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Getting back to finish and paint my Tyranids. For the life of me, I can't remember how I did this. I actually like this scheme but sadly I can't recreate it no more, no matter how much I try. Does anyone think they know what I did? I know I use Vallejo and GW paints but can't remember how I did this effect.



Just ready to quit Tyranids because I can't get this effect now. I knew I should have written this down. I think I did but since it's been so long, I lost it or didn't make one. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

The skin looks similar to pictures I've seen of of blue flamers, or skinks. (Disclaimer, I have not painted either.)
My guesses:

Skin: Ultramarine Blue, Macragge Blue, Caledor Sky, Kantor Blue, etc. Could be a combination of layers, washes, and glazes. Tail looks a lot darker than front.
Skin Highlights: Emperor's Children and Screamer Pink.
Scales: Wazdakka Red, possibly Khorne Red.
Scales highlight: Fire Dragon Bright (or comparable orange).
Hooves & teeth: Ushabti Bone.

This chart might be helpful, since you said that a mixture of GW and Vallejo paints:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

Hope that helps! Good luck!

Thank you Cleatus. Those colours sound close. How did I blend them in? For some reaons anything I am doing now, doesn't seem to be working.

I can't remember if I used a yellow ink over it after words and that blended the colours in or not.

Dang going to have to make YouTube videos now so I don't forget next time I need to do this. LOL.

Davor wrote:
Thank you Cleatus. Those colours sound close. How did I blend them in? For some reaons anything I am doing now, doesn't seem to be working.

I can't remember if I used a yellow ink over it after words and that blended the colours in or not.

Dang going to have to make YouTube videos now so I don't forget next time I need to do this. LOL.

I can't help with the colours, but about remembering paint schemes I can!

After I paint something and I'm happy with it, I take a pic of it next to all the paints used. Then, I take a recipe card and write down what i did for each colour. Then the recipe cards get put in a recipe box and I can go back whenever I need to to make more!

Lately I've been tinkering around with bitz and was thinking of painting more orks. I last painted orks 2+ years ago, but I have my recipe card

Try this, Davor:

Blues: Kantor Blue, Caledor Sky, Sotek Green
Red: Khorne Red
Yellows: Averland Sunset, Yriel Yellow
Pink: Screamer Pink

So from what I've gathered, you want only the tail to be the dark shade of blue; base all the skin using Caledor Sky first. Next, add in the pink, and then base the Carapace with Khorne Red.

To blend the blue on the tail, first apply Kantor Blue at the tip, and go as far as you want it to be that shade of blue (I'd say about 20% of the tail). Now you have to start finding midtones to create the transitions between the blue; get some Kantor Blue on a palette, then add a small amount of Caledor Sky. Now paint this onto the next bit of the tail, mixing it into the previous bit of Kantor Blue (make sure the Kantor Blue is still wet) to create the midtone going to the lighter colour. Repeat the process, now adding a small amount of Kantor Blue to Caledor Sky, and apply again. Next, Caledor Sky and Sotek Green, then finish with pure Sotek Green just where the tail meets the carapace.

If you do that right, the effect should be very similar to what you've shown.

You'll want to do a similar process between the red and the yellow, using as many midtones as you need to get a nice transition.

To bring it all together, shade the skin using Drakenhof Nightshade, and the Carapace with Carroburg Crimson.


Hope that all helped

G.A

@ Joyous_Oblivion great idea about the recipe cards. I will try and do that. Thank you for that.

General Annoyance, I will try that and see what happens. Thank you as well. Greatly appreciated.

Seconded on the recipe cards. Or even a notebook. I started doing that maybe a year into painting, and I'm very glad I did. One other thing you might consider: put a small dab of paint next to the color name in your recipe. That way you have a visual idea of what the colors will look like together, and also can refer to them later if you need to try and match paint colors that are OOP.