New Player with New (revised) Paint scheme.

[Jawa_scum]

Hi all. I just bought 2 Battalions of Dark Elves. I normally play Ogres or O&G and fancied a disciplined fighting force for a change of pace!

Anyway, looking around on the net I found a suprising small amount of deviation when it came to painting. Chainmail and purple anyone?

Ive played around with a few paint schemes and "think" I have settled on the one below. I dont have a light box so the pic isn't great, and obviously its just a test mini so not painted perfectly.

Its an ice blue, I also intend to do blue lightning bolts on the spear tips and crossbows. I cant really find another colour that works well with the blue though. Have you seen dark elves painted like this before?



Any advice, critique is very welcome!

Thanks, Jawa.

[Malus99]

I like it, I believe Heavy Metal did some 'black and blue' druchii models in the army book, page 77 for druchii warrior examples, 83 for a couple of blue executioners and bottom left of page 84 for a black guard in nice blue plate, so I would advise having a look at those examples if you want to see what other colours go with them, the executioners have a golden and rusty finish on their chainmail with the blue plate, whilst the black guard and warriors are mostly traditionally black.

[Masamune]

There are some DE on the GW website painted very similar to this. In the DE colour scheme section.

This also reminds me of the new dark eldar schemes, but with silver chainmail of course.

So, while it's not entirely original, I like it. I am with you in that I think everyone just does the silver chainmail and purple cloth thing and it's far overdone and boring. I love any deviation in scheme. Personally I even prefer to not use silver metallics on the chain but it's very rare you see that.

If you are keeping the silver chainmail I would suggest a black or dark wash over it to help bring out the detail.

[Jawa_scum]

Ha ha yes. I just looked at GW gallery and there they are. I must have seen them in the past and logged that image. Funny how the mind works.

I like the dark red with the blue so I think ill "log" that too!

Thanks for the help guys.

[Phierlihy]

I'm seeing a blue leather bag, a blue cloth dress, a blue sword handle (metal?), and blue rust on the armour. I'm the first to say I'm not a fan of any elf in birthday cake icing blue but that is waaaaaaay over done. It doesn't look cohesive. It looks like you only have one paint pot.

[Jawa_scum]

I'm seeing a blue leather bag, a blue cloth dress, a blue sword handle (metal?), and blue rust on the armour. I'm the first to say I'm not a fan of any elf in birthday cake icing blue but that is waaaaaaay over done. It doesn't look cohesive. It looks like you only have one paint pot.

Fair enough, what do you suggest? I am looking for feedback.

[Guinea pig hydra]

Some suggestions (not a painting master so take as you will) - the models atm are more connotative of HE than DE imo. My GF (who focuses on the painting aspect of the game) thought they were HE to begin with. I think this is because, as phierlihy said, the blue is just way too vibrant. Maybe don't use the blue on the skirt, the highlights work because it's not blocks of colour, where as the skirt is a bit too iyf. If you want to use a lot of blue maybe a darker wash to take the shine off it.

I understand why you want to go away from the silver/gold/purple DE that are seen in everything. I've gone for a black and red scheme for mine. I think you just need to make them a little less forceful on the eyes.

[Jawa_scum]

Thanks Hydra that does help. I guess with Ogres and Orcs im a bit bored of moody colours. And I cant think of anything worse than obeying GW and going down the purple route!

I will change the colour of the dress. I wanted a colour for each unit (blue for the crossbows and red for spearmen) but you are right. It does look like a shandy drinking High Elf prettyboy. Ill darken it down!

[Hainzy]

I'm seeing a blue leather bag, a blue cloth dress, a blue sword handle (metal?), and blue rust on the armour. I'm the first to say I'm not a fan of any elf in birthday cake icing blue but that is waaaaaaay over done. It doesn't look cohesive. It looks like you only have one paint pot.

Wow, Don't you just love it when you ask people for advice and feedback and they give you absolutley nothing apart from just jaded dribble...

Anyway, I think it's a case of if you like it paint it buddy! I think that once you get a few more models together then they start to look quite nice.

I think the color scheme is quite good but I think that you have to darken it down as you've suggested. I think with a wash and some highlights it'll look the goods!

Keep it up mate and I look forward to seeing the rest of the force!

Cheers!
H

[Dyvim tvar]

I can't say I'm a fan. I am perfectly ok with the blue robes -- I use a light blue myself. But using the same color on the armor makes the model look too monochromatic. I would use traditional metallics for the armor and would also find a third color (green? white?) for sashes and other such things.

