I have, in the past, had strong feelings about white primer. I would often proclaim to any who would listen, "I would never use white primer unless I was painting a white army!" This was awhile ago, when it didn't seen utterly absurd to have strong feelings about anything as trivial as primer color. Even still, this silly stance from yesteryear took root in my psyche. The idea of using white primer always seemed distasteful to me, though I couldn't even remember why. So then, as I consulted the vast internet advice on painting yellow, the trope of "white primer" rubbed me the wrong way. Even to the point of defiantly banging my head against the black primer until I finally found a yellow I can live with. Perhaps it was the "victory" that finally caused me to reevaluate my perceived dislike of white primer, and ultimately figure, "What the heck let's try it."
Weirdly enough, the yellow was not the driving the "What the heck bus". As previously stated, I am happy with the yellow. It was actually the ring of Graveyard Earth around the bases. It took like four coats to cover, and it is one of the last things I do. I made me crazy to have to keep painting so close to the finish line. Further motivation existed in the opacity of the Citadel blues that I use. I liked the brighter blue, and wanted it just a touch brighter, without having to change colors.
My primary concern was if the white primer could make things lighter, would it drastically change the way the model looks. I figured it was best to experiment with the base, as that isn't looked at as much as the miniature in most of the stuff I paint.
First thing I did was lay down the Tallarn Flesh base coat, like my other Eldar. I remember looking at the helmetless ultra marines and thinking how much the flesh color jumped off that blue. I figured since I was doing a predominantly blue army I could use something similar to make them stand out from the base.
That ended up being pretty pink. Over the black primer the color was a lot duller, and looked more dirt-like. Articulate term, "dirt-like", word smith I ain't. In order to tone down some of the pink I drowned the base in a Devlan Mud wash.
Once dry, I dry brushed the Tallarn Flesh back in, getting a color I could live with, both fleshy for the pop, and dirt-like.
In some basing article I saw at GW's webpage I saw another base that used this color and they put purple in it. I dug it, so I pretty much bit it. I used Leviathan Purple and a wash brush, basically rolling the brush as I pulled it across areas to create odd sized splotches. I also started painting the rusty-metal-thing by laying down a couple of coats of Dark Flesh.
After that I dry brushed the whole thing with Bleached Bone. It was really hard to get a comparison as to whether or not it looked the same because the bright colors where being outdone by all the white primer on all other parts of the model. I put the base next to one of the storm guardians I had done, and it looked close, but I kind of ran into the same thing. The storm guardian's base looked much darker, but it was also amid a lot of dark colors.
Lastly, I did the rusty-metal-thing by dry brushing on some Blazing Orange, then Macharius Solar Orange, and finally some Vomit Brown. After that I washed the bottom and made some streaks with Devlan Mud. Lastly I liberally stippled some Chainmail on to the whole piece to create the metallic sheen and appearance.
Final conclusion? Seeing them side-by-side, what do you think?
For me it is too early to tell. I think it will be best to just get the model done and compare it to the rest. The good thing will be that I have some leeway as it is a Warlock, not a rank and file guy. If he stands out it is not too disruptive, since they tend to have a distinguishing look in most Eldar armies I have seen.
Thanks for reading,
T
