A reference catalogue of miniature paints, cross-manufacturer equivalencies, faction recipes, and the techniques that separate a tabletop from a trophy.
A free, independent reference for miniature painters — covering paint equivalents across Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, P3, Scale75 and AK 3rd Gen; faction paint recipes for Warhammer 40,000, The Horus Heresy, Age of Sigmar, The Old World and Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game; plus skin-tone painting guides at tabletop, display and Golden Demon level finishes.
Search any paint, or filter by manufacturer and colour family. Equivalents are visual approximations — pigment, opacity, and undertone vary between brands. Trust your eye over the swatch.
Faction recipes
Step-by-step paint schemes across four game systems — Warhammer 40,000, The Horus Heresy, Age of Sigmar, and The Old World. Each recipe is balanced for a tabletop+ finish, with room to push further if you wish.
The art of skin & flesh
Skin is what separates a competent miniature from a memorable one. A single face holds more attention than a full set of edge highlights. This section catalogues fourteen skin tones — human and otherwise — with full recipes at three finish tiers, plus the principles that underpin all flesh work.
First Principles
Five truths of painting flesh
01
Shadow cool, highlight warm
The shadows under the brow, jaw, and lip should drift toward green, purple, or blue. The highlights on the nose, cheekbone, and brow ridge should drift toward warm pink or yellow. This temperature shift is what makes flesh look alive instead of plastic.
02
Push blood where blood pools
Cheeks, nose tip, ears, fingertips, knuckles, knees and elbows are warmer than the rest. A thin glaze of red or pink in these areas — Carroburg Crimson or Bloodletter contrast, very thinned — is the single biggest jump from tabletop to display.
03
Eyes break the model
Get them wrong and nothing else matters. Paint the socket dark, lay in off-white (never pure white), drop a coloured iris, then the pupil last. If they look mad or cross-eyed, paint over and try again — eyes are the only feature worth completely restarting.
04
Thin the paint, not the courage
Flesh wants 4–8 thin coats, not 2 thick ones. Use water plus a drop of flow improver or matte medium. If you can see brush strokes, the paint is too thick. Pull excess on a tissue before each stroke.
05
Stubble & veins are tints, not lines
A blue beard shadow is not a line — it's a glaze of thinned Stegadon Scale or Caledor Sky pulled across the jaw and over the lip. Veins on a pale temple are not painted — they're a single broken line of thinned purple, then half-glazed back into the skin.
The three tiers of finish
From the army you'll field this weekend to the model behind the glass at Golden Demon. A cheat sheet for what each level requires, what techniques define it, and the time you should expect to invest.
About this compendium
A few words on what this project is, what it isn't, and how you can help shape it.
A passion project
Built by a painter, for painters
The Pigment Compendium is an independent, non-commercial reference site created by a hobbyist who got tired of bookmarking forty different paint-equivalency spreadsheets, faction recipes, and skin-tone guides across half the internet. It started as a personal cheat sheet and grew from there.
This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any miniature, paint, or game manufacturer. Trade names like Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, P3, Scale75, AK Interactive, Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, The Horus Heresy, The Old World, Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game, and all related logos, characters, and IP are trademarks of their respective owners. They are referenced here purely for educational and reference purposes under nominative fair use.
No money changes hands between this site and any brand. No paid placements. No referral links. If a paint is recommended, it's because it's the right paint for the job — not because somebody paid for it to appear.
Collaboration welcome
Help build the best resource
This site is only as good as the painters who contribute to it. The catalogue is comprehensive but never finished — there are always more equivalencies to verify, more faction schemes to add, more skin tones to refine, and corrections to make.
If you spot an error, want to contribute a faction recipe, have a more accurate cross-brand equivalency, or want to suggest an entirely new section, please reach out. Painters who contribute meaningful improvements will be credited (if they want to be) on a future contributors page.
What's most needed: hand-painted swatch verification across brands; corrections to faction recipes; additional skin tones (especially for fantasy races not yet covered); painter recommendations and references; bug reports on the site itself.
Support the project
Buy me a coffee
This site is free to use and will always remain free. There are no ads, no tracking, no paywall, no premium tier. It does, however, take real time to maintain — verifying new paint ranges, adding new factions, fixing bugs, and keeping content accurate as manufacturers release reformulations.
If the compendium has saved you a search, helped you finish a scheme, or just been a pleasant reference to keep open while painting, a small contribution toward hosting costs and continued upkeep is enormously appreciated. It's not expected, but it's noticed.
Donations are voluntary, non-refundable, and go directly to site hosting, domain renewal, and the time spent verifying new content. Tips are not tax-deductible. Thank you for considering — every contribution genuinely matters to a one-person project.
A note on accuracy
Best-effort, not gospel
Every equivalency, recipe, and technique on this site is a best-effort approximation drawn from manufacturer documentation, hand-painted swatches, community consensus, and personal painting experience. Paint formulations change. Manufacturers tweak pigment loads and undertones between batches. The hex values shown are visual approximations — they will never be perfectly identical to the paint in the pot under your particular lighting.
Always test cross-brand substitutions on a scrap surface before committing to an army-wide scheme. Trust your eye over the swatch. If something on the site is wrong, please tell me — I'd rather fix one error than have it propagate to hundreds of painters.
Frequently asked
Common questions
What is the Pigment Compendium?
The Pigment Compendium is a free, independent reference catalogue of miniature paint equivalents across six manufacturers (Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, P3, Scale75 and AK 3rd Gen), 100 faction paint recipes across five Games Workshop systems, and step-by-step painting guides for skin tones at three finish tiers (tabletop, display and Golden Demon level).
Is this site affiliated with Games Workshop or any paint manufacturer?
No. The Pigment Compendium is an independent, non-commercial passion project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Games Workshop, Citadel, Vallejo, Army Painter, Privateer Press, Steamforged Games, Scale75, AK Interactive or any other manufacturer. Trade names and trademarks are referenced for educational purposes under nominative fair use.
Are the paint equivalents accurate?
Equivalents are best-effort approximations matched on hue, value, and undertone. Pigment, opacity and finish vary between brands, so cross-brand substitutions should always be tested on a scrap surface before army-wide use. Trust your eye over the swatch.
Which game systems does the Compendium cover?
Five game systems: Warhammer 40,000 (31 faction recipes), The Horus Heresy (19 recipes), Age of Sigmar (18 recipes), The Old World (14 recipes) and Middle-earth Strategy Battle Game (18 recipes).
How can I contribute or report errors?
Contributions are welcome. Contact [email protected] with corrections, additional faction recipes, hand-painted swatch verification, or suggestions for new sections. Contributors are credited when they wish to be.