Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Dark Eldar - new project paint scheme thoughts

Now that Adepticon is done, I can start working on my next project; Dark Eldar.  I absolutely love the new warrior models, they're beautiful.  Before I tackle any new project I try and think really hard about the paint scheme.  The extra planning early pays off in the end.  Part of my inspiration for this round is trying a new method, gold inlay.  When you see old suits of armor, some of the nicer suits had intricate designs.


I'd like to bring this style into the dark eldar plates.  Now the big challenge will be the small surface area I'm dealing with.  I'll get a lot more help on the vehicles, but for infantry it will be tight.


I'm a big proponent of sticking with a limited color pallet.  In this case, my primary color is going to be a dark silver metallic with accents of purple (cloth) and mettalic gold (inlay).  Certain straps and casings will be in black, and there will be a small amount of lighting effects (eyes, etc.) in bright green.  I'll probably incorporate that green into whatever symbol I paint on the sails of the raiders.  Flesh tones and the skin tabbards will be in a very grey/cool based skin tone (probably using dneb stone as a base).

I'm looking at three options for my main silver metallic tone.  I base coated an armor plate and worked on the triad.  The first is the standard GW silver, and the 2nd and 3rd are reaper triads.  What are your thoughts?


So to sum it up here's the plan so far:

armor: silver with gold inlay
clothing: deep purple
pouches/belts/gun casings: black
skin: dneb stone base (with washes tbd)
lighting sources: scorpion green

I think the next most important thing after choosing the color pallet is basing.  Basing really should make the miniature pop and set the tone.  I'm going to go with a pretty elaborate display base based around Jabba's pleasure barge in Return of the Jedi.  I don't want it to just be deck plating though since that would wash out with the armor plates, so I'm going to go with deck plating mostly covered in sand - almost like sand was blowing over areas.  The desert sand color should be a nice contrast with the armor.  Here's my first take on how this will be prepared.


I haven't decided if I'm going to try and add another new teqnique in, source lighting... that might be biting off more then I can chew.  Please let me know what you think of the main silver color!

3 comments:

  1. I think the Purple is a little de-saturated, you could afford someting richer, darker shadows and more vibrant highlight to get a "pop" from the model.

    as to the metallics, I think the colder, more blue-tinged Reaper paints will work better with the purple.

    If you work some blue tones into the metals, only a touch mind, and maybe revise and work with blue lights not green, then the sand base will work as a compliment.

    Dont be afraid to sacrifice a test mini on the alter of "getting it right" :)

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  2. Karitas, good advice. I completely agree on the purple, I just put it up there to help as a guideline, a real dark rich one would look much better.

    You might be on to something with the blue-tinged reaper paints. Are you thinking the middle triad?

    I know what you mean on the text mini. I have a collection of trial miniatures. It's fun to see where a project starts and where it ends up!

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  3. Yeah I'd probarbly go with the middle one, and maybe try some light glazes of a darker blue into the shadows, in a kind of "true metallic metal" approach.

    Having seen your metallic work on you BA minis I'm sure you'll pull off a very effective scheme :)

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