Painting Cryx - Need color scheme advise...

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killswitch

Painting Cryx - Need color scheme advise...

Post by killswitch »

Hi all, I'm new here and I heard that this is a great place to ask for help in mini painting. Plus, I just love Ana's work!

I'm working on painting my Cryx army for Warmachine, and am having a really hard time deciding what colors to go with for a scheme. I recently picked up a White Dwarf mag that focused on the redone Dark Eldar, and noticed that that is very close to the style I want to paint them in.

I want a really dark tone - mostly black, with edge highlights in a cool, teal/coal black look - my problem has two parts: the Dark eldar have a lot of segmented plates, giving the edge highlight a clean and solid look throughout the model - most of the Cryx don't have this type of armor, so the edge highlights would be a lot let visible. Any way to accent this more? Also, on the 'jacks with larger plates and surface area, I'm wanting a visible gradation on the plates - how do I do that with keeping an edge highlight look (i.e., not having the color overpower the black emphasis I want)?

Also, could anyone link me to images that would show this style well?

Thanks a ton!
mahon
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Re: Painting Cryx - Need color scheme advise...

Post by mahon »

first of all: hello :)
great to see a new member here. unfortunately you happened to join us in the unfortunate moment of limited activity here. by coincidence or bad luck many active members of our community are unable to spend as much time here as they used to...

but don't let this discourage you and maybe you can even encourage some others to become more active?

regarding your question:
unfortunately you're right about the difference of dark eldar and cryx armor plates. if you want a similar effect you have to cheat a bit and create artificial edges, paint them even though they're not there...

it's easy on some models like this one:

ImageClick to see full-sized image
this one has sharp and clean edges you can easily emphasize with highlights.

I wanted to show you some images depicting how it could be done on more problematic models, but I couldn't find any such models. so maybe you could find me a photo of a model you have problems with? I will show you the solution I have in mind. I think I know what you're talking about but can't find a good photo of such a model...

and regarding the fear of making the armor not black enough - you can always tone the colors down and darken them with a black glaze or two.

[rimg]http://chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/ ... .sized.jpg[/rimg]
Click thumbnail to see full-sized pic

[rimg]http://chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/ ... .sized.jpg[/rimg]
Click thumbnail to see full-sized pic

[rimg]http://chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/ ... .sized.jpg[/rimg]
Click thumbnail to see full-sized pic

[rimg]http://chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/ ... .sized.jpg[/rimg]
Click thumbnail to see full-sized pic

[rimg]http://chestofcolors.com/cofc-postnuke/ ... .sized.jpg[/rimg]
Click thumbnail to see full-sized pic
-- Mahoń

Image

Back in the garage with my bullshit detector
killswitch

Re: Painting Cryx - Need color scheme advise...

Post by killswitch »

Hey Mahon, thanks for the reply, that is actually really helpful!

A couple questions: when painting the large jacks (or any area with large surfaces), I like the edge highlight, but I'm afraid with sections like that 'jack's head plate where there is a lot of open, flat room, the edge highlight won't be enough color on the model. Maybe I just need to test it out and play with it more.

As for a model that I'm trying to figure out the edge highlights are a couple here:

ImageClick to see full-sized image

As you can see, the armor plates are small and barely noticeable. Maybe its just me, but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to paint those.

Any more help would be much appreciated. Thanks!
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