Rhervekh leads a group of 15 Dark Elf warriors armed with two handed weapons and light armor (249pts). For this months challenge, I painted up the first ten. Many many years ago I read an article in White Dwarf 144 featuring a Dark Elf army painted by then US Games Workshop staffer, Kent Martin. I have been so inspired by that article and his painting style that it stuck with me all these years and even though I never played Dark Elves in 3rd ed or 4th, I have always wanted to try my hand at painting these evil little guys.
Kent Martin described how he mixed up Mithril Silver with blue and green inks to create these really eerie looking armor plates. I knew I wanted to incorporate the color metallic plates into my army but didn't want to copy his army. I used his original color palette as the theme for mine and changed the color of the chainmail from silver to gold, echoing some of the early Dark Elf art work.
I stuck to a limited pallet to give the unit a cohesive look, but varied up some of the trim colors on the tunics, the color on the padded armor, and some of the sleeve colors. I'm very happy with the overall look of the regiment and look forward to finishing up the next five to complete the requisite fifteen. Next month I will be painting the standard bearer, musician, three more warriors, and two Repeater Bolt Throwers.
Thanks for reading!
These are VERY nice indeed. The palette is just right on and I can't believe you actually painted the fingernails! Kudos.
ReplyDeleteHeck yeah! Hands without fingernails look creepy
DeleteAbsolutely beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThese are a great piece of work, excellent! The color choice is lovely, I like it because it breaks with the classical Dark Elves scheme seen from the 4th ed. on!
ReplyDeleteLooks great man. Nice post on the article. I like knowing where the inspiration goes.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work, I love the blue especially.
ReplyDeleteLovely work. I remember reading that article when it came out and wanting to paint something similar. I ended up painting the armour on one of my knights that way and it came up quite well. Only issue is if one chips the paint as it can be difficult remixing paint to match
ReplyDeleteGood stuff Lopez, a great looking unit. I really like the different metallic tones.
ReplyDeleteGreat unit to start Lope. What they all said really, love the metallics. That classic army of Kent's is one to aspire to.
ReplyDelete