up on gaming tables because of these changes.
After buying ~500 dollars worth of paints(yes I bought all of them) I rushed online to Amazon and bought as much of the old line as possible. That was merely a delaying tactic. Eventually I will have to use the new paints.
So you've got my bias now.
What do we do now? Well, if you are like me and have a large sum invested in new paint you've got to experiment with it. Let's see where we stand:
- Metallics: Fail (They should not even be sold)
- Base In General: Fail (Exception for the blood red replacement)
- Layers: Pass (The concept of layer paints that are pre-thinned is ok)
What I tried in the image above, is use the weird sand/paint stuff to texture the dirt areas in-between the bricks. I also used the new dev mud replacement. At the very end I used one of the weirder dry paints to dry brush the top. I don't hate how the base came out, but the odd plastic-like texture on the sides is a bit off putting. The base color does not seem to self-level well, and dries with streaks. The dry brushed area looks ok. I think that model fits in line with how GW intends the paints to be used.
Now it may be that these paints behave better in an airbrush. I am going to find that out tonight. I intend to paint up another original rhino to see if it can end up looking like one of these:
Given that GW's color matching does not make sense, I am going to match the paints by hand. Hopefully I will be able to show results equal to or better than my existing work. Anything less and I will be....well sad really.... It will be as if GW stole my hobby from me. (ok that is a bit dramatic. I love GW after all!)
I feel your pain about the new paints.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely hate the Abaddon Black.
Complete rubbish.
However, I have airbrushed the Mechanicum Standard Grey or Adeptus Battlegrey as it was called and it worked very well.
this was the straw that will have me using vallejo or whatever when I run out of the old stuff, I do want to try the white foundation and see how well it does over black.
ReplyDeleteotherwise, at close to 4 bucks a pot I will be mixing my own from artstore acrylics , I wonder if the washes are still good?
also the OOP rhinos look great
John
Theres good news!
DeleteThe washes are still good if not a bit stronger then before.
I can't wait to get some money to purchase some the new paint line. They could of kept the old names for us old skoolers.
ReplyDeletePeace Cortez 11th Legion
haven't tried the new paints yet. I use a wet pallet so my paint pots generally last a long time. But I did the same as you, went out and stocked up on my favorite paints. Personally I feel the now-old GW paints were superior to Vallejo in some cases, although they had a small range of colors.
ReplyDeleteGW paints held their pigments better when watered down so you could take a normal paint, make a wash or glaze with it easily. I'm still a little old-school in my painting though - I still use inks, lol.
I'm excited about the new paints though. Especially the texture, glaze and wash lines. Layer paints are meh, nothing new.