Made Easy!

Transcript*

Intro

Hello there. Paul from Sunward Hobbies back at it again. Today we’re going to be reviewing and revisiting an old topic because of a new one. 4 months ago, we reviewed AK’s Quick Gen paint line. Uh, long story short, it is the best contrast paints in the market. They’re incredible, incredibly smooth as well. But that review was a stress test. People in the comments noted that we should have done a little bit of a demo. They liked it, but no demos on actual miniatures and bases. So, we’re going to be rectifying that today, but with a specific twist in mind. Winter has arrived for a lot of you. For others, it’s arriving very soon.

So, today will be it will be a frost and ice and some snow related things mostly to do with a AK quick gen. We have the starter sets which contains eight paints, a brush and a medium is that’s still available on our website and the themed sets. These typically have three paints in them pertaining to the theme and of course the individual paints as well. All three of these will be available on our website right now sunwardhobbies.ca or by clicking the link down in the description below. Now back to the video.

So, I primed the base white, but I changed my mind regarding the miniature. I’m priming it black just to show off different techniques. Primarily the slap chop technique. Can’t really avoid it if you’re doing contrast paints or contrast like paints. So, I might as well show off slap chop. As a reminder, a white primer will serve you best because uh to get them by them I mean the contrast paints as accurate to the color swatches provided as possible, you need to prime them white.

The their little quirk is that they’re so thin that obviously to perform the way they’re intended to where you paint the miniature while also going into the recesses, they’ll have to be so thin. So thin in fact that the first two layers of it is widely affected by the primer he chose. That’s why white primer is very important. And then actually, if you want a quick laugh, when Games Workshop first released their contrast paint, uh, very early 2020, or was it late 2019? Regardless, when they first released it, and they were the first ones to do it really, the comments were all complaining that it was too dark.

But Games Workshop’s advertisements for all of them are primed white. No one noticed, and no one really told anyone. Uh, so it’s a bit of a marketing mishap, but that’s been corrected by the community and I think by the manufacturers as a whole as well. So, if you didn’t know, now you know. And yes, we will be priming um the base white today and the mini as well. We’ll be hitting the base with AK Quick Gen black.

Priming the Base

This is their base black. We will be hitting it all over. And you don’t have to worry about painting techniques because we will be applying this sloppily. And on any surfaces that you want to be ice as well. So whether that be a battle axe, a sword, doesn’t matter or a base, sloppily apply black on top of your white. And the white is important. And then the sloppily applied black on top of the white is even more important. It’s to provide depth for the ice that you’re going to be painting on later on.

For the black, we will be using glaze medium to thin it down. So if you don’t have any glaze mediums, obviously a better solution would be contrast medium as this is contrast paint. But ultimately there’s going to be very little differences. I will be using AK synthetic flat brush number two for this to mix it all together. And here we go. And you’re going to want a 3:1 ratio. It’s going to be a lot. And just sloppily apply it.

Two Different “Frost” Looks

There are two ways to go about painting ice. The first is to use ice blue, the dedicated ice paint. And look at that. It has some sort of almost sky blue like finish. It’s very vibrant, very clean. And I’m just using water to thin both both of these down. Speaking of which, the second way to go about it is mixing some sort of turquoise. This one is turquoise blue with a little bit of green.

It’s about three parts blue to one part green. And it leaves you with this deeper blue, but you can tell that that’s a green hue. It’s almost like if you’ve been to Jasper or Banff, the lakes there have this greenish hue to the water. It’s It’s like that. So, you can go either or. This one’s beautiful, but this one’s the classic. I might just go with the classic. The secret ingredient will be white paint. I’m going to be adding just a tiny bit on both just to make it a little bit brighter. And I put a little bit too much there.

There. Actually, that’s not too bad. Going to be mixing them. Adding a bit more water in the process. Let’s add a bit more green to that. Just a tiny bit. Tiny bit. There we go. Perfect. And we’re not going to be adding green to this one because it’s just the sky or the ice blue. Just going to be adding a bit more of the ice blue. That’s it. That’s the secret. White paint. And we’re going to be using that white paint one more time later.

Adding the “Frosty” Paint

And I bet you know exactly where I’m going to be using it.

Dry Brushing

Hey, you caught me at a very dry brushing time of my life. That doesn’t even make sense. Anyway, that’s me applying or this is me applying gray on top of the black primed mini. And this is Slap Chop in an essence or in a nutshell. Applying a heavy dry brush of gray on top of a black black primed mini and then applying a very light dry brush of white on top of that. And because you’re applying contrast paints at the end of the day, this sort of gradient that you’re doing will provide a nice effect.

And I front loaded it at the top right there because I figure that’s where the sun’s going to hit uh the most, but up to you. The mileage may vary. Your mileage may vary. So, I’m going to be focusing white right here, sort of when I apply the white dry brush. And I’m doing this because the bases are still drying. Just applying a light dry brushing of white. Just light. Just light. just where the sun would hit it essentially.

Space Wolves Grey – Armour

There we go. Unfortunately, the Winter Soldier set has the exclusive Space Wolves gray that I’m looking for, at least for AK Quick Gen’s. And as of right now in our store, that uh specific paint isn’t available individually, just in that Winter Soldier set. So, we’re going to be mixing the two to get roughly what we’re looking for. And here we go. Just apply it. It’s a little bit more blue than I expected. It’s okay. It’s only the first coat. Can be remedied.

Space Yellow – Shoulder Pads

We’re going to be using space yellow for the shoulder pads like the box art. So, here we go. Let’s apply a little bit on the shoulder pads. Nice. And look at that. It’s brighter on some sides and darker on others. The dry brushing has taken full effect and it’s kind of beautiful.

Vivid Flesh – Face

For the face, we’ll be using Vivid Flush with a little bit of plague yellow.

Plague Yellow – Hair

We’re going to make this guy blonde. And honestly, after that, you’re done. Apply more layers. Of course, typically two thin coats is what you’re looking for, right?

Painted Bases

And speaking of done, the bases are dry. Uh you can tell the difference between one that’s been sloppily applied and the one that wasn’t really. It dried more uniformly, but we will rectify this with the final step, which is dry brushing. We’re just going to be dry brushing white paint all over it. Ever so slightly, but enough to make a difference.

Dry Brushing the Bases

Just ever so subtly. You can kind of see the outline. Stick with the edges for the most part. And a little bit of the surface. Just skimming it. Yeah, like that to give it that frost effect. Wow. Already made a massive difference. And to be honest with you, this is done.

I can maybe add a bit more, but otherwise I don’t want to really overdo it. It gives it that nice sort of sheen ice effect, especially on the sides and the the middle there. It’s very apparent. Wow. And if you want to make it over the top, add a bit of gloss coat on top of this to give it that little oomph in the shine department. Here’s the regular one, though. Let’s see. I think this one’s going to be better. I can already see it a little bit.

Completed Bases

Wow. See? And there he is. The irregular. The depth it provides is incredible. But this one is actually quite good, too. This is nice.

Paul’s Note

But wait, Paul, when making ice effects, don’t you prime the thing black first and sloppily apply the white? Why did you do it in reverse today, guys? You can do either or. It doesn’t matter. So long as you brush it white and depending on what your preference is with the brightness, you add a bit of white in the mix, you’re okay. It’s the same result. It’s the same result.

Gold – Chest Eagle

I’ll be painting the Aquilla or the chest eagle with their gold if you’re wondering.

Finished Mini

Wow, it’s nice. The slapshot took full effect and you know the the shins and the knee pads and the shoulder pads, the face, the backpack, that’s where it took the most effect, the raised areas. And it is gorgeous. And obviously it’s not done. I still have to put snow on the base and whatnot. Maybe add a bit more effect on the plasma coil there just instead of just the normal blue. and obviously maybe the claws, but otherwise this is gorgeous.

Paul’s Outro

That’s it for me today, guys. Thank you guys so much for watching. Again, just to reiterate, the two negatives would be the fact that, you know, doesn’t dry as quick. I was actually tempted to use a blow dryer to quicken the speed of the drying process, but at the end of the day, it’s still probably the best contrast paints in the market. The second actually is that they have exclusive paints locked behind uh I guess paint sets.

They have included FOMO in their line. Um their main rack only goes from number one all the way to number 80. 80 being the medium. So, you know, there’s paints between, you know, 81 82. 82 being the winter wolf uh paint that I needed for the Space Wolves. And it’s locked behind the set. So, it’s a little strange. Other than that though, excellent, excellent paints. Well done, AK. Thank you guys so much for watching. Uh, and, uh, follow us on our socials, links in the description down below. Bye-bye.

About the Author:

Paul Catindig As someone who’s been building model kits since he was 8 years old, Paul is very knowledgeable and adept at model kit building! When he’s not building or painting kits, he spends his free time cooking, playing video games with friends, or at a restaurant patio somewhere. Hopes to make his very own movie one day.

*Video by Paul Catindig
Video Edited by Daniela Castellano
Transcript generated by youtube
Edited by Angelo Castellano