Well I have been lurking around on here for a few months now and posted here and there. I thought it was about time to post of some pictures.

Brief background is that about 10 years ago I bought about 2000pts of a dark elf army. I painted 1 reaper bolt thrower, a couple of warriors and then put them all in a cupboard and forgot all about them.

A few months back I decided to dig them all out and get back into things properly. Really enjoying the painting so far and I have learnt a lot in a fairly short space of time.

First models I painted when I started up again where 20 warriors. These took an age to complete but I learnt a lot along the way. The banner isn't finished yet as I can't decide how to paint it. Also after having completed them and learnt a lot of new techniques I'm really not overly happy with the final result. However after spending hours, and hours and hours on these ones I'm pretty bored of messing with them. I might go back and repaint them at some point but it wont be any time soon.





Standard Bearer - banner arm isn't attached yet and I haven't finished painting it. I made the pole longer and added a few bits to it.



Unit Champ. Mainly I wanted to try something different on this one.


So these were my first lot I painted. Not so happy with them now but I did learn a lot while doing them.

Next model is a test model for my corsairs. I haven't based it yet as I'm not sure what basing I'm going to use on them. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out and I really enjoyed painting this model (apart from the fact that its metal and has chipped about 20 times already).







Next up I'm going to do a test run for my Witch Elves. This were the ones I was most worries about doing as there is a lot of flesh to do on there. However I think I have the right method to get this looking reasonably good now. Below is a quick WIP of this (only just started so only have the base coat down for the skin).


Always open to constructive crit. I do know the colour scheme is not exactly original as well

I like what you did with the unit champ to make him look a bit different. I would suggest tidying up the flamework by neatening the outline now the colours are on (something GeOrc once taught me).

The Corsair looks like he has lipstick on. His lips just need muting down a little so the contract is more believable. Other than that he is good dude.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm sure I could probably do the flames a lot better now then when I did them. I would love to go back and redo the warriors but I just can't bring myself to paint them models again any time soon. Great tip for outlining them again afterwards to tidy it up though.

lol your not the first person to say it looks like he is wearing lipstick. I had some issues getting the colour of the lips right to be honest. I did a more brown/flesh colour on them first and you lost the expression on the face. I will dull it down a bit though. It does look a lot redder on the photo than in real life but it does need some work. Its funny because the thought that it looked like he was wearing lipstick never crossed my mind until other people mentioned it

First off, nice work, you obviously invested time into making the warriors look unique with the champ and the silver designs on the shields and it has paid off. In the futur, try to water down your paints some more so the basecoat and highlights look a bit smoother and less chalky, otherwise great work and keep us posted on your nest units.
Cheers,
-Ave

You're off to a nice start. I would immediately address the lipstick on the corsair though!

Very nice! Looking forward to seeing the WE finished, thanks for sharing!

Brief update before a proper update later.

Haven't had time to get much painting done recently. I did finish off the witch elf and it has turned out ok. There are a few more bits I would like to do to finish her off and she hasn't been based yet. I will get some proper photo's tonight hopefully and update tomorrow.

Below are some quick teaser shots of my current WIP, a cauldron of blood. I wanted to have a go at building something completely from scratch and I will need a cauldron at some point so thought it was a good one to have a go at. Still rough at the moment and only about half complete but its not looking too bad so far

Nice! Are you going to cover the toothpicks with a similar finish of the columns resting above them?

Once I have finished it the tooth picks at the front wont be there at all (it will be drilled and pinned at the back to hold it in place). The back part of it will (hopefully) look like natural bare rock which has had the steps and top platform carved out of it.

Haven't had much time for painting recently but did get around to taking a few better (though still quick) photos of the WE I painted. I still need to do some more work on her swords. The skin didn't come out quite as smooth as I was hoping, despite watering my paints down a lot. I think a lot of that was down to not having primed it very well.







COB is progressing. Still a lot of work left to do on it though. I did take some photos but they were a bit over exposed so you cant really see the details very well.

Like what u have done to the shields on ur warriors, and the COB looks promising. Nice work!

Thanks! I would like to go back and tidy the warriors up quite a bit but I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon

Starting to build the detailed bits for the COB (hanging flesh hooks, skulls, etc) and still need to tidy up a lot of bits and then blend the top bits with the base.

One thing I don't think I mentioned is that the cauldron will be lit from the inside. That is why there are runes cut in the sides of this. The effect I'm aiming for is not going to be super bright but just a small bit of glowy back lighting to the main runes on the cauldron and under the blood that will be on the top. I already have the electronic bits done mocked up for it but need to get some more solder to actually put it in place.

