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Looking for feedback on my necron colour scheme.

I'm keen to use a brass for the army combined with orange for all the glowing bits and heavy rust for all vehicles/canoptek (top sections). I essentially want an army that looks like its been in a desert (my lore), so weathered and rusting.

My concern is that i've not got a lot of contrast between the 3 primary colours and it might just look a bit bland. I've thought of a couple of options but would appreciate some input on them or anything else you think would work.

Option 1 - give up on brass and go for silver, which would contrast well with the rust and orange but be a little more boring.

Option 2 - add another colour for a specific area (was thinking maybe black shoulders?)

Thanks for the help.

I think bronze and orange could work, but I'd definitely recommend another contrasting colour. A cool black would probably be fine, but I've seen people use an aqua-esque colour that works quite well. Also what brass colour are you planning on using?

Also, bronze/ brass/ copper don't actually rust (as in, the orange/ red you're probably familiar with), they get a blue/ green sediment which actually contrasts a lot better. GW sell a n equivalent technical paint called Nihilak Oxide I believe if you wanted some reference.

If you're set on the desert theme, I'd highly recommend using a bright tan/ sand colour instead of a red or orange.

it was runelord brass i was thinking of. I'm kind of tempted to work in some tan/sand colour but I thought it would come out looking a bit to clean, and i kind of wanted them a little roughed up.

maybe if i went for a lot darker brass (below reference image) combined a high contrast orange. I still want to work in the rust, maybe i just use it more muted, as in the joints rather than the whole shoulders as the colours don't mesh that well. I've had a look at nihilak oxide and i could see myself using it but only for fine detail as i think broader work would overpower the rest (its quite bright)




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Oh bonus points for discussing rust while being named ferrous...

I love that dark brass look, and I think it would work well with any bright highlight. If you wanted to stick to an orange highlight/ glow, then I'd probably try and work it up to a yellow/ white, as it may end up a little dark. It's a bit hard to say however, so if I were you I'd experiment and find something that you like the look of and enjoy painting.

In regards to the nihilak oxide, I completely agree that it would overpower the dark brass. It works better for brighter copper/ brass where the model is already quite bright I think. Depending on how confident you are with painting, I would recommend trying out weathering with just regular paints. It's a lot easier to fix than the technical paints, and a little cheaper than weather powders. I've had reasonable success with just painting several layers of watered down paint into recesses or places that you would expect rust. Sort of difficult making recommendations without knowing exactly how your brass is going to turn out, but I'd recommend either an orange or a blue/ green (kabalite or sotek green?)

One thing I generally try and aim for for all of my models is a mix of cold and warm colours, so if it helps keep that in mind when deciding on a base. I find it a little more helpful than just considering 'contrast' (although it's pretty much the same idea)

Ultimately I'd encourage you to just experiment yourself until you find not only a colour scheme but also a painting style you enjoy.

I've decided on the dark brass with some sand/bone coverage on the chest and shoulders (differing based on rank) with orange for weapon glows etc.

Hopefully it doesn't suck, when i finally get the first test one painted (going to test on an old necron warrior) I'll post it on this thread for some feedback.

Thanks again for the input.

If you use verdigris weathering on the 'brass' it will contrast nicely with the red / orange rust. I would go for a darker (older) rust colour to balance the tones. You could also use some subtle orangy brown shading on the sand bases (eg if the sand has been blown into waves rather than just flat).

If you are going for brass I think a blue or purple contrast would look better.

You want a darker brass so probably blue. If you were going for a more "yellow" brass like Brass Scorpion I'd take purple since yellow/purple are on opposite sides of the color wheel.

But yeah, brass/bronze/silver don't "rust" but get a greenish-blue "verdigris" to them.

After several failed test Necrons trying to get the shade I was after - I have eventually settled on a scheme combo I like, that being said I would appreciate some feedback (I'm thick skinned so go at it).

Key areas of feedback I'm after are:

Orange - not a fan of how it turned out, i've used gloss shades that go over a white black transition well in the past, not so much with this neon orange. If anyone can advise on how to get an effect similar to the new tesseract glow technical but with orange I'd appreciate it (I've even used drak nightshade for blue warscythes to some effect).

Warriors - where should i use the bone - chest plate, shoulders etc. I want some consistency in scheme but also differentiation between the tiers of warrior.

General feedback - anything you can see which could be improved - note i'm not an expert painter (only done maybe 10 models in my life).

Thank you




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Only thing else i planned to do is potentially a highlight drybrush but that is about it.

It's hard to judge from these photos, but it looks like your armour panels could do with another layer to tidy them up and even them out.

It's a nice scheme that will look great on a table top. Always good to stay away from the classic green glow.

I would recommend looking up Trovarion on YouTube and watching his video on painting Necrons. He goes for orange too and builds it up using florescents. I think he uses Scale75 ones, but any company would achieve something similar.

He also goes for a similar armour colour on one of his immortals Tesla weapons. He uses Reikland to shade which looks really effective.

That looks really good, I'm really glad it turned out well!

I think the problem you're having with the orange is the lack of contrast. While it looks really good, the darkest part of the orange its aren't that different to the brightest parts. The green power weapons the necrons have in most of GW's pictures use (or used to use, before the new technical paint) a technique very similar to non-metallic metal. It might seem like quite an advanced technique, but really the trick is to just be a little more bold with your base and highlight colours.

For now, you could maybe keep what you have, but use either some dark washes or a watered down black to bring that contrast up. Highlighting the sharp edges with either a yellow or white would also help a lot.

Hopefully that helps!

Thank you both - i'll check out that youtuber - he is using the same neon orange as me but instead of undercoating the contrast he's just adding in mephiston red to darken areas so i can try that.

Ferrous - I tried to build up the contrast but it got washed out with the neon orange. I had trollslayer into a 1-1 mix of troll and white scar finally ending on just white scar. In the past I've been able to tie the colours together using a wash but it keeps the colour contrast, this neon orange just washed it out. I didn't get a great picture of the weapon head but I went all the way from black through orange in that with a white edge highlight but again it kind of washed it out. I think I might try using the mephiston red and neon paint mix to provide the darker area and then just edge highlight in white scar or a yellow. I'd rather be able to do my normal technique as its a hell of a lot quicker and easier but until they bring out a gloss tech shade for orange I'm not sure it'll work.

Ben

Cronmarine wrote:
Thank you both - i'll check out that youtuber - he is using the same neon orange as me but instead of undercoating the contrast he's just adding in mephiston red to darken areas so i can try that.

Ferrous - I tried to build up the contrast but it got washed out with the neon orange. I had trollslayer into a 1-1 mix of troll and white scar finally ending on just white scar. In the past I've been able to tie the colours together using a wash but it keeps the colour contrast, this neon orange just washed it out. I didn't get a great picture of the weapon head but I went all the way from black through orange in that with a white edge highlight but again it kind of washed it out. I think I might try using the mephiston red and neon paint mix to provide the darker area and then just edge highlight in white scar or a yellow. I'd rather be able to do my normal technique as its a hell of a lot quicker and easier but until they bring out a gloss tech shade for orange I'm not sure it'll work.

Ben

I found the same when covering with washes, I'm no expert and I don't know how viable it is for you to do but I bring the colour back up from the wash by licking my brush and going back over the area in the opposite direction with just water/saliva - kind of like blending without the paint on the brush, was the only way I was able to get the transition back. I'm really no expert but it worked for me.