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Hey, So I have started WH40k not to long ago and have been amassing a Dark eldar army. I have 15 Hellions, a voidwing bomber and a raider that i need to paint up. Was given some kabalite warriors and ebayed a bunch more. I had a few questions if you all dont mind.

1. I was wondering what the difference between layer paint and basecoat paint is. Is onw for skin and the other specifically for armor?

2. I have a spcific color scheme in mind, whites, blues, maybe a touch of purple. I'm trying to get them to look like a winter strike force or something. any suggestions on paint? As of now i have the citadel starter set that comes with 9 paint pots.

3. Should i use multiple coats of primer or is once over enough?

4. Can anyone point me to a guide on drybrushing, ( at least i think thats what its called.) I kinda wanted a hazy blue effect on some of the larger pieces.

thanks for any help.

1. the differnce is the concentration of color. Basecoat paints are a bit thicker, so they have better fuller cover. Layer paints are thinner so they might require multiple 'layers' to get a solid color.
2. Sounds like a great color scheme, what colors exactly do you have to work with?
3. One coat is good enough. Don't put it on to thick or you will obscure details
4. I'll look around for one, but really it is just take an old brush, put just a little bit of paint on it, wipe almost all the paint off, then just dust it onto the model.

Good luck on your painting, be sure to take pics of your models so we can see.

-Moron

It'd be great to see some white dark eldar. If I could make a suggestion regarding the white. If its mostly white you're going for (kinda like Biel Tan Eldar) get yourself two cans of spray primer. One white and one light grey. First spray your models with the grey all over. Then when dry, spray with the white from above and slightly to the front of the model leaving the grey showing from underneath. It's called a quick type of zenithal highlighting on which there are various articles and tutorials.

After this apply a wash to all the recesses (black wash, Black/Blue wash mix, whatever). Painting white if often thought of as very difficult, but I found this method a great way to do it effectively, quickly and very easily. I'll post a pick of my first attempt at it in a second.

After your white base is sorted, you just go pick out your details in blue, purple, red or whatever. And it'll be on top of a white base which will make them nice and bright.

And to answer some of your other points, when applying your first primer always go with a few thin coats from various angles, approx 20-30cm away. Multiple thin coats of anything ALWAYS beat one thick coat.

Drybrushing, it's considered a quick technique and it can be but the best results come from patience and subtlety. Lots of youtube tutorials out there.

Anyways, good luck and post some pics of how you get on. I loved the Biel Tan Eldar, some white Dark Eldar would be great to see.




Automatically Appended Next Post:


Layer of pale grey, then white zenithally applied. Then a wash. Easy and, I think, quite effective.

T3knomancer wrote:

1. I was wondering what the difference between layer paint and basecoat paint is. Is onw for skin and the other specifically for armor?
2. I have a spcific color scheme in mind, whites, blues, maybe a touch of purple. I'm trying to get them to look like a winter strike force or something. any suggestions on paint? As of now i have the citadel starter set that comes with 9 paint pots.
3. Should i use multiple coats of primer or is once over enough?
4. Can anyone point me to a guide on drybrushing, ( at least i think thats what its called.) I kinda wanted a hazy blue effect on some of the larger pieces.
thanks for any help.

BAM!
1. As already noted above, it's just a difference in the paints ability to cover. Basecoat paint is meant to be layed down first, covering the primer. It's a bit thicker and covers well. Layer paints are a tad thinner, and tend to have less coverage (on purpose) to allow the colors beneath to show through.

2. Sounds very nice. I only know original GW colors, so I'll rattle off generics: White, light blue (not sky blue, that's too bright), another blue a bit darker, right down to a nice Cobalt blue. Add a bit of purple to the darker blues for some variation if you'd like. That'd be my approach, so do as you wish.

3. Also as previously noted, 1 layer is just fine. And the layer doesn't even need 100% coverage. Typically just a dusting is fine. It just helps the paint adhere to the miniature better.

4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYjArRgqxb0
He's a tad intense about it, so pay the most attention right around 2:00. He thins his paint prior to drybrushing, but whatever. Get most of the paint off your brush onto a paper towel, and dust the mini with it (in the areas applicable, of course). This scrapes the small amount of paint off the brush onto the raised edges of your mini, typically for contrast.

