WarriorFish's Evil Space Elves

[WarriorFish]

It's finally time for me to dust off my Dark Eldar... literally. The water on the bases was a different colour before being assaulted by a brush I've only played one game with my DE, where a (proxied) Succubus managed to defeat an Ork Warboss in a challenge - so at least I can say I've a 100% win record

However - and this will be no surprise to anyone who has followed my other projects - I find myself dissatisfied somewhat with my original colour scheme. I don't dislike it per se but I feel needs something different. I need to decide how much different, so I'm open to and considering full repaints. I've only got 21 models finished (and many times more unpainted) so it'll be far less work than my previous repaints by orders of magnitude :P

Anyway, here's a quick picture to demonstrate the current scheme:

I'm fine with the base, intended to be a sort of dead world but I could go for something a bit different (desert?), depending on the army scheme I settle on.

Any ideas or suggestions (picture/examples a bonus!) welcome as I need to spread the net far and wide - even if I don't know what fish I'm looking for until I see it (and that's as far as the analogy goes). With my recent escapades in my Chaos force I'm thinking perhaps a bolder and brighter scheme?

This will be a slow burn project, time required to decide on a scheme aside, but I'm hoping to get something for the Xeno Files event if possible.

[Azekai]

Oh my dark gods, is there anything you don't do in this hobby, Fish?

I am really looking forward to this thread!

The armor isn't bad, I feel like the main shortcoming is a lack in contrast. Maybe you could break up the monotony with fresh blood sprays? Jagged, sharp flairs of arterial blood across faces and chests and hands. Maybe have it mixing with the mire at their feet.
 

[WarriorFish]

Don't worry, this is all of my 40k armies on the B&C now

 

With Blood for the Blood God now doing blood will be a lot easier, and a gritty look could be nice as my other armies tend to be a bit cleaner. You can't see it but there's a blood attempt on the venom blade that looks mostly alright. I think you're right about the contrast that's probably what felt amiss

 

I like the lighter scheme overally, but the bone style colour perhaps doesn't work with my intended approach (mostly making use of washes, with a simple edge highlight). What about something like Tallarn Sand*? Or maybe going full on yellow. I thought about an orange as something nice and bright but that might be a bit too close to my CSM's melon colour.

 

 

* I have recently developed a "thing" for Tallarn Sand, so may be trying to jam it in where it doesn't fit so feel free to tell me if that's the case

[Aothaine]

Really like the Bone and the Green. Maybe change the bases to a more contrasting color? Maybe like water on the coast of a river with some reeds? The bone blends into the base for me. But maybe that is what you're going for. ^_^ Either way they look really good!

[E_50_Panzer]

Have you thought of adding in more blacks, blues, and silvers in to add some contrast like here? 

[Kierdale]

How about a Mars-esque basing?

I like the bone and green :tu: plus Archon's suggestion.

[E_50_Panzer]

How about a Mars-esque basing?

I like the bone and green :tu: plus Archon's suggestion.

I'll be honest here, the bone eldar picture I posted would probably be tough to replicate. Lots of layering, but still, the other colors really help to bring out the bone. Martian basing would probably look good too.

 

 

And Not to advertise, but take a look at my dark eldar thread 'settling on a paint scheme' if you want some inspiration on what (not?) to do. :)

[WarriorFish]

Thanks guys, the black makes the scheme quite striking perhaps that is the ticket! I've pondering Mars basing schemes before and I can see it working well here, so that might be a good revision also. This could be the quickest colour scheme decision I've ever made - though admittedly that's not difficult

 

What sort of paints would be good for the base, perhaps one of the technical base paints? I've not used them aside from Astrogranite so far so I don't know how good they are (and damage proof?). I will be visiting GW tomorrow to see if my skull basing set has arrived so I will get any new paints I need then

[Arkaniss]

A repaint?! But I really like the colour scheme I think people are right in that it just needs some contrast. Aothaine makes a great point - perhaps repainting the bases?

 

Though again I like the bases! But perhaps they are a necessary sacrifice to save the main colours... I really do like the bone and green! :tu:

[WarriorFish]

I might adjust the bone colour a little, perhaps lighter on the wash but that will stay I reckon. The black under armour should provide the contrast I need, I will see if the weapons might need a different colour once I've sorted the main colours out.

 

I was poking around and found this handy PDF from GW on the textured paints, what do people think? I like Agrellan Badland, but also Martian Ironcrust and Armageddon Dunes

[Aothaine]

I might adjust the bone colour a little, perhaps lighter on the wash but that will stay I reckon. The black under armour should provide the contrast I need, I will see if the weapons might need a different colour once I've sorted the main colours out.

