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So this holiday season my wife will be getting me a new army and do to the eldar holiday bundle i think ill be starting eldar. I love the look of the models and the fluff is good. Im just concerned about painting them. I see all of these elaborate and colourful models online but i dnt think i can begin to replicate what ive seen. I mean i think im decent enough. Ive sold a lot of figs to people at my flgs and they are impressed at my paintjobs. But what i paint tends to be more on the realistic side. I do a lot of earth shades, rust effects, and weathering. I use washes and weather powders alot. Thats really my comfort zone. Im really considering backing away from eldar because i dnt know if i could do them justice. Im just kinda wanting some input/convincing that they are paintable with reasonable skill. Maybe some tips or personal experience with them. I really like them but they just seem really hard to do right. Oh and im wanting to do a iyanden paint scheme.

I think if you are good enough to sell your painted models you will be fine. Surely it will be fun to try painting something new anyway.

Would be great to see more realistic eldar. It would be a nice break from the so called norm

If you've done primarily gritty realistic stuff and relied a lot on washes and pigments, then a bright and colorful Eldar army is in fact the perfect change of pace.
The only way to branch out of a single method of painting is to actually paint differently. Staying in a rut won't help you get any better, and what you learn from painting Eldar will help improve your painting and add different techniques to your repertoire.

Try painting a few without any washes at all. Maybe a glaze at the end, but stick to nothing but highlights and shading for providing depth.

Striking Scorpions would be a great start to "bridge" into the Eldar style.

Maybe some Scorpions in a swamp setting with some scratched/dirty armor?

Just throwing an idea out there.

I actually think that eldar can look good with muted, realistic tones. With my eldar I always tend to use earth tones and muted colors for each of the aspects.

For example, my DA's have tan helmets and dark blue armor. It's simple to paint and looks awesome. I like to use tans and browns with mine and they look great. I've also put things like dirt and scratches on my vehicles.

You'll be fine painting them with what you're comfortable with. Eldar look great painted in just about anything.

Just remember the Eldar would be fighting in the same dirty environments your other models would have been, so it would be really good to see how you would show weathering on what is usually considered pristine armour and brightly coloured uniforms.

Rangers might be a good start, they could be a bit dirty and still look good.

After this feedback i do feel a bit more encouraged to do a gritty eldar paintjob. Maybe doing some urban rubble bases. This should be interesting.