Over the summer of 2025, I did a series of interviews with some of Goonhammer’s pre-eminent pigment pushers, chatting about their favourite paints, tools, and philosophy. To kick off this mini-series, we have SkySerpent, Bair, and Snafu. Here’s Top Painter Twenty Questions:
So let’s start at the top: What’s your favourite red? The one you find yourself going to more than any other (and why?)
SkySerpent/Paulie: I love red, it’s such an important colour and has a place in most miniatures as it can be used to change the mood and tone of a model.
I’m a big fan of the Citadel reds, their coverage is really good, and I find they layer really well on top of each other for some smooth highlights. If I were to choose one, it would be Khorne Red, nearly every red I paint will start as this for the base, and I find it a really smooth, rich colour which can be used for shading too. Shout-outs to Mephiston Red, as well as Baal Red from the Contrast range which has a high pigmentation, which is great for glazes.
Snafu: My most used red and favourite red are probably two different things. I’m not sure I have a favourite right now, although something with a good, strong pigment is always nice to work with. Recently, I’ve been using Mindworks Games Pyrrole Red has been very nice to work with. Incredibly smooth, with a long working time on the model, it makes it easy to blend and adjust as the piece progresses.
My most used red is actually several inks in a trench coat. For my blood angels, I use a progressive workup of Daler Rowney white and Daler Rowney black for highlights and shadows, blending these with DR Process Magenta, followed by a top coat of DR Flame Red.
Bair: Easily, that’s Pro Acryl Bold Pyrrole Red. I’ve only started using it in the last few months, but it just blows all other reds I’ve ever used out of the water. It covers really well and is just so vibrant, with a simple shade and layer it looks great.
My next question is, as you might imagine, “What’s your favourite orange?”
SkySerpent/Paulie: Orange is a colour that I will never escape from and one that I am now synonymous with, it’s not even my favourite colour!
However, it is important to me and my Drukhari army and is used on all of my Commorrites and Corsairs. I use 5 Citadel oranges to achieve this, so I’m afraid I am going to have to say all 5 as they’re all integral to my scheme.
Magmadroth Orange is a potent colour which I use straight over white (which is often brushed on over a black undercoat) which brings a high level of vibrancy.
Fuegan Orange is used as a targeted recess shade before we work our way through Trollslayer Orange, Fire Dragon Bright and Lugganath Orange (including 50/50 steps in between) for the blended highlights.
Snafu: I’ve been painting a lot of skin tones lately, so hopefully this counts. Pro-Acryl Burnt Orange is a nice base layer. Just enough red to give some life, and provide a base to work a number of skin shades up from.
Bair: Also Pro Acryl and the very aptly named: Orange. For much the same reason as the red above, it just works well, though I don’t paint orange very often, so haven’t tried too many either.
I’m sure you know what’s coming next! That’s right! What’s your favourite… Flesh Tone?
SkySerpent/Paulie: As a Drukhari player, flesh is an interesting part of the model to paint as I tend to paint more flayed skin than faces, etc!
Rakarth Flesh is a great base for any Drukhari, vampiric or necrotic flesh, and I like Bugman’s Glow and Catachan Flesh as the base for varying skin tones but my favourite would likely be Cadian Fleshtone for its versatility to work as a mix in virtually any skin tone while also being useful as a highlight colour, which can add warmth to a variety of other mixes.
Snafu: I really enjoy mixing my own for the most part! I haven’t quite figured out a nice African skin tone yet, so I use ScaleColor 75 African Shadow. For Caucasian skin tones, my usual approach is to base with Burnt Orange, and then mix Titanium White (Mindworks or Golden), Quinacridone Magenta and Golden High Flow Benzimidazolone Yellow Light or Mindworks Primary Yellow. Combining these colours in varying amounts gives a really nice variety of tones as you work up. To lighten the mix, I’ll add white and yellow in different amounts depending on what I want to achieve.
