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Nice! I can't wait to see it painted!

ChorusLucia wrote:Nice! I can't wait to see it painted!

Me too. Now I just need to figure out how to actually do it

What's the colour scheme for your nid army?

Reanimator wrote:What's the colour scheme for your nid army?

Here is the quick and dirty test model for my color scheme. I haven't done much painting yet besides testing things out since It's a new army and I'm still putting everything together. I'm using an off-white color for the skin (airbrushed zenithal highlighting from bleached bone to a tiny bit of pure white at the top, not really visible in this picture), purple paint and/or wash for the fleshy bits, metallic blue for the armored plates, glossy black for the claws/talons/etc., and a yellow-green color for eyes and other misc. items to make them stand out. On the armored plates I drybrushed a little bit of very watered down metallic purple so that it isn't always visible but when the light hits it just right it has a purple sheen to it. You can see a little bit of this effect on the tips of the armor plates in this picture. You can click the picture for a larger size view.

I was thinking a blue color on the psychic talons at first but I might go for a yellow-green color similar to the eyes. I still haven't 100% finalized my paint scheme but I'm pretty close.

Purple wash on the gooey bits is looking good, speaking of which- are you still using the old purple ink (I don't think theres a contemporary equivalent) or a thinned down liche purple?

That white and blue spread across a horde of chittering monsters will look pretty cool, feels very skeletal.

that gaunt needs a wash. Real bad. I think if you went with either a blue or purple wash this thing would turn out brilliant. I would stay away from browns on this one, it might look too busy.

I voted Bad because I am a funny man.

But in reality I like the conversion!

In all serious ness i was thinking at first that i really didnt like it, but once you extended the brain with the armoured skull casing, frankly put? i love it well done ^^ to put it simply, i love it it should be intresting to see what the paint jobs like.

Clumpski wrote:In all serious ness i was thinking at first that i really didnt like it, but once you extended the brain with the armoured skull casing, frankly put? i love it well done ^^ to put it simply, i love it it should be intresting to see what the paint jobs like.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. I'm interested to see what the paint job will look like too

Campbell1004 wrote:I voted Bad because I am a funny man.

But in reality I like the conversion!

Awww now I feel bad... ok I'm better again. Glad you like it

Reanimator wrote:Purple wash on the gooey bits is looking good, speaking of which- are you still using the old purple ink (I don't think theres a contemporary equivalent) or a thinned down liche purple?

That white and blue spread across a horde of chittering monsters will look pretty cool, feels very skeletal.

I'm actually using Les' Wash Recipe for all my washes. It's the Purple Lake wash except I used 60 drops of ink instead of 40 to make the color more intense. I'm hoping the effect will end up looking good. The skin is a pretty neutral color while the blue and purple are complimentary to each other. The yellow-green is a strong contrast to the blue/purple to really make the eyes and certain details pop. My first army was black legion (a very dark color scheme) and I wanted something different with my tyranids so I am going for some brighter colors. I think across a whole army it will really be striking.

poda_t wrote:that gaunt needs a wash. Real bad. I think if you went with either a blue or purple wash this thing would turn out brilliant. I would stay away from browns on this one, it might look too busy.

I'm assuming you mean an overall wash on the skin? Correct me if I'm wrong. I definitely think you have a point. The model does have some zenithal highlighting but it's hard to see in this picture. I think it could do with a wash but I'm not really thrilled with the idea of a purple or blue wash on the skin. I tried a purple wash and didn't like the effect and a blue wash would take away from the armor plates which I really want to stand out. I also tried a flesh tone wash that just looked awful. I am really leaning towards a very light sepia wash, but really only concentrating in the recesses to make them more noticeable without, as you said, making it look too busy. Maybe I could spray on a watered down sepia wash before doing the last highlights so I get the darker recesses (and more shading/contrast on the underside) without turning the whole thing brown. Thanks for the feedback, it's really given me something to think about.

If you want more details I explained a lot of my experiments for this paint scheme on my blog starting with planning and inspiration then I did a couple test models and finally did some experimentation with those two test models giving me the current color scheme.

Here is the full picture showing the other test model that I did with the purple wash. You can also see a little bit of the flesh tone wash on the far side of the purple gaunt. He's got kind of a two face look with different color washes on each side.


I also need to figure out how I'm going to base these suckers... Current ideas are jungle, red planet, or the one I am leaning towards: rocky ground, probably gray, maybe some tufts of dead grass thrown in. I am having trouble deciding so any input or ideas on basing would be appreciated.

DAMN! I see what you mean.... hmm... maybe just that light brown after all to flesh out the model's depth.

To be honest, I saw this paint scheme and the first thing that popped to mind is iceworld.

I solidly approve of anything that saves the gamer his/her hard earned dough. These guys look excellent!

poda_t wrote:DAMN! I see what you mean.... hmm... maybe just that light brown after all to flesh out the model's depth.

To be honest, I saw this paint scheme and the first thing that popped to mind is iceworld.

Haha yeah that's what I said when I saw how the purple wash turned out. To be fair it does look better from a distance, but it's still not great and kinda kills the contrast with the purple of the fleshy bits. I would have to use 2 different purples or add another color which I'm not really interested in doing. The ice world thing is definitely worth consideration. I thought jungle might fit the theme of a null deployment army like they are the first to arrive before the planet is stripped of resources, but ultimately I think the jungle or red planet basing would add too much color and distract from the minis. Ice world would definitely look cool but I think the gray stony ground might be easier to pull off. Both are good options... I must ponder...

Gavin Thorne wrote:I solidly approve of anything that saves the gamer his/her hard earned dough. These guys look excellent!

So do I! I'm all about saving as much money as possible in as many ways as possible and this conversion is a HUGE savings compared to the finecast (or any of the many variants of the name) model. Glad you like it

!

Electro-chemical death world!!!! (cryogenic as well???) anyway. If you've read redemption corps, you will know what im talking about.

It will give you a lot of options! glass trees and all that stuff!

I've been tempted to do snow for a while now... I myself am still trying to find a powder that looks frosty/reflective, to actually mimic snow in sunlight. then then mixing it with the white flock........

Grey rock might be easy to do, but once you dabble with other colors, you learn pretty quick what does and does not work and in what quantities. Vomit Brown, for instance, is a great light dry-dry-dry brush, because it fills out the other browns and adds texture. too much though and it looks like space clay. too little, just grab another color and add a little extra depth. Haven'y done snow yet, so I'd imagine its very bright near-white blues and greys with white on top.

that said

Electro-chem death world! you can go from ice, to grey-rock as well as ... oh jeeeze I hoppe i have this right; dagobah

@poda_t: I haven't read redemption corps but the electro-chemical death world sounds interesting but a little intimidating. I'll have to look into that.

The ice world idea is kind of growing on me. There are quite a few different products/ways of making snow. I remember something about a super cheap method using white glue and baking soda. This is also just off the top of my head but I think crushed glass might be best for that frosty/reflective look. Secret weapon sells it and probably other companies too. I think a combination of the crushed glass and baking soda would look pretty sweet.

Thanks for the info and advice!