Few more photos of the COB WIP below. Still quite a bit to do. The pillars where a bit "wonky" in these photos but these have been straightened up again now.

LF to see it painted! God job:)

cauldron is like wow!!! love it so far. and your witch elves r kool! love the brown boots..makes a change from metallic or black. your standard bearer is nice, like the wrapped round bit, and the commanders shied is also fab. Cant w8 to see more pics

Very cool idea. Really looking forward to the painted end product.

I assume you are going to fill the gaps between the base and the sculpted stuff sitting on top?

Thanks everyone for the comments

Yeah I will be doing a lot more work on the base to blend it into the rest. The base at the moment has had very little done on it. I also learnt while doing the base that air dry clay shrinks quite a bit as it dries and this caused the foam board base it was sculpted onto to bend (hence the big gaps you can see).

Next time I will use solid plastic for the base so it doesn't warp as the clay dries.

Just to explain its not quite as heavy as it looks. The base/pedestal part the cauldron is on is hollow (that's where the batteries, switch and timer circuit for the LED'S are hidden). The rock section at the back is also mostly compressed aluminium foil with hot glue to hold it in place and that is covered over and textured with air dry clay.

Minor update with some quick pictures. Have done a bit more detailing on it (there is some more stuff as well not show in the photos). The main base part is now ready for painting but sill need to pick up some more solder before I can finish the cauldron part of it. I did get hold of some magnets though so the cauldron section can be easily removed to switch it on and off.

Photos arent great as they where done quickly with phone, should give an idea though.





And the other project I'm working on is my hydra. Not much done on the painting yet. Just got the first base coat down for the main colour.

im loving what your doing with the cauldron... going to look amazing keep posting

i almost would keep it Reminds me a bit of a more evil blood thirsty Dr. Frankenfurter (Tim Currys Character) from Rocky Horror, makes me giggle a bit thinking of a corsair prancing about the battlefield killing people in lady-wear singing catchy show tunes but hey your choice

very nice, what are those bits on top of the pillars on your caldron? its a nice touch

I'm sorry but they are elves. Prancing about looking like refugees from a gay mardi gras is what elves do.

Haha now i got this crazy image of a 'rocky horror meets dark elf kind of army' advancing on some very confused looking enemy hahaha
Sorceress' probs be doing the 'time warp' to cast spells lol



Oh and i do love the models are you doing anything else in your army atm? if so can you post pics

LETS DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN ::Cast Dark Horror:: lolz if only i could paint better

I actually laughed out loud while I was at work at the thought of a rocky horror show style DE army I have also had the "time warp" stuck in my head all morning!

I did tone the lips down a bit on the cosair but not too much as it does actually work pretty well in real life and shows the facial expression much better then if it was a more blended colour.

Krau27, the bits on the top of the pillars are a combination of banner tops from the Cold one knights spru, cocktail sticks with some bevels carved into them for the pole and the ribbons are sculpted from greenstuff. I have also made bunches of flesh hooks and skulls from greenstuff that will hang from the poles in front of the pillars.

Saori, thanks for the kind comments. The only things I'm really working on at the moment are the cauldron and the hydra. I've got loads of stuff to paint but just not sure where to start (so sticking with the big, fun stuff at the moment).

I have started painting the cauldron (just the base bit, not the extra parts to put on or the actual cauldron itself). All the details bits (banners, skulls, flesh hooks, etc) I'm painting these separately and will stick them on afterwards.

I learnt something new as well. Do not use GW washes over poster paint. I used poster paints to paint the main stone effect and it looked great. I then tried using GW washes to add some weathering to it and it cut straight through the poster paint right down to the base coat and left a really smooth layer behind. I repainted it but was hard to get back the original effect I had built up so I now have a few areas which look quite flat. I will be able to cover most of these over later on though.

Sorry for the poor quality photos again. Camera was at work so just some quick phone photos to show WIP.

Some slightly less blurry photos and a bit more painting done on it. Now I just need to paint the cauldron and detail bits and stick it together.

I also got the LEDS wired in and working. Only really annoying thing was I wired everything up and tested it, all ok. Filled it with hotglue and then sculpted in the top and then the red LED decided to stop working. I couldn't be bother to pull it apart and redo it so just have the blue and green ones left in there now. I will probably not have the LEDS turned on much anyway so not a massive issue.
Video of the LEDS links below:
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/7629/2wo.mp4