Post by danjp on Jun 2, 2013 18:38:07 GMT
Afternoon all,
I've now decided this thread will be my picture log of all the models I come to paint, and hopefully as my army evolves, my skills as a painter will evolve likewise. To start this off here are two steps to my Carnifex paint project which I promised a while back on my Hive Tyrant thread. The paint scheme is one option I will take for my Euroxphysis Hive Fleet (there will be some variants to come), but right now it's a basis for the majority of my Tyranids. The idea is to both instruct those who want to follow or take some inspiration from my scheme so they can paint their own, and also indicate to the more experienced hobbyists how I am painting my models so far so they can advise me as brutally as they need to how to improve for the future. I am still just a rookie when it comes to painting after all.
First I sprayed the model with a basic basecoat of Chaos Black - this is particularly to assist bring out the reddish black skin effect for the end result, as opposed to just dry brushing the black on later. In my opinion it provides a smoother and more realistic finish. It also helps give my desert carapace a more worn down effect, which is a huge factor to the Euroxphysis scheme as you'll see..
Next use a heavily watered down red paint to act as a wash and paint all the SKIN areas, doing your best to avoid any armour/weapons ect. I use Khorne Red (which used to be Scab Red) for the body because I'm told it's the darkest red available, and that's what I'm after.
Note that when I paint a fex I glue the head on once all the detail has been added at the last stage, that way I can make sure I can get to all those really tricky bits that require more attention. If anything I do not want a bad looking head on my model. I also don't glue it down on a base until the last stage either as I can easily turn the body in all directions and at any angle to paint hard to reach areas. Something I couldn't do if it was glued down.
Once you've washed the skin water the brush down and dab it until it's slightly damp, then apply Zandri Dust straight from the pot onto the carapace (make sure it's well mixed.)
You might notice I've painted some areas a yellow colour; this is actually Zamesi Desert (Bubonic Brown) which is recommended for the base coat of the exoskeleton on Hive Fleet Kraken nids. I use the Kraken scheme to create a worn bone effect on my larger models to indicate they've survived many battles. So if you want to do the same leave some areas of the armour black and paint it straight on. It's very thin, so be prepared to layer it (same for the Zandri dust, but not as bad.)
That's as far as I've got so far, next is the green detail in the recesses, metallic effect for the weapons and black dry brushing stage, please give me advice if you have some!
EDIT: This morning I've been working on the metallic effects of the fex's talons, claws and feet. I use Hashut Copper (Dwarf Bronze) for the metal in my scheme, but Runefang Steel (Mithril Silver) and Auric Armour Gold (Burnished Gold) work equally as effective and I have used both in the past with great results.
This again is optional, but to assist my 'worn' theme I lightly rub and scratch the areas I applied the copper to (I also use a needle to reach hard places and correct minute errors.) I do this in order to wear away some of the shine and replace it with a dull blackish tone. Now we're getting to the really detailed bits. The next step is to paint green into the recesses and highlight the desert armour with the copper through feathering.
EDIT: Sorry it's been so long since I updated this post, if anyone was enjoying my stages. I've been away from painting for a bit but today I picked up my brush and now all the green 'blood' areas are complete:
I have had some difficulty with overflow when painting in the recesses. I still heavily water down my Moot Green (Scorpion Green) and let it flow into the gaps, and admittedly my head and fleshy areas on the fex were a lot better. However I still have problems with the rib cage so if anyone can help with that in some way, I'd say that's a critical area for improvement.
BTW I just stumbled across a brilliant internet paint site that allows you to test out different schemes - and these are the main colours my new fleet Euroxphysis will sport in the future (and what I'm going for with my Carnifex.) So far the fex in comparison is pretty good.
EDIT:
The copper highlighting is now complete. At first I just attempted feathered brush strokes around the edges of the carapace, but because I thought the copper stood out too much due to it's very contrasting metallic colour(looking less of a highlight and more of a pattern effect), I thought up a solution to 'blend' the two colours into each other slightly. I used a mix of both Hashhut Copper and Zandri Dust heavily watered down to a sort of glittery wash to give the armour a tint of copper, allowing the highlights to fade in better.
This head is a better example of how effective I think the metallic shine of the copper is at 'highlighting' areas of the carapace, literally. It's why I value these metallic paints. Next up is finishing the worn bone effect, then black drybrushing to finish.
EDIT: Just a quick update, the bone effect is painted and the back dry brushing almost finished. I have to say I'm so impressed by the drybrushing stage - I was at first only going to blacken the skin but by happy accident I realised brushing the armour gave an amazing shadow effect that literally blended in with the copper highlights to give an awesome dark tint. This is only the SECOND Tyranid I've painted since returning after 6 years and it already looks semi professional. It's amazing how studying all those guides can really help! The only way is up.. I'll post pictures tomorrow maybe.
