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Hep, DakkaDee,

Ever since i started collecting my 'Nids, i've been pretty sure about the color scheme i wanted for them (the one on the pictures below!). Lately, though, i've been gazing much upon them, feeling somewhat hopeless, as i feel the scheme comes forth as too "shiny" or too pretty. To some extend, i'm happy about the scheme, and i like the colors, but the shiny-thing sorta bothers me.

I've thought about giving them a black coat - maybe to have it steal away some of the brightness. I've also thought about if it'd be possible to highlight them in a darker highlight, in order to get a better gloomy feel into this scheme, as it'd be sad if i had to re-paint the WIP-painted´s i've already got.


Here's the current scheme:




Whether or not it gives the right frightening Tyranid-feel i so long for, i think the Hawk Torquise skin with Blood Red highlighted carapace it a decent choice, and the colors together isn't that much of an eyesore either. I'd just like to spice it up a little (or rather spice it down, so to speak?)

Wha'da'ya think?


Regards
Bill'

I think it looks just fine. As the red is very strong and alarming colour it fits for nids very nicely in my opinion. My advice would be to darken the blue parts little bit. It would remove the "candy effect". I really think there is no reason to change the theme otherwise. Just give blue parts couple layers of asurmen blue wash and see what it looks like after it. Blue wash would also add some more depth to it. And remember to let the wash dry well before applying new layer.

If you want to dirty it all up a bit, a wash of Devlan Mud over the entire model could help.

Yeah, i was actually thinking of doing exactly that; Using some Devlan Mud to deepen the colors. On other notes, i've been thinking of picking slightly darker colors overall.

It's not that i don't like the colors. It's more that i'm not sure they fit with the 'nidz...

You could just use a darker blue, the shell looks fine.

Yeah man avoiding he shine can be pretty tough. I think there are some matt finishes you can put on you models of even a darker red was over it may do the trick. It does look really good to me but again it's got to look right to you.

Try getting more 'natural' blues. Less saturated blues such as some mixed with grays and browns will help give the model even more realism. Same with the red. You can use washes but use them carefully. They CAN and quite often turn a model shiny. For blue, if you want a a really dark wash, wash with red since there isn't an orange wash. (Colors opposite the color wheel will darken each other a lot with washes so a red skin, use a green wash etc.)

I've actually been looking at some Vallejo colors - possibly a good range at those i need. I hear great things about these colors.

@Mew
Actually, the model at the picure wasn't washed, at all, and have does hardly have any shadow-effects to it. Perhaps a bad picture to show, but... It was fine to get you an idea of what i meant, at least. The Devlan Mud, that everybody favors works pretty fine on top of the Hawk Turquise used at the prime skin color. And Vallejo even has a great range of these aswell.

Anyways, i think i'll try out the Vallejo colors and play around with them a little, and see if it gets any better.

Thanks for the replies, and the helpful advices!