Tutorial: How to paint Craftworld Iybraesil Eldar / Aeldari Guardians

You’ve seen the test models I did for my upcoming Eldar army of Craftworld Iybraesil, and I promised you a tutorial. Well, here it is. Enjoy the complete step-by-step tutorial for a Guardian Defender of Craftworld Iybraesil after the jump.

This tutorial assumes you have a good understanding of how to paint. It involves paints from a lot of different brands, mixing paints and custom washes. I also used an airbrush to speed certain steps up, though you can acchieve the same result by using only a paint brush. Underneath each picture are the corresponding instructions. Each step shows the paint(s) I used during that step. If I use a non-GW paint, I try my best to give you suitable alternatives [in brackets].

Paints I used for this tutorial:

Grey Primer (Army Painter Uniform Grey Colour Primer)
XV-88
Terminatus Stone
Guilliman Blue (OOP – use Talassar Blue thinned with Contrast Medium)
Coelia Greenshade
Rakarth Flesh
Pallid Wych Flesh
Eshin Grey
Adeptus Battlegrey (OOP – use Mechanicum Standard Grey)
Codex Grey (OOP – use Dawnstone)
Caledor Sky
Lothern Blue
Sycorax Bronze
Khorne Red
Wazdakka Red
Pink Horror
Emperors Children
Steel Legion Drab
Vallejo Game Colour Falcon Turquoise
VGC Brown Ink
VGC Black Ink
VGC Sepia Ink
VGC Imperial Blue
VGC Brassy Brass
VGC Squid Pink
VGC Wolf Grey
VGC Steel Grey
Vallejo Gloss Coat (100% acrylic version)
Vallejo Glaze Medium
The Army Painter Warpaints Strong Tone Ink
Warpaints Blue Tone Ink
Warpaints Dark Tone Ink
Warpaints Soft Tone Ink
Warpaints Shining Silver
Warpaints Matt White
Privateer Press Formula P3 Coal Black
P3 Carnal Pink

In case you need to expand your paint collection, head over to Wayland Games and Element Games, which both stock a huge selection of paints at competitive prices.

How to paint Iybraesil Guardian Defenders

1. The model was primed with a Army Painter’s Uniform Grey primer [any primer will do, but a medium grey makes a great undercoat for turquoise]. As you notice I kept the heads seperately, to be primed in a different colour later on. Once the primer was dry, I used my airbrush to apply an even coat of Vallejo Game Color Falcon Turquoise [you can use Sotek Green, but it’s slightly darker and not as vibrant]. Finally I applied a thin coat of Vallejo Gloss Coat, with my airbrush as well. This will help with the wash later. If you don’t own an airbrush, you can apply multiple thin coats with a big brush instead.

2. I painted the sand texture of the base with XV-88. I drybrushed heavily with Terminatus Stone and applied a generous wash of Army Painter’s Warpaints Strong Tone Ink [Devlan Mud, Agrax Earthshade is not as dark]. Where I hit the feet I restored the base colour and reapplied the gloss coat.

3. Now I created a custom wash, made up of Warpaints Blue Tone Ink, Coelia Greenshade, Guilliman Blue and Vallejo Glaze Medium at the (rough) ratio of 3:1:1:2 [Blue Tone Ink can be replaced with old Asurmen Blue, Drakenhof Nightshade is too blackish]. Basically you want a wash that that matches the colour of Formula P3 Coal Black [or Stegadon Scale Green]. The Glaze Medium and and the glossy surface of the model will help the wash to flow better into the recesses while staining the flat areas less. I applied the wash all over the bodysuit. You’ll see there will be very little pooling – if there is still too much, add more glaze medium for a better result.

4. In this step I checked the model and refined the shadows with P3 Coal Black [Stegadon Scale Green], if needed. I mixed a little bit of Coal Black into Falcon Turquoise, to match the colour of the bodysuit after the wash, and cleaned up any areas where the wash left an uneven result.

