The time is upon us...

P3 will soon be on our door steps, and I wanted to do what I can to familiarize everyone with the initial box set colors and how they can all relate to each other on the palette, via color theory. If you haven't read the color theory 101 article found here, it may be worth your time to read if you find a few of the things I talk about a touch confusing.

One of the first things I took notice before I even cracked a single factor seal on these paints was the color palette. As a whole, I consider the colors leaning much more towards a traditional artist palette with strong neutrals, a great selection of lighter tone to blend into and some very intense primary hues. There are a few holes in the line, but as we all know, the line is only half complete and I'm confident these hole will be filled when the next batch hits the shelves.

We all know art is subjective, and all of the following info is my personal take after several months of playing with these colors. You may very well find differences of opinion and find builds that fit your painting style far more, but ultimately, let the information your about to read be an ice breaker into the P3 palette and continue to experiment with builds.

Cygnar box set:

Cygnar Blue Base–A very cool hued color, that as its name suggests, can be the perfect base for a standard Cygnar blue build. While a very primary color that works well with its highlight tone and Arcane blue, it can also have its toned deepened by adding in a complementary color such as Khador Red Highlight.

Cygnar Blue Highlight–Another primary blue, several steps lighter than its base color. I have found this color to be a corner stone for me as any time I need to cool a color down, this will be the color I tend to grab for 80% of the time.

Ironhull Grey–A mid tone grey then leans just a touch to the warm side of things. This color is a very flexible tone as even a small amount of paint added to it will quickly lean it towards a chosen color, or left pure, can work with Marrow White or Thamar Black for a nice build.

Cygnus Yellow–Another color that will quickly become a corner stone on anyones palette as this is a pure and primary yellow tone with superior coverage, yet still flows off the brush. This is a color I often reach for when I want to shift a primary mix to a warmer tone.

Arcane Blue–A great color for those glows found on a lot of Cygnaran mechanika, this primary tone is not one you could obtain by just adding white to your Cygnar blue highlight, as there is a touch of green/turquoise found in this color.

Rucksack Tan–A light neutral color that is very warm and yellow in hue. Used with deeper to mid warm browns, you will find this a color great for highlighting with, or as the base for a buckskin leather.

Protectorate box set:

Sanguine Base–Like fine wine, this color is strong and should be respected with its potential. Obviously the perfect base tone for a studio Protectorate color and wont need to go any darker. This red color is about as cool of a tone that you will find before stepping into a traditional purple.

Sanguine Highlight–The obvious brother to Sanguine base, this color can be brought up even lighter with Menoth White Base, but be careful not to over do it, as it will quickly go pink if over highlighted.

Menoth White Base–This color is one of the most used in my arsenal, as I reach for this pot nine times out of ten when lightening any warm color. Don't leave home without it.

Menoth White Highlight–While I rarely use a pure white to highlight up to, this is usually the last color I will reach for when doing any bright colored highlights, as it is one degree away from a pure white, leaning to a slight eggshell.

Heartfire–A very primary orange tone that can be a perfect bridge between Khador Red Base and Cygnus Yellow. If your careful, you can add a touch of Cygnar Blue Highlight to obtain a deeper hued orange without dulling its powerful saturation.

Bloodstone–A very warm red brown with some wide usage, from a colorful rock tone, to a deep leather, and even a base for a more native or island flesh tone.

Iron Kingdom box set:

Pig Iron–Another corner stone, this dark metalic paint is a must for any base iron, silver or similary toned metal. It is a touch warmer than a few other similar colors on the market, which lends to a better build when washed down with a blue, brown ink wash.

Morrow White–The purest of pure whites with superior coverage, while not sacrificing its smooth action on the brush.

Thamar Black–The purest of pure blacks and should be respected on the palette as such.

Rhulic Gold–Another staple in the metalics arsenal, this yellow gold can be the basis for many yellow metal builds

Bootstrap Leather–A mid brown that is very warm by leaning to the yellow side of the spectrum. It can be highlighted easy enough with Rucksack tan and deepened with Battlefield Brown easily.

Midlund Flesh–Finally, a base flesh tone that I haven't had to add color, to keep it from being too orange or too pink. With the addition of Khardic Flesh and Menoth White Highlight, you'll have the building blocks for almost any human flesh tone.

Cryx box set:

Cryx Bane Base–A fairly deep grey that leans slightly to the green. A color that can even work from a black to a green hued black.

Cryx Bane Highlight–The next step up from the Bane Base, this color actually starts to lean a touch warmer and not as green as its base counterpart, to create a more noticeable highlight step.

Blighted Gold–A personal favorite, this green hued yellow metalic color can be the base for many yellow metal builds. Add in a touch of Arcane Blue in the recesses and you will quickly have a patina metal.