If I’m working a little faster, PA Beige Red and PA Pale Pink will feature in the workflow, but I really do prefer the variety of tones that mixing gives me. People aren’t the same colour, so it’s okay for your flesh to be inconsistent!
Bair: Once again, a more recent addition, but Pro Acryl’s Tan Flesh has become a quick favourite. However, the only reason I was able to get through 140 Vikings was by using Guilliman Flesh over a Corax White basecoat. The former is great when I want to spend a little more time on a model, the latter is wonderful for painting through a horde that doesn’t need to look as nice individually.
The next question is, of course, about the absolute worst colour to paint – your favourite yellow?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Oooof. Yellow. So many painters find this hard to use, and I am no different. Staying in the Citadel wheelhouse, I like Averland Sunset as a nice mustard base coat, but I struggle to get a good finish with any of the common yellows like Yriel or Flash Gitz. I really like the intensity of Imperial Fists Yellow over white, but I find a similar issue when trying to highlight or shade it down; yellow isn’t easy, but I persist.
Bair: So I’ve painted two separate Imperial Fist armies over the last 10 years, each one clearly a mistake, because who wants to paint that much yellow??
Me, apparently, because I also decided that one of the main colours of my quasi-historical Age of Chivalry warband would be yellow (alongside green). When I was doing Imperial Fist armies, I relied on yellow spray paint to get the tone down, since that was clearly the majority of the colour, which was Army Painter Daemonic Yellow over a Wraithbone basecoat that made it a little warmer and actually worked because that’s a very thin spray colour.
For painting yellow once again, it’s Pro Acryl. Golden Yellow is just a solid, nice, warm yellow that I’ve been using for any yellow bits I need across Arcworlde models and my Age of Chivalry warband. It still needs two coats to cover nicely, something I typically try to avoid doing because I’m lazy, but on this one, it’s almost always needed. For the same reason, I used to use Imperial Fist contrast over Corax White, but that’s also two coats. I have yet to find a light yellow that I actively like using, though.
Snafu: Painting a good yellow is as much about finding a good paint as it is about understanding pigments. Bright yellow pigments tend to be quite transparent, but I’ve had reasonable luck with ScaleColor 75 Sol Yellow over white. Your yellow looks green because you painted it over black, which typically contains a blue-hued pigment.
For more muted yellows, Pro-Acryl Yellow Ochre and MW Yellow Oxide both offer excellent coverage.
Ok, next question is probably also obvious, but it’s essential, what’s your favourite green (not turquoise, I’ll do that one separately)? I know there are lots of different kinds of green, but the one that you find yourself gravitating towards, that speaks to you.
SkySerpent/Paulie: I have a lot of favourite greens, the Drukhari greens make up a palette that I use often (Incubi Darkness, Kabalite Green, Sybarite Green), which I often end on Gauss Blaster Green; a further shout out to Incubi Darkness, which can be used to shade reds for extra depth or even to bring more colour to blacks.
Deathworld Forest is a rich colour which I began using a lot when painting my Veiled Path Harlequins, but has now become my go-to for lush foliage, and Moot Green is my favourite bright green.
My favourite green? Sons of Horus Green. I don’t use it all the time, but there’s something I like about its minty hue that just makes it my favourite.
Bair: There certainly are lots of greens! You’ll have noticed a trend here, but that’s gotta be Pro Acryl Green. It’s just what green is to me. So simple. This is the green I use on my Age of Chivalry stuff, as mentioned and the base for the green on my Arcworlde Gremlins (link to recent review article maybe?). Paints on smoothly, easily, and hasn’t really required two coats most times I’ve used it, which is a big win.
Snafu: Ooo, I’ve been painting a bunch of Fallout minis from the Gunners faction recently, and PA Dark Yellow Green has been a great military green. Add a little bit of white and some Yellow Ochre, and you have some great fatigues too.
