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Hey guys,

As many people do I have lurked these forums for a few years before finally mustering up the courage to sign up, with that said another thing I was always worried about was painting, especially in public and I think a lot of that comes down to the fact "other peoples" models were done to a quality I felt I couldn't ever get near, whilst I know there are some lovely people in a hobby like this it was always quite daunting, knowing a few of them would be sarcy or sniggle at other people, trust me I've seen it happen a few times over the years.

Anyway I'm here now and I've attempted to paint a few nids, in truth I painted all 12 hormagaunts in 3-4 days just experimenting with different washes, different orders of layers, dry brushing and so forth. As a complete novice that has followed Games Workshop for 10 odd years I've never primed and painted my own model, ever. I'm hoping in showing you guys a few pictures I can get some advice maybe a few pointers where I'm going wrong etc

Here are a few pictures of models I've attempted to paint over the last 2 days, if wondering the reason the red carapaced gaunt is missing an arm it's so I could just allow more of a viewing for potential photos.

These models are not finished I suppose I got the fundamental bits out of the way and I'm rather stumped on how to "finish them" - and I don't mean Mortal Kombat style!

Without needing an expert opinion I know I'm quite iffy on some of the lines, especially those on the upper leg of the gaunts, the small piece of carapace I struggled to maintain within the lines even when taking my time, it's not a huge amount of paint but it's far from perfect. The other thing I've noted is I can quite easily colour the carapace and now I've managed to get a bit of a smoother flow of colour I'm stumped as to what to do next. This isn't to suggest I haven't tried a gradient (wont be doing that again soon) and brush strokes however I tried slowly building up in colour and didn't find my transitions perhaps as smooth as I would have liked. Practice makes perfect I suppose

As the few friends I know that do paint are relatively decent at it I'm just curious is it normal to see people playing 40k with models not done with precision on rank and file troops? I've come to a stage, even after a few days where I feel meh this is no where near "table top standard" thus I shouldn't play with it, it's a stupid attitude to have as I've clearly spent time and money on the models but it's hard to find a motivation to get me believing there is any progress being made (Though I've not painted before)

If anyone can recommend any tutorials for a basic gaunt it'd be appreciated

The following sepia / blue models were done via the following

Primed white
(Whitened) Ushabti bone as a base layer over skin
Sepia wash over all skin (Watered so done twice)
Calgar blue on the carapace
Claws chaos black

(Guard was dry brushed with skull white with a tiny amount of teclis blue, brushed perhaps too much)

I had a couple of minor problems maybe because of that order of doing things whereby the crevices' weren't being darkened to the extent I wanted by the wash, I did dabble over the top again to greater effect but it was never really concise

Thanks for reading (Life story over) any suggestions greatly appreciated

Crespo

The bone and red is striking.. I would do a transition from a deep red to a lighter red possibly a reddish orange.. The interesting thing with transitions with nids are they can simply be really thin lines.. It will take some practice to get the control of, but with a little bit of time you will be fine.. Never be afraid to try a new technique it is are only way to learn.. Also never give up after the first try.. You have a great base, now run with it..

I like the drybrushed blue hive guard shell

I am genuinely jealous of your painting skills.

kshaw2000 wrote:I am genuinely jealous of your painting skills.

anyway back on topic... i like both the red and the blue color scheme!
i personally like to see the details deserving a little bit more of your attention but as they are still WIP im just pointing it out as a point of interest

keep on painting! seems you got the basics down!

kshaw2000 wrote:I am genuinely jealous of your painting skills.

Sarcasm?

DijnsK wrote:

kshaw2000 wrote:I am genuinely jealous of your painting skills.

anyway back on topic... i like both the red and the blue color scheme!
i personally like to see the details deserving a little bit more of your attention but as they are still WIP im just pointing it out as a point of interest

keep on painting! seems you got the basics down!

Thanks for the replies the detail is something in time I'm hoping I'll be better with, right now I'm fairly stumped on what to do with minor details outside of basing it - will have a look around online and post some updates

Here are two bigger pictures of two models I've done today, the thick paint / blotchiness is a pain but I'm hoping I can improve quickly

Small update

I'm having a problem or five with thinning down paints, as shown below with the two models I think

The models here were done as so

Sepia wash

Reikland Fleshshade wash

50/50 mix of ushabti bone and skull white on raised areas

Macragge for the initial carapace colour

Calgar blue / lothern blue for highlights and such

The problem comes in the form of this, once I wash the model twice it is almost a terracotta and I then raise it up to a bone look, after some words of wisdom of the thickness of paint I'm finding it hard balancing the bone / white / water to create a decent look over 2-3 coats, it's becoming very messy and untidy looking


The third picture is a comparison

LEFT HAND GAUNT - Slight washing down of bone / white

RIGHT HAND GAUNT - Built up through mildly watered down bone / white

Any suggestions for methods to do this more easily? I don't fancy going out and spending £36 on 2 boxes of gaunts tbh

Been a week painting now! Fun times

The two models I got around to touching up today (hehe) did do a few others gaunts without the arms, hopefully they turn out the same tone!

I have to say i like them.

Would be happy to have my tyranid army to that sort of standard for tabletop level.

K3 wrote:I have to say i like them.

Would be happy to have my tyranid army to that sort of standard for tabletop level.

