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Hi Everyone,

First ever post and jumping back into the hobby after 16 years. Boy has a lot changed since I last stepped into a Games Workshop! From model details, to paint, to the game itself.

A little bit of history (If it matters?) As a kid I loved Warhammer40k. Couldn't get enough of it and the lore was so amazing to me. I wasn't huge into playing the game I just wanted to paint/collect cool looking mini's. Back then it was Orks for me! Always loved them.
Once I hit highschool life seemed to take over - I was big into hockey and other sports, and by the time I hit college I was big into partying lol so the mini's were quickly forgotten about. I actually ended up giving my entire Ork collection to a younger cousin of mine who was interested in the hobby.

Fast forward to adult-hood and I went back to school to become a Firefighter (about 7 years ago) which was a long and painful (but amazing) process. Where I am from (Toronto, Canada) this is a very sought-after and competitive career choice. It took everything I had and consumed my life. I was very fortunate to be hired full time about 3 years ago. We got married, bought our first home and are just enjoying each other's company and where we are in life right now.

About 3 months ago I ended up walking past a Games Workshop here in the same plaza as our gym. It sparked an idea in my head and when we came home I was on the computer all night to see where the game was at. To be honest I was amazed it still existed - and not only that but it seemed to be thriving!

I must say it's just great to be back. I truly forgot how much I enjoyed just having a hobby in general (something besides the gym or sports) that I can just sit, relax and concentrate on. My wife has been extremely supportive about it too - we both have a little bit of nerd in us haha. We are huge horror movie buffs, and she already agreed to have some models in display cases in the basement once we finish it. It'll be our nerdy movie studio once we finish

Anyways my apologies for the essay, I've just really enjoyed being at a place in life where I finally have time to enjoy this again. It feels great to be back!

I'm considering actually playing the game this time around, but right now I'm just enjoying painting. I landed on Eldar for 40k because I love the look of the new Wraith Blades. Plus Elves have always interested me. Loved them since the Lord of The Rings came into my life.. and well, space elves lol. I bought a ton of paints, the Craftsworld Codex to start in on the lore again.. and of course the start collecting box.

Just finished up my first Wraith Blade. He has the dual swords.. I love the look of the axes much better, but wanted to just try some techniques out. There is SO much more information out there, different kinds of paints and tools.. It was overwhelming. I found myself doing almost too much research and nervous to dive-in. I didn't want to screw things up, but at some point you just have to put paint on a brush.. so here we are lol

These are my "Saim-Hann Elite". I loved the lore of the Iyanden Wraith Armies.. but loved the paint scheme of the Saim-Hann. My idea is that the Saim-Hann have been training an elite force in secret that they are now releasing onto the battlefields to help them win-back some of their Craftworlds. Kind of a different concept I suppose.
They will be easily identifiable due to their Gold Wraith Bone accents, and I will still be painting regular troops and such with the Saim-Hann colour scheme of Red/White/Black.


Some points: My brush control needs work, the red turned out too bright/orangey, and I tried too many paint schemes on the swords and clogged up the detail/generally ruined them lol.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks everyone,

Luke

Definitely a great looking model to return to hobbying with!

Looks great.

looks great for such a long time off.

on the gold i'd try a sepia wash all over it then paint the raised area gold again... really quick to do and will make it really pop

Looks good (though could use more ink as noted). Great choice for a first model coming back to the hobby - I've though it was one of the best GW has put out in years.

Nice and clean! I'd agree that a wash or two would add some depth, but not bad at all- awesome work on the base too

Latro_ Do you mean Seraphim Sepia? I did the gold with 2 base coats of Retributor Armour, shade with Reikland Fleshshade (suggested by GW employee) and then like 4 or 5 layers of Auric Armour Gold BARELY thinned down.. it was a pain in the butt to get on there to be honest, and still found I was having trouble not getting streaks with that many layers.
When you say paint only the raised parts, would you mean like the front face of the head, or the "jewels" on the shoulder pads? Thanks so much for the tip! Would love to give that a shot on the next Wraith.. I agree the gold looks a little dull. I went too crazy with the layers and didn't leave enough of the shade showing I think... less is more on the layering parts maybe?

kestral Skinflint Games

Thanks for the feedback guys! This was my first time using "shade" paints/washes. They were never a thing when I was a kid.. if you can believe it I actually did a pretty heavy layer of Carroburg Crimson on the Mephiston Red base layer lol. But, just as I did with the gold.. I went a little too crazy with the layer paints and didn't leave enough of the shades. Didn't really notice until it was all done... would you guys also suggest less is more when it comes to the layers? And maybe leaving more of the shade paints showing to add depth?

