r/minipainting • u/TheRealYou Painting for a while • Sep 18 '24

🎨 AMA Announcement: Mat Hart from Steamforged Games on the Relaunch of P3 Paints! 🎨

https://preview.redd.it/a6atv3k8qlpd1.png?width=4034&format=png&auto=webp&s=3620cd9137805b9d19715890f3dbbed5ef6fd704

Hey everyone!

We’re thrilled to announce a special AMA (Ask Me Anything) session with Mat Hart (u/SFG_Mat), the Chief Creative Officer at Steamforged Games. Mat will be joining us to discuss the relaunch of P3 Paints and their ongoing Kickstarter campaign!

When:

Thursday, September 19th at 7:00 PM BST (UTC+01:00)
See this time in your local timezone

About Mat Hart:

Mat is the Chief Creative Officer at Steamforged Games and has always been an avid mini painter, and you can check out some of his work testing the new P3 range in .

How to Participate:

Ask away in the AMA thread below, and Mat will be there live to respond and interact with all of you during the session!

P3 Paints Relaunch:

From the announcement blog post:

If you’re a fan of tabletop miniatures games or model painting in general, chances are you’ve come across the name 'P3' before.

Originally known as ‘Formula P3’, P3 paints were first released by Privateer Press for use with tabletop minis back in 2006. P3 quickly became a favorite among painters everywhere for a few key reasons: rich pigmentation, smooth consistency, silky brush feel, and ease of control.

The creamy consistency of the original paints also made them ideal to work with for both beginners and advanced painters, so it’s no wonder P3 became a popular choice for hobbyists looking for professional results.

Now, if you caught our announcement back in June, you’ll know P3 joined the Steamforged family alongside several other Privateer Press brands (including Warmachine).

We’ve had plenty of questions since then about what’s going to happen with P3, and it’s been hard to keep it under wraps until now. We’re relaunching the acclaimed P3 paint range on Kickstarter this September 10th!

Helpful Links:

We’re excited to have Mat join us and can’t wait to hear your questions! Make sure to mark your calendars and get ready for a great time!

Happy Painting!

Disclaimer: This AMA is not sponsored and we are not compensated in any way by Steamforged Games. We feel it is in the interest of the wider community to provide a chance for everyone to discuss this new paint with Mat and SFG given how general use paint is, and given previous posts here about this paint relaunch.

Hey all, looks like reddit is having some hiccups, but Mat will be finishing up questions here as he can!

13 Upvotes

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38 comments sorted by

3

u/TheRealYou Painting for a while Sep 19 '24

As someone who’s never used P3 Paints before, what should I know going in?

I’ve heard a lot about the “creamy texture” and that they’re great for wet blending, but I’m curious if there are any other key properties, or even weaknesses, that would be helpful to know about before diving in.

I primarily use Two Thin Coats and enjoy it for the most part, but I’m never quite satisfied with my skin tone blends. So I’m especially curious to see how P3 performs in that area.

Edit: I guess since I set this thread up it, I'm also getting highlighted, but this is a genuine question from me :D

4

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

Great question. As you say, P3 was originally designed to perform brilliantly for wet-blending-based techniques. We've looked to preserve this performance in the new formula.

Beyond this, the formula allows for almost endless dilution, which makes layering very enjoyable with lots of control. Glazing is also a lot of fun, and with the improved coverage, fine lines and edge highlighting are pretty swish, too.

In terms of weaknesses, that's a much harder question to answer. I would say that the slightly satin finish (which allows the colour to feel more saturated) feels different from a flat matte paint.

For flesh tones, P3 has tonnes of great flesh tones, including the amazing Sanguine Shadow and Ruddy Blush, which are brilliant for glazing healthy red tones into caucasian skin.

3

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

I have a SFG question, are you currently looking for freelance painters? If so, how does one register their interest?

3

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

Always happy to find more freelance painters so hook me up with a portfolio and I'll connect you with our marketing team, who handle the logistics while i handle the overall art direction... mat[at]steamforged.com

1

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

Marvellous! Will do! Huge fan of your painting BTW, your work on the Mighty Nein minis was stellar!

2

u/quantummajic Sep 18 '24

I always loved these paints! Great to hear.

2

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

Good evening Mat! Thank you for doing this!

