Thursday, February 23, 2012

Hobby - Tyranid Re-Paint (Test Model Done)

So at an RTT this last weekend I was again inspired to run my Nids. I've come to realize the main reason I don't wanna pull them out is that they are nowhere near the paint level of my other completed armies. It bothers me enough that I'm not bringing them out even when paint isn't important.

Well I've decided to fix that. On sunday I took the beginning steps towards re-painting my army. I figured out a color scheme I like and that I could make look good. Basically I'm stealing some of the tricks I ingrained into myself painting my GK's. Using washes to darken a primary color so you can still highlight with that color is something I'd never done before. This let's me add depth to my model and show different techniques. My old bugs had no highlights and had a ton of extra steps for less pretty. Also the previous paint scheme did not lend itself well to big bugs. Also something I think that this scheme will do better.


Here is some shots of the new scheme test model:



As you can see I went with green and blue. I wanted a primary color that covers extremely well for all the flat carapace on the big guys and blue really is the best for it. That being said I didn't want to do another blue and white or bleached boned army. I like the color but I wanted something different. Originally I tried blue and purple but the purples are to dark to see good highlights on and didn't pop like I wanted. So I settled on green. The only thing not done on this model is the eyes. It's a pretty simple paint job and not a ton of paints.

For those that are interested the paints are:

-Orkhide Green (Foundation)
-Snot Green
-Ultramarine Blue
-Badab Black (Wash)
-Bleached Bone
-Bestial Brown
-Blood Red (for the eyes when I do them)

The painting method is:

-Overbrush Orkhide
-Overbrush Snot Green
-Paint Ultramarine Blue over the carapace and claws
-Wash the model with Badab Black
-Highlight with Snot Green
-Highlight with Ultramarine Blue
-Paint the teeth Bleached Bone
-Paint the eyes Blood Red (likely with a thin toothpick)
-Ring the base with Bestial brown, Overbrush the flocked base Bestial Brown
-Drybrush base with Bleached Bone

Pretty simple. Not a ton of steps which will make painting the models go quickly but I like the result. By the time you guys see this I should have the first 15 Termagants painted up to this standard. I want to start with the baby bugs to get smooth before moving onto the big critters.

So what do you guys think of the new scheme?