The Best Miniature Paint – Coelia Greenshade
Months ago I never would have suggested Coelia Greenshade as the best Miniature Paint. It would be a surprise to even hear of the paint name. One of the largest surprises in my hobbyist experience would be picking up 15 pots of Citadel Paint at a Warhammer game store at $2 a pot.
“Old and unused”
Some of the infamous Dry paints, technical paints and some shades. Nothing too fancy.
Once I had gotten home I had given them a try. Though a few of them could have a little gimmick or one use wonder. Little did I know that one of these were to be one of my go to Citadel paints.
This paint seemed like a generic green ink. I’ve never really enjoyed green in miniature painting. As seen in The Nihilakh Dynasty where I’ve opted out of the classic Necron green energy.
Throughout the next month, this pot was constantly used in small quantities across my projects. It wasn’t until I conducted a series of tests for this paint that I realised how vast it can be.
Testing the Best?
After getting these colours from the store, I gave them a test, not knowing how they would really work. At this point I had used Shade paints before, Nuln Oil, Agrax Earthshade and Reikland Fleshshade. These are The Best Miniature Paints recommended from the community.
I had seen these colours used across countless tutorials so I understood how these worked.
- Nuln oil for recesses
- Agrax Earthshade for dirtying surfaces.
- Reikland Fleshshade for coating my Golds.
Although I had uses with these shades, I had never understood their vast applications.
Initial Findings
To see how Coelia Greenshade worked with other colours I layered it over a range of colours.
At first I had thought I just ruined all of these colours, I did paint over the colours very roughly. There were a few changes that I initially noticed. The White, Yellow and Silver.
White: The most notable change, I did expect this change but I didn’t expect the wash to coat like a Contrast/Speed paint. This inspired a later project which is covered below.
Yellow: The yellow stood out, I currently have not found a purpose for this but I really want to do some further testing with this. Possibly a mossy Imperial Fist? This area also shows its capability for pin washing. Yellow Tau??
Silver: The metallics look really good with the coating of Coelia Greenshade. Silver coated the best obviously. Although, this is a “Green” shade paint, it definitely is cool and close to being turquoise. Like Verdigris. I will later paint up a Alpha Legion space marine as I have heard that I can be difficult to get the metallic green/blue mix.
Other Discoveries
There are a few other ideas that were inspired from this project. Green only slightly darkened in areas, but also making the colour cool. I used this with Ork skin for shadows and recesses.
Orange and Red did not have much effect at all. Kind of made a dirty oil colour effect.
Purple made an interesting colour contrast, almost making a gradient from purple to green. These are complementary colours so I was wondering how these would go together. My suggestion would be a Tyranid or Genestealer carapace colour scheme.
Grey turned into a really nice off neutral grey, would be perfect for a damp or old stone. Could be even used as a base for a non-metallic metal base. I have definitely used this many times for basing since.
Finally Black, does not show initially however kind of leaves a glossy green shimmer. There was a small amount of drybrush over this black, which extends this effect. I do also later take advantage of this effect in the contrast method.
Is this the best Miniature Paint?
How I have used Coelia Greenshade
Obviously testing the paint in an unlikely scenario would not prove it as The Best Miniature Paint. Since the testing, I have used the colour in many ways. I am continually experimenting over my hobby time and Coelia Greenshade has led to some of the most impactful discoveries.
The four most common uses for Coelia Greenshade are:
- Contrast
- Shade
- Verdigris
- Basing
These I use often for all of my projects. If I use some form of Green or Blue you bet a little bit of Coelia Greenshade is in there.
Coelia Greenshade Contrast Method
I’m so unsure why this paint was never rebranded as a contrast medium. This application of Coelia Greenshade shows how fast and effective it can be for this Tiamet Termagaunt.
Primed my Mini With White (Citadel Wraithbone)
Applied Neutral Colours to the Carapace and Skin. Add textures with these colours
Generously Cover the Model with Coelia Greenshade as you would with a Citadel Contrast Paint.
Essentially finished at step 3 we can move to some other minor details. With a longer worktime than other Contrasts, we can move the paint around to reduce the colour or even mix other paints in.
I wonder how Magos Purple would work?
Verdigris using Coelia
My first thought of application for Coelia Greenshade was Verdirgis. An easy way to apply that oxide colour without any fancy technical or effect paints. Now there are so many different methods of using Coelia to create a Verdigris effect however, I’ll start with my easy method.
Begin with coating your metal with a metallic base, I start with a silver metallic such as Leadbealcher.
Secondly start with a thick patchy coat of your bronze or copper colour, leave some gaps where you want the Verdigris.
Coat the whole surface with Coelia Greenshade
I do often fix up some copper colours after the green just to balance the colouring. Starting with this step this I also line some highlights with a silver, these highlights should only be on the copper or worn edges. Add a thin layer of your copper over the silver and the areas you would like more orange.
Basing with Coelia
Now this could easily turn into a guide for basing, however I’ll have to keep this short and sweet.
Easy basing techniques using Coelia Greenshade include:
- Adding variance to mud and dirt to make it look more wet and gross.
- Adding to resin or water paints for the perfect swamp water
- I normally place a drop under vegetation to make it more visually appealing.
- Mixing with contrasts over rocks can create a moss effect. Breaking up grey textures.
- Spreading over concrete or industrial bases can look like an old chemical spill.
- Panel lining bricks or cobblestones
Chances are if I have used it on my miniature, I will use it on the base for colour familiarity. It is the easiest way to break up colours and creating textures over my bases.
Due to is watery nature Coelia Greenshade can be used in nearly any situation without overpowering the other colours surrounding the base. I use this in my whole Necron scheme, whether it comes to the water, mud or even the rubble. Coelia Earthshade must have been made for basing.
Shading with Coelia
Shading with Coelia Greenshade is literally the purpose of the paint. To provide a sense of depth in the model. Although you can spend hours on perfecting the correct depth in your models with hundreds of small layers of paint, one wash is perfect for a Battle Ready Army.
The following is a easy 3 step tutorial of Coelia Greenshade used as a shade.
Cover the relevant areas with a base colour, here I used Green Model Colour by Vallejo.
Alternatively you can use Warpstone Glow by Citadel.
Cover all areas that are to be toned down with Coelia Greenshade.
Areas under the arms, in-between muscles and around intricate details should be coated.
Reapply green over areas that have spilt over. Gently apply green to heightened areas and areas that would in theory hit light.
Underneath arms should be ignored.
This is so easy to create depth for any Miniature. Using only two paints and three steps we have created a living Ork which you would NOT be ashamed to hide from friends.
Visual Effects after Shading
Additionally to these recess shades, creating highlights would be the next step to providing your miniature with more detail. Here I gradually bought the skin colour up to a Moot Green. As you can see I added some gross yellow/brown to the hand for some interest.
The Blue hue can also be seen in some areas of the skin, although we only added 3 green colours, we have also given the miniature more saturation making the skin more lively. The change in colour temperature can be so many shading scenarios. Providing a Cold feeling to the icy Space Wolves, sickly feeling to Cultists or even a vibrant glow to energy weapons.
Look I am not expert on skin tone so I have left a little video explaining Skin Tone with colour theory. Maybe one day.
Is Coelia Greenshade the best Paint?
Surprisingly Coelia Greenshade is one of the most underused paints across the whole of the Citadel paint range. Personally Coelia Greenshade is the best. It’s vast application has allowed me to create whole colour schemes and further potential projects with the one colour. The overall review has allowed me to view all other paints in a different manner, using them outside their intended application.
My intention for this review is not to sell one of Citadels forgotten paints, but to encourage others to try many applications before they give up on a paint. Yes you may not like Macragge on your space marines but it may be useful on Eldar. (YES, This is a hint to stay away from blue space marines).
Also do not be afraid of the 2 Dollar paint steals.
