Dark Eldar - I got bored of painting things blue....

Hi everybody,

I thought I would start a new topic for this rather than add it to my Ultramar plog just to keep the two seperate.

So essentially I have been struggling a bit to get motivated painting wise, probably because I have been painting blue things non stop for that last five years.... :)

I absolutely love the Dark Eldar models. They had always been my favourite faction from a fluff point of view but I never liked the models until they got their revamp a few years ago.

Of course I did my usual thing and bought lots of everything and then left them in a cupboard for years....

I did try to paint one (the Lhamaen) a while back but really wasn't happy with it, but when the clam pack Haemonculous came out I thought he would be a nice model to try again on.

This is very WIP at the moment. The "middle" bit of the figure is almost done, so the head, torso and legs. But the "left" and "right" bits are just started, so the arms, coat etc are just base coated for now.

I am hoping to have him finished by the end of this weekend and then I have two weeks off work so will start some Wracks to go with him.

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Apologies for the bad photos, I have lost my camera so these are crappy phone pics, and for my dirty finger nails...

Hopefully I will be able to get a small Dark Eldar force painted up over the next few months but I will be flitting back and forth between these and my Ultras / Macragge PDF but we'll see how it goes, I am renowned for starting things and not finishing them...

Looking pretty badass so far dude

Cheers mate, it's a bit of a fiddly bugger to paint.

Had to do him in 3 sub assemblies which look like they will be a bit of a 'mare to put together when done but am happy with him so far.

This was mainly an experiment to teach myself how to paint Dark Eldar skin which is why I chose this model in particular. I had tried following the GW skin recipe for Dark Eldar but wasn't happy with it so have come up with my own which is very simple but seems to work. :)

How have you done it? If you don't mind divulging?

I'm about to tread down the Path of the Renegade myself. :p

No problem, I used a white undercoat which may put people off but it makes things sooo much easier, and for things like Wyches etc I plan to keep the heads and arms seperate and undercoat them white, and undercoat the bodies black.

It should work on a black undercoat but the method will be slightly different.

So White Undercoat.

Then apply a very thinned down (with water) coat of Cadian Fleshtone. This will give you a very pale skin tone with the Cadian Flesh tone acting as the first shade. The new layer paints are transluscent which means you can get some lovely effects on a white undercoat.

Once that's fully dry then thin down some Reikland Flesh Shade with Lahmian Medium. I would say I used a 1:1 mix but it won't hurt to add slightly more medium as you can always repeat and build up. It's important to use Lahmian Medium as you won't get the same effect with water.

That will get you to the stage his arms are at right now and is pretty quick.

Then the fun part! :)

Paint the raised areas of the flesh in Cadian Flesh Tone leaving the recessed areas slightly darker. Then start adding small amounts of white to Cadian Flesh Tome for the highlights, because Dark Eldar are naturally pale I made these highlights very light. I can't remember the exact ratio but have it on my palette at home and will be doing his arms tonight so will post it up.

Finally a very, very thin mix of Lahmian Medium and Druchii Violet. This almost like paint homeothapy!! Essentially a tiny dab of shade in with the Lahmian Medium, again you want it really thin and then build up.

Apply that in the very darkest recesses to give it that alien feel. For the Haemonculous I did the same thing with Carroburg Crimson and applied it around his eye sockets and any area where there were staples or sockets to make them look bruised and sore.

To be honest for a black undercoat just apply a couple of thinned layers of Cadian Flesh tone and then repeat, but you won't get that nice translucency of paint that you do on a white undercoat.

Luckily my DEldar are yellow, so I'm starting off with a white undercoat! :D

- - - Updated - - -

Cheers for the guide dude.

No worries, in that case you'll be laughing. :)

Beautiful work; I love the shading. You've controlled the tones very elegantly.

Love it.

Cheers YorkNecromancer.

I got quite a bit more done today but the pics really are bad, will try to get better ones tomorrow in daylight.

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I still have some bits to do but gonna call him done for now and make a start on the Wracks.