Don't have African Shadow? Get a free step-by-step guide using the paints you own.
Make a free guideLooking for a African Shadow equivalent? Below are the closest cross-brand color matches to African Shadow (Scale75 Scalecolor) in Army Painter Fanatic, AK Interactive 3rd Gen, Citadel Colour, Army Painter Speedpaint, Reaper MSP, Vallejo Metal Color, Monument Pro Acryl, AK Interactive Artist Dense Acrylic, AK Interactive Diorama Series, Vallejo Diorama FX, Vallejo Weathering Effects, Vallejo Hobby Spray, Vallejo Model Color, Vallejo Game Color, Vallejo Xpress Color, Army Painter Warpaints, Vallejo Model Wash, Army Painter Quickshade, Army Painter Colour Primer, Vallejo Game Color Effects, 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
Own African Shadow? Put it to work.
Get a step-by-step painting guide built around your paints — exact colors, mixes, and where each one goes. First guide is free.
Shade & highlight partners
Suggested shadow and highlight colors for African Shadow, 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 2Dark ShadowReaper MSPGreat match
- Shade 1Red ToneArmy Painter FanaticGreat match
- BaseAfrican ShadowScale75 Scalecolor
- Highlight 1Brown GreyScale75 ScalecolorGreat match
- Highlight 2Warm GreyVallejo Game ColorGreat 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 African Shadow? 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.