In this tutorial, Rowan takes us through his tyranid colour scheme step by step. Find out which paints and techniques you'll need to recreate the iconic look of Hive Fleet Giger. Yours tremendously, Velour Excelsior
Thank you for the advice with the base of lead belcher ! I am going to do a few experiments with my army and I gotta see what color red like either flesh tearers contrast or blood angel contrast with a color shift to compliment . Great wicked idea !!!! P.S. I gotta get me a concrete dungeon to hobby in ….would add to the zen like atmosphere I need! Lmfao 😂
Great to see someone else using the colour change paints on the nids 🙂 I use a solid black base and then Darth Blue blended into Psychotic Illusion to give a variation along the plates and a dark purple & blue highlight highlight on the body to match the colour shift.
Replacement for Nuln Oil Gloss ? Try Contrast Black Templar mixed with high gloss varnish and flow aid from Liquitex or use carbon black ink instead of the contrast paint.
Fantastic paint scheme. Really captures the terror and doom aspect that the Tyranids represent. Definitely applying this style to mine. Do you have any pics or videos of other Tyranid units? Great work. 😁
We have a tyranid army focus video (you can find it in our army focus playlist), a tone of battle reports and you also might want to check out @rowan_tbg on Instagram he has a load of close ups of his nids there (he just finished the psychophage)
Just watched this again with the brightness turned up! That green shine reminds me of those blue and green bottle flies seen on rotting flesh/roadkill! Very apt for 'Nids I think 😊 Another thought about nuln oil gloss, how about regular nuln oil mixed with a gloss medium? I'm just firing thoughts at you now, I'll shut up ☺ Again, a really good video and the use of the GSW paints.
No problem, glad you like the effect. I start with the same as the "bright silver" areas, and then give it a wash of Druchii Violiet around the outer edges, then build up Frostheart from the central area outwards. It's mostly just building up that Frostheart in thin layers
This looks so cool. I'm planning on a Nid army and want to paint them like the xenomorph and your tutorial is by far the best I found. About the colorshift, do you think darth blue would also work well? I would test it but the colors are so expensive and in the colorsets from green stuff world there is only either darth blue or storm surge green.
I haven't actually tried Darth Blue yet, but I use Cobalt Blue on my Genestealers and Storm Surge Green on my Warriors. Borealis Green has a nice purple to it too which I use on my larger bugs
@@Slurgical_3D_Terrain_Channel the base coat definitely makes a huge difference. The strongest effect will usually be over a very solid / glossy black. For something more subtle you might want to try a matte dark grey or even a metallic. Good luck and hope that helps!
@@rowanforster Thank you, I will try it. Been working on an Alien didn’t really work well, but on a flat yellow and flat green for a BX (starwars legion) it did an interesting effect. Like almost metallized those colour in a dirty and interesting shifty way, so it worked out, but for the alien I had no luck so far.
Awesome, I havent even started the video, but i just wanted to say that if i collected nids this would be my way, now about to enjoy the video none the less!
Pretty cool! I don't know if you have an airbrush or not, but I would strongly recommend it, This scheme would suit perfectly and you could just spray on some gloss varnish, Also atleast Valleyo coloshift paints (not tried the greenstuff ones) are made to be used to work with airbrush and works like a charm. But then again, airbrushing is not for everybody and sticking to brushes has a quality on their own
I always hated the three original Hive Fleet schemes. While i do understand what they were trying go with those but i just hated them. Loved those animal prints like the Beach Crab, or really natural like grimdark black schemes.
You mentioned you used other colours on other models. Which colour shift paints do you use for the rest of the swarm? Also wouldn't mind knowing how you do the glow effects on the brains :)
These are all the colour shifts I have been using so far: Borealis Green (big creatures), Celestial Azure (Genestealers), Storm Surge Green (mid size creatures like Warriors), Emerald Getaway (small bugs like Gaunts). Recently I've been trying our Psychotic Illusions and Nebula Copper for some of the larger brain bugs like the Neurotyrant. For the brain glow this is the main process: start with the same bright silver as the skin, wash with Druchii Violet around edges, then glazes of Frostheart to build up the blue. Hope that is helpful!
Really great look for Aliennids. But i think the name Giger is doing the man a disservice. The blue hue, the alien queen. That's all from Aliens. And Cameron famously did not even approach Giger because he did not want him to interfere with his vision for the creature. So naming that version of the creature where he was passed over on after him feels a bit off to me. Hivefleet Winston maybe?
Good question! I like to keep the skin more satin and the chitin panels gloss so there is a bit more contrast between the two. This also makes things like glossy mouths for drool stand out a bit more if you add that. If you wanted everything to look gloss (very xenomorph) then you can skip a step and just use gloss varnish. Hope that helps!
That's an interesting idea. I quite like having a contrast between the more matt flesh and the very glossy carapace personally, but this might be worth trying out. Thanks for the idea!
To paint them Giger style which is anyway their whole inspiration of design is the only way I would paint them. Commanding an army of xenomorphs is quite appealing. 😁
So far I have been using: Borealis Green (big creatures), Celestial Azure (Genestealers), Storm Surge Green (mid size creatures like Warriors), Emerald Getaway (small bugs like Gaunts). I've also been playing around with Nebula Copper for some of the more "parasitic" organisms. Hope that helps
Every time I try to thin out colourshift paints they just turn super pearlescent and pale instead. I've tried using thinners and mediums and water. How do you do it?
I've found the most important thing is to make sure you have a really solid black underneath. Matte or glossy makes a big difference too. For the color shift itself I don't really thin it down from the pot I just keep the paint moving as I apply it
Realy awesom tutorial. But, do you have any idea to remplace ce BLACK TEMPLAT contrast ? Because if you whant a full army... you need A LOT OF !!! i start my tyranide army, and i'll use your echnique ! Thx man !
This is true, especially for the big monsters. However since a lot of the work is done by the initial leadbelcher spray I don't feel too bad about my usage so far. If I think of something I'll let you know
generally i like this. I think the green looks a little strong for me. kinda want a bluish green if that makes sense. I'll see if you have an updated version of this. nuln oil gloss is sadly gone.
There are lots of different chameleon paints to play around with for different colour tones. Also the base coat underneath can make a big difference to the effect. Lots of variables to play with! Have fun
I actually use a couple of different variations of the colour shift paints for different monsters. Have recently tried more of copper colour for the "parasite" creatures that feature more on the models
Mate that's the best Nid scheme I've seen in years and is very similar to what I've been thinking of for even longer! Thank you 👍😊 Would a black ink be a suitable alternative to the gloss nuln oil?
@@rowanforster thanks for the info, cant' wait to begin my invasion Alien style (and Can't wait to see what the Norn Emissary will look like in this scheme) 🙂
hey,this sheme could be THAT one i lookin for since years...i discoverrd this color shifting paints a few days ago,think this is the key i was always missing...but im a bit worried how it turns out on bigger Models like the Malecaptor or Exocrine. Do you have some kind of showcase
We have just the thing! There is a tyranid army focus in our “army focus” playlist. Or you could check out some of our battle reports fearing the tyranids. Hope you enjoy and good luck with the painting 💪
SO I have been following along, I ended up getting bubbles in the colourshift, which I thought would disappear as it dried, but they stayed, now there are pock marks in places on the surface :/ Wonder what I did wrong?
Hmm, the texture of colourshift paints can be tricky and is a little different to standard acrylics. I've noticed that bubbling too, but if you use slow brush strokes and move it around while it's wet you can usually get the bubbles out