Thanks again for the great feedback guys! I just about finished my second one today.. will post it to see if there are any improvements/suggestions.

One last thing.. does anyone know how to make white not so chalky? It is a complete pain to do.. I have tried multiple different techniques, I even thin it down with Lahmian Medium (another GW employee suggestions) so that the chalk doesnt "separate", but I still get this chunky, chalky mess. Doesn't matter how many thin coats I seem to do...

Luke

Here is the second one I was able to complete...
Went a little darker on the red, left more shading, and played around way more with edge highlighting. I like it much better!
Still getting chalky white though.. and I'm struggling with the "cape" things to get the shadowing right... I'm not an art major or anything lol

Good to have you back in the hobby! I agree the models you picked are amazing. I don’t play Eldar but they look incredible.

As for painting help, I can really only recommend the ‘new’ metallic paints by GW. You have already used Retributor Armour which is awesome, but I have used the Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver as my gold highlights to great effect.

With the rest of your model, a suggestion would be to paint all the spirit gems the same colour. The majority of yours are silver, but the ones on the shoulder are gold and the ones on the back are red now. It would help with uniformity I think.

Lastly, if you want a quick trick, try the new Gemstone effect paints over your silver spiritstones. It will give a nice effect!

 Joyous_Oblivion wrote:
Good to have you back in the hobby! I agree the models you picked are amazing. I don’t play Eldar but they look incredible.

As for painting help, I can really only recommend the ‘new’ metallic paints by GW. You have already used Retributor Armour which is awesome, but I have used the Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver as my gold highlights to great effect.

With the rest of your model, a suggestion would be to paint all the spirit gems the same colour. The majority of yours are silver, but the ones on the shoulder are gold and the ones on the back are red now. It would help with uniformity I think.

Lastly, if you want a quick trick, try the new Gemstone effect paints over your silver spiritstones. It will give a nice effect!

Thanks for the Feedback! I will have to give Liberator Gold and Stormhost Silver a shot.. silver to accent the gold, would this be more of a drybrushing technique after a good base of gold? Any suggestions to make it really POP would be greatly appreciated. I saw in one thread that a guy used Testors oil-based on the Wraith helmet to really make them shine, but I feel like after spending all this money on GW paint there must be a way to make it work? And I'd like to avoid oil based.

I will try painting all of the spirit gems silver on my next Wraith! I was worried there would be a little too much going on if I painted every single one, but now that you've suggested it I'll give it a shot.

I DID purchase Waystone Green to try out on the gems and it works amazing. I used it on the swords initially, but it just didn't go with the gold and red. Again, too much going on.. almost made them look like Christmas Wraiths lol. I will however be using the Waystone on my regular troops/other models painted in normal Saim-Hann scheme.. so I'll be sure to get my use out of it. They're so easy! Great tip.

No BB I think you're spot on with the stones as they are. I can see where JO is coming from though but I think it's an option for a different unit/ different paint scheme.

Your three colour scheme is great with the contrasting areas as is. I think your gut feeling that more silver stones on the red and gold areas will busy it up too much is likely true enough. I think you have a good eye for this and you should trust your instincts there.

Try it and see by all means or try it on some troops or some wraithguard. I can see it working best on a unit that had more flat red and less gold areas. The silver stones would make up the contrasting points of an otherwise plain red scheme.

Just my opinion mind. I'm sure JO more than knows what he's talking about.

Nice work. I agree the metals could use a little depth, but that's more work than I usually put into something So your secret is safe with me.

 theCrowe wrote:
No BB I think you're spot on with the stones as they are. I can see where JO is coming from though but I think it's an option for a different unit/ different paint scheme.

Your three colour scheme is great with the contrasting areas as is. I think your gut feeling that more silver stones on the red and gold areas will busy it up too much is likely true enough. I think you have a good eye for this and you should trust your instincts there.

Try it and see by all means or try it on some troops or some wraithguard. I can see it working best on a unit that had more flat red and less gold areas. The silver stones would make up the contrasting points of an otherwise plain red scheme.

Just my opinion mind. I'm sure JO more than knows what he's talking about.

