Sunday, May 29, 2016

Hive Fleet Ceryx - Paint Formulas

This post will be pretty boring, as I am just outlining the paint ratios/techniques I used for my Tyranids. It's mainly a post for my own reference, so apologies to my legion of rabid fans... 


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First I primed the models using Rustoleum Grey Spray Primer. I painted the bases next because there is a lot of messy drybrushing that I did not want to get on the model itself.

Tyranid Bases:

1:1  -  VGC Charred Brown : Magic Wash

This was applied as the basecoat.

1:1  -  VGC Heavy Ochre : Magic Wash

First Layer, allied everywhere but the sides and the recesses.

1:0  -  GW Agrax Earthshade Wash

A nice coat over the Ochre to get the shading down.

1:3  -  VGC Heavy Ochre : GW Yriel Yellow

This was the first drybrush. Applied more liberally to bring out the brightness. (n.b. I originally used VGC Sun Yellow but this is a shitty shitty paint that separates and flakes like a mofo, so I have substituted it. I am sure it won't make a big difference in the overall look.)

1:0  -  VGC Bonewhite

This was a light drybrush to pick out the raised detail in the bigger rocks & rock slabs.


Tyranid Skin:

1:1  -  VGC Somber Grey : Magic Wash

This was applied quickly over all the regular "skin" areas.

1:0  -  GW Drakenhof Nightshade

A wash over the skin areas. Make sure to get all the nooks and crevasses, the smaller bugs are especially tricky for this.

1:0  -  Somber Grey 

This was a quick drybrush to lighten areas that were washed too dark (and likely unnecessary, but is done so quickly that it does not slow down paint time at all)

1:0  -  VGC Cold Grey

Another drybrush as a highlight, also relatively quick and dirty.
 
1:0  -  Magic Wash 

This just gives the skin a nice sheen.


Chitin:

1:1  -  VGC Cold Grey : Magic Wash

This is relatively straightforward.

1:0  -  GW Nuln Oil

Easy - just wash all chitin areas with a thick layer of wash. Don't be stingy! (Edit: I may have done two coats, or at least one good one and then added a quick second layer in the recesses for more definition.)

1:2  -  VGC Cold Grey : Magic Wash

This first step is mainly to lighten the chitin, using a wet-brush technique, feather all areas of chitin, pulling the brush from the inner part of the plate to the edge. Do this a few times over each plate to get the ridge effect started.

1:1  -  VGC Dead White : Magic Wash

As above, but try and make the lines thinner. Many quick feather coats will be required to give it the proper texture.

Afterwards, use the ratio above to edge highlight the chitin plates to finish them up.


Claws/Teeth:

2:1:1  -  VGC Heavy Red :VGC Black : Magic Wash

Go over the claws and teeth/gums with the above ratio. 2 coats may be necessary. (For teeth/gums, skip to last step)

2:1  -  VGC Heavy Red : Magic Wash

Use one or two coats to start bringing the dark base up to a proper red. Leave the base of each claw the original colour, and apply it to the last 90% (approx) of the claw. With each subsequent coat, apply to a smaller percent of the claw, going from dark to light as you get to the tip.

1:1  -  VGC Gory Red : Magic Wash

Same as above, focus more towards the end half of the claw. For larger class, Consider adding some streaks into the darker bits for texture. 

1:1  -  VGC Bloody Red : Magic Wash

This is the main edge highlight for the claws/Tyranid models, but may need to add more gradients to the bigger Monstrous Creature claws. A few streaks, edge highlighting, focus near the claw tips as above.

1:1  -  VGC Dead White : Magic Wash

Use this to pick out the teeth with a fine detail brush


Maws/Tissue & Joint Ribbing:

This to me is the most tedious step, because you are painting small, often recessed areas while trying not to ruin the  paint job around it. There may be a more efficient way of doing this, but I can't think of it.

2:1  -  VGC Heavy Red : Magic Wash

Apply this to the maw area around the teeth/gums, and to any ribbing/exposed joints. Two coats will be required at a minimum, due to the stupid nature of VGC Heavy Red.

1:0  -  GW Agrax Earthshade

Carefully apply this wash to the areas painted above, making sure it does not bleed to other areas.
 
1:1:1:1:?  -  VGC Dead White : VGC Fiery Orange : VGC Bloody Red  :  VGC Heavy Red : Magic Wash

(Not exactly sure about the ratio of wash, 1-2 is probably fine) This makes a lot of paint for a very small area. However, there is no easy way around it. Basically you are using this with a wet-brush technique to edge highlight the ridges on the skin and the maws

1:0 Magic wash

As with the skin, this just makes it a bit more glossy and organic.


Eyes:

1:1  -  VGC Dark Green : Magic Wash

Easy, just go over the entire eye, may need two coats to get a good green base.

1:1  -  VGC Escorpena Green : Magic Wash

Again, go over most of the eye with this. Leave a bit of dark green in the deeper part of the eye.

1:1  -  Dead White : Magic Wash

This would be used to add a little reflective "dot" on the eye of bigger Tyranids. Don't bother on the smaller models.


Tongue:

1:1  -  VGC Royal Purple : Magic Wash

Use this to basecoat the tongues of your models.

2:1:2  -  VGC Dead White : VGC Royal Purple : Magic Wash

This is the edge highlight for the tongue.

(n.b. For the larger bugs, you can consider washing the purple basecoat with either a GW purple wash or possibly just Nuln Oil. Then use a mid purple as a mid-tone before adding the highlights above.)

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And that's it! Will add more to this as I get to it (i.e. Leathery wings, various Tyranid guns, Zoanthrope brain tissue, etc.)


Saturday, May 28, 2016

Long overdue Update

Well, 8 months seem to go by quickly when life gets in the way. As alluded to in my previous post, there have been lots of things in the background that have taken a lot of my focus away from the hobby. Some good (I am now a new dad) and some not so good (My father's ongoing struggle with cancer). The end result is much less time to devote to hobby-related activities. Unfortunately, my blog has been hardest hit, with me preferring to spend my precious time mainly on painting.

Now that I am up at all hours hanging out with my wife as she feeds baby, I figure I can get some blogging done. Therefore, I have some completed work to show! 

The first project I completed since getting back into things has been the rest of my Inquisiton models. I had picked these up years ago as part of my Grey Knights army, only to have them stripped away from the Codex, along with my Assassin. 

I don't have a good picture of them unfortunately, but enough to get a good idea:


The job was 2 Servitors, 2 Crusaders and Coteaz.

Next I went back to my Dreadknight, which I had started back in the fall. I am quite happy with how he turned out, and found out I much prefer painting the large centrepiece models, if only because they tend to have less tiny little details that have to be picked out over and over again (like on a 5-man Strike Squad box).

I took pics of him in my ghetto light box, making them slightly better than the one above:


I am quite happy with how he turned out. I played with some newer formulas for the golds in particular, and feel they look a bit more natural than my previous method.

From my original batch of GKs, I still have to finish my Rhino and 5 Paladins. My goal for the year is to get, at a minimum, those two completed. Of course, what did I do after I finished my Dreadknight? Buy 15 more Strike Squad GKs, 10 Terminators, a Storm Raven, and the Betrayal of Calth box to eventually start my Alpha Legion 30k. Then, instead of opening any of those kits, or start on the two projects listed above, I tackled 10 more Hormagaunts, which are currently a work in progress. Ahh well as long as I am doing something... (Doesn't make it better knowing I also want to pick up a IK Renegades box, along with a Shrine of the Aquila terrain and a set of the new Armoured Containers to round out my terrain collection once and for all...)

My next post will outline the paint formulas for my Nids, and then I will update some other posts with paint formulas that I have been meaning to put on here for posterity.

This may take another 8 months, but hey, if it does I should have a few more models completed to showcase. Until then!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

It's never too late for an update?

Well, life has kind of gotten away from me since my last update. A lot has happened since then, some family issues, a new job and issues with that, some more family issues, and here we are in October.

That said, I had a fair amount of hobby time, which I tried to use pretty wisely, I have not had any motivation to post. However, now I am on vacation and my wife is watching last year's Nigella's Christmas Special with her friend, so I have some time to kill.

(I am posting this via the Blogger app on my phone, so I have no access to fancy editing).

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Surprise Picture Attack!

Whaaaaaaat?!?!?!


Forgot some edge highlights and cleaning up the base, but my first test model for Hive Fleet Ceryx is otherwise complete!!

For comparison, this was my reference:


And a shout out to iPaint on Warseer for his impressive scheme which I borrowed the Maw colouring and Bone technique:


I will eventually post my ratios for future reference, but as this is a surprise ambush post, I must be in and out like a ninja!

Out!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Alladin's Morning Coffee Musings #9 - Slow it down, GW!

Haven't had the luxury of writing up one of these in a while, but with another chunk of painting backlog complete I thought I owed it to myself to wax poetic about the hobby for a bit, rather than jumping back down the painting rabbit hole.

Today I want to talk about Games Workshop and the steadily acceleration of major releases. This topic has been covered elsewhere, but it seems everyone has an opinion on it.

Why did you have to bring John Voight into this, GW??? WHY???!?!