How To Paint Necrons by John Margiotta

INTRODUCTION

Hey everyone, this is my first post at figurementors since I joined the team. And I am a little scared. So, I wanted to show from the off what I love doing, painting and weathering units of beasts, robots and warriors. In my first post, I will show you how to paint Necrons, supported with images. So hopefully, you can clearly see what I am doing. You know I love Necrons and therefore I thought it would be a cool starting point for me. This is all totally new to me, so I hope I can get my message across and perhaps you can learn a little something along the way.

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HOW TO PAINT NECRONS – EARLY STAGES

After the model was sprayed with Leadbelcher (from GW), the outer layered armour segments were painted with Templar Blue (Reaper). Following that the model was globally washed with Agrax Earthshade and diluted black ink (Scale75). 

 

After this we are ready for the layering steps:

 

 

Once the wash was completely dry, the Templar Blue was layered back in and reapplied.

In Images 2, 3 and 4 you can see from multiple angles the result of building up the Marine Teal (Reaper). It is important to build your coverage over several layers allowing the previous to dry first. Applying your colour in several passes, slightly diluted is much better than applying one overly thick coat. Thus, you will achieve a much smoother finish this way.

 

PUSH THE COLOUR SCHEME

We can now continue to build up the colour of the chosen scheme. The next layers after that, (3-4 passes as before) were Surf Aqua (Reaper) as seen above. 

The following images show the final stages for the Teal, Surf Aqua (Reaper) was mixed with Baharroth Blue (GW) and again carefully build up the colour being sure not to make a mess of the other elements. Hence taking your time!

 

I also just wanted to mention this is just my way on how to paint Necrons.

Now it is time to begin the effect of the freehand corrosion. When it comes to this part you want to sponge the various parts and I do this along the edges as these are the areas that will show chipping, damage, wear and tear along with corrosion, etc. You are trying to dab to create shapes that look somewhat like a rigid mountain range. After this, you should have the basic shape just connect all the parts that you’ve dabbed in together and make a solid shape. 

 

HOW TO PAINT NECRONS – WEATHERING EFFECTS

So now we will approach the next steps. We want to begin recreating the various effects of weathering, starting from where we started adding the chipping. Therefore, we now add a bit of rust colour to create dirty erosion. I use Red Leather (Vallejo Model Color). It’s very important to dilute this so that the colour beneath blends in. Otherwise, we will just be painting over the top of the work we have already done.

 

In the next four photos, I demonstrate the next steps in the sequence. After the Red Leather rust colour was applied and dried I began to add in that second layer of metal. This shows the surface right down to the bare metal beneath. It might not be such a realistic display however, many times we must think like Artists and contrast is key. So let’s do this! Therefore, a bright bare metal exposed to the elements and warfare will show just perfectly against the darker erosion marks that I have painted.

 

Now you can see how I’ve demonstrated a dual-layer chipping effect. Vallejo Silver, which is the brightest silver on the market, in my opinion, has shown through. Again, I’ve applied this colour to places like edges and joints that would have the highest level of wear and tear. 

FINISHING OFF THE WEATHERING STAGE

Now that I’ve completed the upper body and the blue armour I’ve extended the very same steps to the lower body. With that in mind, I tidied up the tops of the bodies damage marks to be a bit cleaner and also added some streaks to the back carapace armour. This will show where fluids and condensation would leave marks in the direction of flow, down along the carapace. 

 

Then I went to work on two sections at one time; the silver areas on the exoskeleton and the Gauss weapon!

The weapon was straight forward as it was the same steps for the blue colour and the same steps for OSL and the same for the weathering. In other words, just treat it the same in the process above.

 

However, the silver part alloy was a bit more involved and I began by diluting Bestial Brown (Skrag Brown works just as well) and applied it in the recessed areas of the skeleton. 

Then I used a stipple brush to do a bit of rough pointillism to the surfaces of it because next up we shall use various glazes of greens and blues. These were used in random places to illustrate a rough reflection of the skeleton and to apply vividness. 

 

 

FINISHING UP

So, I’ve turned my attention to the base to which I’ve simply added some things I had kicking around in my basing bits box. The general idea was to represent a post-apocalyptic environment. I’ve sprayed it Zanduri Dust. 

Then after this, I washed it heavily with sepia ink from FW DALER AND ROWNEY. At that point, I overbrushed (basically a very loaded dry brush ) with Terran Khaki (by Reaper). 

Finally, as a final dusted look of rubble and concrete that’s been pulverized, I’ve brushed on AK interactive dust effects. Which as you can see in the finished photos left it nice and dusty. 

FINAL PICS!

 

Thanks for reading and until the next time!!!! You can see more of my work HERE!