Buying Paints

Hi all! I decided to start a dark Eldar force and bought 2 battleforces, 1 ravager, and 1 archon. I was wondering what game color paints from Vallejo I should pick up at my local game store to bring my army to table-top quality. I also wanted to do a color primer from army painter, but again, do not know what color to get! thanks in advance.

I feel that a white Primer is the best to draw one. But your colors will change due to which primer you use

I got this picture for you as a summarize:

The bright mini is primed with a white, the darkish looking mini is primed with dark, while both got the same blue as second basecoat.


Excuse the poor paintjob, miniature two was the first in my life, while number one was still in work back than.

It's up to you which paints you use. Here some examples on how you could paint your dark eldar, provided with every color you will need for it. (he used vallejo mostly)
This should give you a good, basic overview.

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Howdy,

The color of paint depends on the color you want to paint your army. One of the simpliest ways to get an effective looking force is the use of Triads. Some companies sell then already packaged for you, other you pick and choose and then go with it.

Triads are basicly 3 paint colors, one base color, one shade color, and one highlight color.

So if you were going to do blue as your base color, you would choose a color of blue you liked for your base, then select a much darker blue color for a shade and a brighter, lighter color of blue for the highlight.

The color of primer will dictate how the models looks once it is painted. Blacks makes it look darker, grey is the most natural, and white is going to make it brighter.

Colored primers are alternatives if you want to get something done fast and the color works for you. I've used the army painter primers before and they are pretty good. For the most part I use grey or white primer. Its more of a comfort thing than anything else. I'm used to using them and it works just fine for me. But like I said, I have used the colored and black primers as well. For me, the primer choice is more a choice based on what I want to do with my models.

Vallejo also has a line of "foundation" type colors as well. I have been using these and I have to say I am really impressed with them. I like them better than the original foundation colors, but their colors aren't as vibrant. Still, they do make a great shade color or place to start and then build on.

Reaper also has a line of foundation type paints. The colors are more vibrant and I like them as well.

also what helps in making your selection is the use of complementary and contrasting colors. Visually, they look good to the eye.
An Example is if you wanted to paint your models primarily green, the contrast color to green is red, so little details or a second color to use could be red.

Use of a color wheel will help selecting colors that work well together. You can find color wheels online easily and then kind of go from there.

Just because I say red goes with green, doesn't mean you have to use red, you could use a complementary color like yellow or purple. There are a lot of options.

i just go with what colours i like. but im arty farty so thats hard to explain. when i was considering colours i came up with:

deep dark blue(like gems) with sharp light green highlights

something firey.

fairly solid mid purple with light green or blue highlights.

i tend to think in overall finished product colours rather than base colours so theres room for interpritation there with all the techniques id use like shading and effects id use in any of the above schemes.

there was a fantastic army in White Dwarf issue(?) that were orange and white(i think) i would have used those colours if i hadnt already started painting. honest. they were so striking... the owner mentions poisionous animals as inspiration. mine are purple soon to be adding orange trim. check my painting log if you like.

ive heard bad bad things about army painter sprays. textured, dusty, corse and powdery. unable to strip rubbish paint off model. distraught individual. ive had powdery misting on black GW spray when ive used it and theres been moisture in the air, but nothing like that. real pity they look like such nice colurs. dare i ask?

I decided I want a base of a Dark Green and highlights in a rather venomous green color. Than a shade of a dark green. I think I also am going to paint all this on a Black primer. Now should I do a foundation of Dark Green, base color of Dark Green, or both?

id do both. mostly because the foundation paint is really nice. second because it goes right over the black no probs. you get a more vibrant base in my opinion if you use a foundation first. almost sounds like make-up talk!