Thrall Flesh–An obvious dead flesh base that can be highlighted up with Menoth white base (for a warmer feel) or Menoth White highlight (a more pale dead feel), I also grab Thrall Flesh any time I want to highlight a green build instead of Menoth White Base that I tend to reach for on other builds.

Jack Bone–This color is very similar to Menoth White base, but is a touch more neutral. Some times I will reach for this color instead of Menoth White Base when I want a more mellow, muted feel, but as its name suggests, it is also a great bone base color.

Necrotite Green–A very primary and bright green. Can be highlighted with Cygnus Yellow and/or Menoth White Base, or deepened to a richer tone with added small amounts of Khador Red Base.

Mercenary box set:

Battle Dress Green–Don't let this color fool you, as it will lighten a bit once it dries. A very deep neutral green, this color can be the base for many possible neutral green/brown builds.

Traitor Green–A great medium olive green to olive drab tone, this neutral green is a very flexible color to work with depending on what sort of feel your going for.

Bastion Grey–Another of the great mid greys that leans more to a yellow warm tone, enough so that it can even meld nicely with several warm brown colors.

Hammerfall Khaki–A pale almost mocha colored khaki, that can be the middle tone of a great color triad with Menoth White Base and Battlefield Brown.

Gun Corps Brown–A warm yellow/red brown that is a touch more neutral than some of the previous. While similar to Rucksack Tan and Bootstrap leather, this more neutral color is better suited with colors like Hammerfall Khaki and Jack Bone instead.

Exile Blue–A very deep toned blue color that has very moody feel. It's well suited as a base color, as well as shadowing for more primary tones.

Khador box set:

Khador Red Base–While some may have expected more of a blood red from this primary color, it has been formulated around the theory of a final ink glaze application to get a seriously deep and attractive final red with this color.

Khador Red Highlight–The twin brother to the Khador Red Base, this primary red orange will complete the ultimate covering red build in your arsenal.

Greatcoat Grey–Another color that can fool you if your only looking at the paint pot, as once you start to lay it onto a sculpt, you will quickly see the very blue nature of this grey color.

Thornwood Green–An excellent base for color like Battle Dress Green and Traitor Green, this deep neutral color can also help to deepen some of your red builds when called upon.

Khardic Flesh–The deeper of the flesh triad color build, this pale red brown can also be shifted to a different hue slightly, to vary the overall color of your flesh builds.

Battlefield Brown–The deepest of the browns in the initial box sets, this brown can anchor almost any brown color by mixing it with a brown base and then washing over the base, for a rich feel. Also try mixing this tone and Exile Blue to vary the warmth and coolness of this color.

The basics...

Now that we have a run down of the colors, let me just throw a few potential colors that can sit on the palette well together, just to show what's possible.

We all know the primary colors of red, blue and yellow and these are covered by the colors Khador Base red, Cygnar Blue Highlight and Cygnus Yellow.

Secondary colors of orange, green and purple are covered by Heartfire, Necrotite Green and Sanguine Highlight. Now these secondary colors are not absolute, as there are similar tones that may lean more one way or the other, like the Khador Red highlight which is an orange tone, but leans more to the red. And while Sanguine highlight is a very wine based, adding in some Cygnar blue Highlight is all it will take to lean it to a more cooler purple tone.

There also some great spectrums of color that just ask to have a few colors plucked from, like the line up of Sanguine Highlight, Khador Red Base, Khador Red Highlight, Heartfire, Cygnus Yellow, to Menoth White Highlight.

And on the opposite side of the temperature spectrum, we have Exile Blue, Cygnar Blue Base, Cygnar Blue Highlight, Arcane Blue to Menoth White Highlight.

Now thinking a touch more to the neutrals, we also have a few line ups that draw attention, like Battlefield Brown, Gun Corps Brown, Rucksack Tan to Menoth White Base.

While the build of Thornwood Green, Traitor Green to Thrall Flesh, you can even swap out the Traitor Green for Battle Dress Green.

Even the flesh tones can go from Bloodstone, Khardic Flesh, Midlund Flesh to Menoth White Highlight.

Now keep in mind, this is just a small slice of the possible builds of the initial 36 colors. You don't have to go all the way from the dark to light color of the above for a build, but can take even 2 or 3 out of one, but ultimately, the biggest thing is to experiment and see what you can come up with.

Take out?

Now we all know bouncing back and forth from the computer while trying to paint can be a slight pain, and personally I like to have things written down, or printed out at my desk if there is something I'm referencing, so to help you out, here is a color chit listing PDF.

In addition, another PDF with each color laid out on a digital color chart, and on a brightness slider to better under stand how these colors relate to each other. Again, don't let this be the encyclopedia to the P3s, but use it as an ice breaker to better understand the colors as you experiment on the palette. P3 Digital color charts.

Until next time

DD 

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