Trying to achieve a nebulainterstellar dust effect on my bases

[shy elbow]

Basically I'd like to give the impression that my Drukhari are slipping into the world by coming out of these Interstellar phenomena (black holes, gas/dust clouds, etc), and I'm trying to achieve the second one and it hasn't quite come out as I'd like it to.

Hopefully it turns up in the pics but there's what I've achieved and what I'd like to move towards.

Just to be clear, I am NOT expecting to be able to recreate that reference image exactly on these tiny 25mm lmao (I am a beginner), I'd just like some advice on how to layer the colours correctly so that they stand out like in the reference (the image I've shown looks honestly better than it is irl, it's a lot less vibrant? Bright? in real life).

If I were to judge my own (not including the fact that I've misplaced my blue grrr), I'd assume my mistakes were not giving a white undercoat to the middle where the colour should be brightest, and maybe I should not be painting directly onto the base (?), but I'd like some advice instead of kinda just floundering haha.

Thanks!

I'm actually conflicted on whether this is actually achievable or not

I kinda went through a range of trying to do some blending stuff on the left to just trying to make them more distinct layers on the right, but really the bar for me is "it shouldn't look like paint splotches", and actually look a little vibrant and interesting.

Just for reference, these are what the models look like. My planned scheme for them was a black base layer with edge highlights in bright red, orange, green, and purple, representing individual squads, with small white dots peppered representing stars.

I basically just want the general vibe to be "space"y

[limpid violet]

That's a difficult effect to achieve on such a small area. Something to consider is doing it over whole squads so it might read better.

I assume you don't have an airbrush but spray can might be able to get semi close. I'd try arranging all the bases on tape in one bit collection on cardboard or something then spraying across them with some of the component colours to get fades. Probably prime them all a dark blue to begin with.
Some white ink to spatter over them with a toothbrush to get stars, you'll need to do some manual work with a brush after this.

[bright sapphire]

I wonder if some of the assorted streaking and mud effects that scale modelers use for weathering would be useful here

[shy elbow]

My only problem is buying (and finding) so many spray paints for just bases basically.

Would you reckon it might help if I say basecoated in white and then tried building up the layers like in the second base?

It might help if the bases just looked like tiny "puffs" of clouds that are just really bright

[bright sapphire]

if this is the effect you're looking for....that circular look

I think inks might work really well

[shy elbow]

That might be a lot more achievable for these bases

I can save the reference pic for something like Raiders (big vehicles)

[bright sapphire]

Pillars of Creation are gorgeous, but might be better rendered on larger bases, yeah....

[shy elbow]

How do those work? I've only really used acrylic paints tbh

[bright sapphire]

They're thinner. I've really only used them for creating washes.

[shy elbow]

Any way I can turn one into the other (i.e. like how you can really water paints to make them washes instead of having to buy dedicated ones)

Oh so they're literally just thinned paints

[bright sapphire]

No.

Its ink. Like for writing or painting. These are acrylic based, but you can get them in other bases as well.

I don't know the difference on a chemical level. On a practical level, from my experience, they're thinner and flow a bit easier while holding good opacity. For making the ring galaxy, for example, I would probably do an outer circle and then streak it in towards the center and build that up while moving closer to the center.

Psykka might have a different suggestion?

[limpid violet]

A mix of inks and acrylics to do it would work. My only concern would be how much you'd hate having to do every one of them manually without any kind of speed process.

[shy elbow]

Here's a stupid idea

What if I put a blob of paint on the base and just dabbed it with a paper towel

Here's me having done that with my orange, I think that's kinda close to the circle effect

If I go for an undercoat of daaaark blue, and make progressively smaller circles with my paper towel dabbing on the brighter colours, it might stack up into something similar

Then use the tip of my brush to work in some stars

[limpid violet]

Not actually a bad effect. If you do the bases solid teal to start with then paint the outsides after doing this it could work nicely.

Whether you want to sand them smooth first to try that is another thing. Maybe do a test one to see if you like it.

[bright sapphire]

That actually works really well....

[shy elbow]

It'll be a while but I'll test it out yeah

Maybe if I can do the dab with two different colours, I can make it look like a wormhole......

[limpid violet]

Something else to trial is painting some medium mixed with drying retarder, you should be able to actively mix some colours and play with effects.