I have the rattiest looking drybrush I've ever seen. Short haired, bristles splayed apart, ugly little thing... but that's a drybrush for ya! Get a cheap brush for drybrushing, if you don't already have something suitable.

Good luck

1. I was wondering what the difference between layer paint and basecoat paint is. Is onw for skin and the other specifically for armor?

As others mentioned, layers are thinner. You can get the same effect by thinning thicker paints with your thinner of choice. It's a little more advanced but you have better control over the effect if you get the hang of using mediums like flow aid and drying retarder, and matt medium along with your distilled water (or acrylic thinners). Not wanting to derail the thread, but you should look into non-gw paints before you heavily invest in gw paints. Many people prefer cheaper and arguably better hobby paints from Vallejo, Reaper, or P3. Those brands + mediums = happy painter. Not preaching - people like GW for valid reasons too, but you should be aware of the option.

3. Should i use multiple coats of primer or is once over enough?

One coat of primer should be enough, but if you didn't fully coat the model (thinly haha) then yeah, you might need more coats. Your goal is to have every surface completely covered with an even, thin as possible coat that covers all the plastic so that you can't see any through it. Make sure to spray at different angles to get all the surfaces. If you have just a couple odd patches here and there, it might be better to use a brush on primer to get it rather than risk obscuring more detail by another coat of spray primer.

4. Can anyone point me to a guide on drybrushing, ( at least i think thats what its called.) I kinda wanted a hazy blue effect on some of the larger pieces.

What you saw might have been airbrushed which is a common means to quickly and nicely paint large (and small) models with a variety of great effects. If you're set on painting an army, you might want to look into getting an airbrush and compressor - but it can be a fair investment. Plenty of advice on dakka regarding this if you want to research it.

 Yonan wrote:

1. I was wondering what the difference between layer paint and basecoat paint is. Is onw for skin and the other specifically for armor?

As others mentioned, layers are thinner. You can get the same effect by thinning thicker paints with your thinner of choice. It's a little more advanced but you have better control over the effect if you get the hang of using mediums like flow aid and drying retarder, and matt medium along with your distilled water (or acrylic thinners). Not wanting to derail the thread, but you should look into non-gw paints before you heavily invest in gw paints. Many people prefer cheaper and arguably better hobby paints from Vallejo, Reaper, or P3. Those brands + mediums = happy painter. Not preaching - people like GW for valid reasons too, but you should be aware of the option.

I second the suggestion to at least try other paints as well if possible. If you like them, great! Just make sure you're aware of options.

To play devil's advocate with the layer stuff, having more control is nice but it's also nice having a preset 'dip and go' that will come out the same every time without any fuss. I can see the appeal, especially with a larger army where you want consistency and you don't want to take forever. That being said, I'm not going to use it myself, but I don't see anything wrong with someone legitimately wanting to use it.

Thanks for the replies all of you. It helping me along quite alot. Big shout out to sarpedons-right-hand for the extra information. Got a ton of good advice and finally fleshed out my color scheme. Got some blues, whites greens and purples. I picked up a couple of P3 paints so that i could try a bit from other lines as well. ALSO! I have a new respect for fully painted armies... I would post pictures but my camera phone is crappy My idea was that these Dark eldar fought the space wolves on numerous occasions and came to have a healthy respect for them as opponents. I mean they still crush them beneath thier fleet footed boots but they find something promising in their boisterous displays of gluttony and near hedonism. I figure the winter theme gives them an extra edge when raiding in colder climates and I saw somewhere on here a Khymera conversion using Fenrisian Wolves and tryanid limbs... trying to make a huge beast-master pack eventually.

Personally, I prefer to thin my paints myself vs buying different paints for different "layers" but then I only use washes & boltgun metal from GW. When I thin I use 3:1 water : pledge with future shine. In fact, I keep a pre-made base of this handy in a spare bottle (it's also my magic wash stock). I recommend craft paints for your primary colors because a large bottle is typically the price of a GW pot. These WILL need to be thinned though as they are quite heavy.