Why is my Contrast paint pooling or patchy?
Contrast paint is built to run into recesses and dry darker there, so flat panels show blotches and tide marks. Use a pale undercoat, work one panel at a time from the top down, and touch the tip of a slightly damp brush to any pool. Small areas can go on straight from the pot; thin wide panels with Contrast Medium.
On big flat surfaces such as a tank hull, use a Base paint and a Shade instead.
Why Contrast pools
Warhammer Community, Games Workshop's news site, describes this behaviour in its beginner advice. Contrast likes to dry darker in recesses and works better on textured surfaces, such as fur, the folds of a cloak or the contours of a face, than on big flat plates. The paint flows down the model and pools in the recesses, which is why the highlights are easy to place. The same flow leaves a dark edge on a flat panel.
Three things make it worse. Contrast takes longer to dry than other paints, so going back to a half-dry edge leaves a mark. Water in the paint can leave a thin dark ring, which painters call watermarks. And Contrast is affected by the colour underneath more than normal paint is, so a dark undercoat pulls the whole coat dark.
A clean coat, step by step
- Undercoat pale with Grey Seer, Wraithbone or White Scar. The paint pulls away from edges, so a light colour underneath shows through better.
- If you thin it, use Contrast Medium and never water. Small areas can go on straight from the pot. A mix that stays on your palette for more than a couple of minutes dries quickly, so add a small drop of medium to it.
- Load the brush until it is wet but not dripping. To test it, hold the loaded brush for two or three seconds. If the tip looks fatter, touch some paint back into the pot.
- Take one panel, section or muscle at a time. Start at the top and go down in one smooth pass with long strokes, so gravity works with you.
- Use slightly more than you think you need. Then touch the very tip of a slightly damp brush to any pool and let it draw the extra away. Do not jam the brush in.
- Walk away. Leave the paint alone once it is on, because touching it while it is wet leaves marks.
Flat panels and vehicles
The beginner advice is not to use Contrast on expansive flat panels such as those on a tank. If you still want to, thin it. Thinning helps the paint spread evenly across wide panels and keeps the finish free of blotches.
For a vehicle, use the Classic method: a Base paint, then a Shade, then a Technical paint on the base. It takes longer than one coat of Contrast, but it forgives flat surfaces. If those paint types are new to you, which paint does which job explains them. Our page on tabletop standard painting lays out both routes.
Already blotchy? How to rescue a coat
| Option | Use it when | How |
|---|---|---|
| Paint the same colour over it | The marks are light and the colour is right | Painting a Contrast colour over itself deepens it and helps hide touch-up marks. Wait until the first coat is dry. |
| Drybrush a matching Layer paint | The blotches sit on raised texture | Wipe most of the paint off the brush first. See the drybrush page. |
| Lean into it | A tank, or armour that should look battered | Thinned Ratling Grime, another Contrast, adds oily streaks and rivet grime. |
| Repaint | You dislike the result | Start again from a pale undercoat with a thinned coat. See fixing a bad paint job. |
Undercoats and Contrast paints we list
The Contrast pots are 18 ml. Games Workshop designed three undercoat sprays for Contrast: Grey Seer (the cooler one), Wraithbone (the warmer) and White Scar (the whitest).
Common questions
Do Citadel Contrast paints need to be thinned?
Not usually for small areas. Contrast can often go on straight from the pot or with minimal thinning. Thin it for wide panels, with Contrast Medium and never water. For dark colours, Lahmian Medium at about four parts paint to one makes the paint easier to apply.
Is Contrast paint just thinned paint?
It is its own range, not thinned paint. Over a white basecoat it bases, shades and layers a model in one go, and it can also glaze or tint other paints.
Why does Contrast paint bead up and slide off the model?
The surface underneath is probably too smooth for it to grip, such as a glossy or satin undercoat. Try a spray undercoat made for Contrast instead.
Can I put a second coat of Contrast on?
One coat is usual, and adding more before the first dries damages it. Once the first coat is dry, a second coat of the same colour deepens it and helps hide patchy touch-ups.
Contrast behaviour and application: Warhammer Community articles of 4 February 2025, 11 February 2025 and 18 February 2025, and 26 August 2022. Classic method: Warhammer Community, 28 June 2022. Paint types: Games Workshop's Warhammer Colour paint guide, read 29 October 2026. Undercoat sprays: Warhammer Community, 13 June 2022. Prices and stock: this shop, read live.