Thanks but as mentioned I've only painted for a week, I like to improve and dedicate time to stuff all at once, have my mind on it now want to improve I guess - sure your models look nice enough assuming you aren't also new to the hobby!

While I'm not a fan of the sepia washed flesh tone in general ( I find it a bit dull but meh thats just my pref ^^ ) I do like what youve done with the carapace. You make it work well.

been collecting and playing for about 12 years, but my painting skills still arent up to your level.

Karl

Aprion wrote:While I'm not a fan of the sepia washed flesh tone in general ( I find it a bit dull but meh thats just my pref ^^ ) I do like what youve done with the carapace. You make it work well.

Thanks I appreciate the input

K3 wrote:been collecting and playing for about 12 years, but my painting skills still arent up to your level.

Karl

I'm sure yours aren't bad, I'll be down town tomorrow / Saturday if you or anyone are around!

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Here are two pictures of my two potential schemes, one is just sepia the other is sepia then screaming skull over the top, just takes a lot more time to perfect. They are far from great but I think I've had some progress over the last 10 days

EDIT: Worth noting these are without carapace highlighting which I will indeed be doing

i see improvement!
make sure to thin your paints a little bit more! its better to paint 2/3 thin layers to get a smooth coat then to put on a single covering layer (yes even with the new paints)

Another new 'nid collector here. So far I really like your models, I don't think you have a problem with neatness from what I can see, I think if you had a stark contrast in blues on the carapace, perhaps up to Ice Blue (not sure what the equivalent paint from the new range is called) they'd really stand out.

Anyway hoping to post some pics up of my first finished ones soon

redbristles wrote:Another new 'nid collector here. So far I really like your models, I don't think you have a problem with neatness from what I can see, I think if you had a stark contrast in blues on the carapace, perhaps up to Ice Blue (not sure what the equivalent paint from the new range is called) they'd really stand out.

Anyway hoping to post some pics up of my first finished ones soon

Thanks for the comment and it's good to have another new nid player! / collector. Neatness to me is a big deal I think because if it isn't in the lines then whatever you can do around it is void, silly way of thinking some may say but that's just me I guess!

Look forward to seeing your pictures and I do have the really ice blue which is now called lothern blue - unless it goes lighter!

DijnsK wrote:i see improvement!
make sure to thin your paints a little bit more! its better to paint 2/3 thin layers to get a smooth coat then to put on a single covering layer (yes even with the new paints)

Thanks for the tip I find it hard keeping the thinned down coats out of the crevices though, I know I could with a fine detail brush go back over those areas with the wash individually but I feel as mentioned before it looks grubby. As of now I'm thinning just not to the extent perhaps I should, hopefully in time I become more knowledgeable in what's a good thickness and what isn't

--------------------------------------------------------------

I decided to keep the scheme I was going for originally which was

Sepia Wash
Screaming skull x 2 layers over all raised areas
Macragge Blue carapace

I will be highlighting the models once I've completed the whole unit, I went back over a few of the nids to patch up some areas, these were just minor imperfections like blue on the skin and vice versa

I don't mind the models, think the paint is a tad thick but I'm still too embarrassed to take them down our GW anyway not a major update just some extra pictures including my first genestealer

Done 8 of the carapaces on the models just a look at how they are. Still unsure how to base them but will get around to it in the coming days. Still got an utter shed load of models to do but I'm happy enough with the last 2 or so weeks of progress

Thanks again for all the comments / pms I've had

My first bigger model besides the guard, bit thick on the paint and I was lost of what to do at times but there's still time to fix some things, maybe not all though!

C&C appreciated, learning slowly

That carnifex is looking mean! It's hard to switch from smaller gaunts etc to a bigger nid as the carapace gets a bit more extensive and complicated to highlight. I found a few good google pictures of 'eavy metal ones and triued to hightlight the same surfaces they had, I'm pretty happy with the results on my Hive Tyrant anyway. Your painting method is very similar to my own, except I use Greens for the carapace and a slight purple wash in the crevices of the main bone coloured body.

The highlights on your gaunts look nice and bright, really good. I think the key to doing carapaces like this is a big contrast in shades of colour. I'll get some pics up soon I promise! Blummin real life (well, work) getting in the way.

Keep at it!

Hey "Redbristles" thanks for the response and comments in comparison to your own methods!

I look forward to seeing pictures of your nids, I'm currently assembling my gargoyles gradually painting them up but having a slight difficulty in that once I've washed them sepia, I can't for the life of me apply a colour to the inner wing without it going over the boney claws making it look well rather rubbish, guess it's just a case of being patient perhaps?

Hopefully I'm not doing too terribly as it's been a pretty expensive entry considering I'm currently unemployed! Doh, real life eh!

coming along very well.

I like the blue, its a rare color on nids; I think these guys are going to look great on the table.

thanks for sharing!

Thanks for your kind words always appreciated

As a little update I've begun work on rank and file troops just from the top, trying to just improve on my earlier pieces of work, here is a standard termagant I worked on today, any comments and criticism is always welcome. Soon be a month that I've been painting for, flew by

As promised I've uploaded some pics of my first 'nids into a post in P&M, so as to not clog up your thread there's a link here:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/462667.page

Cheers

Love your scheme as written in your thread great job!

Here is my newest individual model not quite what I was working on before in terms of the cream look but I experimented a tad, may have my elite choices white, then the lesser units / troop choices beige

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated