Some months ago, after the discovery of some of the original Tyranid warriors and Genestealers in an old, buried box, I decided to collect a retro Tyranid army built from 1st, 2nd and 3rd edition models. I've been trying to think of a colour scheme that's very quick and easy to do, so that I have a hope of painting an entire army one day. Here's my first test...
My concept was to use a black primer and dark basecoat so that I could quickly knock out the base shading. I bounced a few ideas around but decided to go with a desert theme:
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| Chaos Black GW primer |
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| Mournfang Brown base |
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| Zandri Dust highlight |
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| Ushabti bone and Zemesi Desert highlights. I tried to focus the bone on the flesh and the yellow on the carapace, to varying degrees of success |
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| Seraphim Sepia, Carroburg Crimson and Drakenhof Nightshade washes plus Ushabti Bone and Skull White highlights. A quick coat of black and silver drybrush to finish the base |
Over all, I am pleased with the technique, it's fast, easy and consistent but I can't say I'm happy with the colour scheme - it's too mono-colour despite my efforts to vary it. I think the armour or the flesh needs to be changed to add some contrast but I'm not sure what colour I should make it without looking too gaudy! Any thoughts? Leave a comment...
Cactus green!
ReplyDeleteI considered green... I might give it a go on something smaller first to see how the combination looks...
DeleteLooks really nice!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :)
DeleteLooks really good. My advice is to look up desert lizards and snakes for inspiration - green might look a bit artificial but a darker brown might work.
ReplyDeleteBrown was something I had in mind. I think I'll try the same again but mask the skin or the carapace after the first brown base coat. Good idea on checking out lizards though, I was so focused on the technique that I didn't check any source images,
DeleteI really love the old screamer killer, fond memories of older editions. I assume you've seen this conversion of the new Carnifex kit to resemble the old classic. http://www.modernsynthesist.com/2011/05/screamer-killer-rides-again.html
ReplyDeleteThe new Tyranid models are excellent, but the old, original Tyranids have a lot of unique character and, of course, nostalgia.
DeleteYeah, I think I've seen that conversion before. At twice the size of the old one he's going to be hard to hide on the battlefield!