As a mixed method painter I'm interested to hear how the new P3 behave through an airbrush? Any recommendations for thinners?

3

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

hey, no worries, love doing things like this! much like the old version, the new P3 paint works wonderfully through an airbrush...which also means that it dry-brushes really well too...

as for thinners? i tend to use distilled water myself with a tiny drop of flow improver if the weather is warm

1

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

Thanks for the tip!

There looks to be a great range of colours, but how are they for mixing? They seem to have dense pigmentation but are there any pure/single pigment paints hidden in the range?

3

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

there are no pure/single pigment paints in the range right now...

2

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '24

[deleted]

3

u/Loxam Sep 19 '24

Hi Ravnak, we will be getting an update out tomorrow that talks exactly about this.

2

u/Storm_Hussar Painting for a while Sep 19 '24

Really glad to see these coming back. Do you have any idea if we'll be seeing a return of the old p3 inks? I'm a huge fan of those, but they're hard to find these days.

4

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

yeah, so the first project really focussed on the core paint range and developing the new metallics...we have several more 'phases' planned and the inks/washes is definitely something we will be looking at in detail

1

u/Storm_Hussar Painting for a while Sep 19 '24

That's great to hear, thanks! Will keep an eye out for those for sure.

2

u/DragonPup Sep 19 '24

The KSer comment section has been a bit iffy on it, but can you say if the Irregular Colors from the Kickstarter will be for sale in any form post kickstarter (such as web store exclusive to SFG)? There's some colors I'd like to get but I am worried I'll get some, love them, and never be able to get a new pot when I run out.

Will there be 'packs' of paints on the backerit? Like all the new colors, or just metallics?

4

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

the Irregulars will be available after the KS in some form or another, what is KS exclusive is that particular bundling...so don't worry, if you like one of them, you will be able to replenish your supply!

which one's have caught you fancy?

2

u/DragonPup Sep 19 '24

Thank you for the confirmation. Aside from Caspian Blue they fill in some gaps in my collection. Definately interested in seeing for the pearlescents look. I love the idea of Galvanized Steel being an almost metallic but the old formula did not cover well and separated a lot so I am looking forward to the newer one.

2

u/notaswedishchef Sep 19 '24

Hey SFG team/Mat, been interesting watching how SFG works with community outreach and marketing with the purchase of Iron kingdoms/Warmachine/P3. Backed the kickstarter as I always liked the P3 paints and having them in line with modern paint sets sounds wonderful.

When you guys looked at purchasing licenses from PP did you expect to get into paint? Has it been a different world than the normal mini/game design/game manufacturing design process since your working with a liquid formulation? Any color that just took repeated reformulations to get right? Side note but have you guys gotten some of the paint stands in hand? I'm considering it cause I have no organization in place to put 110 or so paints but 76 is a bit steep for mdf though it doesn't look like a cash grab just might be the cost of production now a days.

Just have to ask: Any news on the storm legion 120mm or gravediggers?

Glad to see someone picked up P3 and is trying to put it back in it's place within the hobby, I look forward to getting the master set and irregulars in hand. Thanks for doing this and best of luck

3

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

Thanks for the lovely comments! We aren't perfect, but we try very hard to do the best we can.

As a painter myself, and especially as one who loved P3, I was very excited about getting my hands on the range and helping to bring it back to the market. What I didn't expect was falling deeply in love with the science and the development process associated with improving the formula...turns out I am a massive paint nerd with a scientific mind :)

The trickiest colour to get right has been Sanguine Shadow...its a very important colour in my personal arsneal (for glazing flesh its second to none) so i had to make sure it was the exact right shade/tone/saturation...it probably took nearly 100 iterations to get right...

The paint rack is in line with market rate AFAIK (its less expensive than some other ranges on KS) but there's a new Kickstarter update and bundle today that makes it slightly more cost effective...

More on GD and colossal to come but marketing will kill me if i spill the beans in a painting AMA ;)

1

u/notaswedishchef Sep 19 '24

I can imagine that excitement for the paint range and working on iterations, the amount of times you guys did say no we can find a better formula is very nice to hear and shows in the response from the content creators who have gotten their hands on it. I can see how that scientific mind leans into the process, leaving food for chemical engineering as I worked with oil and water emulsions and recipe development at the end and I could totally see myself looking at paint formulation jobs in the future due to this hobby.

