Tutorial: How to paint Necrons the Garfy way

This is the first part of a two part tutorial for my Necron scheme. This guide will show you how to paint the model above and the second guide to follow shortly will teach you the secrets to painting the NMM (Non Metallic Metal) style blade. Read the first part of this tutorial after the jump.

I’ve designed this tutorial so established painters find it interesting but also so new comers to the hobby can learn some basic and advanced techniques. I will use terms such as glazing and washing, don’t worry if you don’t know what these mean because I will elaborate and explain during that step.

Paints you will need for this tutorial:

Black Undercoat spray (I use Vallejo Surface Primer)

Warplock Bronze (base)

Leadbelcher (base)

Rust Effect (from Modelmate)

Agrax Earthshade (shade)

Runefang Steel (layer)

Gehenna’s Gold (layer)

Auric Armour Gold (layer)

Khorne Red (base)

Evil Sunz Scarlett (layer)

Ratskin Flesh (base)

Bloodletter (glaze)

Kantor Blue (base)

Teclis Blue (layer)

Ulthuan Grey (layer)

Mephiston Red (base)

Jokaero Orange (base)

Flash Gitz Yellow (layer)

Ceramite White (base)

Temple Guard Blue (layer)

Screamer Pink (base)

Pink Horror (layer)

Averland Sunset (base)

Dawnstone (layer)

Administratum Grey (layer)

Armageddon Dust (texture)

Steel Legion Drab (base)

Lahmian Medium (technical) 

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

We jump straight into the tutorial with an assembled Necron Lord who has been undercoated black. 

1. Paint all the metallic areas (including ares that will be gold) with Warplock Bronze. This should take a single coat because it’s a base paint. GW Metallics are notorious for separating so make sure you shake well, and if you haven’t used it in ages use an old brush to stir it. A touch of Lahmian Medium smooths out metals and makes them much easier to work with.

2. Paint all the silver areas with Leadbelcher, once again a touch of Lahmian Medium will make your life easier. Make sure you leave some Warplock Bronze showing in the armour gaps and joins.

3. For this stage you’ll need to stipple some Rust Effect paint into the joints and creases. Don’t worry about  being too messy because that makes it more authentic. If you haven’t got this paint, then you can stipple some XV-88 and then Jokaero Orange instead. Stippling is basically dabbing instead of using strokes. If you don’t have a stippling brush, take an old brush and use scissors to cut the bristles down to around 3mm in height. 

4. Wash over the Leadbelcher areas with Agrax Earthshade to dull down the metal and change the hue slightly. Try not to wash over the Rust Effect because the rust is water soluble. Heavy spray varnishing also soaks up the rust effect, so only ever spray lightly from a distance. This is called dusting, it’s your choice if you wish to varnish or not at the end of this tutorial. 

5. Using a fine detail brush, add some spotting of Runefang Silver to the edges of the rusty silver to represent chipping.

6. Paint all the gold areas with Gehenna’s Gold. This will take around 3 thin coats. Leave Warplock Bronze showing through the gaps for shading. I’ve also left the Warplock Bronze at the top of each armour plate segment to represent a dark reflection. This dark shading will really make the gold look realistic.

7. Highlight the gold up a further step using Auric Armour Gold. This paint will require thinning with Lahmian Medium and take 2 or 3 coats. 

8. Runefang Steel is used to edge highlight each of the gold plates. This will make your gold pop. Try to keep your highlight lines as thin as possible.

9. Use Khorne Red to to paint a band of colour around the edges of the armour. This needs to be thicker then an edge highlight because you will need to paint a couple of edge highlights over the top of this and you want to be able to see the previous layers. Once you’ve painted the band, mix 3 parts Lahmian Medium with 1 part Khorne Red to create a glaze and then use the glaze to blend the band of red into the black armour. The glaze is translucent meaning you can see the black layer through it slightly. Build up a couple of coats and it softens the edge of the red band you painted. 

10. Edge highlight the previous layer with Evil Sunz Scarlett.

11. Further edge highlight with Ratskin Flesh.

12. Wash over the entire black/red armour sections with Bloodletter.

13. Paint the Staff of Light with Kantor Blade. 

14. Edge Highlight the Kantor Blue using Teclis Blue.

15. Further edge highlight using Ulthuan Grey.

16.  OSL is an acronym for Object Source Lighting. It is a term used by painters to describe glow effects. Most people over do source lighting and it doesn’t look realistic for the simple fact the model has been painted and highlighted in a way to suggest daylight. If you’ve ever shined a flashlight onto something in daylight you’ll know that the torch doesn’t light up the area at all. So in my opinion OSL only works if the model has been painted in a low light conditions scheme. So for OSL to be convincing on a daylight model like above it need to be subtle and minimal. Start by painting the power core and recessed area of the Staff of Light barrel with Mephiston Red. Then mix 3 parts Lahmian Medium to 1 part Mephiston Red and glaze the surrounding area around the lenses. Keep it minimal, don’t over do it. It should look lighter then the actual lens.

17. Carefully paint Jokaero Orange into the recess gaps of the power core and the barrel. 

18. Now carefully paint Flash Gitz Yellow over the Jakaero Orange. Try to leave some orange showing through.

19. Use some Ceramite White to add the final highlight to the glow effect. 

20. Now for some more OSL, this time we’ll paint the glowing orbs, chest piece, eyes and some lightning on the barrel. Start by painting some solid Temple Guard Blue onto these areas. It might take two coats. Then make a glaze using 3 parts Lahmian Medium to 1 part Temple Guard Blue and glaze around the surrounding areas of the orbs, chest piece, eyes and lightning. Remember, you’re aiming for a soft translucent layer where you can see through it. 

21. Make a mix of 50:50 Temple Guard Blue and White and then turn it into a glaze and blend it into the Temple Guard Blue objects. Make sure you don’t paint over the previous glow layer, just highlight the objects. Then make a Ceramite White glaze and blend that into the previous layer. It should look like it’s glowing now. 

22. I painted the Resurrection Orb as a Galaxy, I started by painting lots of tiny dots in a spiral pattern. 

23. Repeat the above step with Pink Horror this time 

24. Paint more dots using Averland Sunset but only in the centre of the Galaxy.

25a. Give the galaxy a quick wash of Druchii Violet and then when dry dot the final stars using Ceramite White. The largest concentration of stars should be in the centre.

25b. The blade will be covered in a separate tutorial.

26. Highlight the black pipes under the ribcage with Dawnstone.

27. Highlight the previous step further with Administratum Grey.

28. Finally, base the model in a way which fits in with your own army or gaming table. I’ve used Steel Legion Drab for the rim, Armageddon Dust for the base top and then drybrushed with Screaming Skull. Drybrushing is a way of picking out raised detail quickly usually with a lighter colour. To dry brush you need load up your brush with paint and then wipe it off the bristles on a tissue until virtually no paint remains on the brush. Then rapidly and repeatedly drag the side of the brush back and forth over the area to be painted. The skull is painted with XV-88, Tau Light Ochre, Ungor Flesh and finally Screaming Skull. For a guide on how to paint the Dark Eldar Helm check out Stahly’s tutorial here. 

This is one of the more complicated tutorials I’ve produced for Tale of Painters with some advanced techniques, but so long as you have steady hands and reasonable brush skills I believe anyone can follow this tutorial. Make sure you check out the tutorials section for other tutorials and check back soon for the second part of this tutorial where I explain in detail how to paint flawless NMM blades.

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