Leviathan at last

[ghostnids]

Welcome to my paint blog.

I'm an inexperienced painter doing a leviathan 'eavy metal style similar to the one Juan Hidalgo posted a torturial of on youtube (sw: 'eavy contrast leviathan). Took me around 10 hours to finish my first termagant. You might think I'm insane wanting to paint a 2k army this way, but I just want to get good. This project is more about developing a solid skillset than it is about pumping out units, and to my surprise I find this way of painting far more enjoyable. I've always wanted an army looking like the ones I drooled over in the tyranid codices growing up. I finally bit the bullet and got myself some good quality brushes, a wet pallete and lots of paints. I have a very long way to go, but I'm quite pleased with my first gribbly considering I've pretty much only drybrushed before, and all the normal painting techs are brand new to me. All C&C is welcome. I just want to improve as much as possible.

I've not setteled on how I want to base them yet. I think I might go with lush green grass and some water effects, especially on the larger bases. If you guys have any ideas what might compliment the scheme I'd love to hear them!










Thank you for checking out my paintingblog!
Next up are 4 more termagants. After i reach 10, I will take on a flying hive tyrant!

[niiai]

It is looking good.

It looks very similar to mine (Although I do not use contrast. It was not a thing when I started. ) One of the tings I really love is making the stripes in the scale. It always make them pop.

I have started using the red contrast on tallons etc. All bone parts of my nids are red. I do not do shooting weapons in red like offisial leviathan does.

[ghostnids]

Thanks! The stripings on the carapace is definetly one of my favourite features too. White ranged weapons and red melee weapons is actually how the original leviathan scheme as it fitst appeared in the 4th edition codex was done. Interestingly, the gene stealers carapace is only painted purple IF the stealers got the extended carapace. Otherwise they are all white with purple shades in the recesses. Not sure which route I'm going with myself.

[naviedzony]

Awesome!

[ghostnids]

Thank you

This week I have been busy removing mould lines from gants, which I think is the ultimate test of patience if one is fussy about those things. (Please GW give us a new kit, or at least a recast!) They are now primed and their skin have gotten their fourth application of heavily watered down screaming skull. I regret trying the grey Vallejo model paint spray, as it is even more powdery than GW’s skull white I used on my test gaunt. It is also quite thick, which means I have to be super careful not to obscure the details even further, while also trying to get a smooth finish to cover up the awful gritty look. Next time I’ll try GW’s wraith bone. The colour is quite close to screaming skull, which means a couple of thin coats should do it, and everyone in my gaming group have assured me that it gives a very smooth result. If it is half as smooth as chaos black I’m happy.

I also have a little test project going on. The straight striations I'm doing for my ga(u)nts carapaces can be extrapolated to models like carnifexes and hive tyrants since their carapaces are basically curved rectangles. For models whose carapace designs are more intricate, with sections varying in width and multiple curvatures, I need to come up with individual solutions if I want long stripes with tight spacing that start high up and end at the edge. I could of course avoid this problem by doing the usual soft fade or feathering at the edges of the carapace, but I would rather find a way to make long striations work for these as well.

Here are two possible solutions I’m considering for my neurothrope/zoanthropes:







On the left side I tried coming as close as I could to the original design. With more practice I think it would make for a clean and striking look. On the other side I tried something that I hoped would look like capillaries, but it ended up looking more like lighting. Do you think I should go with the curved striations or keep experimenting with the webby look? Maybe less lines? It could make sense to go for one line on each side that branches out more and more the further back as the carapace gets wider. I would love to hear your ideas on this!

Thank you for checking out my paint blog

[garg]

This looks really good, i am amazed you are an inexperienced painter. The detail and transition on those lines is quality. In answer to your question, i think you should do both. Lightning for the psykers and lines for the other big bugs.

[hivefleetkerrigan]

You have really smooth lines. I'm astounded you're a novice painter as well. I'd personally go with the straight lines I just like the look better. Keep up the good work and keep posting

[terminatoruk]

Jun 3, 2021 22:22:23 GMT ghostnids said:

Welcome to my paint blog.

I'm an inexperienced painter doing a leviathan 'eavy metal style similar to the one Juan Hidalgo posted a torturial of on youtube (sw: 'eavy contrast leviathan). Took me around 10 hours to finish my first termagant. You might think I'm insane wanting to paint a 2k army this way, but I just want to get good. This project is more about developing a solid skillset than it is about pumping out units, and to my surprise I find this way of painting far more enjoyable. I've always wanted an army looking like the ones I drooled over in the tyranid codices growing up. I finally bit the bullet and got myself some good quality brushes, a wet pallete and lots of paints. I have a very long way to go, but I'm quite pleased with my first gribbly considering I've pretty much only drybrushed before, and all the normal painting techs are brand new to me. All C&C is welcome. I just want to improve as much as possible.

I've not setteled on how I want to base them yet. I think I might go with lush green grass and some water effects, especially on the larger bases. If you guys have any ideas what might compliment the scheme I'd love to hear them!










Thank you for checking out my paintingblog!
Next up are 4 more termagants. After i reach 10, I will take on a flying hive tyrant!

Don't apologise - my black and white scheme took forever until I got to a point where I was happy with the technique and wanted to continue.

Your leviathan scheme is excellent and super clean - I really love it.