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When I first decided to start the Nids, I planned on playing it safe. However, seeing what others had done, I threw safe out the window and decided to go for more impact. Looking around for inspiration, I found a photo of some frogs (attached here) that immediately jumped to me. I had to use this!

I based the Gaunt in black, then painted over the carapace, claws, etc with orange. I then painted everything else dark blue. I followed up with another coat of orange, along with turquoise over most of the blue (leaving just the rib-area un-touched). This was breaking from `safe' in terms of colour selection. I next tried washes for the first time. I washed the carapace with red, and the body with blue. Easier than I expected, but the effect was different to what I had anticipated. I then proceeded to drybrush the carapace with a yellow/orange and the body with a paler turquoise. I decided to blend these by washing the whole model again, which seemed a good idea. Finally, using the fine detail brush for only the second time, I tried to add red to places. I slipped a couple of times, but I think I am almost used to using it.

The photos are my first real attempt to take a shot of my minis, and I am still not used to the new-ish camera (yes, I have been completely out of my element with getting to this point). Hopefully they are not too bad.

I am not sure whether I like the final result or not. It will definitely stand out on the table, and has more impact than my Sisters (who are 100% `safe'), but I think it is still missing something. The body probably needs to be a lot paler too; I think I want it closer to the frog's colour than it is now. Any suggestions on how I could improve on this (beyond the obvious `get more practice')?

maybe a slight green tint to the skin areas and a little shading to the carapace?
that should make it stand out even more.



Edit:


allthough, if you need some real "in your face!" impact:


i done this simply for a test colour for someone, but might finish painting it lol

it kinda looks like that hivefleet gw came up with. forgot the name. yeah maybe a little green would contrast with the rather dim colors of the gaunt. good job.

Need more lightening blue and fiery orange if you want it to look like those frogs.

Atm they look like normal Hive Fleet Behemoth color scheme.

I think it'd look good with a semi-gloss clearcoat.

I think if you lighten up the blue, it will really help the orange stand out. You might even want to try priming white to help brighten up these colors and make them look more like the frog .

If you're doing a lot, you'll want to streamline your steps (you might not need to do so many stages of washing then highlighting, for example). I'd say a wash on the skin and then the lighter highlight on the edge of the carapace will make them "pop" out great . Looking over the tyranid codex, I was shocked by what contrasting colors GW used for the highlights (on the black carapace they use purple then light grey, so you could be going with yellow or even white, not unlike the webbing on the frog feet in your picture!).

Also, I got a really great tip from a pro painter at the bunker here, when I was staring at his nids in the case and envisioning my own color scheme (which I am still working out, too! Having done test models and trying to streamline the process for the best result in a reasonable amount of time). He highly suggested using 3 colors:

Light, Medium, Dark

He said that even well painted miniatures, if there are only two predominant colors, or if the colors are too close to each other, it makes them look much less effective.

I had already chosen red and yellow. So, he suggested that I paint the talons either black or white (to be Dark: Black, Medium: Red, Light: Yellow, OR Dark: Red, Medium: Yellow, Light: White) to give it that extra dimension. I think yours will benefit a lot from the same.

If you were to lighten up your blue and paint the talons / hoofs white, you'd have: Dark: Orange, Medium: Blue, Light: White. If you prime white, you'll have the added advantage of being able to leave these areas mostly untouched (since white will be hard to get smooth over a black primer).

If you lighten up your other colors, you could also try black claws, although that doesn't fit the frog idea as well.

Hopefully these were some helpful, non "get better with more practice" comments from a fellow novice gaunt painter . I especially thought the 3 colors tip from the pro painter here was helpful, and the idea of simplifying the process to make what you're doing really effective visually, rather than extra effort that you can't keep up and isn't giving enough effect for what you put in.

Thanks for the suggestions; they are right on the money. The carapace was drybrushed too lightly, and I completely forgot about the green. I tried adding these, and it comes closer to the image I have in my head. The carapace it still too orange, so perhaps drybrush with straight yellow, rather than orange-yellow (or both?). The body is too dark too. Probably it needs to be painted with a pale turquoise, washed, then drybrushed with pale green, or perhaps a pale mix of turquoise and green. I love the effect the green adds though! It probably does need to be base-coated white too, as I am after a brighter look than this.

I am glad Fred here offered to be the test-Gaunt, as his sacrifice shall surely lead to a superior Tyranid colony.

I love the how the blue looks, alot closer to the frog now.

The orange usually is high lighted along the edges.

Good table-top quality, though i would have the head more up.

Nice job so far. Yakface did his army in a similar scheme- might be able to get some good ideas for carapace shading from his army profile

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Hivefleet_yakface

I'd suggest a wash of asurmen blue on the skin to make it pop.

I really like this... The blue on the tail is what caught me. The scaly look is wonderful and I bet they look even better in person.

Elric of Grans wrote:...a photo of some frogs (attached here) that immediately jumped to me.

I see what you did there!

I like it, your Termagant. Looks like it would make a nice-looking army. I would certainly put a little time into highlighting the orange. Yakface's 'Nids are a great example to look to for that.



Ghidorah

Fred has now been joined by John, a kind Spinegaunt who offered to help. I gave John a white undercoat, then painted dark blue on just the rib area. The carapace was again painted with the same orange, but I went straight to turquoise on the body. I felt it was still too dark, so I mixed up a paler turquoise and painted over most of the body again (leaving the inner parts with the darker shade, for instant lighting effects). I washed the body with blue and the carapace with red. I then drybrushed the body with pale green and the carapace with straight yellow, before adding the red and lightening the teeth.

This is much closer to my original image, and probably about as good as I could hope for at my current level of skill. I am not really happy with how the red came out on John; perhaps it needs a hint of yellow or something. I am a little torn on how to progress too. John is closer to my original image, but I think Fred may have more impact.

I like it. The final exoskeleton color is similar to my own hive fleet. The carapace is different, but fits very well with your color scheme.

Yup those look perdy good! Thats the thing I like about nids, easy to paint and easy to look good

Oh how funny. I'm doing a forest/jungle thing with my bugs. They're all green and brown, except for the 'stealers which are going to look like poison dart frogs.

ALL kinds of colors there.

The colours look great, but the drybrushing on the highlights produces a chalkiness that is totally absent from those crazy cool frogs. Without changing your technique, maybe a mild gloss varnish would help restore some sliminess?

Mabe a wash of asurmen blue?

The mottled blue/white on the skin looks incredible, good job!