Next is my favourite colour, so the people need to know, what’s your favourite turquoise paint?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Turquoise is my favourite colour but this is one where I have to go off piste as I don’t particularly have a favourite paint for this hue, I tend to mix my own jades and turquoises by adding a little yellow to my blue (like the aforementioned Dorn Yellow) but if I was pushed for an answer it would have to be Sotek Green or Ahriman Blue who both make a great choice as a base.
Bair: I’ve yet to find a turquoise normal paint that I like, but I really love Kroxigor Scales contrast. I slap that over Corax White whenever I do use it, it’s been on some small parts of my Gloomspute Gitz before, like for some mushrooms, but that’s all. I also haven’t tried any Pro Acryl ones, though, and honestly, it’s not a colour I do a lot of actually either. I’m a blue man.
Snafu:
I think the last time I actually painted any significant amount of turquoise was almost a decade ago! I did just use Mindworks Radiant Turquoise and Titanium white to start a sky backdrop, but that’s about the extent of it.
How about blue?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Temple Guard Blue. The only question so far where I hands down shout out my favourite colour with ease. I love how punchy and bright this blue is, and I’ll often start at this colour and work my way brighter, or try to end there.
If I’m looking for a more muted blue, I might work my way through the High Elf blues and shouts to Macragge and Kantor for some great base paints to start from.
Bair: Oh, I’m glad you asked: Pro Acryl Ultramarine. This colour is insane, and no photo of anything painted in it does it justice. It’s been referred to as “eye sore blue”, which barely scrapes the surface of this colour. It’s wonderful. Painting Ultramarines? I’m not, but it’s in the name. It’s the base blue that I’ve used on my halflings and Kharadron Overlords. Faded Ultramarine, then as a highlight, is great for taking the edge off of all that blueness. For contrast paints, though, I also love Celestium Blue; it’s so deep in tone.
Snafu: It’s actually been a little while since I’ve painted a significant amount of blue, but the last time I had to get a good basecoat down, I found Vallejo Model Colour Prussian Blue to be quite nice to work with. My main 40K project is Blood Angels, and outside of that, most of my schemes tend towards more natural tones at the moment. I might incorporate some darker blues when painting NMM, and I actually made a conscious choice recently to have the heraldry of my burrows and badgers warband include blue due to not painting it very often!
Oh, interesting, how come you don’t paint much blue? It’s a pretty fundamental colour!
Snafu: My main 40K project is Blood Angels, and outside of that, most of my schemes tend towards more natural tones at the moment. I might incorporate some darker blues when painting NMM, and I actually made a conscious choice recently to have the heraldry of my burrows and badgers warband include blue due to not painting it very often!
How about that most regal of colours, the wonderful purple?
Skyserpent/Paulie: I don’t tend to paint a lot of purple, but when I do, it’s usually a choice between warm and cold, Naggaroth Night and Xereus Purple, and if I had to choose, I find Naggaroth a richer tone.
Bair: So while the Pro Acryl purples are cool, my answer here is actually: Army Painter Speedpaint 2.0 Purple Swarm. That over Corax White is how I painted the robes on my Gloomspite Gitz before adding a highlight to them, and it’s just a wonderful shade of purple. It’s not so dark that it looks black, it’s not so light that it lacks depth either. I got this as a prize for the best-painted army inside a big box of Speedpaints. When I tried it was just about the only purple I had on hand right then, and I said to myself, “Alright, let’s try it,” and was very pleasantly surprised.
Snafu: I quite liked using scalecolor75 sunset purple a little while back, more recently I’ve been using PA Royal Purple to add a little bit of shading inside eye sockets
Another of my favourite colours, this one – magenta.
SkySerpent/Paulie: For my magenta and pinks, there are a few important choices. A colour which dances around the categories but is absolutely gorgeous is Barak-Nar, which just screams opulence and is a colour that I would love to paint an army in one day, but is amazing for accents and capes.
For my pinks, and we’re going with rich colours, I love taking Screamer Pink through Pink Horror, such gorgeous colours which you can take lighter if you like and work across a variety of textures and tones.
