Eldar Wave Serpent WIP 1

Hi there! Wave Serpents are the new rage in terms of power gaming (these things are pretty darn good!) but the reality is, it has always been one of the best vehicles in terms of hobby. Just head to CMON or google a bit and you'll find some incredible pieces of art painted over a Wave Serpent Hull. Now I'm not nowhere near the level of these artists but it was nonetheless an idea that has been in my mind for some time and when I heard the codex Eldar was due for a release, I decided I would get a small contingent for fun: a Farseer and some bikes, some Guardians / Avengers in Serpent, and of course the mighty Wraithknight!

This has to be my favourite side of 6th Ed, the pace of codex releases is so fast that it is difficult to keep track! but it is encouraging to find every 2 months or 3 some amazing new kits. And here we are, painting my very first xeno outside of Orks, and that was well 15 years ago. Ah those 2nd edition Gretchins painted in goblin green and blood red :)

Back to Eldar. It is a difficult decision to decide how to paint an Eldar army, since you can pretty much use any color. Then there also fluff or game considerations of course, like I would go Saim Hann if I wanted to go biker/skimmer heavy. Given Eldar are meant to be the Children of the Stars and their long decadence, I decided to go with a dark black/blue scheme and add some touches of "space" (more on this later). It will be a Craftwork Ulthwe contingent with some creative licenses.

The first Wave Serpent has a black base with blue hues around it, to give it a sense of energy. The challenge is I went all in and inspired by this wonderful army by Hortwerth, I will try to paint a nebulae on top of the serpent. The easy part is that an airbrush can blend the colors nicely, but the tricky part is painting light colors like yellow on top of black (it looks very dull) or blue (becomes green). With some patience and a few thin layers this is where I am now:

The inside is being painted with an eery blue

I wanted the bottom to show some "energy". Still undecided about going bone with the guns

This baby still needs a lot of work: finalizing the highlights, add stars to the nebula, paint the guns, and the dauting task of painting some 20 jewels. Doh!

At the same time I am also painting the Vyper that comes with the army force; I'm not really sure about the nebula on the small rear wings so I might just go black / blue on this one. What do you guys think?

Let me know if you have any feedback or questions! cheers