+++Silver Golden Demon Winner+++
Entitled “Boot to the Head”, or “Hammer of Wrath” this is the 2012 GDUK Silver winner in the duel category. For the first post in this series click over here, it breaks down the enormous construction phase that went into creating the base models. This time we go through the paint phase with the Wych.
Kirsten:
Now all the converting was complete, it was time to start the actual painting. Given I was running out of time, whilst I would have loved to have done stage by stage pictures of each colour, I had to settle for finished pictures of each full stage. If there are any question on each stage, feel free to ask.
Colours are listed usually in this order: basecoat, highlights, final highlight. Shading and washes will be added in the appropriate spots with labels as such.
Basically, the Wych’s colours needed to complement and balance those of the Seraphim. As I knew the Sister was going to be Order of Our Martyred Lady, the Wych needed to balance White and Red, so Black and Green was the order of the day. Most of the metal on the Sister was going to be gold, so much of the Wych’s needed to be Silver. From that basis, I started work…
The skin was the first thing I did, as everything else was on a higher level than it – so going back to do it later would involve potentially getting paint on the finished portions. I take this approach with almost everything I paint, and it’s why I mostly do my bases first – so I don’t accidently drybrush the finished feet.
Colours:
Dheneb Stone, Ogryn Flesh (wash), Leviathan Purple (shading), Thraka Green (shading), Dheneb Stone, Dheneb Stone mixes all the way to Skull White.
The Black was next, as the largest area to be painted. Black can be a pain, as it often comes out looking either chalky or overly comic. Plenty of washes and many levels of mixes was the answer here, as was watery feathering between each highlight…
Colours:
Chaos Black, Chaos Black / Codex Grey mixes: 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, Codex Grey, Badab Black (wash), Codex Grey.
Again, the armour on a Dark Eldar has the potential to look very comic if not done carefully. Between the Black and the Green, this is where most of the time on this figure went.
Colours:
Chaos Black / Scaly Green mixes: 80/20, 50/50, 20/80, Scaly Green, Jade Green, Rotting Flesh.
I hate metallics. With a passion. Almost as much as I hate NMM, and MNNM. On both this and the Seraphim I had to redo the metals several times and was convinced I wouldn’t place based on these bits. Next year, I avoid metal as much as possible…
Colours:
Boltgun Metal, Boltgun / Chainmail, Chainmail, Badab Black wash, Chainmail, Mithril Silver line highlight, Mithril Silver / Skull White: 50/50 line highlight.
The Brass I didn’t hate doing quite as much as the silver, as it’s easier to make brass and gold look good than it is silver. Still… *shakes fist at bloody metallics*
Colours:
Tin Bitz, Brown Ink (the old one that is just called “Brown Ink”), Tin Bitz / Brazen Brass: 50/50, Brazen Brass, Brazen Brass / Mithril Silver: 50/50, a wash of Chestnut Ink (watered down), Baal Red in some recesses, Brazen Brass / Mithril Silver: 50/50, Mithril Silver.
I was initially worried that the purple and the green would clash horribly, but in the end it turned out nicely “alien” instead. That’s the nice thing about Eldar and Dark Eldar – colours you wouldn’t expect to work together sometimes really do…
Colours:
Liche Purple, Liche Purple / Hormogaunt Purple: 50/50, Hormogaunt Purple, Hormogaunt Purple / Tentacle Pink: 50/50, Hormogaunt Purple / Tentacle Pink: 30/70 + a bit of Skull White, Leviathan Purple wash, Baal Red in some recesses, Hormogaunt Purple / Tentacle Pink: 30/70 + a bit of Skull White, Skull White.
Choosing what colours to do the drug tubes took longer than I thought it would. They were always going to be lurid, but the wrong lurid could easily throw the colour balance of the whole figure. In the end I went with the traditional green – and it seemed to work quite well. Given the amount of red that was going to be on the Seraphim, I was ok with the balance being biased towards green…
Colours:
Jade Green, Jade Green / Scorpion Green: 60/40, 40/60, Scorpion Green, Scorpion Green / Skull White: 50/50, Skull White.
Once she was basically done, I had a little bit of spare time so decided adding some decorative Glyphs was in order. Looking through all the Dark Eldar and Dark Elf army books, I decided on something that was somewhere in between the latest Dark Elf symbols and the glyphs on the new Lhamaen model.
The glyphs themselves were drawn on with a sharp soft pencil (4B is best I find), then carefully painted over with a very fine brush.
Colours:
Scaly Green, Scaly Green / Jade Green: 50/50, Jade Green, Jade Green / Scorpion: 50/50, Scorpion Green.
All the other bits and bobs were added in at various stages, and the colours are listed below:
Bone: Snakebite Leather, Bubonic Brown, Bleached Bone, Seraphim Sepia wash, Bleached Bone, Skull White.
Pouches: Chaos Black / Scaly Green: 50/50, Scaly Green, Scaly Green / Jade Green: 50/50, Jade Green, Rotting Flesh, Badab Black wash (watered).
Hair Cloth: Scaly Green, Scaly Green / Jade Green: 50/50, Jade Green, Rotting Flesh
Soil: Calthan Brown, Brown Ink, Iyanden Darksun drybrush, Bleached Bone drybrush, Skull White drybrush.
Rocks and Slate: Charandon Granite / Terracotta: 50/50, Charandon Granite drybrush, Codex Grey drybrush, Fortress Grey drybrush, Leviathan Purple wash in some recesses, Thraka Green wash in other recesses, Fortress Grey drybrush, Skull White drybrush.
Grass used was the standard green/red mix static grass, and the Scorched static grass. The moss was a modelling moss I picked up from somewhere years ago, but I think can be acquired from most model shops.
