You probably would've gotten a better yellow result from Imperial Fist yellow. It's more of a single-color yellow and more opaque, so it's better at covering larger surfaces without the staining/pools
As someone who had never used an airbrush... 1- Use Vallejo paint primers and prime your minis with brush as if you were dry brushing but with a little more paint. It takes at the most, 5 mins for the first coat to dry and then you apply a second coat. So do various minis at the same time so you don't have to wait and do nothing while one mini is drying. I always use white to make the colors pop out more and never had a problem painting. This way you can always prime your minis in your house and in any climate and you always get a solid priming. 2- Don't use contrast for large areas. Always use base paints first. That way you get a more solid color coat than with contrast. Especially with large areas. Use contrast after painting with a base color. And that's how you work without airbrush.
One thing that might help the paint brushed dreadnought is to go back in real quick over the larger armor panels with a similar yellow drybrush. That should mask and break up the lines of dried contrast where it got layered during the painting process.
Have you ever tried thinning out the brush load and dry brush on the colors? If you fast bush a surface much like a shoe shine brush, you can brush off the pools. Adjusting wrist pressure on a bush can make different weights on brush strokes. I think brushes and pen tablets operates with a same principle of control.
Why would you use contrast paints at all? You probably should have used thin coats of standard paints to achieve a nice even coat. Then glaze it with seraphim sephia or something similar to get the shading effect. And finally compare the times it took to do it with airbrush and a brush to see the advantages. That way it would be far interesting for those who are thinking on investing to airbrush. (Which I can really recommend especially if you are planning to paint whole armies. Enormous time saver)
I've used a lot of imperial fist yellow and there are no problems with that. Your models are great but I think masking would be a good idea for the freehand work to get that straight edge. I'm just going to paint a dreadnought and I hate using the airbrush but I think it is the better option.
Stippling and dry brushing can produce amazing results when you're sticking to brushes. There's a pair of god-tier technique videos by Artis Opus - 'Drybrushing: A Complete Guide' & 'Flawless blends! No Airbrush!' - which provide a guide on how to paint miniatures with large, flat armour panels and have it come out amazing.
I just painted my Ballistus this weekend, though I’m using Salamanders colors so the coverage is MUCH easier than yellow. Primed in black with a rattle can and then used a large makeup brush to stipple on an undercoat of Caliban Green and a topcoat of Warpstone Glow. It’s basically the “grimdark” technique except I don’t worry about keeping panel edges dark. Covers vehicles super fast and lends a bit of noise to the paint scheme that helps keep large panels from looking bland.
I've been painting millitairy vehicles quite some time, only with a brush. Some tips: Use a good, soft flat brush (I like to use a medium Tamiya HG series flat brush). Apply multiple thin layers. Let the paint dry for quite a while after applying a coat (minimum 1 or 2 hours between layers, this makes a huge difference). I like to use the Tamiya XF series and Revell Aqua series for large surfaces. Patience is key here, Cheers!
When it comes to contrast paint the best way to use it is though an airbrush it is pretty much pre thinned down ink. I just use normal thinner plus a little acrtylic thinner mixed in. Also if using it with a brush you need to go very slowly and take your time to get smooth coverage.
Theirs just something about putting paint on a brush that puts me at ease air brushes are better for results in my very not professional opinion but for me a brush just feels right
I can't stand that "I'm using an airbrush, but you can use a regular brush as well and be fine." No. No you can't. On big flat or curved surfaces you cannot get the same results as an airbrush, period. Also, I found out the hard way as well that contrast and big flat surfaces are not buddies at all xD
"There is no real substitute for a small brush and a lot of patience when it comes time for recess shading." Oh my dear young padawan. There ABSOLUTELY is! Multiple even. My personal absolute favorite is oil pin washes. You just use any old oil paint (burned umber or black or any of these) and thin it with mineral spirits until it has a consistency that is almost like water. This stuff flows into all the recesses pretty much automatically and you can remove the spill over with a small sponge or makeup wiper without any big issues. I have painted 5k points of T'au which are full of recesses that need shading and this has been the best method by far. This has been a on par for me with using a wet pallette or getting an airbrush. You HAVE to try it. There are even premade products that come prethinned and with a small brush, just google pin washes. Please don't use the regular method unless you want to torture yourself. For stuff where you really don't want to use oils though, be clever and use capilary effects. Just paint over the area you want with water, let it be pretty wet, then just touch the recess with a drop of potent dark paint. Something like wyldwood or grygor brown contrast or any old dark brown if you don't have these. Painting is hard enough, you can make it a bit easier on you with these methods!
Oh Andreas, capillary action ey? It'd almost as if you've checked out my neurotyrant video from this week! (Just discovered this technique and am a big fan!). Oils is definitely something I want to try soon
This is my opinion about the airbrush/ paintbrush saying. Technically yes, you can get the same results/ extremely close results with a paintbrush however it takes a lot more understanding, patients, and especially skill to reach the same result. At the end of the day both methods are good and you can achieve amazing results with either 🤷🏼♂️
You just can't beat an airbrush when going over large flat surfaces. Though the way I use Contrast paints is to do something similar, using it as a glaze, but without thinning it down. You get just enough on your brush to tint the white. It makes hazard stripes a breeze.
Contrast paints on big panels just don’t do it for me. The Warhipster does a bloody amazing job of basically any model but he’s clearly well practised. Every time I try to achieve the same, I get the result you did too. Patchiness. Some colours are worse than others. For some reason, Dark Angels Green murders me every time.
I would suggest that you would get better results by using the right tools for the job. While it is perfectly possible (as you have shown) to use Vallejo Model Colours with an airbrush the pigments are quite coarse meaning that they are not very suitable for fine airbrush nozzles. This is why Vallejo makes their Model Air range specifically for airbrush use. Contrast paints are absolutely NOT designed for large flat areas such as armour plates. You would have got much more even coverage with a standard Model Colour paint. Vallejo primers are readily available and fairly cheap and I have a few but I rarely use them these days as I find that they don't bond to the plastic very well and can peel/chip off. I tend to use rattle can or lacquer based primers (such as Mr. Surfacer) which bite into the plastic and form a stronger bond. Like the video and presentation style 👍😁 You think referring to 2019 makes you feel old! I started modelling in the 1970's! 😂
Never use rattle cans. And yes. You can use a brush and achieve the same results. Paintbrushes are alot less fuss and far more reliable and easy. You still use brushes for details even with an airbrush, you're only basing with it and at most building a light source. For that you need an airbrush kit a Compressor and a cleaning kit a repair kit you've got to deal with blocking/flow issues/paint mixture and it's just so much added faff for next to no difference in result. Unless your painting large armies and are in a rush. Just get gud wiv a brush you ninnys.
Heres my thing, I always have access to an airbrush but since I’ve started painting warhammer. Ive joined a literal cult of using just brush for everything priming, base coating, shading etc. I would like to buy an airbrush but I can paint everything with a brush so quick now that i have no real point in getting one.
This is an awsome video, I don't mean to be "that guy" but did you mean corax white 1:38 ? Or have you had trouble with white scar? Just wanted to check. I only hear great things about white scar and bad things about corax white so I was curious
What kind of heresy is this ?! There's a reason Olli why you're getting atrocious covering with your brushed contrast paint. GET THE BIGGER SIZE BRUSH BROTHER ! No, seriously Olli, this is ridiculous, you used a small size flat brush then a #2 on your later try when you should have gotten the #5 or #8 out for a stroll. You need the big size reserve of a large brush to cover a large surface faster so you don't leave too many marks and also to suck back the excess paint.