Post by runruskyrun on Feb 19, 2011 10:24:11 GMT
I just took the dive and bought a variety of Nids, something I've wanted to do forever. I've played several chapters of SMarines, Tau, Necron, and IG.
tl;dr version:
1. Color scheme black>red>tan>yellow (red>black?)
2. Need some basic tips for common Nid painting techniques
3. Specifically would like to know if anyone has some good instructions for layering on carapace or bony protrusions.
So to start with, I let my Biology major pick a color scheme for me. I wanted to base my army around aposematic coloring, and settled on the basic color scheme of a coral snake. I was a weak painter when I last played a year or two ago - power armor isn't really challenging to (learn to) paint. As such, I wanted to make the base, fleshy layer of my Nids black to take advantage of the primer, and then use red for the carapace and tan/layered yellow for the more prominent highlights - bone scythes, gaunt guns, etc.
Looking around at many of the posted armies, I've decided I would be far better served by reversing the red and the black - the red is more logically fleshy and the black is more versatile for the highlighting role of the carapace - and taking this opportunity to really put the effort in and make this army something to be proud of. Looking at the posted armies, I also realized I would quickly be in over my head, so I wanted to ask around and crowdsource some ideas.
For those inclined to help, here is what I -want- to achieve with my army: I want to stay true to the theme of aposematic coloring and keep my army visually striking. This would probably lead me to trend towards brighter reds, leaving me free to use more mute tones for stealthier characters such as Raveners. While this would be more easily achieved by adding orange or yellow in a more prominent role, I also want to respect the (initially!) stealthy nature of the Tyranids, and not create Tendril DANG I'M FANCY! This leads to the issue of balancing having bright enough colors without going overboard, and that's something that I feel is both not something I could eyeball and is something that could be more successfully achieved with good highlighting technique. I would like to retain one of my motifs from my days in the Dark Angels, inverted highlight coloring for elite units. As far as I could imagine, this would entail more tan/bone-colored carapaces and ... sharp-looking black for the assorted 'weapons'? As you can probably tell, this is something beyond my ability to imagine while typing out a post.
From what I can tell by looking around, my greatest challenge in learning a new style of painting will be layering. I'm fairly competent - albeit lazy in the past - with washes, drybrushing, and inking to get crevices, and I have a steady hand (bloody Rosarii and purity seals). However, layering was simply never something I had to learn in my past history of large, brightly-armored super-warriors (let's ignore the IG, I got them as a gift pre-painted). I've seen a few techniques on this board and from some linked tutorial sites, but I'm trying to have a good understanding of the process before I put brush to model.
I can also imagine that teeth will be problematic; on more troublesome models, I would pre-paint interior areas (chestguards, landspeeders, etc) before assembling the models, but I very highly doubt that I glue in each tooth individually. If anyone can shed some light... har har... on how to reach the insides of mouths, or if I should even care, please do tell.
To wrap up, I'd really appreciate any help from the more veteran members out there (compared to me, this probably means everyone) on the basics of painting Nids. I'd also be grateful if anyone out there is artistically gifted enough to grasp the basics of my color scheme and give me some feedback in that area.
Thanks much,
Rusky
Tendril... Tendril... We'll work on that later.
tl;dr version:
1. Color scheme black>red>tan>yellow (red>black?)
2. Need some basic tips for common Nid painting techniques
3. Specifically would like to know if anyone has some good instructions for layering on carapace or bony protrusions.
So to start with, I let my Biology major pick a color scheme for me. I wanted to base my army around aposematic coloring, and settled on the basic color scheme of a coral snake. I was a weak painter when I last played a year or two ago - power armor isn't really challenging to (learn to) paint. As such, I wanted to make the base, fleshy layer of my Nids black to take advantage of the primer, and then use red for the carapace and tan/layered yellow for the more prominent highlights - bone scythes, gaunt guns, etc.
Looking around at many of the posted armies, I've decided I would be far better served by reversing the red and the black - the red is more logically fleshy and the black is more versatile for the highlighting role of the carapace - and taking this opportunity to really put the effort in and make this army something to be proud of. Looking at the posted armies, I also realized I would quickly be in over my head, so I wanted to ask around and crowdsource some ideas.
For those inclined to help, here is what I -want- to achieve with my army: I want to stay true to the theme of aposematic coloring and keep my army visually striking. This would probably lead me to trend towards brighter reds, leaving me free to use more mute tones for stealthier characters such as Raveners. While this would be more easily achieved by adding orange or yellow in a more prominent role, I also want to respect the (initially!) stealthy nature of the Tyranids, and not create Tendril DANG I'M FANCY! This leads to the issue of balancing having bright enough colors without going overboard, and that's something that I feel is both not something I could eyeball and is something that could be more successfully achieved with good highlighting technique. I would like to retain one of my motifs from my days in the Dark Angels, inverted highlight coloring for elite units. As far as I could imagine, this would entail more tan/bone-colored carapaces and ... sharp-looking black for the assorted 'weapons'? As you can probably tell, this is something beyond my ability to imagine while typing out a post.
From what I can tell by looking around, my greatest challenge in learning a new style of painting will be layering. I'm fairly competent - albeit lazy in the past - with washes, drybrushing, and inking to get crevices, and I have a steady hand (bloody Rosarii and purity seals). However, layering was simply never something I had to learn in my past history of large, brightly-armored super-warriors (let's ignore the IG, I got them as a gift pre-painted). I've seen a few techniques on this board and from some linked tutorial sites, but I'm trying to have a good understanding of the process before I put brush to model.
I can also imagine that teeth will be problematic; on more troublesome models, I would pre-paint interior areas (chestguards, landspeeders, etc) before assembling the models, but I very highly doubt that I glue in each tooth individually. If anyone can shed some light... har har... on how to reach the insides of mouths, or if I should even care, please do tell.
To wrap up, I'd really appreciate any help from the more veteran members out there (compared to me, this probably means everyone) on the basics of painting Nids. I'd also be grateful if anyone out there is artistically gifted enough to grasp the basics of my color scheme and give me some feedback in that area.
Thanks much,
Rusky
Tendril... Tendril... We'll work on that later.