Don't have Dark Sand? Get a free step-by-step guide using the paints you own.
Make a free guideLooking for a Dark Sand equivalent? Below are the closest cross-brand color matches to Dark Sand (AK Interactive 3rd Gen) in Reaper MSP, Scale75 Scalecolor, Citadel Colour, Army Painter Fanatic, Vallejo Model Color, Vallejo Xpress Color, Vallejo Game Color, Monument Pro Acryl, Army Painter Speedpaint, Vallejo Hobby Spray, AK Interactive Artist Dense Acrylic, Vallejo Metal Color, Army Painter Colour Primer, Vallejo Game Color Effects, Army Painter Quickshade, Army Painter Warpaints, AK Interactive Diorama Series, Vallejo Diorama FX, Vallejo Weathering Effects, Vallejo Model Wash, ranked by CIE76 deltaE color distance. Use them as substitutes, or generate a painting guide from the paints you actually own and let PaintGuide handle the matching and mixing for you.
Closest match in each brand
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Shade & highlight partners
Suggested shadow and highlight colors for Dark Sand, picked from the full catalog by color science — not paints you own. Shadows stay richer when they lean cool; pure black just flattens them. Highlights read best warmer and a touch softer than the base; pure white bleaches them out.
- Shade 2Glittering LootArmy Painter SpeedpaintGreat match
- Shade 1Sahara YellowAK Interactive 3rd GenGreat match
- BaseDark SandAK Interactive 3rd Gen
- Highlight 1Thallax GoldCitadel ColourGreat match
- Highlight 2Ice YellowArmy Painter FanaticGreat match
Mix starting points — real pigment blends shift a little; adjust by eye.
Your paints, one journey — the blends between them live here.
Don't have Dark Sand? Paint with what you own.
PaintGuide builds a step-by-step guide for your miniature using only the paints in your collection — matching colors across brands and giving exact mixing recipes for anything you're missing.
Make a free guide with your paintsMatches are computed by converting each paint's color to CIELAB and measuring CIE76 deltaE distance. A “great match” (deltaE < 3) is very close to the eye; a “close match” is a usable substitute. Finish, opacity, and coverage still differ between brands, so test on primer when it matters.