Hive Fleet Laelaps - My painting blog

[ilovethenids]

Well, I'm starting a painting blog so I can keep track of what I've done, and maybe in 5 years time I'll read through all the pages and see how far I've come - like one of those time capsule things you do in elementary school

Anyways, I decided on the name Laelaps because the description of the creature is PERFECTLY Tyranid. Laelaps was a hunting dog from Greek mythology that was destined to always catch and kill its query. Can't get more Tyarnid than that

Right now, I'm working on painting up 5 termagants and seven hormagaunts. I don't have any of them finished yet, but hopefully I will have them all done by tomorrow. I'll post the step-by-step pictures then. If anyone has some suggestions as to what I should paint next, feel free to give those now. I have an unassembled Tyrant kit that I haven't worked on because I'm not sure whether or not to make a dakka flyrant or the Swarmlord or whatever, so yeah. I also have a biovore, some warriors/shrikes, a Trygon, two carnifexes, Deathleaper, and another lictor.

[tofu]

If you're starting with a new scheme it's best to build up slowly from the small fellas (as you're doing), then onto warriors, lictors, etc. This way you'll have figured out exactly how you want the scheme to go by the time you get to the big guys.

[ilovethenids]

After many hours of working on them, I've finally finished my first batch of Laelaps gaunts







If anyone wants to know the steps I took, just say so Also, comments/feedback are appreciated. I think my next project will be either some warriors or a Lictor.

[jinx]

looking good,would it be possible to see a close up from the side of a gaunt to get a better idea of detail?

[ilovethenids]

As requested, here are some closeups of my most recent output. I've just finished priming 6 Warriors and a Lictor, and I'm going to paint them one at a time since I like doing the mid and big bugs that way

The arm's highlighting could be a bit less choppy, but it's only if you look SUPER close and i would never win any Golden Demons anyways so I see it as passable quality

I think this one's a bit better. I'm using my phone for these pics so quality isn't going to be great :/

Here's an above shot of one of the hormies. I really like the way I did the details such as the AGs and TS - for the former, it was a basecoat of Screamer Pink with a layer of Emperor's Children dotted onto the most raised parts. For the little "bubble" things on the TS, those were Warboss green with a highlight of Moot green. I'm thinking the brains of a zoanthrope and the feeder tendrils of the lictor would be the same as the AG. If anyone has other ideas for those, post them here. Feedback is encouraged!

I do think I could've made a smoother color transition on the claws though.

Tell me what you think!

[ilovethenids]

UPDATE:

I finished painting a Lictor this afternoon, and personally I think it looks fabulous. The pictures are kinda foggy for some reason, so please forgive that.







I tried to get a closeup of the feeder tendrils but due to the pose of the model I couldn't do it :/ Oh well, let me know what you think!

[rippertotheface]

Looks great!
I like the blue in particular
the carapace looks a little bland, though, you could try highlighting it a bit more, I think that would help

[tofu]

Very nice. I agree with above. Some highlighting, or maybe a dark red wash would give the carapace some more depth.

[jinx]

looking good,i agree with the above comments tho

[ilovethenids]

For some reason the highlights are not showing very well on camera - I've been really annoyed at that -.- I think it's the lighting because it's not really catching much of the depth. If anyone has suggestions for ways to get better pics please let me know - Just so people know the colors I used I did the skin with Caledor Sky as a base on all of it, a wash of Drakenhof Nightshade on the fleshy bits and joints, Teclis blue on the raised areas and edges of the fleshy bits/joints, and then Lothern Blue on the most raised areas (ribs, arm/leg/ankle "bulges", the little folds of jaw muscle on the head, etc.). I can tell you that at least in person, the highlights have quite a bit more contrast. I'm not trying to be defensive or anything - the pictures just really aren't capturing the colors at all. I'm working on a warrior right now so as soon as I can get DECENT pictures I'll post them

[danjp]

Hi ilovethenids, I was having the same camera trouble but found if you use a digital camera (or something with macro setting) instead of a camera phone you're likely to get much better quality. If you can, go outside, but not in direct sunlight it's too yellow. Try to let natural light flood into the room by opening the door to outside ect and place models close to door so you get pure white light. Then put a sheet of plain paper behind them and turn off flash. That worked for me.

[ilovethenids]

UPDATE: I finished a warrior a couple hours ago, but I gotta make sure I can get a nice photo before I put it up here (ie one that does it justice ) I've got a couple more warriors to paint, which I'm looking forward to

[vespa]

Can't wait to see your warrior. The lictor looks good, but it can be quite hard to get a photo that does your minis justice. A few tips hat I have learnt are:
Use an actual camera rather than a cell phone. It doesn't matter how many megapixels they cram in to a cell phone, they still have (please do not swear) lenses, tiny sensors, and useless flashes.
Try to use a plain background. I use a piece of plain white paper taped inside a light colored cupboard, that way the sides and top of the cupboard reflect the flash all around the model, which helps reduce unwanted shadows etc. simple, but does the job.

Keep up the good work

[tofu]

Many people avoid using flashes because they can be harsh and bright and create unwanted shadows and make the mini look flat. To avoid this, you can try using multiple light sources with or without the flash.

[ilovethenids]

Sadly, I actually don't have a real camera (or at least one that I can find), but I think I got a decent photo of the second warrior I just finished with a barbed strangler, rending claws, and toxin sacs. The seed storage area of the strangler is what's really standing out in this picture, and the rest is still a little muted by the bad camera, but I thought I'd show it so you could see the seed sac since that's what i'm really proud of on this model.