Snafu: In case you hadn’t been able to guess, mostly Quinacridone Magenta! Golden High Flow and Mindwork both make their way onto the palette for various things. I find it to be a really versatile pigment. It’s wonderful for flesh tones and glazing to give life to a subject. Outside of that, combining it with a little bit of dark blue to glaze in to a shadow creates much more interesting depth and value shifts
Bair: I don’t paint much pink or magenta, really, actually, really, it’s just been some brighter parts on my Gitz army and even then, just some mushrooms or the big one that the Shroomancer is sitting on top of. Pretty basic, but Citadel Pink Horror works great for a simple pink. I like that it’s not super in your face while still being lighter. Maybe a colour I should consider doing more with…
Fantastic! How about whites and light greys? Any preferences?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Pro Acryl Bold Titanium White, those five words on the tip of most painters’ tongues. It is the white and for good reason, I just wish the nozzle was designed differently!
I do make use of Vallejo’s whites, especially Off-white if I want an… off-white.
For my light greys, I make a lot of use of Fenrisian Grey and Administratum Grey, depending on the texture of what I am painting, but I’ve recently been using Ulthuan Grey too for that crisp light grey tone.
Bair: So if you’ve read this far, then you’ve read the words “Corax White” a number of times, and there’s a great reason for that: I like it a lot. The only hobby shop within walking distance to me is a Warhammer store, and I use Corax White drybrushed over darker tones a lot for underpainting. It’s just a really solid near-white colour, it’s not a pure white, but on a miniature it looks damn close and lets me (you?) highlight it with a pure white when you want something to look…white. It has great coverage, it doesn’t go weirdly lumpy like White Scar does, it’s just good. It’s also what I use for eyes, cause eyes aren’t really pure white.
For a “pure” white, it’s gonna be Pro Acryl Pure Titanium White, which I only use on highlights for white things; I couldn’t even tell you how widespread coverage is with this paint, I have no idea, I’ve never tried it like that.
As far as any light greys go, I use a mix of Pro Acryl Light Warm Grey and Citadel Dawnstone, depending if I want something to be a bit warmer or more neutral, respectively.
Snafu: For pure white, I will almost always use Golden Heavy Body Titanium White, thinned and then add a little bit of Golden Super Matte Medium. It’s more involved than using another white, but it gives me excellent control of the consistency.
For light grey, it’s one I don’t use a huge amount, but I did just use titanium white and carbon black to make my own. For putting down a consistent large area of grey, Vallejo Model Color Neutral Grey gives really good coverage
And to the other end of the scale, how about black?
SkySerpent/Paulie: As much as I hear excellent things about other brands, I’m still old school, and I really enjoy Abaddon Black. It works well enough for me, and it’s my go-to black, but I’ve started using Corvus Black for when I want a black that I can shade.
Dark Reaper is an incredible colour and is the route I go for when I want to highlight black with a cold tint or to add a sense of reflection, whereas Mechanicus Standard Grey is my favourite ‘normal’ grey. I do like Skavenblight Dinge as a warm grey, but I find it quickly enters brown territory and can be really effective.
Bair: Ha, so I also don’t paint a lot of black. Which I wrote out and then immediately turned my head and looked at my cabinet that has a shelf full of Knights Hospitaller that I painted the other month for Saga. They are all dressed in black for those of the less historically-inclined (which was me until very recently).
Shocking to no one that’s gotta be Pro Acryl Coal Black. It’s great. I like how matte it is on the finish, it takes grey highlights (read: drybrushes) extremely well, and just looks great. Those Knights Hospitaller are just that, with a drybrush of Pro Acryl Dark Neutral Grey, and it just works.
However, the tied-for-first-place here is gonna be Black Legion Contrast cause goddam it’s good. Contrast has no right to have this kind of coverage. That said, I really just use it for base rims because it is perfect for an easy black base rim.