[Phierlihy]

Sorry jawa_scum, I didn't mean to only offer you just my jaded dribble. I'll try and elaborate.

Deciding on a paint scheme is one of the hardest things to do because you're always worried about getting it wrong and having to repaint models. So before you pick your colour, understand that a unifying colour is used to show that all the models in your army are a cohesive force. But that doesn't mean everyone has to be doused in it. One unit may be swathed in the colour while another unit may only carry it on a ribbon on each of their weapons or a sash on their belt or whatever. But don't paint every surface you can think of with that colour because it overloads the models. Few things look worse (to me at least) than models that have the same colour used on every kind of surface be it bone, wood, metal, etc. I'd first decide what the unifying colour is, then try and figure out how to add it to a given unit - coloured scarves, coloured barding, penants, flags, belts, shirts, or shields, and so on. I'll quickly note it's also perfectly fine to have each unit stand out with a different colour but have all their banners similar to unify them!

If you want to keep your army looking respectable, keep your woods a "wood" colour, keep your metalics metallic, keep your leathers brown, and so on. Once your comfortable with the basic look, then try and get more creative. Just do it a step at a time.

[Jawa_scum]

Thanks for the feedback phierlihy I do see where youre coming from.

Im not going to paint any more until im happy with a paint scheme, im just using old models for testing at the moment. Ill have another pic up tommorow based on the comments ive received so far.

Thanks, Jawa.

[Jawa_scum]

Here it is:

Im keeping the blue hue armour. (I love it!) I did have a problem with a wash on the red so its not finished. But this is more about a paint scheme than a great paint job. Im not going to get a chance to paint again now until the weekend so I thought Id take a pic or two.

[Dyvim tvar]

This is a significant improvement!

I know this is more about scheme than technique, but one technique question I have is whether you applied the blue on the armor by drybrushing directly over a black basecoat -- it looks a bit chalky. Drybrushing can work, but I think you would get better results by painting on an intermediate color, then drybrushing, then applying a black wash to the recesses.

[Meteor]

It might be just me, but I don't think it looks cohesive with just the chest armour being blue but the chainmail torso not. But again, it might look even more odd if it was lined with blue? I certainly wouldn't have the patience to line the chainmail in ice blue anyway. It's just a thought.

Also is red a good colour for the cloth? I would've thought something along the lines of lime green would help blend the scheme together. The red seems to take the attention away from the blue armour, and I'm assuming the blue armour is where you want the attraction to be.

[Dyvim tvar]

Personally, I think blue chainmail would look really bad ... It's perfectly fine to have armor plates colored (it could be lacquered metal) while chainmail looks like bare metal.

[Phierlihy]

That is definitely a big improvement. The blue is definitely not my colour of choice and I think it will come back to bite you in the backside when you do the rest of the army. But definitely much better!

The red you used for the skirt is excellent!!

[Jawa_scum]

Yay! Thanks guys. I know the blue is a bit of a marmite conversation but after painting soo much armour silver/chainmail etc for so many years I really wanted an army to look different.

Im looking at more paint schemes as I want my army to have different skirt colours depending on the unit they are in.

All Crossbows are going to be Women Elves with a blue (much darker though) and ill have 2 spearmen units (all men) with red for one and a grey for another. Im a big believer in magnetic movement trays so they will always stay in their unit once painted.

Just looking at corsairs and shades etc now. I want to Blue armour to be the cohesive throughout.

[Guinea pig hydra]

Big improvement

[Jawa_scum]

Ok ive painted a few more Warriors and what will be crossbows. Ive chosen the red skirts for the spearmen and green skirts for the xbows. Also the sexist in me cant quite get my head around women fighting in the front line and nagging the men to distraction so all my squads are strictly same sex.

Crossbows stay at the back discussing hair straightening and watch the men throw themselves at the enemy. I noticed that Sunday league footballers always do a better job if their ladies are on the sidelines. Its that "I must do better if girls are watching!" mentality.

Armless Warriors


Her indoors with (soon to be) Crossbows

[Malus99]

Also the sexist in me cant quite get my head around women fighting in the front line and nagging the men to distraction so all my squads are strictly same sex.

Tullain and her Steel Fangs will be visiting you shortly.

nice paint scheme.

[Asikari]

Yes, I have seen them painted like that before (or very similar). I personally didn't like the standard purple paint scheme and have done mine with blue skirts. I've been having a hard time getting the chestplates to work out the way I would like. What you've accomplished here is essentially the appearance I'm going for.

[Masamune]

Loving it!