Help with color scheme

[Damon Nightman]

Hey everyone,

 

I've been working on some nids and this color scheme for literally 5 years now in-between working on my blood angels. I'm finally ready to get serious about the nids and need help nailing down my color scheme. I want overall opinions, help with specific details, and feedback on my execution of the scheme even. Whatever feedback you have really.  

 

The scheme is black with dark blue carapace that has streaks of lighter blues all the way up to white on the edges. White claws, teeth, etc. Pink vents and fleshy parts. 

 

Some specific things:

1. Eye color (yellow seems the obvious choice, but I'm not the biggest fan of yellow generally)

2. Should the claws, talons, and bone swords be a bright white or a toned down white with nuln oil or something

3. Tips or advice for how to do the black better. Right now i'm just dry brushing Longbeard Grey over black pretty heavily and finally toning it down with nuln oil. I really want to avoid super clean highlighting if possible and stick with a dry brushing method for the black if possible. 

4. Tips for how to do the pink for the vents and fleshy bits. Right now i'm just using Druchii Violet? i think shade over white which seems hit or miss.

5. Overall is the scheme worth keeping or should I scrap it? I don't mind changing everything up if I can't make this work. The other scheme I've tried is a bone colored carapace with light blue body, but I basically stole that from people here.  

 

Photo dump:

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2020 by Brother Lemartes

[WarriorFish]

Stole? You mean inspired by right? :P Nice to finally meet someone who takes longer than I do to decide on paint schemes I think the colours work well together, the lighter edges on the carapace help give the model some depth and contrast nicely with the darker body So I think the colours and locations are ok, it's more a case that you're not quite happy with the execution yet?

1. Yellow is the default as it works with most schemes and when people think beast eyes yellow is often first to mind. If you're not sold on yellow perhaps an off white, maybe a very pale blue with a wash on top? Alternatively a deeper red might be a nice contrast and go with the pink accent.
2. I think the brighter white works nicely here, Nuln Oil on white gives it a bit of a dirtier look which I feel wouldn't suit your scheme as much as the brighter white.
3. I'd say changing the base colour is the approach here. I like Stormvermin Fur as a base to a "not black", which you can apply Nuln Oil washes to and darken it to taste. For a darker colour it might be worth instead using a single Black Templar coat rather than have to do several Nuln washes as this eats time, but I've not tried this yet so I don't know how it'll look. Highlighting before a wash is a good way to make it more subtle, but I'd recommend not highlighting the body. Less work obviously, but helps give it a more natural look and lets the carapace highlighting stand out more.
4. I like the pink colour, looks good and complements the scheme. By hit or miss do you mean due to the quality of the white underneath? If you want to wash a paint the smoother the coat the better, white can be a bit hard here depending on the paint. I'd suggest trying a nearly white for a smoother finish that should work better with a wash - Corax White goes on smoothly and is close enough to white for your needs.
5. This is a decision for you only

I hope this helps give you some ideas, and I'm sure others will add more. I think your scheme is there you just need to refine it so your doubts are resolved. I was lucky in that my nid scheme came together easily but even then I still revised it so it worked better (and was less work), once you've got the last pieces of the puzzle I'm sure you'll be painting up squads soon Keep us updated on your army!

[Damon Nightman]

Thank you! Definitely seems to be mostly an execution problem. I really like the organic and gritty looking nid schemes and I think I'm finding a hard time achieving that kind of style with the bright colors I chose? I'm not sure exactly what my issue is lol.

 

I am going to check out stormvermin fur for black and whip up another gaunt.

 

Now I'm thinking i need to do a better job blending the carapace or something. Carapace execution leaving more to be desired..

[tychobi]

The texture on the carapace is cool! It gives contrast that it needs to set it apart from the skin. Giving the claws some sort of wash to set off their details (setaphim sepia my fave for bone finish) could add. A shocking burst of color for eyes would set things off too. Pure white with neon yellow or pink over top works a treat!

[WarriorFish]

I think the carapace edges work well, but perhaps they're time consuming enough? The streaking look is very striking, blending would dilute this I feel. The scheme has a strong ice/winter theme to it and this works well as part of that

[Xenith]

I think the scheme looks great and the colours compliment one another.

Possible things are to start with a mechanicus greay undercoat then black templar over the top, this will give you some depth and shading already. Can always go back over with a light drybrush, but speed is key I think.

Pink is great for the squishy bits, I've been using grey seer base with volpius pink over it. Screamer pink also covers black really well, and you can shade with druchii, or even a dark green.

Also, on blue skinned, bone carapaced nids...Hive Fleet Jabberwocky can always have another tendril but your scheme is also great. I tried something very similar I was testing out colour pallettes:

Theres a few more variations on schemes in the first post of my tyranid log, if you want to see how other colours look.

Edited December 7, 2020 by Xenith

[Damon Nightman]

thanks all! 

 

And now for something completely different:

 

 

 

Figured if I even had to ask if my scheme was good, I wasn't happy with it. I am a lot happier with what I got now.

[WarriorFish]

It looks great, you can see how it's an evolved scheme from the original. Keeps the strong winter theme and the palette works. Now you just need to paint all the others :P

[The Pounder]

Really does look good!

 

Makes me think of the battle for Macragge where the fighting was at the poles.

 

It’ll scale up to bigger beasts too.

[Xenith]

Looks great! Now do it again.

[Damon Nightman]

Bam! 

 

 

Thanks guy! 

 

I need to test it on some bigger bugs next 

Edited December 16, 2020 by Brother Lemartes