Don’t miss our 100% unofficial DIY tutorial on how to make your own Citadel Contrast paints, and save those hobby dollars!
Contrast paints came out in the summer of 2019 with a bang. A handful of colors (approx. 7 of them) are much more popular and therefore worth buying for pre-mixed out-of-the-bottle use. However, for the less common colors, maybe we should try making our own with Rob! Let’s see how to do it from the man himself!
How To Make Citadel Contrast Paints For Less $$$
We are going to make a medium that can be mixed with pretty much any color, thus making you a near-unlimited pool of contrast paints. To start, you need something to mix your paints with and make up the medium. Check out what Rob is using.
We’ll use these mediums from the Army Painter and some of This Matte Medium as the primary solvent. Which medium you wish to use is solely dependent on the effect you are aiming for. Rob thinks he got the best flow using the regular old matte medium (above), which can be purchased in bulk (like Liquitex) from art stores.
Now that you have your medium, we need to mix it further. Combine whichever medium you prefer (it will take some experimenting, but not too much) in a half-and-half mix with flow improver to create your own “Contrast thinner”. Now that you have this mix (which is super easy to make), you simply add this to whatever color you want to paint with. Alternatively, you can purchase the new Monument Hobbies glaze/wash medium (link here), similar to the mix above.
You can either mix this in a bottle of its own or just add it to your palette when you need the contrast.
How Does it Compare to Regular Contrast?
For a quick comparison, the left model was made with the normal Contrast Paints and the right model was made with the samples Rob mixed together. Other than minor color differences that can be fine-tuned, the properties of the paint can be seen and they are almost identical in that respect! Rob suspects that the Contrast uses super high pigments (like inks) to make those vibrant colors, so try experimenting with some of those for similar color pops to contrast. We love the Daler -Rowney Inks ourselves which you can find a handy set on Amazon to try here
How to Use Them
The way we handle these mixtures is simply by placing some of our 50/50 medium/flow improver mix and the paint we want to use on the palette and mixing them a little bit to create the consistency we are looking for. In the glowing green above, we see the GW Contrast on the top coils, with Rob’s mix on the bottom ones. Other than the color, the “pop-iness” the general characteristics of the paints are very similar as we can see!
As you can see, the mix works great for even things like horses or models with many raised areas. Rob says there are about 7 “must-have” Contrast paints for his hobby toolbox. With this DIY Contrast thinner, you can make any other color you want. Just mix it with washes, acrylics, and even inks. Going forward, this will help you not spend all the cash on the less-used paints that you might only use once a month or so.
Have you made your own contrast paints before?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group and our Discord server. Make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Joined: 2019
Socials: @paschbass
Bio: Dark Eldar Dracon and Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the third edition in 1998. He also loves camping because you can only paint so much! He joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the main daily writer since 2020.
Maybe one day, he’ll finish converting all his Ad Mech models and turn into a true tech enjoyer, complete with sad and happy robot noises!
