Contrast Paint BUT Cheaper AND Better?! 

Your wet palette is so much cleaner than that petri dish Scott puts his paints on.

We demand a 30 minute montage of you mixing paints on your palette.

I like my tendies how I like my audio, crispy. And boy did you make it crispy

"You can't screw it up all in one go" Me: Hold my beer

"Dropper bottle" That one line was enough to get a like from me.

“‘You can’t screw it all up all at once” Challenge accepted.

Jon: Say is this just the contrast medium that makes contrast paint work how it does? GW: Yes Jon: *laughs menacingly* FOOLS

The outakes at the end were primo content ;)

Great vid, Jon. Glad you sorted the audio, can't wait for future content!

Jon's out here revealing conspiracies at GW with those top heavy pots

I would say you are onto something there.

Direct quote from a text i got from my friend.. "have you watched ninjons new video?..literally a gamechanger and the most useful painting video ive watched in a while. he has sausage fingers" high praise indeed.

I still use old fashioned base coat - ink - dry brush for most of my armies. I’d only use contrast if I was considering painting up something like 100 skeletons or Tyranids. Good call on using the contrast technical pot to create your own contrast colours - it’s so obvious but I never thought of it!

I like how you used Nigel as if it’s a common British name 😂

I still *knock on wood* haven't tipped over my Agrax by accident.

Hey Ninjon, I noticed that you still seem to use GW contrast paints quite a bit. Do you still think MH transparent paints are a good replacement for contrast paint, or have you sort of changed your mind since this video released? Only asking because I’m debating on which one to get. Although I’ve heard good things about speed paint 2.0 these days, as well.

So first off, those transparent paints are sold out on the monument website, so good job. Also, I've never watched any of your videos, just Scott.s, but I've watched the both of you multiple times and also watched the podcast you guys do. and I'll say your videos are great.Great video Quality, great Audio, and hilarious out takes. I'm definitely a new subscriber and a bell notification.

Somebody has been following "The Wappel" and started praising "The One True Brush". Nice job in this video, it is indeed so liberating to mix up paints and be free of colours names. work with that line is so good too.

If there's one thing that bothers me about Contrast Paint, it's GW's approach to color theory. They seem to believe colors should be mixed with other colors to ostensibly make them "pop," and they may be right, but the result is it's hard to get a pure color from their Contrast line. I can't get a straight grey, it has to have a little blue in it. I can't get a straight yellow, it has to have a little orange in it. What if I do just want a flat color? Can't and shouldn't do it, according to GW. Well, phooey to that. I say the human eye can tell the difference and can notice these "impure" colors. So I may take a look at these paints.

One of the things I find interesting is the miniature's imperfection seemingly disappearing as you painted, specifically on the face. Like, sure, I can still see that line, but I noticed that I wasn't SEEING it (if that makes sense) unless I told myself to. It's something I constantly find myself getting hung up on with my own imperfect minis, so it's nice to see stuff like that in others and see how they deal with it.

I love the balance between testing new ideas, using known skills and sharing the applications for both that you have in your videos. I now have some new things to try on my mini's and there has been one mini sitting at my desk primed for a couple of weeks, ready for me to put paint on it. I will try this. Thanks for the inspiration!

The medium in the medium contrast paint is not the same as what you can find in contrast paint. You can see there are several element in the contrast paint that separate while time pass. And sure there is several pigment type in one contrast paint one lighter and one darker, like grey and white of apothecary withe.

I'm a beginner painter and have seen you on a few different channels. You're entertaining AND informative. So... more videos please! I enjoy your work! Keep it up.

That Liqitex ink + contrast medium looks way to smooth. No puddles, no nothing. I am really tempted to try it out. Thanks for the tests!

Hi Ninjon! First of all, great videos so far. I'm looking forward to seeing more from you. I got one question though: about how much contrast medium did you mix into your paints, e.g. for the green skin tone? A ratio would be helpful, like 2 parts paint, 1 part water, 1 part contrast medium, or so...

