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Eldar Painting Blog

43K views 57 replies 16 participants last post by  powerclaw 
#1 ·
With all the photos i've been posting of my eldar in progress, i figured i might as well get a log going of all the ones i've finished so far. Hopefully i can get some comments / critiques and make the army overall that much better.

I decided to collect eldar after doing 2000 points of tyranids. I really love playing 'Nids, but hate painting them, so i took the easy route and just dipped them. The eldar i bought based on the awesomeness of the models, and they are mostly a painting project first and a playing army second.

Background:
Eldar based on Alatioc, with Rangers and Dire Avengers making up the majority of the troup choices.

<more fluff and info will be added as i get to it :) >

The two colours that i'm hoping will tie the army together are the Alatioc blue and the Copper, which is my cross to bear on this project it turns out (see the post below with the failed first attempt at warpspiders)

What i'm hoping to get painted in short order:
1 falcon (80% done)
weapons for 3 vypers (50% done)
5 Fire Dragons + 1 Exarch (1 fire Dragon Done)
9 Dire Avengers + 2 Exarchs (5 DA's done, 1 exarch Done)
10 Warp Spiders


Longer term
10 Rangers / Pathfinders (old models)
6 Harlequins
1 Farseer with Jetbike
1 falcon
1 Wraithlord
10 guardians with 1 heavy weapon platform (3 done)

Still sitting in their boxes :(
3 War Walkers
1 Wraithlord
Squad of Banshees
another Squad of Dire Avengers
3 Jet Bikes (1 will be used for the Farseer)
1 Autarch
1 Avatar
another vyper

on the wishlist
2 wave serpents
more harlequins
new models of the Rangers
2 fire prisms


I'll add one post to this blog per unit type...
 
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#6 ·
Dear All Concerned,

Wow, these look great! Hope to see more!

-YTHC
 
#8 ·
Love 'em, I have two suggestions however... perhaps highlight with mettalics the mane of your dire avengers, that dark copper seems a little, one dimensional.

Also your warpspider yea the scheme kinda fell down on its way to the cornershop, but thats ok, all I think you need to do is give that eye glint thats so oftenly (oftenly?) used and highlight the head either a slightly lighter blue or a completely opposite end of the scale blue.

O and firedragon, glint on eye and perhaps to make his gun a little more eyecatching some freehand patterns? usual thorn ones perhaps, that is if you're comfortable with freehand painting.

Now I may sound highly critical but really i made sure I mentioned every possible thing I would see as a flaw, I mean after all I could say "woo great job, no other comment" but that wouldn't really furfil the purpose of you posting these pictures to have them judged now would it ;)
 
#9 ·
perhaps highlight with metallics the mane of your dire avengers, that dark copper seems a little, one dimensional.
Yeah, they are going to be hit with a dry brush of copper+silver when i have the two squads completed. I need to do a better job of highlighting the copper in general, metallics are my biggest challenge right now

Also your warpspider yea the scheme kinda fell down on its way to the cornershop, but thats ok, all I think you need to do is give that eye glint thats so oftenly (oftenly?) used and highlight the head either a slightly lighter blue or a completely opposite end of the scale blue.
To be honest, i completely gave up on the disco'spiders idea. the latest version is mostly purple with bone guns and a copper helmet, but i'm still not very satisfied with it. I just want to avoid painting more red if i can help it (trad. spider colours) so my next test will be green spiders.

O and fire dragon, glint on eye and perhaps to make his gun a little more eyecatching some freehand patterns? usual thorn ones perhaps, that is if you're comfortable with freehand painting.
My eyework in general needs some practice. on the finished squad (pictures up tonight) all the eyes are green, and it really pops them out. I have a medical condition known as fat-fingers. it's debilitating. there's a support group :) I'll give it a try, just a little dot of white to make it pop, eh? The guns... that's an interesting idea actually. i may have to give that some thought.

