Lots of companies have started producing Citadel Contrast-style paints; check out the best alternatives for miniatures on the market!
Ever since Games Workshop came out with the idea of a faster painting idea, the market has responded with some really cool products. Some are more like true one-coat solutions (Speedpaint), and others are closer to contrast (Green Stuff Worlds’ dipping inks); regardless, they all have their benefits.
Citadel Contrast Paints & the Best Alternatives For Miniatures in 2023
So, check out all the Citadel Contrast Paints and the best alternatives for miniatures so you don’t spend money on something you don’t really want or need!
- Army Painter Speedpaint.
- Cephalopod Studios Cuttlefish Colours.
- Green Stuff World Dipping Ink.
- Scale 75 Drop & Go.
- Vallejo Xpress Paint
Just one last thing to note, we’ll show you some of the lines, but for most, this is just a small portion of what they have to offer!
Speedpaint 2.0
These paints are designed to be a single-coat solution. However, you can wait just a little to add more coats, but you really don’t need to. It’s meant just to get your minis on the table super-quickly and playing! Then, they have also come out with the 2.0 version, meaning they have worked out any issues with the first release.
Be sure to check out the video above for all the tips and how they all work!
SPEEDPAINT STARTER SET 2.0+: $39.99
Get yours from these retailers:| Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming |
The starter comes with enough to get started and plenty for your army!
The NEW Speedpaint 2.0 Starter features a comprehensive collection of the hobby’s favorite one-coat painting solution reformulated to meet the demands of painters of all skill levels.
Combined with an innovative resin medium solution that flows perfectly over your miniatures creates an unparalleled painting solution to help you get more time for gaming.
- 5 New colours
- 1 Speedpaint Metallic
Army Painter Speedpaint Mega Set 2.0: $199
Get yours from these retailers:| Amazon | Dicehead Games | Bazooka Games | Frontline Gaming |
Getting more paints is always excellent; you can grab them all at once! At this price, they break down to about $4 each, which is just a great price for this many paints.
- 50x 18ml Speedpaints:
- 45 New colours – including 3 first-ever Speedpaint Metallics
- 1 Speedpaint Medium
- 4 Speedpaint colours from the original range for FREE
- FREE
- 1x Basecoat Brush
- Pre-order Bonus: Speedpaint Brush & Hard Plastic Palette
Cephalopod Studios Cuttlefish Colours
These absolutely matte yet durable paints have an incredible range of 112 brilliant colors. Formulated by Cephalopod Studios and carefully curated by Creature Caster, we are proud to bring you one of the most innovative miniature paints on the market.
Taking advantage of the Sketch and Glaze technique popularized by thousands of award-winning miniature painters throughout the last 30 years (or 300 years by traditional canvas painters), this range of paints allows for inexperienced hobbyists to achieve unbelievable results with a little bit of patience and understanding of basic painting techniques. More experienced painters will fall in love with this range, as it allows them to save time by utilizing the pre-glazed paints without the need for additional mediums.
These paints will be available exclusively through Creature Caster.
We All Start Somewhere Set of 16 Paints:
We All Start Somewhere contains 16 different paints that have been carefully curated by the Creature Caster team to definitively revolutionize how you approach painting miniatures. This paint set contains the following:
- Black Knight
- Poor Boy Denim
- Sir Rulean Blue
- Kevin
- Peachy-keen
- Up Chuck Green
- Lush Valley
- Ghoul Flesh
- Ethereal Gray
- Fireball Orange
- Bubblegum Pink
- Chromamancer Purple
- Crawdaddy Red
- White Knight
- Tainted Snow
- Bright Yellow
Contrast Alternatives: Dipping Inks From Green Stuff World:
If you don’t feel like paying the prices for contrast paints, the new Green Stuff World offering might be right up your alley. They have 24 different colors, and each comes in a 60ml dropper bottle, so it’s pretty hard to beat right off the bat.
While we haven’t used these ourselves yet, the results are very hard to argue with. This is just a small amount of what they have to offer; now, let’s take a closer look at some of our favorites!
GOTH SKIN DIP: $5.11
As you can see, the price for how much you get is pretty nice. Here’s what they have to say about it:
- Dipping ink semi-transparent paints help you to shade your figures more quickly and easily over a single coat of paint. Apply with a brush over a layer of matt white or a light colour to easily achieve realistic shadows in a single application of Dipping.
- The Dipping ink range is the best speedpainting solution on the market to contrast your miniatures and gain more time for the game.
- It can also be used by advanced painters taking advantage of its unique properties to mark shadows and volumes, blend and veil colours with ease, bring out the details of your figure quickly and use it as a starting point for more professional painting.
TURQUOISE GHOST DIP: $5.11
- These paints have been designed in a 60ml pot so that you have enough product to paint entire armies with ease.
- Contents: 1x Dipping ink in 60ml
Scale 75 Instant Colors:
The video does a great job of showing how the paint will look on different primers and really give you a great feel for the paints in general.
We haven’t personally got to test these out quite yet, but have heard good things. Their packs are well-put together, and if you want a certain set, the price really isn’t that bad. Plus, it’s always nice to have more alternatives. You can get yours by clicking here.
Vallejo Xpress Color Paints
As we can see, this stuff looks pretty decent, with Angel using it quickly and even on a small miniature too! Remember that getting Vallejo paints in the States was always challenging, even pre-covid, so you may have to work harder to purchase it locally.
However you can find them on Amazon, but the prices will vary, and we could pretty much only find singles, but if you love the way they look, they are out there!
Games Workshop Citadel Contrast Paints:
There are definitely some great uses for Contrast paints. Especially if new hobbyists are scared of picking up a brush and demolishing a model. Contrast is a great way to test the waters of painting for beginners. For anything with a bunch of curves and recesses, Contrast will really shine.
There is still a technique for applying Contrast paints, as the paint doesn’t seem to eliminate any skill required to use it.
Contrast paints were really hot when they first came out. Now with other companies improving and tweaking the formulas, things are changing. Especially with the recent price increase, people have been looking for alternatives. However, they are still a favorite of many people out there.
You can get yours by clicking here.
For now, it looks like most of the big paint companies have jumped on the contrast hype train, as Green Stuff World recently made a similar product, and of course, the Army Painter Speedpaint is great as well.
Which has been the best Contrast Paints alternatives for miniatures for you? Have you tried them all out yet?
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