Nids

[steevn]

hi
i'm building a mostly flying nid army, here are 2 testmodels

i'm going for a fast and nice looking paintscheme

gloss on body to give wet/slimey impression, i think i failed, maybe on pure black it would be better



gloss only on tongue, i like this one better, i might add a 2nd drybrush with lighter grey on the body (now it's basecoats black, washes and charadon granites drybrush)




what do you guys think?

[Draconis]

Have you tried semi gloss instead of varnish? Personally, I think your carni looks much much better as a big model with no shine to it. Unless your Phil Kelly, dont go straight black as you'd leave it very hard to see any detail. Personally, what i'd suggest is what I do. get a lighter primer like skeleton bone, (pics in my sig below) and wash black over it. I think you'll be happy. Then pick out the red chitin and details.

Also, play around with the black wash, dont water it down to much or the bone will show through. too little and you'll leave it hard to see detail, course then you could just drybrush and bring it out. if you manage to get it just right, you'll paint nids super fast and have a perfect black nid that leaves the crevices dark and the raised areas highlighted.

[steevn]

thanks for the advice, made me think, i'm a bit "scared" of the gloss effect because if it isn't good the model is ruined.
on the carnifex i'll try adding a lighter drybrush add a blue wash and then again a lighter drybrush

the skeleton bone primer is produced by ? here we only get GW cans and i have some spare grey from vallejo but i use it for my guard and grey knights.

[Lantern]

I have a similar technique for my Tyranids (with a more bone coloured armour than your red) and I find that leaving the black as a matt finish whilst heavily glossing the armoured areas works really well, especially on the larger creatures. Again, I'd use a test model but I find that a glossed up armour looks 'tough' with ought making the 'skin' look too soft (although the skin is the fleshy part you want aim at ).

[Draconis]

http://www.thearmypainter.com/ is the company that sells colored primer. If they don't ship to you, http://www.thewarstore.com/ might be able to . Just simply shoot them an email. Just ask about the army painters colored primer and whatever color you want.

[steevn]

Update : trygon built and primed

[steevn]

i've started to paint the trygon with blue carapace, the reds didn't feel right for me, does anybody have a good recipe for a more "ice world" blue scheme nids ?

[eutambem]

i like your black skin nid on the first picture. are you going for carapace color change only, and leave the black skin?
anyway, this is how i would do it:
1.for the skin. black primer, (very) dark grey drybrush, blue wash (giving a slight blue tone and keeping the wet look).
2. for the carapace. ice blue (i don't know the name of the equivalent), then i would grab a sponge to give a heavy white stipple effect on the blue, showing more white than blue.
i like to paint things fast, and this is simple enough for it. sometimes less is more.

[steevn]

i'll keep the skin, i'll try your ice blue theme, thanks!