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Hey everyone this is my first time posting on here.
Today i painted my first ever miniature, a tyranid termagant, and here is the result.
what do you think?

Not bad.

Have a read about washes and dry brushing to get the shadows and highlights. Should be quite quick on this model

There's a painting and modeling section you should take this to if you want more comments and advice. The scheme isn't bad, but the colors are really flat and it looks like the paint is pretty thick in places. I would probably start by washing the whole model with whatever GW's latest blue wash is; this will shade the model, fill in the crevices, and make it look more realistic. Then, highlight the very edges of the black armor with a dark grey. It's just generally good to wash any color with the similarly colored wash to keep things shaded and looking good. I would use either a green or brown wash on the green bits, brown or sepia wash on the yellow tubing, and black on the metallic gun.

Personally, I don't care for metallics on nids since they're supposed to be organic. I would probably paint the entire gun one color, with the tube in another color. I would recommend an orange color to contrast the blue, while keeping the tubing yellow.

Drybrush with a lighter color on both of the primary surfaces and then apply a wash that corresponds to those colors but is darker (drakenhide nightshade and agrax earthshade should do it, or maybe nuln oil) and you'll have a pretty good looking nid...also, paint those teeth!

thanks for the tips guys i guess i need to go buy some wash

That's pretty good for a first go, actually; the first models I painted were my Howling Banshees, and I'm still embarrassed to let them out of storage. You don't need to buy separate washes, all you need is the regular paints and a supply of water to thin small quantities down. Watering standard paints is a versatile technique; I've gotten my Dark Angels done quickly by priming them white and then going over it in slightly watered Caliban Green so the white shows through on the raised parts; sort of like it's been highlighted, but with only two coats of paint instead of four (prime/base instead of prime/base/wash/highlight); it took a lot of practice to get right, though.

Ok Ill give that a go, Thanks.

Looks good. You painted those little black over white spots on him? I'm embarassed when I look at my first figures (ultramarine and Fleshtearer painted from the learn to paint box and one or two extra pots I bought with it).

If you didn't water down your paints I'd suggest giving it a try. It helps a lot. All tips given thus far are great advice, although if you're not comfortable trying highlighting right away just the addition of a wash or two makes a world of difference.

Only thing I'd add is to maybe keep this guy separate and try the tips given on another of your termagaunts. I keep a good chunk of my early models separate and decided not to update them. Whenever I'm frustrated trying something new it helps a lot to take a look at them and see how I've improved, and the actual model would make a better comparison for the changes that come from washing/drybrushing, etc. than just pictures of it.

Post the pic in the gallery, and ask for comments in the description.

Not that I've tried organics like this, but highlight the edges, and wash.
Try watering the paint down.

Metallics might work. Try looking at pics of beetles for ideas on how that might go, with a sheen on the chitin.
Like these: http://webassets.rhs.org.uk/content/Media/Images/Pest-and-disease/Pest/RosemaryBeetlesAdults_L?width=510

So, without much else to add, this is a good start for a table-top-ready model.

yea I've done a second model the same and I'm about to try the washing on that one soon. and yea i did white spots first then black, I was surprised how well they turned out i was expecting to need to paint over them.

Should I water down the same color, darken it a bit with black, or use plain black?

Water down everything. Use a pallet to pick up the paint, if you're currently loading the brush straight from the pot.
I use the lid from a take-away tub

For the wash, other colours work well, like purple, maybe. Depends on what you have, and the effect you are after.
Don't wash with black on colour, unless you're happy with the efffect after trying it first.
Water it a lot. Or, get a pot of wash, as it's already watered down to the right amount, and will be a good shade anyway.

I was thinking of mixing some black with the blue then watering that down, is that the right thing to do ( I've got limited paints and i spent all my money getting this far)

liam10191 wrote:
I was thinking of mixing some black with the blue then watering that down, is that the right thing to do ( I've got limited paints and i spent all my money getting this far)

If you're darkening paints, a little black goes a looonng way.
Just use the tip of the brush to get a drop of it, and mix it in a bit at time.

I tried it out does this look right

sorry for the bad photo its a bit hard to see

Shake up your wash before using it, and try doing another coat of it.

I made the wash by mixing blue, black, and water


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This one is the best so far




once again sorry for the bad pic

Is this the right stuff to use as a wash?

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat800004a&prodId=prod1500250a

Yes, that stuff works really well on blues.

I wouldn't recommend ordering from the GW website though. You can almost always find either 20-30% off. I'd look around at local game/hobby stores, one of them might run a discount and have a painting night. I know one of my stores has a free painting group every friday, with a discount on all paints bought then. Or, you could order from thewarstore.com if you're in the US, they have 20% off all purchases.

Also, for cheaper paints, I recommend Vallejo Game Colors. They're just as good as the GW paints, come in almost exactly the same shades (there are conversion charts online), and you get more for cheaper. Some people prefer GW but I prefer vallejo.

Final tip: keep the first mini you paint forever, and make it a hero among tyranids one day.

Thanks I brought it from a local store (not any cheaper but no postage cost) ill have a look at the other paints. at the moment i have a mixture of tamiya and GW. and i have kept my orignal the same and allways will

I like it! Upload it to the gallery and add more!

 Lt.Soundwave wrote:
I like it! Upload it to the gallery and add more!

Thanks!

Not bad at all for a first model. A whole army like that should look great. I like the spots and the glossy armour plates.