How can you make an entirely Ethereal army look interesting?

[Simon1971]

So, I've been gifted a Serephon army, partially painted. 

I thought it'd be cool if I repainted them as ethereal- seeing as a Slaan is dreaming them into existence. But would that really look cool, or would it look a bit....dull? How could I get around that?

[Lord Cedric]

It would be unique! And of thats what you want your army to look, then I say do it. :-)

Personally, ethereal to me says undead. But like all things in this hobby, depends on how you paint it.

- Cedric

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

[Double Misfire]

http://www.glow.co.uk/glow-paint-30ml.html

[Nico]

Paint it marble.

[elfhead]

to keep it interesting you'd have to figure out a way to introduce more color than just a 'spooky green/blue' color for the ethereals. I'd suggest painting the actual lizards etheral, but paint their armour and equipment as you would normally. you could create some interesting colour schemes and contrasts (red goes great with the ethereal green) as the Seraphon have a lot of bone and stone equipment. 

i put some inspiration for you in the attachment

edit: and obviously use the bases to keep things intresting

 

[WAAAGHdogg15]

A lot of the advice I'd give has already been covered - use spot colours, make the bases interesting etc.

In addition though, I once saw a really cool idea for displaying an ethereal army - put thin pieces of cotton wool down between the models so it looks like fog/mist. Sounds odd and a bit ****** but is actually really effective.

[swiftmus]

I dunno how it would look or how difficult it would be, but you could paint them normally but make the colours really washed out or faded, like they're insubstantial. Could even make the colours stronger in some areas where they have been dreamed fully into existence or even do some greyscale/ BW.

[Dangermouse425]

4 hours ago, WAAAGHdogg15 said:

A lot of the advice I'd give has already been covered - use spot colours, make the bases interesting etc.

In addition though, I once saw a really cool idea for displaying an ethereal army - put thin pieces of cotton wool down between the models so it looks like fog/mist. Sounds odd and a bit ****** but is actually really effective.

The cotton wool thing needs to be done really well to avoid looking like you've just stuck cotton wool onto your models' bases. Just something to be aware of. 

[ElectricPaladin]

Honestly, I think that it can be really striking if you stick to the scheme absolutely. Do everything - EVERYTHING - in an ethereal glow. It might be boring to paint, but on the table it will look incredible.

[Avindskjold]

You could paint them like the night sky; basecoat them black, paint some blue or purple shades, sprinkle some white for stars. On the bigger models, you might be able to paint something like nebulas or other astral bodies. 

Someone did this with TIE Phantoms for the X-Wing miniatures game; they can cloak, so they were painted like they were winking in and out of sight:

[Simon1971]

I do like that. I've seen Tau stealth suits done like that.