Hobby Progress 101 - Test Termagant

Show some pictures of how I'm painting my new bugs for my own Hive Fleet, hope you guys enjoy!




So while I'm currently having difficulties posting this on the Independent Characters' forums for the Hobby Progress Challenge I figured I might as well let you guys see what I have been up to.  I've been devoting many hours to my Tyranids, I think I've settled on a painting scheme that I'm happy with.  Here is where I got my inspiration for the style of color scheme:

And here is the model as I paint it up with notes on how I did each step.

Base coat of Neon blue from FolkArt that I picked up at Walmart and flash-gitz from GW paint line.  Its not primed, it was too cold outside and I was impatient to get started on painting.

 Added splotches of Deep Burgundy from Americana (also found at Walmart).   The idea behind this was similar to the spots found on poisonous frogs in rainforests.  This is also why I used such vibrant colors for the basecoating.

 I outlined the red patches with Black paint by Apple Barrel (the assortment of brands is simply what was available) in order to make them stand out and give them more of a refined feel

 The carapace was now entirely outlined with Moot Green from citadel paints, except wherever the black borders of the patches were.  The green was where I attempted to drive home the toxic aspect of the models (or rather the danger involved since many animals use this to show they are dangerous, such as Monarch Butterflies).

 Jack Bone from P3 paints was applied to the hooves, claws, and lightly brushed over the teeth.

 Temple Guard Blue layer added to the raised parts of the flesh to get a layering feel.  It looks alright, and I don't dare try blending when I'm going to be making a HUGE amount of minis this color plus I'm not that good of a painter so I settled for the look this gave.

 Gun Corps Brown applied onto the vent-like parts of the arms and gun.

To finish off the model I applied a wash using the same black as before mixed with water.  I couldn't tell you the ratio, likely 1/7th paint and 6/7th water.

I like the overall look of this painting scheme and here's where I think I went wrong though:  Using a wash last may not have been the best move, should probably apply it right after the base coating; Priming the model black would have made this so much easier; Gun Corps Brown will likely be used on all the crevices of the model (like the elbow joints) to dilute some of that solid blue look.

Hope you guys like it, I'm not a great painter, in fact to put it in perspective know that this model is essentially the 37th model I've ever painted (12 kroot, 12 firewarriors, 8 tau pathfinders, 2 devilfish, and 2 tau battlesuits all of which I painted about 8 months-2 years ago).  Please, please, PLEASE give me further advice on how to make my models look better and perhaps paint more efficiently.  I'm planning on doing batch painting, and I'm doing my best to keep everything within the 'lines' to minimize my cleaning up but I did have to do a little bit, about 5 different times I had to go back and fix something.

I will likely write up a post on the lore of my Hive Fleet in the near future, and if you're looking for someone who's way more devoted to this hobby and has better ideas than me (and can implement them better as well) head on over to Tim Walkers' blog, warllamma40k where he's working on some Ultramarines.

Until next time, this is ChargingCarnifex