Genestealer Broodlord

 

Freddy the Hunchback

 

The Spawn of Cryptus painted, for no other reason than it was relatively simple and I felt the sudden motivation to try and get the Tyranid models finished.

In terms of paints used, there's no difference to how the Genestealers, or any other Tyranid in general, was done before. Same paints used, although a little more care in places because this is such a centrepiece model:

• The "skin" was given a Wraithbone glaze after the contrast stage just to give some areas more definition, or because they were too pink previously.
• Additional blending was done on bones to remove any clear line between them and the "skin". Mostly I wanted it to look like the carapace was slowly hardening more as the creature grew. In some places I started to put a slight purple tint, just to show it turning slowly into the hardened carapace seen on the back. The blending on the "horn" for example shows this in progress.
• Much finer lines on carapace edges, and some blending back of the purples if the colours were sticking out too much.

-- silly painter.

Genestealers (Hive Fleet Leviathan)

Sneaky 'stealers looking for jeans.

The genestealers are finally finished. Levi is there, obviously, and look closely and Tyranood can be seen as well. Overall the paint scheme is very similar to the termagants, with some adjustments to account for differences to the model.

As usual, start with black primer, followed by Wraithbone spray over the entire model. It might take a couple of coats, but better to spray it lightly twice than a single, thick spray that obscures detail. An even coat helps later stages, so it's worth the extra caution at this point. Once everything is dry, a rundown of the paint scheme is below.

Main body:

• 1:8 (Volupus Pink / Contrast Medium) over the whole body.
• Volupus Pink directly in gaps between chitin.
• Skeleton Horde over "bones" (typically elbow and heel).

Face:

• Volupus Pink around the "gums", shadows under veins on the head.
• Guilliman Flesh around the "gums", inside of the mouth.
• Highlight teeth with Wraithbone if necessary.
• Flesh Tearers Red over the tongue.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight over the tip.
• Barak-Nar Burgundy, thinned, over the whole tongue.
• Iyanden Yellow over the eyes.

Claws and blades:

• Flesh Tearers Red all over.
• Carroburg Crimson near the base of each.
• Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight along edges and the tip.

Carapace:

• Shyish Purple
• Xereus Purple in lines along edges
• Genestealer Purple in overlaying lines

Base:

• Astrogranite over the whole base.
• Mechanicus Standard Grey if necessary to cover some areas missed by the texture paint.
• Drakenhof Nightshade over the whole base.
• Agrax Earthshade in a few random patchy areas.
• Stormfang drubrush over the whole base.
• Rhinox Hide around the edge of the base.

Little details on the base were painted similar to the genestealer, mostly as extra support to glue in, but also as a hint that genestealers don't openly attack until the world is already in a lot of trouble, and tyranid flora is starting to appear.

Of course Purity Seal was applied at the end to help protect the models. Hopefully it should stop paint rubbing off too easily - something I've noticed can happen with the Contrast range.

Centrepiece type models will be up next for the tyranids, so I will probably spend a little more time on them, but fortunately they're fewer in number.

-- silly painter.

Genestealer WIP

Levi Genestealer

No back pockets.

Wow, yet another post. On a roll. Don't expect this to continue however, as I intend to finish all eight genestealers before showcasing them.

For a genestealer from Hive Fleet Leviathan, obviously the name of the first model should be Levi. I should probably paint that under the base.

These particular models take a little while to assemble. Many mold lines to clean up, and the arms can get in the way if not positioned properly. The good news is that once assembled, there's really nothing blocking any part of the model - no need to paint in parts and assemble at the end.

Nothing too much to say about the painting techniques used: they're identical so far to the termagants. I've been using a medium glaze brush with contrast paint on finer details - I find the brush keeps the tip better than the layer brushes with those particular paints. It really helps when trying to be neat around fine details.

Volupus Pink is very useful here in the joints, and seeing as it's thinned down and used all over the model, then it's also excellent to accent various details. It's mostly a matter of intensity. I've used it to draw out the veins on the head a little more, and to add a little more contrast (heh) around the nostrils. The head was always going to be the focus of the model, and so it deserves that little bit of extra attention.

I tried to thin out the Shyish Purple and sort of fade the back carapace into the rest of the body in places. The idea is to make the carapace look more like it's a part of the genestealer; hard lines would make it look more like something attached to, rather than grown from, the beast. It can be difficult to use water for this purpose, as it breaks the flow properties of contrast paints and turns it into more like a wash.


Not a bad start though, and shouldn't take too long until the brood is finished.

-- silly painter.