Anyone used Games Workshop's "Foundation" paints? :)

[Silverblade The Ench]

Just noticed these, not been painting for few years, properly, would like to start up on it again
.
So , anyone have any insight on the Foundation paints GW makes?

 

[pogre]

I have not, but I took a few comments from other painter messageboards I frequent:

so, I popped into my local GW for the first time in a long time yesterday, and the manager (who I used to talk to fairly frequently), points out that they're having a speed painting contest to promote their new Foundation paints, and he went into an advertising pitch about them.
I figured, it's free, I get a free mini and I can paint right before I go in to work, and also have the chance of winning a box of paints, sure, why not?

For the contest, we had access to the Foundation paints, black, white, a couple metallics and a few of their inks.

anyways ...
yes, they are quite thick, and they dry VERY quickly.
I tried using them straight (just to see), and it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great.
I tried a 1:1 ratio, wateraint, and got a solid, surprisingly smooth basecoat over the black primer
I thinned it down even more and gradually mixed with white so I could do some layering, and it worked out quite well.
I tried drybrushing (good) but I did not try a wash.

now, even with how thick they are, I never had problems with clumping, and I was able to thin it out quite a bit and still use it (I even went approximately 10:1, wateraint, and it was still giving me pretty good pigment for layering)

I decided to try mixing it with one of their inks to achieve a desired colour, and it worked out quite well.

I don't think I'll shell out the $65 (cdn) to buy a box of the paints. (since I didn't win the free one)
But I DO think they'd be pretty decent for basecoating an army very quickly, or for speedpainting.

My main issue with them is that they dry out FAR to quickly, even when watered down. You would definitely need a drying retarder of some sort if you were going to use these regularly.

My friends from Leprechaun Art Studio (http://leprechaun-studio.com/) got them earlier and I got a chance to try them a bit at the studio and in FLGS. Essentially they really cover good over black undercoat (sometimes even better than MSP, but only a little bit), but suck at other applications - like putting subsequent layers for highlights etc.

I went to the local GW store a few weeks back and tested these before they had them in-stock. They are essentially a vinyl-base, high-coverage paint meant to be marketed as your basecoat (you are then meant to wash and highlight with normal GW paint, I believe). The issues I had with them were that they were strictly a one-trick pony; they utterly fell apart when thinned with more than a tiny bit of water, so are not good for layering, washing, or glazing, though they're good at wet-blending and I suspect they excel at dry-brushing. Also, if you're going to thin them for your basecoat, be ready to see that excellent coverage decline.

That said, they are excellent at exactly what they claim to be--a one-hit, straight-from-the-bottle basecoat for quickly painting gaming models. As I don't yet actually own 'em (though it's good to know they've been released, now I can go and acquire 'em!), I can't vouch for things like adhesion (how well the paint stands up to handling).

They seem to do what they were intended to do very well - lay down a foundation level over black primer. They are not intended to be a primary paint. If you are just jumping back in, I would suggest another line for your main painting needs. I use Vallejo and Reaper Master Series and like them very much. I hear great things about the Privateer Press paints too, although their main paint guy is apparently out of the company now.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

thanks mate! appreciate the help

I got some of them on Saturday, and a new pin drill (new GW one looks nice n' comfy), but on way back home, lost the damned bag on train :/
So ordered some online.

Always had hell of a trouble painting red's or light colours over black (white over black, say for faces, never seemed ot work too well).

 

[bento]

I'm using Reaper Master Series paints over GW's black spray primer, and its working out well.

Maybe I don't understand this idea of foundation paint, but wouldn't you run the risk of using different shades underneath from those on top? I like Reaper's MS, where I can dillute with water, mix lighter or darker shades, and blends rather well. Maybe I need to go over to the GW site and read what they're talking about....

 

[Shape D.]

Always had hell of a trouble painting red's or light colours over black (white over black, say for faces, never seemed ot work too well).

Red won't ever cover black, I've also tried covering a darker red with a lighter red and had it not cover properly. The red pigment is a bit of a pain.

Although painting something in a greyscale (black, grey, and white) and then painting red over all of it can have a pretty cool effect from the black, and grey showing through the red.

for white I normally do two coats over black, I also almost always prime my mini's white to avoid the black vs lighter color issues.