Army Painter quickshade - dip vs brush-on

[Charlie_]

I'm considering playing around with the Army Painter quickshades.

But not the dip - I'm gonna try brushing it on from the 17ml bottles.
http://shop.thearmypainter.com/products.php?ProductGroupId=21

Is this exactly the same stuff you get in the 'dip'?
Or is it a different sort of wash, colour-matched to the dip?

More specifically, will it have the high gloss finish of the dip?
And will it take ages to dry properly? (Apparently you are supposed to let the dip dry for 48 hours)

[Argonor]

AP Inks are NOT the quickshade 'dip' which is actually just a kind of stained varnish.

The inks should be colour-matched to the dips.

The inks are more like GW washes, and I have been told that they dry up matt (actually, the 'Strongtone' Ink should be as close to the OOP GW Devlan Mud as it is possible to get).

Drying time should be shorter than the dip - but as with other washes it is probably a good idea to leave it untouched for some hours after it seems dry to the touch.

My local-ish games/hobby store does not carry the AP inks, so I have not been able to buy one, as I don't want to pay the shipping price asked by AP for a single small pot of colour, so I have not used it personally - but I am pretty certain you will get the same answer from those who did.

[Lowtardog]

I have been using the brush on 17ml pots and they work quite well. They dry very quickly and a definatley matt finish, you need to lighten your palette quite a bit if using highlights or put highlights on afterwards as they do darken them down.

It has speeded up my painting no end and although a basic painter and not an expert as many of our esteemed brethren on the forum I tend to find they work very well

[Charlie_]

Interesting... Thanks!

It has speeded up my painting no end and although a basic painter and not an expert as many of our esteemed brethren on the forum I tend to find they work very well

Yeah I'm thinking of using them to speed up certain areas of my painting.

The one thing I'm not quite sure about is with the dip (and I'm guessing by extension the soft tone, strong tone and dark tone washes), how they are all brownish colours.... How do they work shading colours like greens and blues? What's your experience with this?

I've definitely seen some good results with them. There are certain areas such as flesh I will definitely want to still spend plenty of time on, there are other areas (armour, leather/shoes/straps/etc) that I already use washes on.... I'm thinking I can speed up my painting big time by using washes on more areas.

[Argonor]

The one thing I'm not quite sure about is with the dip (and I'm guessing by extension the soft tone, strong tone and dark tone washes), how they are all brownish colours.... How do they work shading colours like greens and blues? What's your experience with this?

Try having a look at my thread here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75816.180

The Dark Age Warriors were mostly painted by blocking out the colours in a light tone, then washing with GW Agrax Earthshade (the GW wash currently closest to AP Strongtone).

If the shading works for you is probably a matter of taste - I works for me, but if you want 'cleaner' colours, you may want to look at GWs washes - they match most basic colours.

[Charlie_]

Try having a look at my thread here:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=75816.180

The Dark Age Warriors were mostly painted by blocking out the colours in a light tone, then washing with GW Agrax Earthshade (the GW wash currently closest to AP Strongtone).

If the shading works for you is probably a matter of taste - I works for me, but if you want 'cleaner' colours, you may want to look at GWs washes - they match most basic colours.

They look good!

Perhaps I'll invest in a variety of new washes. I'll have a look at what GW has to offer.

By the way, I am currently using two Vallejo Game Colour washes - flesh wash and umber wash. They are both really good, for what I use them for. I'd be interested to see how the other brands compare, but I can recommend these two.

[Lowtardog]

Interesting... Thanks!

Yeah I'm thinking of using them to speed up certain areas of my painting.

The one thing I'm not quite sure about is with the dip (and I'm guessing by extension the soft tone, strong tone and dark tone washes), how they are all brownish colours.... How do they work shading colours like greens and blues? What's your experience with this?

I've definitely seen some good results with them. There are certain areas such as flesh I will definitely want to still spend plenty of time on, there are other areas (armour, leather/shoes/straps/etc) that I already use washes on.... I'm thinking I can speed up my painting big time by using washes on more areas.

I bought the 8 bottle brush on type, soft and strong are brownish, wasn't impressed with the flesh tone however the dark tone is good for blacks and darkening greay, weapons and such. The red , blue , green and purple all work well

[john Hollyoak]

Nothing against Armypainter but your query regarding how it shades all colours in the same way is what led to me to GW washes. If you can block paint quickly then applying GW washes really doesn't take long at all and you can choose from a number of colours (the cammo green is particularly good). I agree with comments above - start with a light colour, then wash. I tried highlighting afterwards but found it made very little difference.
John

[StreetBushido]

I've recently started using Army Painter's Quickshade to speed up my painting. Thus far I've used Strong Tone from a can using both the dip and the brush-on method. Both have given nice results, but I think I prefer to paint it on.

I also have a squeezy bottle of Soft Tone, that I got to test out how it looks compared to Strong Tone. As the others have pointed out: the product in the bottles is more akin to a wash than the canned product, which is a varnish.

The bottled washes dry in about as m uch time as a Games Workshop wash.

I have yet to use any form of Quickshade on any greens or blues, but I can report that it works well on yellows, reds, various skin tones and various browns. I will nth that when using Quickshades on a whole model, you should plan ahead and start out with a lighter basecoat.

[Argonor]

I will nth that when using Quickshades on a whole model, you should plan ahead and start out with a lighter basecoat.

Exactly how I do it when using the method for speed-painting - block in colours in light tones, then apply wash all over (almost - I layer a few details).