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So, taking a break from the Space Marines I was about to start on some plaguebearers when I got distracted by a Dark Eldar Scourge I had prepped a few months back. Hopefully I won't offend any DE fans, but the box art for these really didn't do anything for me. I had mostly ignored the figures until I happened upon a version of them painted by Sproket (a UK painter) and saw just how awesome they could be. So I ran out, bought a box, and started to figure out how I wanted to paint them up. I didn't want to copy Sproket (it would just look poor in comparison) and I didn't want to follow the box art. After some internet searching I came upon this piece of art by Beck Jann and really liked the color scheme.


I'm tempted to pick up a swooping hawk too and do this as a duel diorama... but that will be a project for a later time. Right now I just want to get one of the scourge painted up and see how he looks. I'm sticking with the color scheme from the reference art, but I decided to try out NMM with the armor. This is my first real go at NMM so it will be far from perfect. I don't yet have a feel for the right place to put the shadows and highlights... but hopefully as I work through this one I'll start to figure it out. Here's what I managed to get done at my painting group on Sunday and then at home last night.



As I said, the NMM isn't perfect but I'm happy with my first attempt. I've got a ways to go on him. I'm still trying to figure out colors for the sash around his waist, the vials on his back, and the tubing here and there. I like the simplicity of the red-white-black color scheme, so I don't want to introduce too many different colors. I've added a little purple to the eyes and red shadows, so I'm thinking I'll try to paint a purple liquid in the vials. The sash and tubing I still have no idea. Oh, and for his bare feet I'm debating between pale skin with purple shadows or going real dark to stay true to the reference art. So close to either the black or the white end of the color scheme.

For anyone interested, the colors I'm using are a mix of Reaper Master Series and the Andrea Red Paint Set.
Red Armor:
Then from the Andrea Red Paint Set: Base, Highlight 1, Highlight 2, Highlight 3 then
The White Face:

The Eyes:

I'm also using a lot of intermediate mixes of all these colors to get smooth transitions. I also might hit the red armor with the GW red glaze when I finish the rest of it, but I haven't decided yet.

Hope you like where this is headed and I'll post more pictures as I go.

What you have so far is looking fantastic. I will be keeping on eye on this one as I really want to see this one finished.

that's looking lovely!

You are most awesome.

Looks great so far. The white face is fantastic. Only minor niggle is the central armour plates - the ones on the left look as though they could do with some mid-tones as currently they seem to go from black straight to the highlight. Sorry to sound so picky but you're obviously aiming for a high standard (and succeeding!) so thought I'd mention it.

Thanks, UnCool Villain, Finnan, Shingouki, and Peebs.

Peebs, that was somewhat intentional. I wanted the light to look like it was coming slightly from the side. This is my first time trying the non-metallic metal effect so I'm still figuring it out. I'll take another look and see if I can tweak them a bit. Hopefully I'll post some more pictures after this weekend.

Made a little more progress. This weekend I tried painting liquid filled vials for the first time. I think they turned out pretty well. I also started prep work for the base. More on that later.

looking awesome so far!

I am gonna keep an eye on this, as an eldar player I really wanna see the duel with the swooping hawk!

Plus as a fan of beck jann's dark eldar art, I am glad to see him get some credit.

Thanks, Rohansoldier.

Getting a lot closer on this one. Now that the wings are on he's really starting to look like a scourge. I put together a base for him. I pictured him flying above the city of Commorragh and I felt this could be up on one of the spires.

So far so great. Ill be watching this develop.