Snafu: I rarely use a pure black on its own; nothing is really, truly black. I feel similarly about Dark Grey. I’ll often use PA Payne’s Grey as a base for other dark greys and will usually settle on pure Payne’s Grey if I’m working quickly. I used a reasonable amount of PA Dark Neutral Grey in a recent project. When I’m painting a black, I usually pick a temperature to work from first, and this will inform the type of dark grey I’ll pick to use as a base. I will occasionally use a pure black, like Carbon Black, with another colour as a base. I’ve avoided talking about oils up to this point, but I do use Lamp Black for pin washing and shading.
And finally, that most versatile and varied of colours: Brown.
Paulie/SkySerpent: Brown is such a tricky colour as it feels like a colour which I own a whole pantheon of!
Steel Legion Drab is my go-to colour for my bases AND my base rims! It also tends to find its way into a lot of my highlights too, and is a really flexible paint.
Mournfang Brown, the spiritual successor to Bestial Brown, is another fantastic brown that I use a lot. If I want to start from a darker shade, then Rhinox Hide is another fantastic brown which again can be used for so much.
Snafu: I’m going to break from type here and not immediately suggest another paint you’d be more likely to see in a fine art collection. Scalecolor Walnut makes for a nice brown leather, which is where I find myself using browns most often at the moment. If I’m looking for something ready to go and darker, I’ll grab Vallejo Model Air Mahogany or Burnt Umber. There was no way I was making it through that question without mentioning Burnt Umber, and it’s another pigment I’ll use when oil washing.
Bair: Love browns! I really love how varied they can be, from more greyish brown to more reddish brown and all sorts of tans as well. My go-to brown paints are:
- Snakebite Leather Contrast
- Citadel Doombull Brown
- Pro Acryl Drab Brown
These are all just great and varied enough from each other that if I’m painting something that’s a lot of leather, straps, and pouches, each one can get its own brown and not get muddled together.
I was going to list more but Keewa cut me off.
As a painter, do you feel that you’re particularly brand-loyal?
SkySerpent/Paulie: I would say 90-95% of the paints I use are Citadel, and likely because they are accessible and, in all honesty, I just like them.
I don’t think there is a definite answer on the old flip-top vs dropper bottles, and I find they work for me.
However if I think a different brand is better for a certain colour then I will use that, I don’t use Citadel silvers and there are certain paints that I will dip into from Vallejo and Pro Acryl etc – for me it’s about forming your own paint range from different systems and learning how they behave, I just find for the most part that Citadel works for me.
Bair: This has actually come up recently, too, and I think my answer is: kind of? More out of comfort and convenience, though, than anything else. I painted, for a very, very long time, with just Citadel paints and a few Darkstar metallics with the odd pre-thinned MIG oil wash, but that was just about it. I actually really like the Citadel pots. I can just dip my brush straight in. I didn’t even start using a palette of any kind until this year. Before that, if I were using a Darkstar paint, I’d just spill some out into an upturned base. When I say convenience, that’s just because the only hobby store I can walk to (I don’t drive in London) is a Warhammer store and popping in to pick up the odd paint is just really easy.
A few months ago, I tried out some of the Pro Acryl paints, and they’ve obviously become a favourite for a number of colours, and now I’m at about a 70/30 split of Pro Acryl and Citadel. With the odd Darkstar metallic here and there or MIG oil, and of course Dirty Down Rust and Moss where appropriate.
Snafu: Not really, and I think my collection reflects that. I’ll tend to pick what I feel is the best tool for the job. If I’m looking for consistency and speed across a project, I’ll tend to use more premixed and wargaming-oriented paints. For single subjects or smaller units, I might use more single-pigment or fine art type paints so that my mixing is more predictable during blending and other refinement steps.
Do you have a favourite primer? And a kind of sub-question, do you prefer rattlecan, airbrush, or brush-on?
SkySerpent/Paulie: I’m old school, and I really like Chaos Black spray; it works for me and has never let me down. I’m relatively stuck in my ways in terms of working up from black, but I will use Wraithbone or Skull White from time to time, too.
