First time painting Dark Eldar... Need help

Ok I'm a noob I'll admit it. Few years ago I first got into 40k and bought eldar, I ruined them with my paint job and seriously don't know what I'm doing. I want to go with a dark purple and red color scheme. I'm just not sure what I'm doing and will gladly take any advice offered.

Yeah, I'm just starting too.
Its easier than I expected.

I've built my guys without arms for easier access to the the torso
Just tried black spray and drybrusing mostly so far.
Inked over a few.

Might try black spray, blue ink, ice blue drysbrush next

Take your time would be my first tip, trial your scheme on a separate piece of paper to make sure you're happy with the way the colours match up before you put any paint on the model.

Don't put too much paint on the brush, as a general rule if you can see a blob on the end, there's too much, the paint should really be within the bristles.

My favorite tip is do most of your painting before assembly. assemble then do your highlights. Another basic tip. Paint the deepest in on the model first and work your way out.

I am never one to advocate useless products, but in all honesty, the GW guide to painting Citadel miniatures is quite good. I have the old one (from 2008) so there is a new one out that cost like $60 (CAD). If you are really feeling lost then it might be worth your time to buy it. It helped me a lot back in the day.

With that said, there are a ton of painting blogs out there, and lots of good tutorials for free on the net. Just start searching.

The only other thing I will say is try to make painting fun. It's half the hobby. I like to listen to 40k podcasts while I paint; it also gives me a nice timeline for how long I should be sitting hunched up at my modelling table for.

Oh and buy good brushes. From an art store. It really does make a difference versus the dollar store brand 5 pack you might have from last year's crafting projects.

Hi Vensye,
I back The Burning Eye's thoughts of doing a mock up on paper first. If you are happy with it on paper try it out on a single mini.
As Ehawther said about the GE Guide, I have the old one and the new one. The new one has a DVD as well and is quite good. I think that it a fantastic reference point. I also went and got the Forge World Imperial Armour Masterclass Vol 1 as some really good inspiration and tips.

Best of luck and I look forward to seeing some photo's soon.

So I have the tools, and the paints, what I don't have apparently is skill. I've primered the models black and here is what I've done so far.

1. I base painted them dark purple (Mistake #1).
The color on the black just doesn't show up at all. So onto color scheme two.

2. I based them white and then went to dry brush red (mistake #2)
It turned out Hideous so I've put them away feeling entirely too frustrated. I got a way to remove the paint, which I'm going to have to do since I have two layers on and the detail is starting to go.

I've looked up countless videos of painting tutorials but either they use airbrushes which I don't have, or they are like watching Martha Stewart. By that I mean impossible for the average newbie to do. I love the army but painting them is driving me crazy. Help if you can.

Quote :

Help if you can.

Ok - several simple things that will really help you paint.

1. Make yourself wet pallete. Browse youtube, you need this thing, its not even a question.
I could long and hard tell you how should thin paint but wet pallete will do this pretty much by itself.

2. Master base layer. That is simple too. Every layer you paint must be uniform and dry before you're doing something else on this layer. Uniform means absolutely flat, you can paint it with several layers actually, if they are thin enough. But the result is always simple - you get a good uniform base layer. That is the foundation of all good painting skills.

3. As you have already noticed it does matter what color you put over another. Basic line of thought - dont use contrasting colors. Say trying to paint white over red. Thats a torture, try grey instead.

4. Dark vs Light basecoat. I prefer white basecoat, because i use airbrush and because it is simple to paint over white.

Dark basecoat means you are going up in color intensity, starting from darker to lighter shades. White is little more different. It also have the added benefit in that you actually see all the details on the mini. Black coat sorta steals that.

5. Again, thin your paints.

6. Get a good brush. Syntethic is garbage, once you will try good brush you will NEVER use syntethic GW crap. I use Kolinsky brushes, Series 7 by Windsor and Newton. They are costly, but worth every peny.

7. When you paint get 2 watter cans, in one you will clean paint first time, in another you will clean it completely.

8. If you are painting at evening get a daylight lamp. Whitelight is better then yellow when you paint.

9. Ehm...thin your paints and learn how to paint with thin paints.

Whatch this video and be inspired. You can do that too . Check this youtube channel, there is a lot to learn there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDM3L0KAeoY

Good summary Azdrubael.

Some things I'd like to add:

Can't emphasize this enough: get a wet pallete. Do it! Or build yourself one. I recently got nostalgic and tried my old pallete again... then I thought to myself "how could you paint with that for years and not go insane?!"

The brushes GW sells are, with I think one exception - the stipple brush - all natural ones. That said, they're far too expensive for the quality they offer, as are all their hobby products. If you need something, use google, browse youtube for tutorials or product information and/or get it at a local art supply store. I completely agree with you that synthetic brushes are crap.

For other hobby supplies such as knives, saws, files, clippers, vices, screws, pins, sculpting tools and sculpting clay/putty: same thing as with the brushes, GW might have them, but they are not the best or cheapest way to get it. See what you can get out of craft shops, kitchen supply or art stores.

This brings me to my next point: the "how to paint citadel miniatures" book thingy for a horrendous price. Seriously, it's ok at best, you can get all the info for free on the internet. Go to youtube for some painting tutorials there are amazing painters on there where you can learn a lot more than in this book.

Azdrubael is completely right about the daylight lamp... iirc 5300 Kelvin or something.

Priming color is a matter of religion really. I prefer black personally, but a lot of great painters also use white to great effect. With black you don't need to do a lot of shading, just leave the recesses alone and highlight your way up. With white primer you need to shade manually, but that might give you a better effect. Generally if you want a bright force, go with white. If you want a more sinister looking one try black. The reason is simple: Try to paint white armor over black primer once... I did, it sucks

Hope this helped

On the White vs. Black primer. I being in the white camp, because I heard it explained to me this way: If you want a bright viberant color even one on your model, base white. I don't know if this is true, but I was told this when I was starting out, and started with white, so I keep with white, and when I help my IG friend paint his models (which he bases black) it throws me off.

I think one should use black primer if he goes to a very contrast feeling, I.e. very dark shadows and bright highlight areas, the highlight areas take less space to allow shadow areas to get attention. That is not for basics I think.

This might help get you started

http://www.thedarkcity.net/t5761-how-to-paint-dark-eldar#62945