5. I mixed a little bit of Warpaints Matt White [any white paint will do] into Falcon Turquoise and applied a first edge highlight.

6. I mixed more white into the base colour and applied a second highlight to the most pronounced areas. As you can see, I prepared a larger amount of both paint mixes in spare bottles.

7. I basecoated the gun and the armour details with Rakarth Flesh.

8. For this step I created a custom ink wash of VGC Black Ink, Brown Ink and Sepia Ink in a ratio of about 2:2:1. You can also use Wyldwood Contrast paint or thinned P3 Battlefield Brown [Dryad Bark]. I applied the ink directly into the recesses and cleaned up the result with the base colour where needed.

9. I painted all black areas with Abaddon Black.

10. I edge-highlighted the bone areas with Pallid Wych Flesh [in fact I used Polished Bone from Pegasus Farben, which are relabeled Reaper Master Series paints, it’s essentially the same shade as Pallid Wych Flesh].

11. Finally I applied a second edge highlight with Warpaints Matt White [any white will do].

12. I highlighted the black areas with Eshin Grey.

13. I painted the hose that comes out of the grip with Adeptus Battlegrey [Mechanicum Standard Grey] and washed it with slighty thinned VGC Black Ink.

14. I applied a second highlight of Codex Grey [Dawnstone] to the black areas. Highlight the hose with Codex Grey, too.

15. I basecoated the blue ribbon with VGC Imperial Blue [old Regal Blue], washed with Warpaints Dark Tone Ink [Badab Black or Nuln Oil] and reapplied the base colour while leaving the recesses dark.

16. I applied a highlight of Caledor Sky.

17. Then I applied a second highlight of Lother Blue and glazed the whole ribbon with Guilliman Blue. Don’t use the glaze like a wash, just take a little on your brush and spread it thinly over the ribbon to intensify the hue, don’t drown the model with it.

18. I basecoated the jewelry with VGC Brassy Brass and highlighted with Sycorax Bronze.

19. I wash the jewelry with Warpaints Soft Tone [Gryphonne Sepia or Seraphim Sepia]. Once dry, I applied a final highlight of Warpaints Shining Silver [it’s the same as old Mithril Silver, but you can also use Runefang Steel].

20. I basecoated the gems with Khorne Red and applied a first highlight with Wazdakka Red. When highlighting gems, concentrate more and more on the lower right half with every successive highlight.

21. I added two more stages of highlighting with Pink Horror and VGC Squid Pink.

22. I added a final highlight of P3 Carnal Pink [you can also mix white with Squid Pink instead] and a little dot in the upper left of the gem.

23. Finally it was time to paint the helmet. I primed the helmet with white Vallejo Surface Primer, but Army Painter Matt White colour primer works as well. I painted the eye lenses with Wazdakka Red and highlighted the lower half with Emperors Children. Paint the black faceplate as laid out in stage 9, 12 and 14.

24. I created a wash by mixing VGC Wolf Grey with Vallejo Glaze medium about 2:3 and applied the mix into the recesses of the white helmet. I know, you can hardly make it out on the picture.

25. Then I took VGC Steel Grey [Fenrisian Grey], thinned it with some water and added an even darker shade to thelmet.

26. Finally I used several thin coats of Matt White to neaten up the white helmet. The trim of the base was painted with Steel Legion Drab.

To complete the model, I added some bleached static grass (arid static grass by Gale Force 9), added a transfer with the guardian rune with the help of Microsol (check out the tutorial here) and applied a coat of matt varnish.

Finished Eldar / Aeldari Guardians & more tutorials

And here is the finished Guardian Defenders Squad in the glorious turquoise of Craftworld Iybraesil:

I also have another Eldar / Aeldari themed tutorial here:

And, always helpful, a guide for painting gemstones:

How do you like my Craftworld Iybraesil paint scheme? Leave a comment or question below!