Now I may sound highly critical but really i made sure I mentioned every possible thing I would see as a flaw, I mean after all I could say "woo great job, no other comment" but that wouldn't really furfil the purpose of you posting these pictures to have them judged now would it ;)
If you've read any of my posts, i do exactly the same thing :) I like to point out the good and the bad. this blog is here to help my painting get better, not stroke my ego.

The reason it's not been updated of late is because i've got 3 grav tanks on the go right now, all with diff variations on the same theme. Should be putting them up next week i hope.
 
#10 ·
I'm totally necroposting my own post :)

I finally got a decent photo setup (at walmart of all places, they where selling it to eBay addicts :))



Works surprisingly well (though it needs a light for the front as well) and folds into a portable kit the size of one of the sides

Anyway, here's the first completed squad of Dire Avengers:



Another view:




A full squad of 10 Firedragons + exarch:



And some WIP warwalkers. These have to be the most annoying kit in the world to paint, i had to do each piece individually (base, body, legs, weapons, canopy) , then get everything together. I still need to finish up the pilots, glue the canopies on and get some weapons painted up for them, and minor touch ups here and there (mostly around the gems where i went over the lines)






and finally my first WIP Dark Reaper (for the Tale of Painters)



Still to come (painted, but not yet photographed)
The squadron of vypers
The first Ranger
The first Falcon
 
#11 ·
Some vehicles!

A couple of quick updates:

First my squadron of 3 vypers:



These are actually my oldest eldar painted models, and the guns are still WIP. In fact, all the weapons on all my vehicles are removable, and unfortunately, i haven't been able to paint a single one to completion yet as i'm having a lot of trouble with the scheme



Same squad but with the flash. I think this gives a bit of a truer colour match, but flattens out the highlights completely.

The falcon:

again a very early vehicle, i hadn't got "stippling" down to where i wanted it yet



Still, i'm pretty happy with it.



Now a question to you my fine readers:

I really want to put a squad marking on each of the vehicles, maybe a set of stripes, maybe a very simple geometric shape (i'm kinda diggin' the stripes though)

Problem is i can't figure out for the life of me what colour i want to use.

I was thinking just a simple white stripe, about a cm wide, for the falcon, on a rakish angle, but i'm not yet convinced.

The only other falcon in the army is a Mk2 (forgeworld) so i'll at least be able to differentiate that way...
 
#12 ·
Great job on the vehicles.

Hmm, for squad stripes, consider using a contrasting color to bring it out?

How about a red(it doesn't need to be a bright red)or even yellow. Depending on where you put it it will blend in and add a nice feel to the model. I would put them up at the tips up front myself.

Hope this helps.
 
#13 ·
I tend to agree i'd want it to contrast, but i can't really seem to get over the fact it's supposed to be "camouflage" thus not so much on the contrasting :)

Of course, with bright copper gems, i think i may have already tossed that one out the window.

I was thinking of stripes on the tips as well, though forming a V who's bottom would be the top of the vehicle, not the bottom. And on the Vypers, not a v but an asymetric stripe instead.

Maybe i'll try and photochop it on tonight...

Thanks for the compliments!
 
#18 ·
they are strictly temporary. They've been breaking left and right, so i went out and bought some brass rod of the right thickness, i'm taking some of the 60mm resin bases i bought off ebay, and i'm making my own flying bases. I'm definitely for decorating them, but i find the clear plastic ones just don't hold up enough.

I'm supposed to be working on that this week actually, i'll post up some photos (along with the dark reapers i just finished)
 
#19 ·
Here's my Tales of Painters list:

1 Wraithlord @ 155 Pts
Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Fearless; WraithSight; Flamer (x2); Bright Lance (BL); Missile Launcher (ML)

1 Wraithlord @ 155 Pts
Unit Type: Monstrous Creature; Fearless; WraithSight; Flamer (x2); Bright Lance (BL); Missile Launcher (ML)

1 Farseer @ 100 Pts
Fleet; Doom ; Guide ; Ghost Helm (GH); Psyker; Rune Armour (RAmr); Shuriken Pistol (Sp); Witchblade (WB)

These should represent 2 months worth of painting, hopefully that's ok.

