Please critique my scheme!

So in my gaming group I am notorious for a few things. The first of these is my statistician slaughtering ill luck with dice, but the second is that while I spend insane amounts of time on my models, they never come out well at all. However, I have been practicing alot so I hope that my new Dark Eldar Army will come out well! I would appreciate any critique of the paint scheme I am proposing! If something seems insane, that is likely because I am mildly colorblind (I can't detect shades very well).

Wyches: I want the leather to be black. I'd like to find a way to make it a shiny black of some sort, so any help on that would be appreciated. I want to achieve a rather light skin tone...I am thinking a base of Nagarroth Night and then painting on the Kislev Flesh, which I suspect to be the lightest flesh color in the range...maybe. For hair I am thinking either red or purple.

Warriors: I want the armor to be black, perhaps with blue trims. I then want to paint some red zig-zag lines on the armor, to be a little bit visually jarring.

Raiders: I mainly want them black, though the deck will be some wood color. if I can stop just using brown for once in my life. I think that a purple glaze might also look good on the black

Please feel free to comment on anything! Thanks!

Shininess on black can be achieved by a simple coat of Chaos Black (not sure if the new Abbadon Black acts the same way. Gloss varnish would make it shiny, but overly so. You meant that kind of shininess, right?

If you want a light skin tone, you can do what I do. Dheneb Stone (the equivalent from the new range seems to be Rakarth Flesh), black wash, then Dheneb Stone/Rakarth Flesh over the raised areas, then a mix of DS/RF and white for highlighting. Comes out nicely pale.

I am not quite sure how to visualize the red zig-zags on your warrior's armor, so I can't quite comment on it yet. Depending on execution, it could look both great and not quite so great.

Other than that, sounds quite good. I'd like to see some test models soon!

I personally despise red and blue together, so me saying anything on that note wouldn't really be a critique. However, with the wyches, I would roll with the purple hair. I would try to avoid the purple being to lose to pink, but in my opinion, purple and black are wonderful together (especially with a lighter highlight such as white or ice blue (although I would restrict the blue to drug feed-lines, power cables and other shiny light sources).

As for the warriors, I would have them the same (i.e. black with some purple) to unify the whole army. the models are different enough so that they don't really warrant separate colour schemes. That is, however, completely up to you.

So in conclusion, Like the wyches idea, don't like the warriors idea. I would also avoid brown on the raiders. Holy hell, the Dark Eldar are the galaxy's style icons, they would never stoop to using brown.

Tl;dr: Purple and black 4eva.

For a shiny kind of black you could either do a neutral kind of black, using Abaddon Black as a base and highlighting with colours such as Eshin Grey with extreme highlights of Dawnstone (or even Administratum Grey if you're brave) to create a reflective effect. You could also do a cooler tone, again starting with Abaddon Black but then using colours like Thunderhawk Blue or The Fang for highlights. Fenrisian Grey could be used for the extreme, reflective, highlights. In either case, make sure you donit overdo the highlights, keep the final highlights sharp and precise, and if you're not quite happy with it at the end, you can always resort to a gloss varnish.

For a pale skin tone, using Naggaroth Night as a base could work as long as you keep it in the recesses and don't let it show too much but I wouldn't use Kislev Flesh to highlight. Yes, it's a light skin colour but it's also a warm skin colour so I'd steer clear of that if I were you. With the old paints I used a mix of Tallarn Flesh and Space Wolves Grey for the base, shaded the recesses with Devlan Mud and then added in increasing amounts of Skull White for highlights. You could find the substitutes for these old paints in the new range and try that if you want. Or, use what seemingly has been designed for Dark Eldar, if the White Dwarf painting guides are anything to go by. Rakarth Flesh, washed with either Agrax Earthshade or Reikland Fleshade, Pallid Wych Flesh for the first highlight with White Scar for final highights.

I'd keep the hair purple if I were you. Red and black seems a bit too "generic evil" to me, more suited to Chaos whereas purple and black are more sinister and should suit the Deldar well.