 

I was poking around and found this handy PDF from GW on the textured paints, what do people think? I like Agrellan Badland, but also Martian Ironcrust and Armageddon Dunes

 

I would go with the Martian Ironcrust. The Armageddon Dunes looks good but will blend into the bone again. Imho.

[Kierdale]

I used Martian Ironearth for my Mentor scouts...

...and then they went and released Ironcrust :D

Anyway, Ironearth is good stuff. I added some more small stones so it wasn't just the broken earth, and will add more stuff - debris etc - to the next squad.

I hope that helps.

Just remember to paint the base a brown before using the crackle paint as it may show in the cracks.

[WarriorFish]

I thought I could adjust the colours a bit with the wash and highlight on top but looks like the Martian colour doesn't have to be too red. Which is good because I've always wanted to use the Martian one :lol: What paints did you use Kier as that looks like a nice colour to me :)

[Kierdale]

I think I painted the bases Rhinox Hide before putting the Ironearth over it (though a lighter brown or dark red would have been fine too I think). I drybrushed the Ironearth with a light orange (the Edge one perhaps, as I have that and few other oranges). For the small rocks I painted them with thin Ironearth so it wouldn't crack on them.

[Slips]

If you check in the tutorials section, I made a topic for the GW vid that shows you how to make lava bases with Martian Ironearth

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I think your DE scheme is a bit too Deathwing and you definitely need more contrast than a dark, muted green color. If you want to keep the green, maybe brighten it up? DEldar want to be seen so they can terrify the poor folks they're attacking and feed off of it. 

[WarriorFish]

The green is missing a highlight up yeah, I think that along with the black under armour and revised basing scheme everything should come together :) I already have Rhinox Hide (somewhere) so I'll grab the two texture paints and perhaps an orange to go on top. I was thinking of mixing up the two texture paints - probably more on larger bases - to go along with some water effect to add some variety too :)

[WarriorFish]

I've got the two texture paints and the Lugganath edge pot, should be all I need now. I'll try and produce a new DE in the updated colour scheme with the time I have Sunday

[WarriorFish]

Base experimentation has gone quite well:

From left to right: dry brushed, washed and dry brushed, water effect test/comparison (with blood) and the control of as it comes. You can see the thicker Ironcrust bits but looks like they need to be thicker if you want larger cracks to appear.

I also saw if the brown sides will work (and slipped onto the water effect :P). I'm not sure which looks best yet, I think I'd prefer to do something more than the standard but I think the Lugganath Orange highlight might not be the right colour. Thoughts?

[WarriorFish]

I think I'll need some more time to settle on the basing method, which I'm a bit short on currently but I did managed to make some progress on the new colour scheme:

It may just be the bone colour but it's a big step in updating and improving the scheme as it looks much better! I may add to it with a highlight but I want to see how it all looks once the model is more or less done.

I plan on having the green brighter, likely with highlighting and I'm undecided on the gold. Might be something to come back to when the model has more colours on. That includes the gun, it'd be nice to retain the colours as I like them and it makes them look different to Imperial weapons but it's more important that it works with the overall scheme. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome

[E_50_Panzer]

I think I'll need some more time to settle on the basing method, which I'm a bit short on currently but I did managed to make some progress on the new colour scheme:

It may just be the bone colour but it's a big step in updating and improving the scheme as it looks much better! I may add to it with a highlight but I want to see how it all looks once the model is more or less done.

I plan on having the green brighter, likely with highlighting and I'm undecided on the gold. Might be something to come back to when the model has more colours on. That includes the gun, it'd be nice to retain the colours as I like them and it makes them look different to Imperial weapons but it's more important that it works with the overall scheme. Any ideas or suggestions would be welcome :)

Looks great so far! Id recommend a black casing for the gun though, and silver for the rest as per usual with dark eldar. Id also agree with brighter greens. And maybe its me, but I would use more silvers than golds on the model. Gold is a warm tone, and so is your bone, silver is cold, and will add contrast. But anyway, that black suit is making a world of difference on the model, keep it up.

[Arkaniss]

I like it! Looking good so far. Yeah maybe try the gun casing black at first - you an always paint it metallic if you don't like it :) Keeping some water on the new bases would be neat, not something that's used often to liven up a base.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

The added contrast from the black is definitely a much better look on those guys. 

[WarriorFish]

Thanks a lot guys, I agree on the black gun too after looking at the model again this morning :) I've never really got on with silvery colours for some reason, what colour would look best? A black wash might make it a little too dark, should I think about a blue perhaps?

 

Are the little tubes at the back supposed to be drug vials? Never figured them out, but maybe I should give them a bit of something different too.

[walter h]

I believe they are combat drugs. I am also so happy to see your inner, Xeno ' s come out.