6 Wraithguard @ 210 Pts

6 Wraithguard @ 210 Pts


1 Eldrad Ulthran @ 210 Pts

For the month i'm really really busy :)


4 Dark Reapers @ Pts
Reaper Launcher (RL)
1 Dark Reaper Exarch @ [] Pts
Fast Shot (FS); Reaper Launcher (RL)

9 Guardian Jetbike Squadron @ 228 Pts
Shuriken Cannon (SCan) (x3); TL Shuriken Catapult (TL-Scat) (x6)

1 Falcon @ 205 Pts
Holo-Field (Vehicle) (H-F); Spirit Stone (V:SpStn); Vectored Engines (VE); Scatter Laser (SctL); Shuriken Cannon (SCan); Pulse Laser (PL)

9 Howling Banshees @ Pts
1 Howling Banshee Exarch @ [] Pts
Fleet; War Shout (WS); Acrobatic; Banshee Mask (BM); Mirrorswords (Ms)
1 EP War Shout @ [] Pts

6 Warp Spiders @ Pts
Unit Type: Jump Infantry; Warp Jump Generators (WJG); Death Spinner (DS)
1 Warp Spider Exarch @ [] Pts
Unit Type: Jump Infantry; Withdraw; Warp Jump Generators (WJG); Powerblades (Pb); Death Spinner x2

Total Roster Cost: 2068


This month i hit up the old dark reapers (i've played them every game this month, i figure they deserve a nice paint job :) )



just the exarch:



Not real happy with how the photography of these guys turned out, i'll need to take a few more pictures to really get a good sense of the paint
 
#20 ·
a first attempt at a banshee scheme. not entirely happy with it, this will likely not be the final one.







A couple of things i will be trying next:
blue wash instead of green for the tint to the armor (i was trying to make it look ghostly, but it really clashes with the rest of the model)
a different colour for the helm and the hair
figuring out a better colour for the weapons.
 
#21 ·
time for an update!

Got rid of the green in the banshee scheme, swapped it out for a blue wash as the base, then painting back up to white.

i can guarranty that i will never be painting another set of white armored models again. what a pain.

I'm still not thrilled with the results, but it's better then nothing.

I'll likely redo the powerweapons at the very least, when i figure out a way of doing them that i'm happy with (i went through 6 different tries and none looked decent. this one is ok, but not great, and really fickle to do)



exarch with executioner



the girls with the mirrorswords exarch



The whole unit

What i've painted so far for tail of painters



group shot of all the infantry i've painted so far.

Next up? I'm not sure. Either rangers or a tank.
 
#24 ·
i got the idea last night (3AM guess that insomnia problem isn't quite licked yet) of doing a Japanese imperial navy type sunburst on one of my serpents, originating from the turret mount.

This is what i mean by the sun burst:



Also, i have to darken the blue sections on those, probably going to stipple another coat of regal blue on top to add a little more contrast. I've also lined every panel line with either dark grey or blue in that photo, then washed the cracks with black ink. Next step will be to give some highlights to the appropriate panels to really make it pop.

Not sure what to do with the shield generators though..
 
#26 ·
very close to it actually, but the circle that houses the turret would be the "sun" and the rays would emanate out of it.

I was also thinking of experimenting with reversing the way i paint the blue, instead of:
basecoat black
stiple regal blue
stiple regal blue / magic blue
stiple magic blue
do all the panel lines.

i was thinking of

basecoat magic blue
stiple regal blue / magic blue
stiple regal blue
stiple black

to see what the different effect was. not sure what it'll look like in the end, so i'll be doing it on a piece of foam board first to test.
 
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