When I first started collecting High Elf regiments I settled on Archers as the first to paint. They were a good starting point as they are a core unit. They are mainly clothed in robes so the ‘layered highlighting’ technique is a perfect way to paint these models to a good army standard.

Layered Highlighting

This technique is described in the painting section of the High Elf Army book. I’ll explain why layered highlighting is so important to how I paint my miniatures. Most armies can be readily painted by using drybrushing and ink washing techniques. However, I believe High Elves are a definite exception to this rule. The whole nature of High Elves is that of being bright and clean, elements that need to be matched with the style that you paint them. Drybrushing and ink washing tend to be a little less precise when applied compared to deliberate brush strokes -- the best way is to apply layered highlighting.

Highlights can be as simple or as extensive as you want. Starting with the darkest colour as a basecoat, each successive colour applied can quite easily be a standard Citadel colour. For example, to paint a leather effect start with a basecoat of Bestial Brown, followed by a highlight of Snakebite Leather, next a highlight of Bubonic Brown then the extremities or highest parts highlighted with Bleached Bone.

This technique is the sort of finish that I like to achieve for my army. However, when painting individual monsters or characters, I sometimes mix in varying degrees of highlights between each standard colour, building them up in succession. For core, standard regiments you may prefer to simplify the highlights and start with a lighter base coat. However, I think the more highlights that are applied the better the result.

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger version of each step.

Stage 1
After undercoating the model with Chaos Black spray, I painted the robes with Codex Grey. I then painted the flesh areas, the bow, the hair, the quiver casing and any belts or pouches that are going to have an appearance of leather with Bestial Brown. Other clothed areas like the shirt and trousers, I painted with Blood Red -- this helps to give the Red Gore that I will paint over it a more vibrant appearance, compared to painting it over the black undercoat.

Stage 3
The final highlight on the robes was with Skull White leaving the previous grey highlights to further act as a graduated shading. The face and hands were highlighted with Elf Flesh and the bow and the quiver casing were highlighted with Bubonic Brown. I lightly highlighted the leather items, just on the edges with Bubonic Brown. The hair can be lightly drybrushed with Bubonic Brown. The other cloth areas were highlighted with a mix of Blood Red and Red Gore.

Stage 4
The face and hands were given a final highlight of Pallid Flesh just on the extremities. The bow, the quiver casing and the edges of the pouch were highlighted with Bleached Bone. The hair can also be drybrushed further with Bleached Bone to give a blonde colour. Any metallic areas, like the face guard, bow edges, quiver case decoration and gem surrounds were painted with Shining Gold, being very careful not to paint anything already painted. After painting the gems (in my quick and easy way -- see below) I finished the model off by basing it using sand and static grass and painting the edges Goblin Green.

Painting Gems

Painting all the gems on High Elves can be a laborious task (there are quite a lot!) so to minimise the time spent, I needed a quick and simple method. I began with a coat of Snot Green, which I then painted over with Green Ink and left to dry. Finally I applied a coat of gloss varnish to give them a highly polished finish.