Fair enough! Thanks for the tip, maybe I'll give it a shot on some troops just to see. I don't know if I've got an "eye" but I remember hearing you can easily overdue it on the gems in a painting tutorial for Eldar lol. Trial and error has always worked best for me though


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 Elbows wrote:
Nice work. I agree the metals could use a little depth, but that's more work than I usually put into something So your secret is safe with me.

Thanks Elbows! I am going to watch some more tutorials on golds/silvers.. definitely have some work to do there. They are tricky paints to work with for sure

Now THAT is looking nice

Blaze, if I can offer one minor suggestion...a simple way to actually make metals more in depth without too much work.

Just simply paint the metal area black, and dry brush on the metallic rather than actually layering on the paints. Metallics consistency makes it hard to get clean and smooth coverage on them, but a black undercoat+drybrush gives you a very fine coverage and adds some depth to the look. It's not some pro-technique but it works pretty well.

Example (mind you, I'm no great painter but this shows the "depth" from a drybrush use and some wash)

 Elbows wrote:
Blaze, if I can offer one minor suggestion...a simple way to actually make metals more in depth without too much work.

Just simply paint the metal area black, and dry brush on the metallic rather than actually layering on the paints. Metallics consistency makes it hard to get clean and smooth coverage on them, but a black undercoat+drybrush gives you a very fine coverage and adds some depth to the look. It's not some pro-technique but it works pretty well.

Example (mind you, I'm no great painter but this shows the "depth" from a drybrush use and some wash)

Spoiler:

Looks great Elbows! My only concern is that the scheme Im going for my Eldar (as are most eldar) is that really CLEAN look. Your technique is definitely great and something I will try on some other models, maybe some troops? I just really want that solid, bright, clean look for these Wraith. From all of the research I've done it just seems that patience and layer upon layer are the only "tricks" but I will keep researching & trying things out, including your technique! I'll give it a try on one of the shoulder pads on my next guy.

Thanks again! You guys have been extremely helpful

I really like the color scheme. At first I tought "The blades look a bit bland", but then I realized those aren't painted in silver, but in pure white.

For the metals, depending on your preference, you could go three different routes: Seraphim Sepia, Casandora Yellow or Reikland Fleshshade on the gold, which are respectively a sepia, bright yellow and ruddish skintone.

Personally I use the Reikland on a base of Retributor Armor, followed by Auric Armor gold, but it's up to you.

For the silver, the small gems don't need a wash in my opinion, but bigger surfaces could do with either Nuln Oil (black) or maybe Drakenhof Nightshade (blue).

Still, welcome back in the hobby. Those look really nice, and love the color scheme!

Dude those are great, hope youre enjoying it being back. hope you have a lot of fun

 Adam Spielmann wrote:
I really like the color scheme. At first I tought "The blades look a bit bland", but then I realized those aren't painted in silver, but in pure white.

For the metals, depending on your preference, you could go three different routes: Seraphim Sepia, Casandora Yellow or Reikland Fleshshade on the gold, which are respectively a sepia, bright yellow and ruddish skintone.

Personally I use the Reikland on a base of Retributor Armor, followed by Auric Armor gold, but it's up to you.

For the silver, the small gems don't need a wash in my opinion, but bigger surfaces could do with either Nuln Oil (black) or maybe Drakenhof Nightshade (blue).

Still, welcome back in the hobby. Those look really nice, and love the color scheme!

Thanks so much Adam! That's the exact method I use for the gold, I just need to work on my technique I think. Even today I was painting and playing with different levels of thinning, thinning with water vs. thinning with Lahmian Medium, and how much paint to actually put on my brush.
All stuff I need to re-learn as I enter back into the hobby, but it will come with time

I will give the Nuln Oil a shot on the larger Silver Gems for sure... Do you finish with a wash coat on gems like that, or do you add more siler layering on top of the Nuln Oil and just leave the outer edges for shading? I never fully understand that..

For example, on the gold I use the Reikland Fleshade and just paint gold but leave the edges for shadowing. Same with a wash of all the red with Carobourg Crimson, still go over again with the base coat but leave the edges for shadowing.. working my way up to layers of the brighter reds.

Thanks again for the feedback! I'm loving the colour scheme as well going for a very "Regal/Elite" sort of look. I'll post some pics of all 5 together once they're done!


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 Ubl1k wrote:
Dude those are great, hope youre enjoying it being back. hope you have a lot of fun

Thank you! LOVING being back in the hobby, looking forward to starting into the gaming aspect which I've never really done before. Once this army is complete I plan on diving in

I tend to like stark contrasts and deep shadows, so I normally move up a color after a wash, meaning I rarely, if ever, repaint the same base color after a wash.

