Tyranid prototype

So this is my first ever attempt at a Tyranid. I wanted to use a limited set of colours, but I also wanted to move away from the Games Workshop colour scheme. The rule of thumb with these guys is to use a light skin tone and a dark carapace. In the GW army this equates to a bleached skin tone and a black carapace with purple shades. I was excited to paint these guys because they're so alien, and I thought it was an opportunity to use colours you wouldn't normally be able to pull off. My concept was for an aquatic force (with names like Hive Fleet Leviathan and Hive Fleet Kraken it's the next logical step!) and so my 'fex was born! He is a Tyrannofex, and he is not yet finished. The hawk-eyed amongst you will notice his arms are missing. The rupture cannon is awaiting attention as we speak.

The colour scheme breaks down into 3 types; skin, shell and gooey bits. The skin is basecoated with Hawk Turquoise (all Citadel paints, though I haven't bought the new range yet). I then mix it with white until I get the bright blue shade (I don't use ratios, I may even explain why later) and thin it down a little. I then take a detail brush and paint over the basecoat. With Tyranids, the shadows are mostly sharp (in the holes on their flanks, in their ribs etc) so they are very easy to avoid. I use the detail brush to move clear boundaries between the dark and light tones. It's very easy to paint, but the overall effect is striking. I go back to my blue mix and add more white until I get a very pale blue, then drybrush the raised areas (shoulders, knobs where the ribs meet etc). The skin then gets a coat of gloss varnish. The gloss gives the skin that glistening quality.

The carapace is basecoated black (I prime the models with White spray). I then mix Hawk Turquoise with an equal part of Dark Angels Green. This gives you a nice deep-sea green. I then brush the edges of each plate. I start halfway up the plate, then draw the brush down toward the edge. This gives me that feathering effect. From there I shade the plates 2 more times, adding white to the mix each time, and getting closer to the edge each time. Its the easiest way to blend and looks effective when done. I wash the plates with Thraka Green to pull all the shading together, then varnish it the same as the skin.

Gooey bits are basecoated with a Liche Purple/Skull White mix, highlighted by adding more white to that mix, then heavily washed with Leviathan purple, and, you guessed it, varnished.

The only other bits are the eyes (flat yellow for that psychotic predator look) and the teeth/spikes (Graveyard Earth, bleached bone highlights). The reason why the Rupture cannon isn't ready is that I'm experimenting with how to paint the bio-weapons. More on that in an upcoming post. I hope that was helpful, I'll be uploading pictures of this guy's little cousins shortly.

Dan.