2 December 2021

Cultists of Hastur

I gave up on these guys back at the end of Monster May(hem). I couldn't get Hastur painted right, so I didn't see the point of having a go at his merry band of followers. But then I decided to try something different...

Here's the secret weapon: Citadel contrast paints. I picked these up last week while buying a new pot of Serpahim Sepia to finish my Warhammer chariot. I've never used contrast paint before but I have watched a few tutorial videos on them and they look straightforward to use (famous last words).

I've read that contrast paints need to go over a smooth, even primer, so the cultists were stripped back to bare plastic and resprayed with white primer. I painted their skin, Tommy guns and shoes before tackling the yellow; as contrast paints are transparent, any specks of black or brown would show through. 

I bought Nazdreg and Iyanden yellows to give me a choice, and I decided to use Nazdreg as it's a bit darker. I don't know if I'm supposed to thin the paint, so I just picked up a size 3 brush, dipped it in the pot, took a deep breath and got to painting.


Well, it went a lot easier than I thought. The contrast paint covers really well, but I could not work out how to prevent it streaking. I had to switch to a 4/0 brush to do smaller bits like the front of their necks, but it probably took me just 10 minutes to paint the robes on all four cultists.


One thing I forgot to do was use a dry brush to lift off excess paint to prevent it pooling... whoops. And you can see the streaking on the back on the figure second from right. It's annoying, and I don't know what to do about it as painting more contrast paint won't hide them. I decided to leave them as is just because I'm happy to finally get the yellow done. 


I had to touch up the yellow here and there, and had a near-disaster when on figure's paint came off while I was varnishing it. I repainted those spots, and then touched up the white robes and masks. The final thing was to paint their necklaces white to tie it in with the colour scheme and because I didn't want to risk getting a dark colour on the yellow. After several attempts at doing their eyes, I just gave up.

Their bases are sand, painted Sombre Grey and highlighted with Blue-Grey. For some reason, despite leaving the PVA to dry for three hours a lot of the sand came off while I was painting them. Not only that, more contrast paint rubbed off while I was holding them to paint the base rims, so I had to touch it up again and give them a second coat of varnish. And I thought Cthulhu's cultists were a pain in the arse...

So with this success, I'm planning on getting Hastur finished before the end of the year. I'm not sure how I'll do it because his tentacles are done and he's got several coats of Daemonic Yellow on his body, so I don't know whether I'll strip the paint, respray the whole model white or just see what the contrast paint looks like over the existing yellow. Stay tuned!

14 comments:

  1. These cultists are boviously serious opponents , given there weaponary. I do like the paintjobs too, but wonder if allthe effort was worthwhile - well the finish models prove the point that it was !

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    1. Cheers, Joe! From what I've read of the rules these cultists are way more dangerous than the others in the game.

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  2. I like contrast paints tho don’t feel they work well as a stand alone effort. Highlights and shading still needed imo.

    Regardless, I like the yellow robes - good looking and sinister bunch of weirdos

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    1. Cheers, Dai! I too wondered about adding highlights, but the apparently the contrast paint is supposed to do both highlighting and shading. It did sort of do that on these figures, but I think I need more practice. I'm just happy to get them done, and pretty pleased with how they turned out.

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  3. Nice work on the robes Matt, GW do a thinner to stop the streaking, and so you can also turn it to a glaze ( Should have kept their glazes as well !) if you want to get greater depth to the colour, you can shade the white and highlight first, or as Dai say's add highlights and shading afterwards.

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    1. Thanks, Dave! Yeah, adding some grey wash to the folds for shading then doing the contrast paint might have been a better way to go. As for the pooling and streaking, I know that Citadel does a thinner but you can also use acrylic medium, which I own but didn't think to use. Duh. Oh well, it's all a learning experience.

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  4. They look good to me, still haven't used contrast paints (haven't been out to buy any anyway so 🙄).

    Yellow is a total bugger to paint whatever technique you use, so good on you for getting such a good result mate.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. Yellow truly is a sod to paint, Roger, and it's a shame because it just means I avoid using it as much as possible. Guess I'll never be making an Imperial Fists army lol.

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  5. There's nothing better than cultists with machine guns! Glad to hear that Contrast paints treated you well and the results speak for themselves. I'm excited to see what Hastur looks like when you get around to it! :)

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    1. Cheers, Jeff! The contrast paint was a learning experience and I'll be using it on Hastur, who I hope to get done before the end of the year.

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  6. I've got these lined up ready to paint... over the next couple of years, that is!
    You've done a great job. especially as you've never used Contrast paints before.
    Personally, I don't like using the yellow contrast, I don't think they're as 'clean' as some of the others in the range. I've probably used about half a dozen of them, but rarely as they were intended. They work well over a zenithal prime, as well as over other colours to provide variations in shading. I also use them as a stain over white primer, keeping the coats thin and applying several layers.
    Definitely, some colours work better than others and there are lots of other ways to use them.

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  7. I have to admit, the yellow contrast didn't go on anywhere as clean as I thought it would. From watching tutorials online you'd think it would glaze perfectly on flat bits and shade perfectly on textured bits, but it really doesn't. I can't speak for other colours but the yellow was a bit of a letdown in terms of the final result.

    On the other hand, I got the cultists done after seven months of them sitting on a shelf, so at least there's that.

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  8. Well done on getting the Cultists done and ready for the tabletop, Matt. I always think that is the most important thing tbh. They look good and you can now use them in your games. You've also had a play with GW's contrast paints - I'm not a fan of them myself. However, I do believe if added to dry-brushing, shades and highlights, that they can have their uses - I'm simply happy to stick with what I already know.

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    1. Cheers! Getting them done was a nice feeling, and despite the contrast paint not looking as good (or working as well) as I'd hoped it's done the job. I just wish I could have used a different colour on them, but according tot the lore they have to be yellow.

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