Foundation paints

[Calavera]

Hellooo... i haven\'t been here in ages but recently my appetite to paint popped back up.
Checked out my local store and saw these and bought a pot of Astronomican Grey from the Citadel foundation line...

like usual the clerk was a know it all !
Told me these were thicker paints but much superior to the normal ones and told me this was not the paint for beginners, only pros like himself.

So, is there any trick to this paint,? what\'s it\'s best used for ? And how do you guys like it ?I haven\'t painted for ages and want to be sure what i\'m doing

 

[Wappellious]

We bought the foundation paints as a set with the pre-order thing.

I have only tried them out myself over the last few days, and that was only because my trusty can of white primer was exhausted.

The main purpose of the Foundation paints is that they have a lot more pigment than regular colors, and they are better siuted to covering the black primer in one coat (which they do). Also, these colors are more muted, similar to some vallejos and reaper colors.

If you work with white primer, there is not a tremendous need for the foundation paints. They have a tendency to be a bit shiny, and you have to shake them up all the time before you use them.

Again, this is just my preference. The flesh tone was very nice, I must admit. It only required the addition of some dark brown for the recesses and simply lightening with white. Normally I would have to cycle through 3-5 colors from dark to light on my flesh tones.

One other thing, they also seem to dry a bit flat, even when matte varnished.

This comes from someone who paints minis 8-12 hours a day 7 days a week, if that helps in any way...

 

[Tinweasel]

Originally posted by Calavera
... Told me these were thicker paints but much superior to the normal ones and told me this was not the paint for beginners, only pros like himself.

Um, yeah. They\'re geared more towards beginners IMO because there\'s nothing tricky required about the colors, you just paint it on and you\'ve got yourself a fairly evenly colored mini.

So far as working with them, they\'re a little thicker than the regular GW paints and due to the higher pigment count require a bit more thinning to get the same end result (I figger I roughly double the amount of thinner for, say, washes as compared to regular GW paints).

The one thing I don\'t really care for is that even with dry time extender added, they seem to dry out quicker than the regular paints - I have to add more than usual when working with the Foundation paints it feels like, just to stop it from overly thickening on my palette.

So far as the color range of \'em, well, they\'re mostly all decent practical colors, but you need to keep in mind that these are all intended to be basecoat and/or shade coat colors only. If you want to do regular highlighting or blending out to edges or anything like that, you\'re either going to need to add a healthy amount of another color just to get it to shift tint-wise or simply paint highlights, edge highlights, etc. upwards using regular paints... the only advantage IMO is that your shade color is quickly done.

The new style of flip-top jars for these is also occasionally annoying. They have a little locking clasp that keeps the lid open once you open it past a certain point - which is good; unfortunately, when opening \'em you also need to wait to let the excess paint inside flow back off the angled \"spout\" in the lid first before then opening it all the way to \"lock\" so you can get paint from the jar properly, otherwise you\'re going to be getting paint around the lip moreso than the previous flip-top style or seeping backwards through the lid hinge at each and every opening.

 

[Kalidane]

So far I\'ve tried Tallarn Flesh and Fenris Grey. I found 1:1 wateraint caused huge colour separation; less water and a bit of folk art extender was better to paint with but still saw a lot of separation.

Also found the rapid drying to be quite a nuisance so will have a play with liquitex slow-dri in a minute.

Am getting good coverage over black so it does do it\'s job well.

If the colour separation can be avoided I\'d love to hear how!

 

[freakinacage]

i have been using them a bit and my experiences tie in with everyone elses. they are great for basecoating as they cover the area very nicely (i thin them and add a couple of layers) and dry fast. the fast drying becomes a bit of a problem if you are using them for anything other than highlighting though.

as wappelious mentioned, the skin colour is a lovely one!

also haven\'t really had any problems with colour separation yet, in fact, quite the opposite. maybe kalidane had a bad lot, or i had a good one!

 

[Highbulp Billy]

I love the foundation paints - colour range and the coverage - but they do separate out on the pallette, especially when thinned. Once on the mini there is no issue but you have to keep stirring on the pallette to keep the colour.

I\'ve also had some trouble with a couple of the \"leak proof\" pots which makes me think they\'re not quite as perfectly designed as we\'re led to believe.

 

[matty1001]

They are selling singles now, so im going to pick up the flesh tone on the way home from work.




[size=-2]P3\'s are still the bestest[/size]

 

[matty1001]

Just thought id bring this back instead of starting a new thread.

So everyone should have a had a good go with these now, what do you all think?

TBH im pretty sick of them, they have their uses i.e. basecoats, but for everything else they are pretty useless. Iv tried layering, they have to be thinned to the extremes and just end up being glazes (which would be fine if I was glazing)
Feathering, I find they go chalky when stretched out (even though they have liquid pigment) and need glazes over the top just to smoothen them.
And wet blending, but they dry so fast they just end up thickening and going on to thick.

The whole quick drying thing is just a joke. I tried painting a unit the other day, basecoating all the flesh, but I had to reapply paint to the palette about 3times per figure as it was drying out so fast. The only way iv gotten around it adding glaze medium, but TBH I don\'t want to. As i prefer just to use water for everything.