Whatever the weather, I heat my spray can up in a jug of half-boiled water and shake it for five minutes.
I rarely airbrush. I have one, but I don’t often have an adequate set-up for it at home, but it’s something I should try more, especially for efficient priming. It could be seen as an essential part of a painter’s arsenal, you can get by, but I know I’m likely missing out
Bair: Well, I don’t have an airbrush, so that’s that out! I’ve never done much brush-on priming; I just don’t trust it. That leaves rattlecans, which I’ve been using for over a decade. My go-to is Colourforge these days, just as good as the Citadel stuff (which I do also like a lot), but you get a bit more in the can for the cost, and they have a bunch of other colours too for the odd time I want something specific. Typically, I use Hyrax Brown, Matte Black, or Sanguine Red, though. I like a darker primer with a heavy drybrush of a lighter tone when I’m painting lighter coloured things, keeps the shadows easily darker so I don’t end up with a small bit of white showing through that I missed (an endless frustration with white/light primers for me).
Snafu: I actually really like something that isn’t marketed as a primer, Molotow One4All acrylic refills. They give a really nice surface to work on, with a hard-wearing matte finish in a huge variety of colours. Most things I’ll airbrush prime, I occasionally use a rattlecan when I need a harder-wearing finish, for things like terrain.
What is your favourite contrast-style/one coat paint?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Good question, and I think Contrast and similar brands have had a big impact on the painting scene. Aside from a few aforementioned paints that I use like basecoats, there are a few that I really enjoy using as washes to tint items such as weapons, capes, and Xenos hide.
The one I use the most and enjoy the hue of is Aethermatic Blue, but an honourable mention goes to Kroxigor Scales and Sigvald Burgundy.
Bair: That’s a hard question.
First off, how dare you make me choose one?
I’m choosing two. Black Legion, for the reasons listed under favourite Citadel Black paints, it’s just really good and really easy to apply. The other is Citadel Snakebite Leather because it’s just such an effortless-but-decent leather colour that looks great over a white or Wraithbone bus but isn’t too strongly pigmented that it covers over other darker colours much, so I get to be messy with it when painting belts on historical minis with just about zero issues if I spill over a bit.
Snafu: GW Wyldwood is incredibly versatile and one of my go-to paints for a quick wood, it takes thinning really well, and thinner applications work in a similar way to something like Agrax Earthshade.
Ok, so this is one we’ve touched on already, but I think it’s important because this is one of those areas where some paints are just straightforwardly better than others – Metallics. What’s your favourite TMM paint?
SkySerpent/Paulie: A paint I’ve really got into recently is Balthasar Gold, it’s a rich, bronzey gold which works well as a base for both, and that’s what I’ve been using it for and then working it up and down, plus the coverage is great.
I returned to Citadel Golds a while ago, and Retributor Armour is another solid colour, but I tend to use Scale 75 for their other bronzes (I miss you Tin Bitz) and the Vallejo Mecha paint range for their silvers.
Bair: The one I use the most is Iron Hands Steel because it’s just easy for a basic silver. It’s not too dark, it applies easily enough, and I don’t have to faff around with a palette to be able to use it.
For gold though, I really like Pro Acryl Rich Gold because it’s a really nice tone.
Snafu: When I’m airbrushing, I’d say it’s Vallejo Metal Color Duraluminium, when I’m working with a brush, I actually quite like Vallejo Model Air Metallic Steel. I have a huge variety of metallics, but honestly, they’re my most used, partly as I’ve started experimenting with adding my own pigmentation or glazes using inks to silvers to get the colour I want.
What’s your favourite wash or shade paint?
SkySerpent/Paulie: I feel that often the one true answer is that a variety of paints to match the variety of textures, models and jobs you want them to perform is best, and I think this is truest when it comes to washes.
I do think sometimes they can be overused, when actually not using one, or your thinned-down base paint is enough, and you can create extra work for yourself by coating your model in a wash; it’s worth noting that Citadel’s washes’ consistencies have changed a lot over the years too.
