Eldar Exarch

Hi All,

The exarch is the next paint job - I've only ever painted one eldar ranger before - the clean colours don't seem to allow much room for error (whereas dirty colours and dark undercoat can hide lots of flaws!)


The exarch is still a WIP - but almost done. I've tried to new techniques on him OSL on the gems (though apparently this works better on dark models and sky-earth NMM on his shoulders, back vanes and kness.. Also a little bit of freehand on his banner, though I want to include more.





As always, feedback very welcome.

Laney

Somehow I missed the post before... GOODIES!

The Captain looks SUPER! Damn... those eyes did made a great difference. He looks VERY determined... like he could take Horus all by himself!

The Sniper came out pretty good... better than I imagine. You did managed to get inside that Gauss.

The Blood Angels look good, but somehow the red is kindda dull. Is it the picture, or you intended that?

The Eldar... GREAT MODEL! Basin is superb and fits the pose is VERY action-packed. Those heads on the base as really creepy... great job!!! I'm really impressed with your blending on the blue-tones.

The gems... I don't like them. Sorry... trying to be constructive. My first impression (remember that painting is about tricking the eye to change the scale from tiny model to life-size creature) is that it was a bunch of blood... but that the pattern was all wrong and 'unnatural'. Then I realized that it was the light from the gems.

The one in the back and the chest did it for me, but all the others (specially the one on helmet) just distracts (too much of a good thing, I think.) The other gems take away from the eyes (very important)... I would (dare to) suggest that you treat all the gems (except the back and chest) as non-super glowing gems (like you did on the Sniper scope). This way, when you look at the model from the back, the observer would be attracted to the only red gem, and when looking at the front to the chest and eyes... they would immediately think that the glow of the gem comes from the creature's inner power.... which is what it should represent; Eldar and their Soul-Stones.

Hope it helps... and remember: if YOU like the model, then it is PERFECT!

Thanks for the feedback Mordheimer.

The dull colour on the blood angels is, kind of, intentional - it mostly comes from my love of matt varnish, rather than shiny 'ardcoat to finish the model off - but I also like my angels to be a little dirtier than the shiny versions from GW.

Getting to the model beneath the gauze was really difficult - I wonder if there is a way of pre-painting the gauze to then wrap over an already painted model - I might try a second sniper to see.

As for the gems on the exarch - I couldn't agree more, but I'm not entirely sure how to fix the problems. I (afterwards) thought blue gems may have been better anyway. I have started building a second exarch - to replace this one and I'll probably go for a darker blue scheme which may work better for the limited glowing gems I'll use.

The ogryn Aldo Kurtz is next in line for a paint job.

Cheers
Laney

On the Sniper... I have no doubts it was VERY hard. The job is really good, but you may want to give your 2nd method a try. If the result is the same, with less effort, it would be well worth it.

On the Eldar... to 'fix' the other gems, why don't you try LIGHTLY drybrushing with blue where the red glow is? You may kill some of the 'shininess' this way. It may have two good results; 1) remove the distracting 'blood effect'. 2) make the other gems (back and chest) even more bright.


Dude... you are making me sick! I have been TRYING to paint for the last 4 weeks... and I only got 5 models half way done. You are a painting machine... and a good one at that! Keep 'em coming... I rather cry at the sight of your beautiful models than at my lack of time! Yes... envy is an MMA Fighter and has me tapping for mercy!

Hi Mordheimer - thanks again for the feedback - this is really helping me.

I'm currently posing a second sniper - lying down on a bike base - should be easier to place the gauze strips over it that way (and with more room for interesting base stuff) - I'll give it a go and post some pics, ogryn coming on nicely too (I think tattoos may be in order for him).

I tried the toning down on the exarch (plus I've modelled a second - to counts as the dire avenger aspect warrior), using skull white, bleached bone and astronomicon grey (again I'll post later - I should be getting ready for work!).

I've only been quick this week because I'm a teacher and I have been on half term (so in between taking my lad to the zoo and playgroup I've had loads of time to paint). Production will slow down for a bit (and during my house move - stop completely!), but then my wife has given me a workshop all of my own! (no more painting on the dining room table and avoiding my lads throwing skills).

Laney

No more progress on the Varangians at the moment - but I did partly fix the Exarch (I've included the built squad so far).



I can see the playability of the sniper might be an issue (I rarely worry about that kind of thing when basing models - I'm not a competitive player so it doesn't matter usually) - he's basically just a concept proving model (trying out the camouflage again) rather than a real Varangian. I like the idea of creating an extra 'real' base for games - I may be able to magentise it - so I can take it off for display.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

Cheers
Laney

02laney wrote:

No more progress on the Varangians at the moment - but I did partly fix the Exarch (I've included the built squad so far).

For the Emperor's whiskers man! Don't tease me like that!!! What you mean no Varangians? They are awesome! I'm waiting for the next batch like crazy!

02laney wrote:

I can see the playability of the sniper might be an issue (I rarely worry about that kind of thing when basing models - I'm not a competitive player so it doesn't matter usually) - he's basically just a concept proving model (trying out the camouflage again) rather than a real Varangian. I like the idea of creating an extra 'real' base for games - I may be able to magentise it - so I can take it off for display.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.

Well, if you and your mates have that attitude... then no worries! As a matter of fact, I stopped today by the local 40k Tournament and saw cool parts of the game Dozer's Dark Angels vs jd3's Eldar. Although it is a competitive environment, and them playing each other constantly, nothing like seeing those two being VERY polite and respectful to each other. They both enforced the rules, and on instances that something felt weird they would immediately ask the opponent for a ruling if it could be done and take the others verdict.

That sniper of yours is SUPER! Who ever says the contrary, you send directly to me... since I'm a nice guy, I invite them to lunch. They can have one of these...


On the Eldar... if you could take a picture of the fixed model on a white background (so the flash does not wash it)... looks A LOT better, but I can't really tell. I'm distracted by the awesome model beside it.

A hopefully decent pic of the leader exarch - more varangians on the way


Cheers
Laney

PERFECT! Don't touch him, or I invite you to lunch! :p WOW!!!! Great exhibition piece.

yup! now he looks like proffesionall younger-races killer.
Great job!