Brace yourself – you’re about to see a truly astounding showcase of C’tan Shards of the Void Dragon, courtesy of some of the world’s most talented painters. Behold…
Darren Latham
Painting the Void Dragon was not only fun but quite a challenge! With the model essentially being hollow, it gave me a whole new dimension to consider when painting. I particularly enjoyed working on the living metal body, layering up loads of Stormhost Silver over a Leadbelcher spray undercoat to give it a super-shiny, almost chrome finish to make it stand out on the battlefield!
The cool, green lightning that features around the miniature was painted using Kabalite Green, Sybarite Green, and Gauss Blaster Green to give it an energised look. To finish, I went for a warm brown base to contrast with the cold greens and metals that feature throughout the paint job.
Garfy Etherington
My bone-faced Necron dynasty is named Occiputek, which is derived from the word ‘occipital’, a cranial dermal bone. I instantly knew I wanted to paint the entire C’tan in a bone colour, wreathed in electricity. I decided to paint it in sub-assemblies so I could work on smaller areas more easily.
As the model’s body is hollow, I wanted the inside black and the outside bone. I ended up undercoating it black before masking the gaps and spraying it white. I used a limited colour palette of blues for the most part to frame his light-coloured body, which helps him stand out. I was going to paint the rubble flying around him grey, but I decided to keep the blue theme going, which I think helps unify him with his base.
Pete Harrison
I’ve always been fascinated by the supposed link between the Void Dragon and the Dragon of Mars – an ancient entity believed to have been defeated and imprisoned within Mars by the Emperor, long before the Imperium’s founding. I wanted to acknowledge this lore on my model, so I opted to paint the floating rocks and base in the red oxide of Mars’ surface.
To contrast against these warm-coloured rocks, I chose to paint the body of the C’tan Shard, and the crackling bolts of energy that hold him and the rocks aloft, in a bright blue. The result is a striking alternative to the greens of the Sautekh, Nephrekh, and Szarekhan Dynasties.
Richard Gray
When I saw the new C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon model, I knew I had to try something fun when painting it. I'd already been using the NMM (non-metallic metal) style on the Necrons from the Indomitus boxed set, with dark and grimy steel for the Skorpekh Lord and gold for the Overlord.
It was time to take it up a level for such a fantastic model, so I set myself the challenge of a chrome effect, which is sometimes referred to as SENMM (sky earth non-metallic metal), as you paint the reflections of the sky and the ground. Some old-timers may remember that the old Warhammer Fantasy Battle and White Dwarf magazine logos used to have the same effect on them! I actually removed some of the details from the model, as much as it pained me to do so, as I wanted the focus to be on the metal effect on the body.
Sam Lenz
I'm really enjoying this new wave of Necrons units – they've come a long way over the years and the C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon is a perfect example of that. It carries a level of simplicity that allows space for painters to work with, and it also has some areas of detail that gave me some ideas.
My first thoughts were on the cubic pattern and negative space running across the sculpt. I added to that by expanding the grid pattern carefully with some thin linework, making sure to put a small, brighter dot at each intersection. If you want to give this technique a go, try practising with a pencil and paper beforehand as a short warm-up. To make the numerous bright green areas and reflections on the skin stand out, I chose to paint the rest of the model in dark, colder tones with sharp highlights. Once finished, I added a Necron Warrior coming back to life on the model’s base, and it was ready for war!
Kris Belleau
Hello! Kris here from WayOfTheBrush.com, and I’m showcasing my interpretation of the C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon. I really enjoyed this sculpt as it has many opportunities for painters to play with colour. I painted this model to fit in with the rest of my Necrons from the Indomitus set, though pictures don’t quite capture all the ways that light plays on the surface.
I like the idea of living metal, and a lot of my ideas come from what I’ve seen in movies. Judging by my Necron colour scheme, I’m sure you can imagine which movie! This was painted to what I call a decent tabletop standard, but I could have easily spent more time refining the transitions of colour. Thanks for looking, and take care of your brushes!
Jakob Rune Nielsen
I want the colour scheme of my Necrons army to make them look like a horde of pale ghosts. To create this effect, I’m using a cold verdigris as the main colour instead of metal, with bright green as a vivid spot colour for lightning and energy weapons.
On the C’tan Shard, the green energy takes up a bigger part of the miniature than on a regular Necron Warrior. This makes the model pop against the rest of the force, but it’s also an opportunity to expand the colour scheme somewhat. As a contrast to the bright green lightning bolts, I painted the shard within the body purple and added purple washes on the body around the shard.
Thor Intararangson
The first time I saw this miniature, I was blown away with the design and details. It's one of the most beautifully sculpted miniatures I’ve ever seen.
However, this incredible miniature comes with a lot of details and it needs some planning before painting. I built it separately in three parts – the main body, the wings, and the base with the ‘dragon’ tail to make the painting a lot easier. I decided to paint it with TMM (true metallic metal), and everything was painted by hand rather than with an airbrush. It sure was a lot of fun to paint!
Christoph Eichhorn
I always like to personalise my miniatures, and when I first saw the C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon, I knew it offered a lot of awesome possibilities for conversions. I cut down most of the lightning and used the stones to rebuild the scene into something that looks like it’s drawing energy from the ancient structures below and channelling it into the shard in his chest.
For the colour scheme, I decided to try to distinguish the energy that comes from the shard (orange/red) and the small scarabs as well as the bladed tail of the Necron part on its back (green) to reinforce the lore of the shards being controlled by the Necrons. I definitely appreciate the craftsmanship and know-how that went into the design of this complex kit – it was a pleasure to work with!
Amazing, huh? If you’ve been inspired to give this incredible miniature a go, you can pre-order your own C’tan Shard of the Void Dragon right now, or pick it up in stores this weekend. If you’ve got any other C’tan Shard conversions and paint jobs you’d like to show us, make sure you share them on our Warhammer 40,000 Facebook page – we’d love to see them!