But Agrax Earthshade, Nuln Oil, Reikland Fleshshade. They all do a good job, especially the latter on golds, while Seraphim Sepia does well to give a warm, yellow tint.
I’ll make use of most of the washes out there related to their colours, and one of my new favourites, which came in a few years ago, is Targor Rageshade, which is great for adding a bit of warmth and colour to sullen, dull skin tones.
Bair: I’m incredibly basic here. Citadel Nuln Oil and Agrax Earthshade are involved in basically everything I paint; at least one of them is on pretty much everything I’ve ever done. I have picked up and tried the Pro Acryl Black and Brown washes, and they are, to me, not different at all. I like the Citadel pots in general, but they are, simply, better for washes than dropper bottles. Dunk the brush in and apply.
The only different wash here that I have used and like quite a lot is Coat d’Arms Armour Ink. It’s in the name, but it just works really great for things like chainmail or plate armour. It has a darker black to those recessed bits that helps that armour look good quickly.
Snafu: Acrylic-based, it’s a close run race between Basilicanum Grey and Ratling Grime, depending on what I’m trying to do. Oil-based, probably burnt umber, oils are such a flexible way to apply filters and washes.
When it comes to brushes, do you have a particular favourite or preference?
SkySerpent/Paulie: The best brushes I ever had, which lasted years, were the 2011 ‘Eavy Metal brushes, which I’m led to believe were Winsor & Newton Series 7 reskins, which again are phenomenal brushes and ones I own and use.
Similar to washes, I have a lot of brushes in my arsenal, and I tend to keep a lot of cheap brushes, which I buy at conventions for all those mucky jobs, basing, etc that you don’t want your Kolinsky Sable brushes touching.
I have several sets of Artis Opus brushes, which I think are phenomenal. I’ve recently been using the Series D drybrushes, which I have found really effective.
For a longer-haired, cheaper brush, I have been using Rosemary & Co Series 33 brushes, and my favourite go-to cheap workhorse Kolinsky is from Handover.
Any particular size you use the most?
For me, the quality of the tip of the brush is more important than the size, if a size 2 has a fine point and is well looked after then it will be absolutely fine at picking out pupils and freehand; the bigger the belly of the brush the more paint it can hold and thus it won’t dry out as quickly.
My only real personal foible is if I find a brush I like which I can do everything with, I will and I’ll thrash it until it’s lost its edge.
Bair: I have 3 cups/mugs of tools and brushes on my desk at all times:
- One for tools like cutters, knife, drill, etc
- One for my older, crappier brushes that I’ll use for drybrushing, shading large areas, applying texture paints, oils and the like
- One for the nicer brushes that I’ll actually use for detail work and my “go to” brush for the majority of my painting
For the most part, though, I use a Rosemary and Co. Size 1 brush for most things. I like the longer bristles than some other brushes I’ve used, like the Citadel and Pro Arte ones. I’ve got a few Rosemary and Co brushes, so I’ll use a Size 2 for larger things, but the Size 1 just works great for everything else. You don’t need any smaller brushes than that (and I’ve even painted some eyes!), even though that feels a bit odd. Smaller models do not always mean smaller brushes!
I do have a set of Artis Opus Goonhammer brushes, which were a gift, and I really do like them, but I’m far too rough with my brushes, so I’m scared to use them and only get them out for very fine work. Which I don’t do that much of.
Snafu: I strictly don’t use sables, or at least haven’t bought any new ones since going vegan. I’ve been enjoying the Monument Hobby synthetics, and the Pro-Lene line isn’t bad either. I tend to use either a 4 or 1/4” filbert brush for my sketch work and base layers
Do you use magnifying lenses when you paint?
SkySerpent/Paulie: I don’t use any magnifying lenses to paint; I tend to wear glasses for long distances, which over the years crept into everyday use, and I do take them off for painting.