EDIT: It's finally done
One Carnifex with the bone effect -
And finally the dry brushed skin and carapace -
I will update with a picture of it based and ready to go soon. Next up is the Doom of Ma'lantai I received from Hydracast (google his blog!), one warrior, one guard and 16 gaunts. Should keep me busy
I've now decided this thread will be my picture log of all the models I come to paint, and hopefully as my army evolves, my skills as a painter will evolve likewise. To start this off here are two steps to my Carnifex paint project which I promised a while back on my Hive Tyrant thread. The paint scheme is one option I will take for my Euroxphysis Hive Fleet (there will be some variants to come), but right now it's a basis for the majority of my Tyranids. The idea is to both instruct those who want to follow or take some inspiration from my scheme so they can paint their own, and also indicate to the more experienced hobbyists how I am painting my models so far so they can advise me as brutally as they need to how to improve for the future. I am still just a rookie when it comes to painting after all.
First I sprayed the model with a basic basecoat of Chaos Black - this is particularly to assist bring out the reddish black skin effect for the end result, as opposed to just dry brushing the black on later. In my opinion it provides a smoother and more realistic finish. It also helps give my desert carapace a more worn down effect, which is a huge factor to the Euroxphysis scheme as you'll see..
Next use a heavily watered down red paint to act as a wash and paint all the SKIN areas, doing your best to avoid any armour/weapons ect. I use Khorne Red (which used to be Scab Red) for the body because I'm told it's the darkest red available, and that's what I'm after.
Note that when I paint a fex I glue the head on once all the detail has been added at the last stage, that way I can make sure I can get to all those really tricky bits that require more attention. If anything I do not want a bad looking head on my model. I also don't glue it down on a base until the last stage either as I can easily turn the body in all directions and at any angle to paint hard to reach areas. Something I couldn't do if it was glued down.
Once you've washed the skin water the brush down and dab it until it's slightly damp, then apply Zandri Dust straight from the pot onto the carapace (make sure it's well mixed.)
You might notice I've painted some areas a yellow colour; this is actually Zamesi Desert (Bubonic Brown) which is recommended for the base coat of the exoskeleton on Hive Fleet Kraken nids. I use the Kraken scheme to create a worn bone effect on my larger models to indicate they've survived many battles. So if you want to do the same leave some areas of the armour black and paint it straight on. It's very thin, so be prepared to layer it (same for the Zandri dust, but not as bad.)
That's as far as I've got so far, next is the green detail in the recesses, metallic effect for the weapons and black dry brushing stage, please give me advice if you have some!
EDIT: This morning I've been working on the metallic effects of the fex's talons, claws and feet. I use Hashut Copper (Dwarf Bronze) for the metal in my scheme, but Runefang Steel (Mithril Silver) and Auric Armour Gold (Burnished Gold) work equally as effective and I have used both in the past with great results.
This again is optional, but to assist my 'worn' theme I lightly rub and scratch the areas I applied the copper to (I also use a needle to reach hard places and correct minute errors.) I do this in order to wear away some of the shine and replace it with a dull blackish tone. Now we're getting to the really detailed bits. The next step is to paint green into the recesses and highlight the desert armour with the copper through feathering.
EDIT: Sorry it's been so long since I updated this post, if anyone was enjoying my stages. I've been away from painting for a bit but today I picked up my brush and now all the green 'blood' areas are complete:
I have had some difficulty with overflow when painting in the recesses. I still heavily water down my Moot Green (Scorpion Green) and let it flow into the gaps, and admittedly my head and fleshy areas on the fex were a lot better. However I still have problems with the rib cage so if anyone can help with that in some way, I'd say that's a critical area for improvement.
BTW I just stumbled across a brilliant internet paint site that allows you to test out different schemes - and these are the main colours my new fleet Euroxphysis will sport in the future (and what I'm going for with my Carnifex.) So far the fex in comparison is pretty good.
EDIT:
The copper highlighting is now complete. At first I just attempted feathered brush strokes around the edges of the carapace, but because I thought the copper stood out too much due to it's very contrasting metallic colour(looking less of a highlight and more of a pattern effect), I thought up a solution to 'blend' the two colours into each other slightly. I used a mix of both Hashhut Copper and Zandri Dust heavily watered down to a sort of glittery wash to give the armour a tint of copper, allowing the highlights to fade in better.
This head is a better example of how effective I think the metallic shine of the copper is at 'highlighting' areas of the carapace, literally. It's why I value these metallic paints. Next up is finishing the worn bone effect, then black drybrushing to finish.
EDIT: Just a quick update, the bone effect is painted and the back dry brushing almost finished. I have to say I'm so impressed by the drybrushing stage - I was at first only going to blacken the skin but by happy accident I realised brushing the armour gave an amazing shadow effect that literally blended in with the copper highlights to give an awesome dark tint. This is only the SECOND Tyranid I've painted since returning after 6 years and it already looks semi professional. It's amazing how studying all those guides can really help! The only way is up.. I'll post pictures tomorrow maybe.
EDIT: It's finally done
One Carnifex with the bone effect -
And finally the dry brushed skin and carapace -
I will update with a picture of it based and ready to go soon. Next up is the Doom of Ma'lantai I received from Hydracast (google his blog!), one warrior, one guard and 16 gaunts. Should keep me busy
really pulled out the stops with helping me! He PM'd a test Carnifex head tutorial which I could follow for my own scheme, and today I finished a practise head following his steps:
