Hive Fleet Taniwha (Thropes!)

[ziyousansz]

Let's get this out the way upfront - I'm not a great painter. When I got my battleforce, I immediately jumped on the conversions I wanted, but I'm finding the motivation to paint it all is spotty. I'm also working with my phone's camera for the moment. My old digital camera no longer wishes to focus correctly. That said, I've got some of the minis done, and my color scheme is decided upon. Nothing is based yet save three warriors I bought off Ebay and repainted (their basing was fairly well done, but their paint schemes were flat and lacking details.) The basing will come at a later point, and I'll post when it's done.

For now, here's what's painted:


Primer: I'm using Krylon's Sun Yellow spray paint.
Skin: Leviathan Purple wash with Golden Yellow drybrushed over.
Skin Vents: Leviathan Purple wash with Chaos Black drybrushed on.


Carapace: Scab Red with Hawk Turquoise feathering. I mix a little Ultramarine Blue in a fair bit of water to wash the shell after.


Claws / Scythes / Teeth / Swords / Hooves: Chaos Black with Bleached Bone feathering.



Gun: Golden Yellow & Hawk Turquoise mixed 1:1
Gun Vents: Scab Red & Chaos Black mixed 3:1


The guns aren't consistent between models as far as detailing goes. I'm trying to give each style of gun a different variation on the color scheme.

So far, it's 10 Termagants, 3 warriors, a Prime, Broodlord and Hive Guard. Many of these are in the Converting tab so I won't post a lot of pics, but heres:

10 gants + warriors:


(Old warrior paint job when they arrived in this one)


Prime:


Broodlord:


Hive Guard:


Mycetic Spore:


Again, I openly accept critiques and advice. I've found this community to be a huge help in my 40k experience so far. I'll also post new pics as I complete my minis, hopefully getting better as I go.

[Gulg]

those things look nasty... good job!

[Hunger]

Thats a great scheme. An unusual choice of colurs - the lurid yellow skin and artistically colour-blasted carapace make for really unsettling models. Does anybody else feel slightly disturbed by these?

[captainbirdbum]

looking very organic and mean. i commend your efforts

[ziyousansz]

Almost done with the stealers, I'll put up pics in the next few days.

Thanks for the comments! I'm still learning how to paint, and the stealers so far are a lot cleaner than the earlier efforts are. It is getting easier to keep the brush where I want it to be, though.

Hunger: Thanks, man. I tried a few color schemes, but I find the earth-tone 'nid schemes are kind of boring and the brightly colorful schemes don't feel right. If somebody finds them a little unnerving, then I feel my job is done

[Inquisitor Stingray]

Looks good man! The Mycetic Spore makes me wanna puke, haha!

[hellian]

these are really good <3 it man! especially the hive-guard! nice flesh-hooks

[ziyousansz]

So between work, Skyrim, painting stuff for my wife, the holidays, Skyrim, job hunting and Skyrim, the genestealers took a little longer than expected. Here they are, though:




I wasn't sure how to handle the different style of carapace, so I painted some of the top spines with carapace colors to break up all the yellow. Also, they get an Avatar head-arrow just because.




I completely forgot to paint the bases before I put the gravel and leafing on them, so I may knock off what I can and redo them later. I've also got a little extra cash this week so I'm planning to pick up actual basing supplies. They're fighting over a stoney, broken world but they still need grass or sand under all the debris.

Coming next: Hormogaunts!

[Koyori]

Humm... the color scheme ya got is quite interesting, and we do need more people who dare to chose something original. There is however room for improvement. I'm not sure if its me the or the picture but the paint do seem a but thick overall so maybe thing the paint a bit. Also another thing is all the mold lines, take the time to clean such things up, it will make models look alot better. Sides that its nice to see some new ideas so keep up the work ^^.

[ziyousansz]

Hm. You're absolutely right, I forgot about the mold lines. I'll be remedying that starting with the next batch. I'm working on the painting abilities as I go. I have no illusions about being a good painter. I'm thinning the paint with water but I might be putting on too much of it. The yellow shows every flaw pretty easily and I think I'm overcompensating for that.

[ziyousansz]

So, this might be common sense to everybody else, but it just dawned on me that I need to thin down my washes just like I do my paints. I'm getting much smoother results with the latest addition. Again, forgive the darkness to the pics - a tabletop lamp is on my list of things to get soon.

My Zoanthrope:






I didn't think this would be as big or unbalanced as it is. The zoan was something of an impromptu purchase (my car was overheating, I needed to stop for a bit and I happened to be near the game store). Having something more interesting to paint is such a motivator over having the swarming horde of gaunts. But still, next time - gaunts!

[Hive Carnithrope]

I'm lovin' the Zoanthrope. Very cool. The brain looks good.

One criticism though, on your first couple of pics, I couldn't help thinking the gun was kinda dirty. I don't know why, but the colour isn't pure and it looks funny. I can see bits of blue and red poking through the yellow. I'm sure it's not your fault. Yellow is notoriously hard to paint, but maybe a few more coats, but make sure they're very thin because you'll lose the detail otherwise and it is quite thick anyway.

Otherwise, good job. Keep it up.

HC out.

[ziyousansz]

Aye. This is sort of a "WIP" as far as my painting abilities go. Between the first set and the last set, I've learned more about thinning paint, layering effects and various techniques. The paint on everything before the hive guard wasn't properly thinned, and I didn't have a clue what to do about the guard's gun when I got to it. I may repaint those later on, but I'm still learning as I go honestly. So, criticize away. I don't improve unless people tell me what I'm doing wrong.

[Hive Carnithrope]

Dec 23, 2011 3:47:00 GMT ziyousansz said:

Aye. This is sort of a "WIP" as far as my painting abilities go. Between the first set and the last set, I've learned more about thinning paint, layering effects and various techniques. The paint on everything before the hive guard wasn't properly thinned, and I didn't have a clue what to do about the guard's gun when I got to it. I may repaint those later on, but I'm still learning as I go honestly. So, criticize away. I don't improve unless people tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Naah. Don't worry, I was only nitpicking.

If you do ever repaint it, you might want to strip the paint instead of just painting over it. It might be difficult since the rest of the model needs to stay painted, but I'm sure you can manage.

But it really is only a small point. If you don't want to but remember to do it right on all subsequent models, you'll never notice.

[bigpig]

I'm loving the spore. Care to share how you made it?

I second the critiques on the thick paint. Another suggestion would be to go back and pick out a few highlights in the original color after the wash. That will help to get rid of the muddy look on the models a bit. If you limit it to a few spots it won't add that much in time and effort.