Swiss's Dark Elves

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swissdictator
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2011 2:58 pm

Swiss's Dark Elves

#1 Post by swissdictator »

I figure asking people who play one of the elf armies for their opinions can't hurt. Who knows, seeing as this my second elf army (both of which have been Druchii), the external perspective on elves may be a big help.


Currently doing tests on my paint schemes. Figuring out where I want to go with it.

So I tried the red highlighting up to pink (on the right). I think it looks better. What do you think?

Image
Image

I also need to work on the non-metallic metals a bit, but I hope I'm on the way.

Also doing a blue marble effect on the basing. Thinking the display board will be a large temple of some sort, though be it Druchii or a raided High Elf temple or its nature I'm not sure yet, so please feel free to offer some advice... both on board and basing.


Some plans for the army:

Custom monsters. I did this HEAVILY with my Ogres (Nurgle themed) and it was very succesful, so I'm confident in my abilities.
Witches converted from Daemonettes.
I have a lot of the old exies, so I'm tempted to stick with those.
Cold One Knights riding Steeds of Slaanesh
Cauldron converted from the Slaanesh daemon chariot (likely exalted).
Cold One chariots pulled by seekers (I actually love the new chariot sculpt).

Basically I want to do what I can to make this army turn heads.
SpellArcher
Green Istari
Posts: 13841
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2008 11:26 am
Location: Otherworld

Re: Swiss's Dark Elves

#2 Post by SpellArcher »

I agree, like the second guy.

Cloaks are very nice.
teep
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2012 9:56 pm
Location: Munich, Germany

Re: Swiss's Dark Elves

#3 Post by teep »

Hey there, Swiss!

Big up for going for a heavily converted army that is all your own - such a great feel when you bring
your very own stuff to the table, making people wander" where is this left leg coming from" when they
should redirect witches :)
I went that way with my high elves and got a nice lil plan in the works for a Dark Elf force, so much fun!
Props on the choices for swapsies and conversions, i cant wait to see them, so flood us with pics :D

Now onto the painting; red is a tricky beast of a color, hard to highlight, very striking, not that easy to combine
without getting too circus-y. Good choice of purple there, the strong bluish hue makes it go nicely with the red
you've picked. That said, I just cant seem to agree with the techniques applied here. The transitions are too aprupt.
Maybe give wetblending a go - especially if you plan on doing NMM aswell.
The thing with red is, well, you can't just layer/highlight like when using other colors. In my experience, it is best to start
with a quite llight/bright mid tone and shade that bugger down with wetblending and/or glazes.
If you really need that extra edge,well, go for it and use a the side of a thin brush with a bit of dryish offwhite/bleached
bone color and pull it over the edges.
If you yearn for mor contrast, add a bit of blue when painting the recesses. Additionally, you can also work with matt varnish
for the main parts vs gloss for the recesses to further maximize contrast.

As for the NMM - make sure that your wetblending skills are sharp and under your control before trying non-metallic stuff. In my opinion, this is an overrated effect anyways and not that easy to get right, so understanding the basics is vital for making that effort worth your while.

Sorry for the long post, I hope it helps. If you have any questions, please do ask
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