# Need help with Biel Tan Guardians paint scheme.



## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

I recently painted some Eldar Guardians with a bleech bone scheme. Not only did it look to much like Dark Angels which was slightly annoying, but it seemed to dirty for Eldar.

I know there's a thread for painting *********** armor here, but I already primed my models white.

Any suggestions for painting white armor on for Biel Tan. I've never used white other then for teeth on Nids and some minor detail.

Advice is greatly appreciated.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

The thing about white is, what colour you want the shadows to be.

Bleached bone I think looks cool, but it can look dirty, or at least old. We think that because it's a bit brown-y.

Going with a different shade colour can radically change how you see the white. Avoid red, that just makes everything look pink (like it's been washed with a bright red sock and all the power armour comes out dyed... not a good look: "Here are my Guardians of Accidental Laundry"!)

I like blue or purple for a 'clean' white. Ultramarines blue or Liche purple to be precise. Don't know why, but your eye reads blue-y white as 'shiny', and we think of shiny white as being 'modern' and/or 'clean'. Must be all those years of Daz adverts - "with that bluey-whiteness you like" ... if you don't know what Daz is... errm, it's a kind of washing powder that had blue dye crystals in with the soap powder so whites looked 'shiny'... ie slightly blue.

Blimey I talk a lot about washing powder and laundry don't I? I have no idea why.

Sorry, got to go and fix the washing machine.

:a cyclops' work is never done:


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## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

Red Orc said:


> The thing about white is, what colour you want the shadows to be.
> 
> Bleached bone I think looks cool, but it can look dirty, or at least old. We think that because it's a bit brown-y.
> 
> ...


I am taking suggestions at this point. Blue seems like a nice idea. Then I end up with blue/white green as my primary color scheme.


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## Pherion (Dec 18, 2008)

Red Orc's suggestions are right on. I originally did my Eldar army with a blue/white, I have since switched it up and done a brown/white. For some reason I like it better, but I do agree, the brown (bleached bone) does look dirty. The blue or purple will look much cleaner and sci-fi.


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## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

So what steps do I take to finish the armour? I've only ever successfully painted 2 armies over the course of 13 years lol. I never get the time to paint but am off work for a month and have nothing better to do.


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## Lord of Rebirth (Jun 7, 2008)

Not like I have tried it in a long time or really worked on it but I'd suggest using the lightest grey GW makes (I think it's fortress grey then codex is dark and shadow is even darker.) as a base then a very smooth dry brushing of white so you get the plates covered very and leave the gaps light light grey. It might seem to basic if you have the whole model done as such but if you just use it on the helmets it should look good.


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## H0RRIDF0RM (Mar 6, 2008)

lord of rebirth said:


> Not like I have tried it in a long time or really worked on it but I'd suggest using the lightest grey GW makes (I think it's fortress grey then codex is dark and shadow is even darker.) as a base then a very smooth dry brushing of white so you get the plates covered very and leave the gaps light light grey. It might seem to basic if you have the whole model done as such but if you just use it on the helmets it should look good.


That is a good idea, and I have all of those colors at my disposal. I am still open to suggestions from anybody who has experience with white. I'm leaning towards a blue/white style. 

A million thanks to everyone who commented. I have terrible OCD that strikes me while I am painting. The slightest wrong move or blemish could lead to me restarting an entire army. Getting a strong concept minimizes those awful chances.


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## Whizzwang (Dec 31, 2008)

don't drybrush white - it comes out WAY too powdery.

I use a simple 4 layer technique to white

1- Shadow Grey (gives you that blue-ish tint that's been talked about above

2- Space Wolves Grey (lighter blue/white shade

3 -white - mix skull white 60/40 with water and paint a thin layer

4 -white agian 80/20 paint/water mix for another layer

gives a very nice white colour, thin blueish recessed layers for the shade - bingo. all out of the pot painting with no faff.


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## Warpath (Nov 27, 2007)

White can be an easy colour to paint its just people make it so complicated through fear of messing it up.keep it simple, Red Orc hit the nail on the head with the blue for your shadow and the other peeps in suggesting light greys and blue greys.

This is what i'd do to get my white nice and smooth looking.

White under coat to start - 1 fine layer let this dry and then give it another coat (so many people just spray till its all white which is not good).

I would then use Astronomican grey with white 50/50 and coat this all over the model. 

After that i'd do the glazes of blue in the depths and shadows using purple in the deepest. 

Then work on the white again, using the same mix from before add more white and apply this to all raised sections. You don't want all of it to be white though, keep adding white but as you would do for a high light making pure white your final highlight on the model. 

This seems really long winded but it will give you a more realistic white as white contains so many shades.


You could for pure ease of army painting wash blus the wash light grey and then bring up the white,just depends on how good you want them to look.


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## Dr.Mercury (Aug 2, 2008)

Honestly, for Biel Tan, with the green helmets the blue may not look right.

Try a sandy brown as seen in this tutorial.
http://www.coolminiornot.com/article/aid/288/page/1

I used this on a Tau Fire Warrior that had Jade green accents and it looked great!


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## Lord of Rebirth (Jun 7, 2008)

Sorry if I confused some people but when I say smooth dry brush I mean really just carefully paint the upper surfaces you would hit with dry brushing. It's kinda the technique I think GW fails to mention all the time since marines and Eldar have segmented plate armour and it often looks weird or messy if you try to get shading just with an ink. (I haven't painted much since before the washes came out)

One thing you can do when the detail between plating is more varied is throw on your base color (In this case white so it could just be a good smooth coat of spray primer) then wash it with the appropriate wash (Badab black should work for white.) then smoothly paint over the raised plates with your base color again (This would be skull white again.)

It sounds kinda weird but on models my nids that should look more organic or uniformed it woks surprisingly well cause it lets you put a lot of depth into the detail while giving the overall a dramatic to smooth look depending on how you apply the dry brush.

On some Dark Angels that I did with this method I found the fastest way to do it and give them and "old" feel was to get the inking done then do a rough dry brushing of the base color over the whole model then go back with the base color and smooth out the color on the larger plates. It makes them feel very solid like they should and the odd variances you can leave in the color of the plates can really add texture or the look of the model being obscured in smoke even.


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## jordan_darko (Mar 26, 2008)

Heres my take on painting white amour which will work on your Biel tan.

1 : Prime black
2 : thinned layer of codex grey leaving only the deepest recesses chaos black
3 : thinned layer of astronomican grey ( thin this quite generously as foundation paints are alot thicker than normal ones ) leave some of the previous colour showing in the deep recesses but not as much as the chaos black.
4 : 50/50 skull white and astronomican grey still leaving the dark recesses.
5 2 thin layers of skull white leaving the dark recesses still.

and there you go a nice solid white with a great finish achieved from layering  JD


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