Paint suggestions for future tyranids

[hd3]

So I wanted to do some experiments with a few spare tyranids  I found,  and down the line Id really like to do a tyranid swarm coloured like the zerg from starcraft. I was wondering if anyone could suggest what paints I should use to achieve a coloir scheme loke this?

[Grotsmasha]

Are you looking to use traditonal Base/Layer/Highlight paints, or Contrast/Highlight paints?

[hd3]

1 hour ago, Grotsmasha said:

Are you looking to use traditonal Base/Layer/Highlight paints, or Contrast/Highlight paints?

whichever gets me closer to the classic zerg look

[Bryan Blaire]

Is there a picture that doesn't have two opposing source lights in it?  It’s hard to make out the base colors of that creature.

[Evil Eye]

For a source of reference I would highly recommend Mr-Jack's concept art for the Zerg from SC2. As for paints I'd be tempted for the brown to start from a base of Gore-Grunta Fur over a light primer. It has a really nice "cockroach brown" look which IMO works very well as a base for Zerg.

[hd3]

13 hours ago, Bryan Blaire said:

Is there a picture that doesn't have two opposing source lights in it?  It’s hard to make out the base colors of that creature.

ignore the purple un the third one, that should be a dull orange or brown like the first two

[Firedrake Cordova]

Do you have a local hobby store that has the Vallejo Game Colour line? A couple of their "browns" are rather orange - I'm thinking Scrofulous Brown, Filthy Brown or Heavy Ochre (but also Plague Brown might be worth a look). For the abdomen part, I think you'd be looking at something like Khaki, or Earth mixed with Bonewhite. To highlight you can just add ivory, and to shade add a darker brown. 

 

N.B. I'm looking at this under artificial light (2700K room lighting), so my colour recognition might be a bit off.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Firedrake Cordova
Changed my mind on some colours

[Grotsmasha]

Gor Grunta Fur is my FAVOURITE brown contrast, but I think it will be too dark compared to that image. Snakebite Leather will be a bit closer.

For the Lighter areas, 50/50 medium and Skeleton Horde will get you there. 

For the Bone, straight Skeleton Horde.

[Bryan Blaire]

Do you only want to use GW paints, or are you looking at any potential line?

 

You said something about not wanting the purple, but it might actually provide a nice spot color for you.  I would use a mix of dark oranges mixed into browns, tans, and light browns to provide a mottled appearance.  A lot of bone whites/light tans for the underbellies.

 

And then I would probably use oil washes of something like Burnt Umber and maybe Van Dyke brown for variety of depth on the model.

[hd3]

5 hours ago, Bryan Blaire said:

Do you only want to use GW paints, or are you looking at any potential line?

 

You said something about not wanting the purple, but it might actually provide a nice spot color for you.  I would use a mix of dark oranges mixed into browns, tans, and light browns to provide a mottled appearance.  A lot of bone whites/light tans for the underbellies.

 

And then I would probably use oil washes of something like Burnt Umber and maybe Van Dyke brown for variety of depth on the model.

Happy to use non GW paints if it gets me closer to my target look. I like the contrast but I don't care for the purple. More red-orange sinew type colour to play off against the darker brown

[Bryan Blaire]

I don’t know that anything is specifically going to “get you closer to your target look” - you are going to have to look at the colors and make some decisions about which ones look best to you

 

So for GW paints doing a more base/shade/layer type approach than with Contrast over zenithal undercoat, I think you would need to look at the following colors:

Mournfang Brown

Skrag Brown

Deathclaw Brown

Doombull Brown to get a bit more dark reddish-brown mottling or in the shadowed areas

A mix of Doombull Brown + Jokaero Orange to get a more orange ochre tone

XV-88 for a darker yellow ochre color

Tau Light Ochre for a yellow ochre color highlight

For the underbelly, you might look at Karnak Stone as your brightest, then shade down into the recesses with a dark brown

 

Going outside GW, I feel like I can give you thoughts from ProAcryl and Scale75 (don’t have enough Vallejo colors in that range, but others have given you some ideas already).

 

ProAcryl would probably require more mixing on your part to get exactly what you want, but you’d probably be wanting to look at the following:

Mahogany, Burnt Red (mix into a more red ochre like color with some browns), Golden Brown, Light Umber, Burnt Orange, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, and Dark Golden Brown - I would look at using Bright Warm Grey for the underbelly, still shading down to the recesses with a dark brown

 

For Scale75, I would look at: Arabic Shadow, Brown Leather, Dubai Brown, Gobi Brown, Iroko, Kalahari Orange, Mars Orange (may be too bright, not enough brown tone), and Orange Leather

 

Obviously you can mix and match any of these, as well as mixing them on the palette to alter hues and tones to paint with to get it closer to your desired final paint scheme - experiment, see what works, for something like Zerg, having a mostly brown model almost demands something like texture or mottling, etc., to ensure visual interest.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Bryan Blaire

[Imren]

This is what I'd do if I started a nid army:

 

 

 

[Evil Eye]

7 hours ago, Imren said:

This is what I'd do if I started a nid army:

 

 

 

Coconut crab is always a good one. CatGut does some very nice tutorials on how to take the basic concept and apply it totally differently too, which is cool.