For example for greens I do Caliba Green => Coelia Greenshade => Kabalite Green.

Only cases where I epaint the same color after a wash is when I'm painting the skin on my elves, and even then I add another layer of the base color mixed with yellow (I am using a tan skintone for my elves because they have an egyptian theme)

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/712988.page

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/716275.page

These are a couple of examples of my paint style. I use heavy washes, as I said, as I love the contrast and depth.

 Adam Spielmann wrote:
I tend to like stark contrasts and deep shadows, so I normally move up a color after a wash, meaning I rarely, if ever, repaint the same base color after a wash.

For example for greens I do Caliba Green => Coelia Greenshade => Kabalite Green.

Only cases where I epaint the same color after a wash is when I'm painting the skin on my elves, and even then I add another layer of the base color mixed with yellow (I am using a tan skintone for my elves because they have an egyptian theme)

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/712988.page

https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/716275.page

These are a couple of examples of my paint style. I use heavy washes, as I said, as I love the contrast and depth.

WOW! Now that is some very cool kit bashing.. You've definitely got an eye for the metals too, I love the bronzing of the beetle. That's unreal.

I will give it a shot, I think I have trouble letting the wash/shadowing speak for itself... again, just need to get comfortable with all these "new fan-dangled" paints haha

Your stuff is looking good. Very clean work and a nice colour scheme. The edge highlights on the red are a good start, it doesn't looks as if you're using them on the gold though?

For the whole "washing gold" thing, I like to wash with Sepia and then just drybrush back to brass or gold, then apply edge highlights. To highlight brass you use gold, to highlight gold you use silver/mithril. If you want to can apply a yellow glaze over the highlighted gold to tint the highlight yellow; as long as you used a sufficiently bright silver (I use Scale75's Speedmetal, which is the brightest silver I've found) it will still be brighter than the surrounding gold, giving you your highlight.


What colour primer are you using? If you're trying to paint white directly onto black you're going to have a hard time. Painting white over a white primer isn't usually too bad.

The thing is though, that you don't really want to be painting much pure white. Normally you want to use light greys (which don't take as much work), and then apply pure white only as a highlight; otherwise you have no way to highlight and you end up with a bright but flat looking surface.

The same goes for black, only in reverse: paint dark greys then use pure black only for the darkest shaded areas.

Nice looking models.
Great way to get back in the hobby.

While retributor gold is fairly easy to apply, my best advise when painting gold is to start with a black base, drybrush silver, and then add thin layers of gold. It will give you a natural metallic dept, and it also makes the fickle gold easier to apply.
Washing gold is great for smaller detailed gold areas.For these large flat areas it dont do alot to make it pop In my opinion,

On white areas I fully agree with soul samurai^, actual white is just for highlights on a grey or khaki base (unless you feel confident to blend with a wet pallet.)

Thanks for the tips Soul Samurai! I am definitely not using any edge highlights on the gold.. didn't even cross my mind to be honest as I thought that you couldn't really highlight the "metals"
I will give it a shot with the drybrushing technique you mentioned! I always forget about drybrushing as a quicker and effective option.. I want my models to looks good on the tabletop but I don't need to be a pro lol so whatever gets me playing faster!

I am actually using a white Primer for my Eldar. I wanted the reds to be a little brighter, and I was hoping it would help me with the whites. As I said I am brand new back into this.. I'm realizing I need to thin them more with Medium, apply lots of layers and most importantly not move the paint around so much once its on there. That was my biggest flaw and now that I've realized it, the whites are looking nicer.
I thought about the light grey, in fact I build up from that, but I want the whites to be that bright flat white and really stand out (maybe that's wrong?) but thats what I was kinda going for


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I will give your gold technique a try on the next batch of Wraith helmets! Thank you for the tip.. again drybrushing is a tool I need to make more use of. Will definitely be doing this, thank you!

As far a the white.. now that you're the second to mention this, maybe I'll try the light grey with white highlights. Might come out a lot smoother... hmm...

So tough to make choices sometimes! haha

Personally I use drybrushing a lot; you can get good results from it if you use it in conjunction with other techniques. For example, all the glows on this mini were done using simple layers that I softened the transitions between using drybrushing:

Great looking models, and nice to read about someone loving life!

welcome back