# Alien-themed Tyranids



## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

While I wait for CSM to be updated I thought I'd start up a little Tyranid army and paint them with as little effort used as possible. These guys were finished in no time:


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Nice work !

You need that Reaper mini with the Alien bursting out of it's chest to round out your army I reckon !


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

How did you do it and which paints?


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## stalarious (Aug 25, 2011)

Hey for one of your ripper swarms try mounting them on one of the casulty models and you have a GW model chest popper LOL these are looking really good!


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## pb97613 (Apr 2, 2012)

i really hope that you do little more to them than this. Right now they just look undercoated. Plus if they are meant to be "Alien Themed" Nids, shouldn't you have covered over all the eyes?


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## stalarious (Aug 25, 2011)

Hey now pb07613 ease up man. If he puts a high gloss on them he will get that shiny "slim" look and he is good to go. as afar as covering there eyes he army is only themed not converted to aliens I dont see a issue with having the eyes showing. He could just say that the hive fleet for this army ran into another alien speices in the deep space gap between universes and they fought them and won hence there look.


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## pb97613 (Apr 2, 2012)

i was being nice. a black and grey nid army can look good and cool, but this is not that army. The nids have been done as a stop gap project whilst waiting for something else to start, nothing wrong with that. The nids are black and have been dry brushed grey, nothing wrong with dry brushing, i dry brush all my nids. But the grey is not consistent on the mini's, they do look undercoated. With a tiny bit more tiny to have more consistent grey highlights on the mini, a few other details picked out, teeth, tongues, weapons...etc... and they could look good. But right now they look undercoated.


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## khrone forever (Dec 13, 2010)

i agree with pb97613, they need something else to make them look finished.


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## stalarious (Aug 25, 2011)

@pb97613 my bad man its hard to tell being mean and nice when you dont hear peoples voices. Overall some fine detail would be cool claws,teeth and such but They way I see those models they look fine to me. But I am still fairly new to painting (only been doing it for two years).


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## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

Thank you for the feedback. They are not supposed to be a work of art, this is just a small army project to get tabletop ready and play against some friends.

pb97613: I'll rephrase it to a "Alien-inspired" colour scheme then if it will make you happy.

Jace of Ultramar: I did a black undercoat followed by drybrush of runefang steel and fenrisian grey then ardcoat. I used astrogranite for base followed by drybrush of longbeard grey.


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## Angelofdeath690 (Sep 21, 2011)

I do like the look as well, considering i havent been giving my swarm its painting time i think you have a good concept. I will agree it doesn't feel finished yet, but i think doing up the teeth and tongues and the small details will help give it a more complete feel to it. Keep up the good work!


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## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

Angelofdeath690 said:


> I do like the look as well, considering i havent been giving my swarm its painting time i think you have a good concept. I will agree it doesn't feel finished yet, but i think doing up the teeth and tongues and the small details will help give it a more complete feel to it. Keep up the good work!


I might end up painting the teeth and tongues for contrast, thanks


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Aliens have translucent teeth, so you'll be needing to figure out how to get that effect. 

Personally I don't think this works. At all. It may have worked for a seldom glimpsed monster in an old horror movie, but for a painted model it really just comes off as incomplete. 

There's no contrast, not compliment, just two tones. Even the bases are just drybrushed grey. 

This could possibly work for a few models or units like genestealers or lictors but I wouldn't apply it across an entire army.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

osmesis said:


> Jace of Ultramar: I did a black undercoat followed by drybrush of runefang steel and fenrisian grey then ardcoat. I used astrogranite for base followed by drybrush of longbeard grey.


Sweet. I'm saving this in the event I do a Tyranid army later on.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

Serpion5 said:


> Aliens have translucent teeth, so you'll be needing to figure out how to get that effect.
> 
> Personally I don't think this works. At all. It may have worked for a seldom glimpsed monster in an old horror movie, but for a painted model it really just comes off as incomplete.
> 
> ...


