Dark elf witch

[SinisterDexter]

Hi all, just wanted to show off something new I painted recently.

I'm not a massive fan of Aunty, but the dark eldar wyches are some of the best plastics to have been sculpted, period. So I grabbed a box and intend, with some modding, to use them for a dark elf team. I have been agonising over this team for years and, in fact, a dark elf witch was the first miniature I painted when I returned to painting in 2008. But I just haven't been satisfied with either the miniatures available or the colour schemes I've been coming up with. So, recently I got my hands on some Vallejo skin tones and one of them is a dark skin. I have no knowledge of drow but I'm led to believe they have dark skin and I figured I would flip things around, using a dark flesh tone and going for a light armour - something different for dark elves.

Anyway, suffice to say I am really happy with the way it eventually came together and, while the rest of the team might be slow to follow, they will definitely follow in a similar vein.

Hope you like her, any comments and criticisms are welcomed.

[barnacle111]

I really like the model, the colour scheme, and the painting, not so sure about the pose. She looks slightly awkward at the waist/lower back.. But I can't quite picture why. Otherwise brilliant and looking forward to the rest!

[axiom]

Great painting - really striking scheme! Love the cool colour combination against the rich skin tone. Show us the rest when they're done!

[TalonBay]

Some great touches, like the hair and skin, combined with a contrasting outfit that works a treat. Love the paint work but I agree the pose looks a little odd, perhaps just the photo though.

[Shteve0]

I think it's the arms - the left arm should be swung back, the right arm forward - it's very difficult to run with your left arm and knee forward at the same time, it throws your centre of gravity badly off balance. Also, those models have a slight potbelly, but I don't think it's that.

Lovely paintjob. What layering did you use for the skin? Very nice work!

[SinisterDexter]

They're probably fair points. The model is probably arching her back a little bit too much and the arm swinging thing is undoubtedly correct. I don't think it is too bad though.

As for the skin, it is a Vallejo dark skin tone painted over a white undercoat (this paint needs about three days of shaking to get mixed, so take a snack). Then I shaded using a very watered down mixture of GW Charadon Granite. I then did a 50:50 ish mix of dark flesh tone and Vallejo bronzed flesh tone before extending the highlights with Vallejo pallid flesh tone. Final highlights were done in straight pallid (but only picked out very limited areas such as browline and nose. From there I used GW Red Gore as a very watered down mixture to add subtle shades to certain areas like around the mouth and lips, and the vertical shadow line above the bellybutton. I also used some GW Ice Blue to add subtle eye shadow and lip tones. Hope that helps Shteve0.

[RogueThirteen]

Really nice choice of colors and beautifully painted. Let's see the team!

[Dr. Von Richten]

I really like your paintjob! It's not very 'Dark Elfy' to me, but that's just personal preference.

But I can't say I like the positioning of the mini very much. The forward arm and the legs somehow make the model very ungraceful. The head & braid are very cool though!

[Norse]

sublime brush work as always Sin Dex.. the colours are very vivid, her hair dye is beautifully done as it fades out on her head. Freehand number is beautiful as well.




All completely undone by a cavalier disregard for basic anatomy.

Next time get the arms right BEFORE you spend 8 hours painting..

[SinisterDexter]

I dunno. I kinda see elves as vaguely cat-like and graceful in an alien way. I can quite easily see an elf being able to move in ways that essentially detaches the legs from the upper body, so they could be twisting in strange and inhuman ways.

Of course, that's not originally what I was going for here. I was kinda looking at her basically rearing up to strike. I don't know about you, but I am quite capable of not swinging my arms while running if necessary to do something else, whether it be changing the song on my iPhone or something else. So, while she is admittedly awkward if just running along in a speedy manner, if she is engaged in another activity, such as playing a sport, I can see how she may be doing something else or have her arms positioned in the way depicted.

But thanks all for the comments re the painting.