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Hi guys!

This is a paint job by casey landreth. I gotta say I kinda fell in love with it. Not sure if i'd go with so much yellow on the carapace, I'd do a yellow with a bit more bone white or a tan color.

But how did he/she do the spots? on the chitin? did he just paint it black and then dab on a thousand ultra thin layers of yellow with a brush??

On an easier train of thought, it looks as though they painted the entire model with the yellow color, and then for the spots, all you really have to do is take your black paint and outline all the spots and yellow areas, and then fill in the space that aren't spots with black. Much easier than going over black with yellow.

Or if using an air brush pretty much just mask them with blutac and then mask the edges where it meets the flesh to keep it crisp.

 n0t_u wrote:
Or if using an air brush pretty much just mask them with blutac and then mask the edges where it meets the flesh to keep it crisp.

That's genius! Definitively gonna do that if this is the colour I decide to go for. How do you like the paint scheme?

It's a nice natural scheme, but I'm not too fond of so much yellow. When it comes to nids it kind of works to go looking at natural patterns some animals have like bugs, spiders, and even frogs for inspiration since the default GW stuff doesn't really fit them as well I think.

Blue tack is definitely the way to go.I did something similar with my daemon prince, but made the mistake of doing it after everything was assembled. wound up taking way longer to try and get everything masked off.

 Novasetri wrote:
Blue tack is definitely the way to go.I did something similar with my daemon prince, but made the mistake of doing it after everything was assembled. wound up taking way longer to try and get everything masked off.

That looks really nice. I'm gonna try something similar to the chitin on the picture up top. I like the yellow on black, i don't think you can find a stronger contrast. Black and dark green claws might look nice. To be honest I have no idea what colors i want. but at least i've settled on the technique.

I'd mostly dis-recommend trying to paint yellow over black. Worst idea ever. Either use on of the above masking techniques, or make the basecoat for the spots a baser-layer white and then put the yellow over that. The pigment in yellow paint and doesn't cover darker colours well and mostly looks like crizzap painted over black.

I also think you're on the right track to make the 'underbelly parts' a more tan/bone colour. I'd recommend shades (or at least hints) of the same yellow colour to keep the over-all model tied together, but I think the carapace will stand out a lot more with a lighter skin tone underneath it.

 Fenris-77 wrote:
I'd mostly dis-recommend trying to paint yellow over black. Worst idea ever. Either use on of the above masking techniques, or make the basecoat for the spots a baser-layer white and then put the yellow over that. The pigment in yellow paint and doesn't cover darker colours well and mostly looks like crizzap painted over black.

I also think you're on the right track to make the 'underbelly parts' a more tan/bone colour. I'd recommend shades (or at least hints) of the same yellow colour to keep the over-all model tied together, but I think the carapace will stand out a lot more with a lighter skin tone underneath it.

Yea, I'll most definitely do the masking technique. I'll probably do dots (like on the picture up top) of troll slayer orange over black. Then I'll highlight the black with old rust from secret weapon. I might also highlight the orange a bit with troll slayer orange and a bit of flash gitz yellow as well. As for the carapace I've decided to go a bit lighter than the carapace. Old rust base colour, then a mix of old rust and khardic flesh, then some edge highlighting with khardic flesh. That should still leave it pretty dark. I might also do tiny black dots on the carapace around the edges of the chitin plates.

I'm aiming for a "blending into the masses of bodies" kind of paint job.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Still not sure about the claws though. Black with a dark green highlight maybe? Or old rust with dark green.?

I hear silly putty also works as an alternative to blue tack

i really like the looks of that stripy yellow black frog.

why not simple bone for the claws and stuff.

 Desubot wrote:
I hear silly putty also works as an alternative to blue tack

i really like the looks of that stripy yellow black frog.

why not simple bone for the claws and stuff.

Yea me too. Love those patterns too.l, but I think it'll be easier to go for a consistent dotted pattern on the troops at least. Maybe go for something like the frog, some dark and some dots on the bigger models.

For the claws I wanted something darker to get a more dark camo theme

Googling lizard claws they seem to mostly be the scale colors.

so if there is black then you can go black.

As ridiculous as it sounds, I've actually found some success with a similar pattern by working with a kitchen sponge sponge and some pretty thick paint after the base layer was on; I'll see if I can find any pictures of the darn thing

The answer is 2 thin coats.

 3orangewhips wrote:
The answer is 2 thin coats.

So you think 2 thin coats will give that good coverage?
*edit spelling

You could go down the root of painting the whole thing black, making the irregular spots with white paint and a cottonwool bud (Que tip) the staining the white with a yellow wash or glaze? will give a more faded look but could make it look more natural? ive used a similar technique painting nurgle stuff

moodster95 wrote:
You could go down the root of painting the whole thing black, making the irregular spots with white paint and a cottonwool bud (Que tip) the staining the white with a yellow wash or glaze? will give a more faded look but could make it look more natural? ive used a similar technique painting nurgle stuff

That could work. I think the blue tac method better when the distinct lines between the color and the black.

I'm totally fascinated by these frogs!

I think I'll try for go for the pattern on this frog. I think that would look awesome.

cool, let us know how it works! or you could just get a load of these frogs and let them loose on the gaming table? pretty sure they are poisonous so youd probably win the game haha

Remember to do the yellow first, and then do the black parts because it'll be a whole lot easier on your mental stress versus trying to do the yellow over the black.

moodster95 wrote:
cool, let us know how it works! or you could just get a load of these frogs and let them loose on the gaming table? pretty sure they are poisonous so youd probably win the game haha

Will do!

I'd go with that same frog's underbelly colours too. That yellowy orange with some red detailing at the tips will make the carapace pop really well.

You might be able to do the yellow work on the carapace using stippling. If you started from a white base you essentially sketch the yellow circular parts by stippling, starting with a light yellow and working up to that slightly more orange colour in the center of the circles. Then you clean it all up by adding the dark grey or black outlines. I think it could be done fairly quickly and still look pretty mint.

 Fenris-77 wrote:
I'd go with that same frog's underbelly colours too. That yellowy orange with some red detailing at the tips will make the carapace pop really well.

You might be able to do the yellow work on the carapace using stippling. If you started from a white base you essentially sketch the yellow circular parts by stippling, starting with a light yellow and working up to that slightly more orange colour in the center of the circles. Then you clean it all up by adding the dark grey or black outlines. I think it could be done fairly quickly and still look pretty mint.

I was planning on going more fleshy on the underbelly. I was thinking secret weapon: old rust and citadel: kardic flesh.

The Mawloc looks like the black was done first, then the spots done in white before going over the white with yellow.

What carapace and claw colour would you suggest with black and orange chitin?