For the Kabalite Armour, using Abaddon Black as a base with subtle initial highlights using grey and then a bright, light blue on the edges. The trick to Deldar is whether your armour is all one colour or a combination, make sure the edges provide a bright contrast to the rest of the darker sections of armour. I'd avoid the red zig-zags as it could be a bit too much, detracting from the nice clean look of the models. Always keep in mind when you're painting an army as opposed to an individual model, KISS. Following this will also help keep the force looking cohesive.

Raiders tend to look good with most colours as long as the decking and hull complement each other and aren't clashing or appearing discorded. I would also strongly advise against using brown or any wood effect. If you look at the 'Eavy Metal models, you can get an idea of what works. A strong, dark colour for the hull, a metallic colour for the decking and a third colour for the aethersail.

If you're still not sure, you could always try out some combinations on a test model or two.

I hope this has helped you.

Thanks for the ideas. In retrospect the wood finish on the raiders was probably a bad idea. Any tips on wych hair? I think a dark purple with lighter highlights would work, but the specifics I can't quite work out.

I was thinking an overall mid/light tone so as to provide nice contrast against the dark armour and help draw the eye to the model's face. With the old paints I used Liche Purple, washed Badab Black and then highlighted by mixing in Space Wolves Grey whenever I painted purple cloth but I'm not sure how that would look for hair. Maybe if you just go with a safe combination of Naggaroth Night, wash Druchii Violet and then highlight with Xereus Purple and Genestealer Purple?

Ive just downloaded a template from another forum which will come in handy!!

you can colour it in to design your kabal colour.

im not too sure about the zigzag pattern ? it may kill your scheme! it may draw attention away from yout other work if it doesnt turn out right?

shiny black like patten leather can be acheived by painting hard coat on the black but be aware that shinyness will overpower any high lights you may have painted on?

if you go with the shiny theme just paint it over the black and it will highlight its self naturally.

Blue on black is always a good scheme but dont over high light the blue also it depends on the depth of blue? Kantor Blue is a good base start then high light with Ailtoc Blue then a fine high light on the edge of the armour with Hoeth Blue and a final wash with Drakenhoff night shade! this will tone down the high lights and give a faded rather than painted look! red zigzag will hide all your good work!

if you insist on the zigzag then make the zig zag the feature and not the armour! paint a khorne red zigzag and then with a finer crush put a centre line through the zigzag of Evil sunz scarlet!

all this depend on your sill level but personally going just blue with a nice highlight on the armour would look great.

not many people out there 2 tone DE so it would look very different!

as for the Wyches!
shiney leather stockings yes!! but once again shiny will hide high lights but a satin varnish will give sheen and show high lights. if your doing the armour the same as your kabal then as above!! but if your making them allies then choose a slightly different armour colour? purple hair is always a nice colour done right! i would go Xereus purple as the base then for high lights make a 1-1 mix od Xereus and fenrisian grey this will keep the purple tone better as white or turns the purple chalky purple and sometimes ruins the high light. and then a wash with Druchii violet. job done with smooth tones !

as for flesh tones a friend of mine has a really good method! mix 1-1-1 of cadian flesh tone and ushabti bone and skull white! for the base1 once dry seraphim sepia wash! then dry brush lightly back up with the 1-1-1 mix and highlight facial features with a very light kislev flesh. works really well! i will be using it on mine soon. ( you may want to mix it in an old empty paint pot as you will need lots of it)

as for the raider!! wood? NOOOO!! lol

DE dont use wood!! pain inflicting metal all the way!

the deck always looks nice in leadbelcher and the edges high lighted with runefang steel!!( just a light drybrush for contrast not a heavy paint flinging one)

black hull always looks amazing you may want to consider painting some of the panals the same as the armour on your warriors? always a nice contrasting look??

the sails on your raiders I would look for a nice vibrant contrast colour like fenrisian grey with a celestial grey edging! or paint your hull all balck and the sail like the warriors armour?

you potentially have an awesome scheme going there! hope the advice helps and look forward to seeing your army on parade soon!

what every you decide to do! Raid Hard.

Hmm... having two users with the same profile pic commenting in the same thread could get confusing.

A month later could be seen as threadomancy but if a mod lets this slide... how are you getting on with your painting? Any pics to show us yet?

Hey maybe its because most Incubi look alike lol

eagerly awaiting images!!

im working on mine as we speak!!

here is the template i downloaded for colour ideas



i will be posting this in a new thread too.