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Hey guys, I dont post much on here but I thought I would post this and see what people thought.







Thats how he started out, after some comments from a few friends I edited things slightly, one of the main additions was a change to the teeth and eyes, I also added Toxin sacs to the mini.

The following images have yet to be uploaded to my gallery on Dakka, My apologies.





What do you think? Does the green look a bit better? Also, the toxin sacs are not done yet, I just have not gotten a chance to keep working on them.

C&C are always welcome. Thanks for taking your time to look.

Masnagj

That thing looks pretty dang awesome to me!

I would go with the green eyes, but thats just me.

Looks Great!

Very solid work.

Nids always look more impressive with a hundred or so swarmed up. If you do a whole army to this standard it will be a sight I'm sure.

Looks good to me!

Nice model. Good work on the carapace especially.

//Avach

Love the paintjob both for the skill you obviously possess but also for the color choices/style.

As far as green eyes or not...I would really say go without them. They just look out of place to me and make them look more like a model than a real creature. Maybe make them black or deep blue?

Fantastic work!

I agree with Halsfield, the green eyes are abit out of place to me too..

Deep blue could be the way, or maybe some shade of purple...

Looking very good. I agree with zigo on the purple eyes. Black I think would just get lost too easily with the black carapace, and I think blue would lokk almost as out of place as the green. I really like how the red is patterened on the carapace. I'm curious if you used any sort of clear coat on it as the carapace seems to have a different sheen than the rest of the model, could just be a light trick, or really effective highlighting. Only other thing I'd critique is the spots stick out a bit. Maybe try a dark brown pen or maybe some small dabs of a thinned brown over the top of them, so they don't have the "black pen" look.

Looks great! I would like to add tot he above suggestions, try using a thinned down Scorched Brown for the spots, as this will be consistent with your brown shading and not be so stark, and try several minis with different eye colours to see what works best.

Remember, you're not painting an animal but a mini that wants to look like an animal, and sometimes we have to exaggerate things out of scale or proportion for them to successfully trick the eye - as has been mentioned, black eyes might be the most 'realistic' choice but might not look as convincing as other colours.

It looks to me like the darker green has not only coloured the eye, but also flooded a fair bit of the socket; try touching things up with a dark brown (perhaps a mix of Scorched with Chaos Black) to conceal that and make the eye into a thin green slit.

Keep in mind we are looking at macro shots of a single model.

An army done to this standard viewed from actual game play distance (3' or so) is going to look incredible deployed in mass on a battlefield.

I like the green eyes.

First off let me say thank you for the responses Ive gotten here, I will go back and answer some of the questions that were asked the best I can.

For the Carapace, I used a red wash to tie the different streaks of red together without having to worry about being so careful with the blending.

When it came to choosing a color for the eyes, I thought that using reds complimentary color on the color wheel would be a good choice to make them stand out. I also planned on using the same colors of green on the toxin sacs which were added to the mini.

I really like the idea of using Scorched brown for the spots, Ill have to give that a shot on a few minis, I can easily see shades of brown on the spots on things such as MC's. Also in regards to the Gaunts eyes, the gaunts actual eye is very very small to the point where it would be very difficult to see on the table top. So I had to paint more of the socket to add more of the color to draw the viewers eye to it. I also personally think the eyes sort of look like they are glowing with the darker green around the socket and the eye itself being a very bright green.

I think a purple or blue set of eyes very well could work, I just dont think it would be as obvious on the table top.

Ultimately when I started my bug project I did not want to spend too much time on each mini so I can get them done and on the table asap! So when it comes to these minis I am looking at them from a high table top standard. The longest part of this project was the layering on the skin.

Thanks again for the interest in my work. If anyone has any additional questions I will answer them the best I can.

Masnagj

Zigo wrote:Fantastic work!

Deep blue could be the way, or maybe some shade of purple...

Good Idea! but I would prefer the green.

spamandchips wrote:

Zigo wrote:Fantastic work!

Deep blue could be the way, or maybe some shade of purple...

Good Idea! but I would prefer the green.

Blue is okay but what about orange? Either way, eyes are just picking nits I think. The model as a whole looks incredible. I commend your willingness to do an entire 'nid army at that level of detail. Can't wait to see it!

A finished army to that standard will always get full points and win more than a fare share of best painted/players choices.

For a reason though. Repeating that standard will not be quick, and you will not enjoy it.

i like the green eyes...
and i know its been said, but if you paint the whole army to this standard it will look amazing

This is GRRRRRREAT! Love the shading. I would keep it just as it is, personally.

they loook very good sadly since its a swarm you have alot of work ahead of u, but it will look fantastic once you have a large force

Ah, the hormagaunt, perhaps my favorite nid model. To repeat the others, maintaining this standard of quality across the entire army will be a herculean task.

On a close-up inspection, I agree with changing the spots to a brown color, but it may not be as striking on the field in great hordes.

Second, keep the green eyes. Two reasons: one, it's the color I use, and I love 'em that way. Two, aiming for a purely 'realistic' aesthetic with Bugs is absurd; paint what looks good. If that means imitating insect life or crustaceans, go for it. If that means dirtying up your bases and creating the appearance of a lithe assassin stalking through the shadows, go for it. But let's not pretend that there is one 'realistic' standard for Tyranid paint schemes. Here, the green eyes pop, and they are menacing. Keep 'em.

Good luck, and welcome to the swarm!

Go with green eyes. They should contrast, so green is exactly right for a reddish model.

It looks as if you've put a bit too much work into this guy. He looks very nice, but you need to paint a lot. I'd suggest you think hard about how to shave as much time off each model as possible.

Save thislevel of technique for the bigger, less numerous guys.

hmmm. It looks freaky good!!!