The style of this video is really werid like some Frankenstein mesh between a work place PSA video and a Minitac video.

Brother, nice work. Have you watched goobertowns diy contrast paint vid? Acrylic matte medium...changed my life.

I just use cheap as chips acrylics from my local store like a noob :)

I’ve been having a think, and I wonder if this same effect could be replicated with regular paints using some glazing medium. Gotta test it...just need a mini to play with.

great video and great result. I dont paint minis, I paint latex masks, just looking to improve my work. nice work on this.

Vallejo also has a transparant line. Wonder if that would work as well?

Fascinating how some white dots here and there can improve the look of a model. At first, for me at least, it looks like a mistake, but in the end it works out. Thanks for that. I will try that.

I’m pretty new miniature painter with limited amount of paint colors so ive been just kinda making my own colors and it’s been a lot of fun. I feel more accomplished that I made my own “color” I might actually buy these transparent monument paints and delve deeper into my inner bob ross 🤣

I've been having quite a bit of success just with inks but this is a cool take.

Isn't contrast medium basically just matte medium and flow aid? Mixing your own paints into Contrast Medium might save you a little money but it's still nearly 10x the price of a good quality matte medium.

This was a really great video! I do have a question though, what's the difference between inks, washes, and contrast paint? They all seem to have high flow and high pigment. I'm not entirely sure what the difference is and how they are each supposed to be used.

It is? Excellent! [Insert evil laugh here]

this works with vallejo game inks also

at 5:27 - 5:33 if you look at the orcs face you can see a layer shift in the print (probably from lack of support or something else) the contrast paint shows it and makes it very obvious. Amazing paint job though better then anything I could do. :)

You lost me when the thick whites dots went all over it.

The ProAcryl line of paints are amazing. I find myself using them more then any other paint.

Hey Jon, Since you have a 3d printer, I suggest printing one of thos citadel paint bottle holders. Any of them will do but they are perfect for stabilizing the wash bottles. Tipped over a bottle of that stuff, ruined my clothes, my custom mousepad, my girlfriend left me and my Kids disowned me.

this video had 6666 likes but i did ruin it with the 6667:th

Very nice video Jon! thanks. Well done. treat yourself to some tendies.

Already bought a bunch of stuff from Monument, but learning about the coupon and how it helps you, went back and got some more stuff! Keep it up man, you're killing it.

Very good sir. Solid work and nice knowing a way to save myself a lot of hassle. I am just starting my paint collection.

I really like how you're mixing painting tips and tutorial stuff with the main topic

Dude I'm so glad I found your channel. I've seen the episodes of Miniac you're in and I'm like, "I like the cut of this guy's jib." Thanks for the excellent video :D

Okay, that is really cool. And I 150% agree that GW paints should come it drop bottles, but I would be a good start if the bottles/pots were airtight again.

Love this crispy hot take

2022 and they still havent put Jon's suggestion of dropper bottles into use................ Your pots suck GW, we all want dropper bottles.

I've been painting 12mm American Civil War soldier with the contrast technique...so far so good...

Phenomenal video! Now I need (errr, want) the Pro Acryl transparents...must...find...Canadian source! :)

It's def not cheaper and their paints are sold out most of the time.

I would LOVE to get these, if only they weren't constantly sold out :( I subscribed to the email to let me know when they were back in stock, and within 24 hours they were sold out again! TAKE MY MONEY MONUMENT HOBBIES!!

8:07 "I guarantee you, 9 times out of 10, within 5-10 minutes, you will actually find something that excites you", he says, as it cuts to a shot of an orc butt. :)

My contrast hack... ink + matte medium + flow-improver concentrate (e.g. Liquitex brand). Works amazingly well, cheaper and I think easier to control. Roughly equal parts ink and medium and then you can just threaten the mix with the flow-improver (i.e. tiny drop is plenty).

Nice job, really love the WoW look of this mini. Contrast paints are great for some things not for others, when you make your own product you can always adjust it how you like it to get it to behave how you want it to. Dropper bottles!

You know I didn't think any other mini painter would be able to match Scott's propensity for wonderful cringe skits. Of course I should have known that you would be hand in glove with the man.

80-90's miniature painter here, just getting back into the hobby. I have a question that may seem noobish, but what is the difference between "contrast" paints...and inks? As far as I can tell this is exactly what we called inking back in the day? And we didn't break the bank to do it? The biggest difference being we'd undercoat a layer of paint on primer BEFORE inking, and then save a lighter or white dry brush for last. The results are pretty similar though. (I haven't played with the new contrast paints yet so I really would like to know the difference)

Specialized miniature paints are way overpriced hype most of the time. A Fine Art supply store has dozens of different mediums. Glaze, matte, glossy, metals, mother-of-pearl, etc. Anything you want. Their acrylics are way better too.

I've been having good results with 50% paint, 25% Acrylic medium (Matte) and 25% fluid retarder. some lighter paints need two coats but generally one coat over white gets the job done. I'll be damned If I'll spent £5.50 on a bottle when i can make my own for a fraction of that.

Suck Cut, or dare I say Slap Chop, is far more accessible for anyone who doesn’t own contrast paint thanks to this video. Now I’ll just get one pot of contrast medium, toss in some ink, and maybe water and I’m in business. Thanks, John! I appreciate your work!

Before releasing shades and contrast, GW painting guides would occasionally recommend adding pva to paint to make washes. They no longer recommend pva...

It is worth a thumbs-up for the dropper bottle thing alone TBH, let alone the other stuff. Any ideas and tools I can use to make my painting less bad has to be a good thing, so, yeah. Also: Johnson Klear + inks. Similar kinda thing. Like Nuln Oil but not quite.

8:59 Was this on FDM or resin? This would be a reason why I wouldn't use this method for display painting; the contrast medium REALLY makes the layer lines stand out somewhat fierce. I'm sure I wouldn't recognize on the table, but it's noticeable in this frame for sure.

I like the crazy primal monkey music. It's fucking exciting. Play midis from Primal Rage.

Great video, awful thumbnail. Whats going on with content creators making silly faces? I just dont get it. If I didnt know who Jon was I would have never clicked on this video based only on that (throws up) thumb nail.

Isn't contrast medium basically artists glaze medium available in larger quantities for lower cost per oz than from GW. But then I'm a big proponent of using artists products than gaming products for my painting

Savings would be minimized from buying all that contrast medium & also offset by loss of time mixing most colors from scratch as there are only 8 Monument Transparent colors. It'd be cheaper to just make your own contrast medium with matte medium + flow improver or airbrush thinner which could then be used for paints, inks & nuln oil or dark tone & the like. Lots of recipes out there on google.

you can buy matt medium for around $25 per 500ml. there is a tek for easily extracting it from cheap glitter paint, but I have not tried yet. www.instructables.com/id/how-to-make-your-own-blank-clear-acrylic-paint-med/ then add flow aid or dishwashing liquid 1:15 water

The first video I watched ever on Miniac's channel was the one with you comparing the different beginner paint sets which really helped me a lot! So I'm happy to see you've made you're own channel dude!

I love mounument hobbies line of paints , they are actually really cool ,I use transparent paints over my acrylic paint then add acrylic paint , then transparent paint to make the contrast , look great !

My only gripe is creature caster divorcing from monolith paints, so now you can only buy them from the US. International shipping fees and duteys suck.

Thinning pale colours about 3pt medium to 1pt paint makes a great pale flesh for slaanesh, zombies etc. 1 to 1 will give a nice one stop wash for furs. Lovin' the work. It was a gw staffer that showed me this.

It took you that long to work it out... Ok, maybe that's not fair. Contrast paint works as a base or over a base. Over a white and black undercoat it gives you interesting base coats. Mix a little lahmian medium gives you a contrast glaze. You can build up to the fine layered highlights then add contrast and build them up finer more graduated layers on top. With everything you add water if needed as well. A standard contrast base I use is the pink contrast thined lightly over purple blended up to dark pink as a base coat for violet. Then it's inks and layers. I sometimes Glaze mid way depending on what is being painted.

I wouldn't be surprised if GW made it where they ban using paints other than their product. "That red in the shadows of everyone in your entire Blood Angels army is Barn Red and not Blood Angels Red so you can't play".

Personally I would watch those pure white highlights,...as you can over do them and go to far!,... and mess up the effect that you were looking for only to have made your over done highlights look chalky!

I'm confused. Can someone help me understand this? Midway through the process the model seemed to have "more paint" on it. By the end the skin tone, for example, looks to have almost dried (evaporated?) clear enough that you could see the original model's white showing through. Is this how contrast paint is supposed to work? I'm not a mini painter so I really don't know.

So I'm curious about those transparent paints... How are they unlike inks? Do their pigment distribute unevenly as is vs ink being consistent? If so, they are contrast lite aren't they?

Hello. Just a suggestion since I heard you're just starting out. Instead of assuming everyone is familiar with contrast paints, a sentence or two describing what they do would work so much better. 2 minutes in, you show a comparison with other paints and I still do not understand what I needed to see. But then again, I'm a noob so I may not be your target audience. Nicely done video though, good luck with the youtubing.

I dont quite understand. So you basically just mix the contrast medium with transparent paint? Or regular base colors?

In those moments... I shit my pants, and thank Jesus for the blessings in my life. Amazing job man. I haven't paid much attention to the contrast stuff yet, but damn. Time to change that.

Besides, Contrast paint is cheating like airbrush is... :wink:wink: ;) Please don't start a war :D

Very cool stuff. Had never heard of Monument Paints and now going to snag a set to try out. Sadly, your hype has caused the transparents to sell out, lol. Awesome work man. Tendies for you.

Can’t you just Use the primary colours of the contrast line and mix them instead of buying them all ? 😁

Does anybody know where to get the flexible sanding sticks from the video? A possible link to buy?

Future floor finish now known as pledge gloss. Just make a solution of 1 part gloss to 0-4 parts water. Use this to dilute any paint to make it a contrast paint Did this for two decades. GW used to call them washes.

My problem with using contrasts in this way is the model ends up looking "flat" because the light values are all very samey.

Wow, what is this. I get back into painting and John has a channel now? The heck?

I bet that clear contrast media is just regular acrylic medium with a flow aid. You can get big bottles for cheap (comparatively to citadel tiny pot) from an art store like dick blicks

There is a drawback here. If you’re batch painting an army you need lots of the same colours. You can’t be missing them on the fly all the time.

@ninjon hey, thanks for the video! I’ve got the transparent set, how much medium did you find was the sweet spot?

Bro, thats ridiculous work! Im no stranger to detail as i do hyper realistic jet fighters, but man on a mini like that i wonder how my skill set would translate over 🤔 i think im gonna buy a couple minis and try it out

Great video. I should probably start investing in inks. Also, shout out to the Pa-chow!

Your contrast paint alternative is to buy contrast paint?! This is the worst waste of time and worst plug of a product I've ever seen. This is a 14 minutes demonstration of contrast medium, not an alternative to contrast paint.

hey wait....i thought i was here for some mayo clinic job stuff....ehh well looks like the same guy ill stick around

I have done this for years I have called it controlled wash, huh I just read ral parthas paint guide and it was there name for it. Took a long time for me to learn my level and you still taught me things. Thanks kid.

You got to tweak that 3d Printer a bit more. You have few layer shifts and you could use bit of AA. Do you need any help with it?

Looks like contrast paint, acts like contrast paint, but there's one big difference - doesn't taste like contrast paint