A mage in progress

So I’ve been working the Liberian (Sci-fy mage) for my Space Marine force, and he is being rather tricky! There is just so much detail on him that its hard to figure out what colours to use. Some are defined by the army colour scheme the gold armour, black and white shoulder pads. But other bits are hard to figure out, like the book cover, I want it to look realistic, be visible on the model but at the same time not dominate, so I went for a reddy brown to look like a leather book cover. But other bits I’m just not sure on like the pipes/cables going to his arm do I go different colours like elwctrical wiring, but would that stand out to much, or just grey to hid it but is that to dull and makes them sort of pointless?

I must say however that I am really enjoying painting this model, I’m not 100% sure why, but it could be the challenge of figuring out these bits is what I’m finding fun.

As I’m sure you can all tell there is still a long way to go but at least its moving. Also I’m reasonably happy with all the bits I’ve finished which is a plus!

The one bit I am unsure on however are the lenses, do they work or do they need to be a stronger colour against the purple?

Hope everyone else is up to some good stuff!