Let's Test Army Painter Speed Paints

Let's compare Army Painter's Speed Paints against their acrylic line.

You've probably seen videos on how these new Speed Paints compare against Citadel Color Contrast Paints. I thought it would be more useful to compare them against my usual paint products to see how they differ and to evaluate whether these were a good alternative for use in Quick Painting.

Overall, this is an interesting product. It does paint your models quickly and easily. However, they aren't without their challenges. I'll talk a bit about what I liked and did not like about them, as well as some of the things I learned with my initial test. Bottom line, they are pretty cool, but they are not the silver bullet they are often described as. They are just another tool to help you put paint on your models.

0:00 Introduction
7:22 The Plan
10:56 Basecoat
26:47 Results

[andrewness]

The yellow may not be what you intended, but that look definitely has some potential for painting ancient looking machinery.
I like that you tried a different technique here, as you say there are plenty of videos about these, so it's good to see how they respond to alternative techniques.

[donniem]

Breaks my heart to see a wet palette used. It was breaking down the pigment density almost immediately off the center where you're supposed to draw from. The Brown undercoat killed the effect since this paint states it's meant to do pooling and shading itself off of a light surface base. I'm extremely new to mini painting; But, I know enough that when doing glaze/contrast it's much better to use PTFE lube in a plastic palette . That poor yellow got mauled by that brown undercoat, and does way better on a white or very light grey surface. I hope you do a second round and follow the intended methods Army Painter has stated grant best results in their social media channels. You're welcome for the PTFE hack. Saves me ounces of paint per session. Earned my sub and like. Intrigued to see what's next!

[TheArmyPainter]

You only empty the top medium for Warpaints ;) That's why it says Warpaints at the top of the guide.

[Deathblade]

Some high quality stuff here! Awesome transitions and effects. Super engaging context!

[Nosferatuklown]

I noticed when I use them on a wet pallet the pigment separate from the medium in the paint - I strongly suggest just using a tiny plastic cheapo pallet instead the water seems to affect these in terms of smooth pigment layers on a model

[krusty]

Testing transparent paint over brown to test their color?
It's some kind of way to attract comment that will say this is not the way to get the color as shown in the AP manual.

[WalterCrumbcake]

Been testing the starter kit myself, I liked them enough that I pre-ordered the mega paint set.

I tried three methods that all had decent results.
Method 1) Official: White prime. Carefully paint in the lines, and let each color dry before going on to the next. The models are vibrant and really do look like they've been based, highlighted and washed.

Method 2) Black Prime. Zenithal in white or slightly off white. Paint all your metallic bits in silver and use the speed paint to tint as needed. Staying in the lines is a little more forgiving as you have the black prime in the deepest spots. But same as the first method make sure each color is completely dry.
after this the models look really great and the color transitions are even better than plain white.

Method 3) AKA I bought a board game with 100+ minis and I need them table ready this weekend:
Prime in Black. Dry brush in white. You can really go ham with this method as going outside the lines is super forgiving as the white over black drybrush hides a lot of mistakes. credit to goobertown for this one.

[kueppe]

Try them with a light zenithal highlight, speedpaint and then some minor drybrush/edge highlight. Your undercoat did nothing for this paints.

[electricbill]

You're NOT meant to use them on a wet palette, they'll seep through and ruin it. You're ONLY meant to use them on a light undercoat, and you decided to go with brown, for some unknown reason. It's as if you're purposefully trying to ruin your own minis. Maybe next time, you should read the instructions before trying to make a video about new products. Just a thought :)

[freeadvice]

You can really tell on the red how the paint seemed to reactivate and mixed the pigment. It’s not how they are meant to be used… unfortunately. I had hoped these would be great glazing paints…. They are not.