For me, it’s important to paint in a well-lit room with good daylight bulbs when they are needed. The ambience and your state of mind are important too; if your desk is messy, then so too will be your head and likely your painting. If you are rushing or not enjoying your painting, then that will show in your miniatures.
Snafu: yes. They’re really helpful for fine detail work, especially with smaller brushes. I wouldn’t be able to do the eyes on true-scale 28mm models like Modiphius’s Fallout characters without them.
Bair:No, I’m 31. [ed: cheeky git!]
Are there any painting-related tools (outside of the obvious brushes + palette) that have become an essential part of your painting routine?
SkySerpent/Paulie: Every time I sit down to paint a model, I use a soft makeup brush to ensure that there is no dust on it.
Snafu: Microfibre cloths! I used to go through mountains of paper towels, but I much prefer the very soft cloths you get in multipacks for things like window and screen cleaning. They can be washed and reused, and they’re less likely to transfer fibre too.
I also use a small table vice since my injury, which allows me to rest my left hand and can be really helpful for stabilising models for fine work.
Bair: Well, the palette has only very recently joined my collection…the only other thing that I’ll use sometimes is a painting handle. I’ve got a few on the shelf next to my desk, across a few Citadel ones and a set of A-Case’s magnetic ones. I really only use these, though if I’m painting a very small batch of 5 models or less, or just focusing on one character model. Typically, though, I batch 10-20 models at a time though so just don’t use them.
Okay, this one is the last and probably the most difficult question. If you had to pick only 10 paints for your Desert Island paintbox, what would they be? In this scenario, you’ve already got your favourite primer and all the brushes and etcetera you could ever need.
SkySerpent/Paulie:
- Abaddon Black
- Bold Titanium White
- Pale Sand
- Balthasar Gold
- Vallejo Mecha Steel
- Temple Guard Blue
- Khorne Red
- Steel Legion Drab
- Dorn Yellow
- Cadian Fleshtone
This is a well-rounded mix of my favourite paints for their archetypes with black, white, metals, primaries, as well as your brown and flesh.
Vallejo Pale Sand is a fantastic colour which can be added to lots of paints for highlights and gives a great finishing touch to bone.
These are my favourite paints, but perhaps if I were to make a better-rounded list, I would switch Khorne Red for Mephiston, Steel Legion for Mournfang and Dorn for Yriel as there are better colours to start from.
Snafu:
I sort of feel like I can cheat this a little bit by making my peace with mixing from scratch every time. I won’t name specific brands when I list out the pigments, but will say I’d go with medium or heavy body acrylics for the following:
- Titanium White
- Carbon Black
- Primary Yellow (Hansa Yellow)
- Yellow Oxide
- Phthalocyanine Blue
- Phthalocyanine Green
- Quinacridone Magenta
- Red Iron Oxide
The last two are trickier! Burnt Umber is always a welcome addition, and probably Payne’s Grey.
I feel like this list gives a pretty large amount of flexibility with your palette and colour choices, and I’m on a Desert Island, so I figure I have time to sit and colour match my mixes when I need to.
Bair:
Not too hard, I think, I’d simply be painting a lot of blue things! Those 10 would need to be:
- Pro Acryl Ultramarine
- Pro Acryl Faded Ultramarine
- Pro Acryl Dark Ivory
- Pro Acryl Tan Flesh
- Pro Acryl Rich Gold
- Pro Acryl Burnt Red
- Pro Acryl Coal Black
- Citadel Snakebite Leather
- Citadel Iron Hands Steel
- Nuln Oil
It might be a pretty specific sort of colour scheme, but there have been at least a few projects that I’ve worked on recently that, if I were so constrained, I could have easily done with “just” these. I’m also not one for mixing paints, so going with “oh ho ho I’ll simply have a good Red, Blue, and Yellow” is really not for me. What do you take me for, a “good” painter?
Thanks for your thoughtful answers, fellas! I hope our readership finds them illuminating and useful.
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