So all in all im not overly impressed, they have one use IMO, basecoats, but you have to do it very quick, or straight from the pot.

Il just stick with P3\'s instead of buying the rest of the set.

 

[Bengoodall]

Im only using four at the moment, a grey, a red, a green, and a tan, and purely for whats written on the tin, covering base colours before going over the top.

As for what nearly any games workshop employee says at the moment, I wouldnt take any notice at all, in fact, I spend a lot of time telling them exactly what I think of them, in the kind of colourful language that isnt allowed on here.

They dont even ask my name now, they just put me straight through to the boss.:twisted:

Mess with me will you, huh!

 

[DrEvilmonki]

I have only used them on one figure (and since my painting time is limited at the moment I am still painting it). Oh come to think of it my entry in the WoM comp I used foundation paints for the boiler suit (a VERY quick job)

I have actually found the opposite to matty. I found them pretty useful.

 

[freakinacage]

i find them useful but as you have pointed out matty, they have some real drawbacks. i\'ve gotta give the p3\'s a go so i can compare

 

[Bengoodall]

Aaaaand another thing, working in a games workshop retail shop doesnt make you a professional.

It makes you a wanker.

:cussing:

 

[freakinacage]

dude, you need to take a chill pill! i sense a LOT of barely controlled rage! go hit a punch bag with gw written on it or something

 

[demonherald]

I\'m finding them pretty darn useful particularly the yellows and red just speeds things up a bit for things like the markings on a space wolf army I\'ve just painted...if nothing else to kill the black and make an easier base to paint over don\'t think I\'d be painting the whole units with them as every WD tut shows at the moment...

They are also seful to just add into other similar colours to give an overall stronger covering colour ..e.g Catachan green with a little ork hide...works a treat for a nice easy covering tone..

gripes not very economical there is a lot of paint used quite quickly due to the dry time already mentioned...

The Damn Pot ..I hate it and really hope GW don\'t switch over to them for the whole range....The idea is great the longer spot would indeed make sure paint drips back into the pot instead of all over the rim..but the quality is utter shite..out of the full set 5 of the hinge things have broken and this means the longer spout just makes a hell of a mess..I hope GW have found this before heading off and swapping over....

 

[darklord]

yeah those pots are so annoying, they tend to drip down the back if your not careful then the hinge doesnt work right next time, so you have to either tilt the pot or wait till its stopped coming of the spout. i get the seperation thing too but they are handy for rank and file base coat jobs and prefer the more muted colours to the general range

 

[mikesilk]

FLOUNDATION PAINTS

useful for base colours only, they dont dilute well, they mix ok with other colours even other brands like vallejo, and man do those pots bite...very messy but then thats GW\'s thing...make you waste as much as possible....i\'ll stick with vallejo and reaper masters for the majority of my work.i give them a 2.5 outta 5.:beer:

 

[Monkkeystew]

I bought Mechrite Red and Knarloc Green at a hobby store and used them both one time. My experience with them is that they don\'t mix with others colors too well, and they\'re kind of light to be base color\'s. Of course, that\'s my personal preference.

I think the foundation paints are best for painting units or regiments since you don\'t have to go over the same color three times individually for 30 mini\'s.

 

[pez5767]

I agree with most all of what\'s been said above. I bought the whole set, i wish i hadn\'t.

PRO: The foundation paints put down an amazing base coat. They dry brush nicely as well. (kind of a pain to clean the brush after though)

CON: Dry too quick. A nightmare to do any blending with. Don\'t mix with other lines of paint

APPLICATIONS: Great for base work and dry brushing. Rank and file speed work. Good for fine detail work (lettering, scroll work, free-hand details, etc.) because they keep color while thinned as long as it\'s not blended.

I give them a 3 outta 5. and a BIG thumbs up for the beginner painter. I think they will work well with the techniques new painters use most frequently. Anyway that\'s my 2 cents.

 

[Yetie]

I dont own any of the foundation paints so I can\'t comment on them, however I feel I should throw in a comment of how well P3\'s cover. If the foundation paints cover as well as these then they\'ll be good I can\'t fault the P3\'s with coverage. They go on smooth as you like and cover like magic, so if you aint to impressed with the foundations give P3\'s a shot there just great

 

[Cerridwyn1st]

Your milage may vary...

I tried two bottles of the Foundation paints just to see what they were like. I bought the red and the flesh colors.

I didn\'t have any problems thinning the paint. I have a mix that\'s Matte medium, flow improver and water. I also added a little extra water.

This mix worked to a nice consistency and didn\'t separate any worse than any other color I use. It covered well and gave a good, smooth base for follow up work.

I had no problems mixing either paint with Vallejo or Reaper paints.

I mixed a little of the red with water for some touch-up work and noted it did dry rather quickly. When a good amount of paint was mixed in a welled pallet with water and additives, it seemed to stay open about as well as my other paints.

To me, it\'s an OK paint to use as a base coat. I have a lot of other paints already, so unless there is a color I don\'t already have in the other ranges I don\'t see any need to buy these.

I don\'t use black primer so extra coverage is not a concern. I don\'t really paint \"out of the pot, one coat should do\" as my style, so that selling point doesn\'t matter to me.