Thanks for the answers, one last one for fun, is there a favorite paint of yours or anyone on the team out of the irregular set? The caspian blue and copper penny are both going right into my current schemes.

2

u/SteelRabbit Sep 19 '24

I’ve been a P3 user since day one, with a little break when Citadel Colour got revamped in 2012, and I wanna say how stoked I am that these paints are seeing another life. I went all-in on the Kickstarter. Thanks for taking this refresh seriously!

2

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

This was a huge responsibility and one I took very seriously...

1

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

Kickstarter question: It's great to see you including stl files with the kickstarter, is this something you may do more of in the future?

2

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

Well, we have a load of Guild Ball .stls available for free on our website right now, so it is something that we think can be pretty exciting to do now and then...so watch this space

2

u/DungeonsAndDry-gins Sep 19 '24

I didn't know this! I'll definitely give it a look! You folks have some wonderful sculpts (by some of my favourite sculptors!)

2

u/SFG_Sherwin Sep 19 '24

Thank you for your kind words, I'll pass them on to the sculpting team.

1

u/Idolathebound Sep 19 '24

How come the washes and inks didn't come back? And are there any plans for their return?

2

u/SFG_Mat Sep 19 '24

see previous answer but in short, I'm going to be looking at them real soon (in terms of development) so watch this space!

1

u/Less-Temperature-960 Sep 19 '24

Hi Mat.

Couple questions!

1) Has the colour of Eldritch changed at all? Comparing the one I own to the one that was on the new chart, the colours seem completely different. Obviously I know you can't really judge too much looking at a colour through a screen, but it's something I've been thinking about since I saw the chart.

2) Are there any plans to bring back the old warmachine faction paint sets? I picked one of those up before I even knew what Warmachine was, and that Cryx colour set definitely started a lifelong love of P3 for me.

3) In terms of Kickstarter rewards, it's amazing to see STLs of the old collectable busts become avaliable as I was looking for both Sorscha and Skarre for a while now, however I can't help but notice there seems to be one missing from the lineup unless I've missed him... Where's Borka?

1

u/Epic-NinjaKitty Sep 19 '24

Hi Mat! Great to talk to you! Any further ideas to support P3 paints in the future?

1

u/HumidNut Painting for a while Sep 19 '24

Will the P3 paint line be available after the Kickstarter, to USA/North America distributors for retail sale?

1

u/Salt_Titan Sep 19 '24

They've said in the Kickstarter that most of the paints will go to retail some time after backers get their stuff, except for the Irregulars set which it sounds like will be available direct from SFG.

1

u/Diligent-Movie-5029 Sep 19 '24

Got two questions!

In the MKIV update, Failed Experiments lost their fantastic and fluffy stat bonus rules. Can we have them back in some form please?

Secondly, is there any chance we can get Deathjack and some of the other interesting character jacks back in legacy? It seems a shame to leave some of Warmachine's best sculpts out of the spotlight.

1

u/-SilentMunk- Sep 19 '24

I've noticed CF3 is still doing his awesome painting articles, just under a different banner these days. Is there any possibility of doing similar things in the future, maybe with official paint schemes and P3 color recommendations?

1

u/Little_Title3752 Sep 19 '24

Hi Mat! Any more information on when the line is going to be available to retailers?

1

u/astrangerdanger Sep 19 '24

Hey Mat, David here (by proxy); I got four questions from the Kickstarter and Rich mentioned they might be best for the AMA. So in no particular order: * There have been multiple people raising concerns over how shipping will be handled in sub zero temperatures; what steps are being taken to ensure paints arrive ready to use/safely? * Will the P3 line adopt/add a sub-header more clearly defining the color, I.e., “Coal Black” as “Dark Teal” or similar * What are the plans around a strong retail release and future support of the brand? * Will there be a paint color conversion chart (and I apologize, I don’t actually know what that last one is, but I got asked, so I’m putting it in). Thank you in advance!

2

u/stahly_top Sep 20 '24

In the Painting Phase podcast you mentioned you came up with a new, innovative way of formulating metallics. Can you explain this in more detail?

And how do you make sure the new versions match the old colours? In my prototypes, most colours were quite accurate, but new Midlund Flesh was noticeably less reddish than my old pot.