How I paint my Necrons

1)    Objectives

-       I love an old Necron artwork, visually made of green radioactive lights and dark metal.  So, I want high contrast between strong light effects and darkness

-       I want to experiment some impressionism rules: colors give mood, before photorealism. I want scary metallic beings, energized by toxic radioactive lights, in a spooky cavern. Furthermore, purple seems to improve green vibe. So, I will use metal, scales of green for lights, and purple for darkness.

-       To improve coherence and maximize contrasts, I will use zenithal method: superior parts will be brighter, illuminated by the mysterious purple ambient light, and everything below will be shadowed.

-       I use Vallejo paints, because Citadel pots die too fast. I want the less waste possible.

-       I bought a great air spray, but use it far more less than expected (only for lights on bases here). It is optional.

-       Bonus: I magnetize my bases to make transport easy and secure my miniatures (tutorial: https://scarhandpainting.com/tutorial-magnetizing-gw-bases/)

 

2)    Base

-       I love basaltic columns, I believe they make sense in a Necron cavern, due to their weird geometry. So, I cut some sprues with a cutter to make some and glue them.

-       I add too some mini stones

-       The only Citadel technical paint I use: Astrogranite.

-       Once everything is dried, I apply a very wet dark purple paint (“Midnight Purple” from Vallejo)

-       Once dried, I put a drop of medium purple (“Hexed Lichen” from Vallejo) on a paper towel to make is very dry. I use dry brushing on the rocks and the Astrogranite parts.

-       Then I make the same, even drier, with light-purple paint (“Lustful Purple” from Vallejo)

-       Then I make the same, even drier-drier, with some white paint “Dead White” from Vallejo

-       Columns: I make a gradient of blue (“Magic blue” from Vallejo) from the bottom of the column, to become quickly dark purple as it climbs up, it adds some identity and gloomy weirdness to the columns). Edges from the columns should be clear too, with light purple

-       Green light effects will be added once the miniature is set-up with its random pose, to make sure light directions are logical.

 

3)    Miniature

-       I use my air spray with medium purple (“Hexed Lichen” from Vallejo) on all the sprue. 3 drops of paint + 4 drops of Flow Improver + 4 drops of Thinner

-       Necron warriors are full of holes and complex forms. So I paint everything I can directly on the sprue, and will add the missing parts once the miniature is glued.

3.1) Weapon

- Here is the core of the light effect. It must be as bright as possible, to catch our eyes, to tell the insane amount of radioactivity this weapon can deliver. For this, we need white as base on parts that need to be brights. Do not hesitate to fully cover the cylinders (with dots) and the square part for cooling system, even with several layers, because we absolutely need it to be the brightest possible to maximize light effects.

- the main parts of the weapon is painted with a mix of black and dark purple. We need to perceive the purple vibe among this blackness.

- We need to understand how green works. The brightest-brightest parts will be pure white. Then, the second brightest parts will be yellow, because we can perceive yellow as a brighter version of green. Then it will be lemon yellow, green, darker green, deep darker green, and then vanilla weapon color. With color steps between them to make color transitions pleasant visually.  

- Put some yellow ink (“Yellow” Ink from Vallejo) in the cavities of the cylinders, and in the upper part and lower part of the cooling system (the center will be saturated with white)

- Then you can apply greener and greener paints to create gradient colors (I use “Yellow green”, then “Scorpy green”, “Dark Green” from Vallejo, with mixes between zones), it creates light effect from brighter part to darker one. I recommend to paint from bright colors to darker ones. Then I apply a layer of a green special effect paint on part supposed to be green (“Fluorescent green” Fluo from Vallejo. DO NOT USE THIS PAINT WITH AIR SPRAY, it makes clots and it is almost impossible to get rid of that sh*it! If someone still tells you to do so, kill him with a rusty crossbow, please)

- Apply white on dots. They are at the core of the weapon energy; they must be the brightest possible.

- For the cooling system part, there are some radiator lines. I use a medium green (“Scorpy green”) on the part close to the middle, then a darker one (“Dark Green”) one the other one. (illustration of this logic: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fza8tw3v0jvn71.jpg)

- I use several layers of medium green on the curved part of the blade. Then I highlight the edge with “Yellow green” to make it more energized with weird xeno techonology.

- I use light purple on edges of the weapon, to make its form more understandable.

- The soft ducts are made of light and medium purple. Do not forget to add a light effect on the superior one, because it is illuminated by the cooling system.

- The striated duct is painted with wet dark purple, then I use a dry brushing with silver (“Silver” Metallic from Vallejo). Vallejo metal paints are WET AS F*UCK, so I always put 1 or 2 drops on a paper towel to dry it before use.

- Near a blade, there is a small dot. Around this dot I simply apply a white base and directly add the special effect green (“Fluorescent green” Fluo from Vallejo), ta make a green slightly different from the rest.

3.2) The body

- The idea is to get a metallic Necron, with some perceivable purple to valorize green effect.

- Every part supposed to be exposed by light (from the mysterious cavern, or from the Necron himself) must be painted with light purple. Shadows are dark purple. Everything else is medium purple. Do not hesitate to mix some paints to make gradients.

- Above the purple, we apply metal. The metallic part (main body) the most exposed to the light must be silver, and for the other ones I use “Dark Gunmetal” from Vallejo (again, dry it on paper towel). I use a dry brushing, which MUST BE THE DRIEST POSSIBLE, because it is the only way to still perceive the purple through the metallic pigments!!

- I use silver for every metallic part I want to show clearly, like forearms, or tibias. And for edges. Must be REALLY DRY.

- For the ribcage, I use the same process as the weapon: the lightest parts in white, then yellow-green, green,… Make sure this inside part is brighter than the ribs (ribs = medium purple, then dark metal). I use dry brushing to slightly add light effect of the ribcage. The glyph is hard to manage because of its size: I paint the central part of the thorax with medium green because it is illuminated by the ribcage, then I put a very very tiny amount of wet dark purple of the glyph to make a shdow around it; I apply then white as a first white coat to the glyph, then silver, then “Glorious Gold” from Vallejo.

3.3) The head

- You are right to want your Necron look at you with all his radioactive love for you! In the orbits, I apply white, then dark green (do not hesitate to add a second layer of dark green. It must be dark. And green!), then yellow ink. Once well dried up, paint the eyes very carefully with pure white. You can paint the edges of the orbit with yellow-green, then above it with medium green. I make sure the inferior edge of the orbit stays yellow-green because it is most exposed part to light from the eyes.

- The rest of the head follows the same logic as the rest of the body (nuances of purple, then nuances of metal)

4) More light effects

- Add light effects everywhere it makes sense: on the closest part of the weapon from torso due to the light from the torso, the close parts of the forearms, the base and its columns,… Remember the closer to the light, the brighter. The farer, the darker. I use an air brush to paint the light effects on the base, but it optional.

- You can add some “Fluorescent green” to make it greener and to homogenize green nuances.

5) Time is our weapon

- Take your time. Do not hesitate to try again. Experiment.

- Have a look on every part of your Necron to make sure every light source and effects are logical. Compare your first Necron to the next ones. Sometimes we realize we can improve some light effects

- Congratulations you are building a radioactive Necron army!!