Serpion, I see where you're coming from and get why you see it that way. But, the Alien was not a colourful creature, ever. It was seldom glimpsed but this paint scheme is very much spot on. There is a video on YouTube that has a person who painted an Alien inspired hive fleet that was nice but it also did not have many colours to it... maybe green was in the mix but I don't completely remember.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFeucwV5GQs&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

I think for the teeth you may way to try a sprue with bone white or bleached bone with a black ink wash on it for a shade for the teeth. Hold up next to the model and see if it works. Also, maybe consider using a water effects material for drool. It could work very well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAeZcrijN2s&feature=youtube_gdata_player 

I know in the most recent Alien films that KY jelly was used, but, I think if you walked into an LGS with a tube of that in your minis case people would look at you like this :shok:


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

Well you have the overall look down, I agree visually its not much to look at, there needs to be some added color, the basing is fine in all, but I would suggest maybe using a grassy style terrain for the base( I understand they have rarely been seen in an envionment like that) anyway grassy dark green basing schem with some browns thrown in will help to bring the minis out and add some color to the scheme. Also it should be noted that the original alien wasn actually all black, that was more on par with the James Cameron film Aliens, which the color direction used was most shades of blue and black, but keep in mind the original was msotly brown and tan colors, you can add some varients of this, which can help the the color ga a little, such as take the rippers and painting them in the tan like color they typically start out as in the films. Personally I like it, another way to add color though would be the eyes, since aliens technically have no eyes and your nids do have eyes, you paint in a color like yellow, green, or blue and that alone will even add enough color. 

Just some ideas in all, I am a huge alien fan and well I actually like what you did here, they give of a bit creepy vibe.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

I'd us space ship decking and the yellow and black warning strips we see in the movies on the bases to add some colour etc.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

Magpie_Oz said:


> I'd us space ship decking and the yellow and black warning strips we see in the movies on the bases to add some colour etc.


That's brilliant, actually.


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

Ship decking is still using just more shades of grey. Jungle or desert would make them stand out even with the current scheme. Aliens have fought in just about every environment there is so that is irrelevant. In the end you still want these to look good yes? For that you need a contrast and the base itself is the best way to do that. Just remember these are tyranids, not Aliens.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

I always thought Aliens had metallic teeth. At least that's how they;re rendered on many toys and statues.

Using a metallic silver paint might give you that shiney pop you need even if they are crystalline/translucent.


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

If you want to get a quick and easy glossy Alien look, try giving various parts of the model a green or purple glaze, then gloss varnish. That'll give a little depth, a tiny bit of colour and look more natural as the Giger Aliens have those colours in their carapaces...


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

I like the concept and for me these fir the bill nicely. I agree with the others though, do the teeth, and like galahad i thought they were metallic. Hit them with some mithril silver and they should look great. A wash could help with the overall scheme but i am not sure which one to use. Blue, green purple or baddab black?

One other thing, the alien blood was fluro green and in the avp movie there was an alien with wounds. That concept could give added color. As for another source of color, mutilated corpses would do the trick, uniform colors and blood, all you will need.


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## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

shaantitus said:


> I like the concept and for me these fir the bill nicely. I agree with the others though, do the teeth, and like galahad i thought they were metallic. Hit them with some mithril silver and they should look great. A wash could help with the overall scheme but i am not sure which one to use. Blue, green purple or baddab black?
> 
> One other thing, the alien blood was fluro green and in the avp movie there was an alien with wounds. That concept could give added color. As for another source of color, mutilated corpses would do the trick, uniform colors and blood, all you will need.


Cheers mate, yeah I definitely will be painting the teeth and make them have a metallic look. I'm torn whether to paint the eyes and which colour to paint the tongues. I do like the idea of a wash - maybe green, brown or black.


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## tabbytomo (Aug 12, 2008)

greeeeeen wash;

http://www.ewanwilson.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/alien_attack_1419.jpg


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

On the tongues, maybe a tan colour? I seem to remember the second jaw being on a tan tongue in the first two films.

As for a wash, I think green would work best.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

I just remember vast quantities of Droool !


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## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

Green it is. Will report back over the weekend with new pictures


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

I personally think you have there main scheme down, the metalolic teeth would look good, but to me the basing is going to be the selling point, ship decking is another shade of gray, consider the tutorial on here somewhere on making nurgle like basis, and create the base sort of an alien hive, use dark greens and some browns, there you instant color contrast and creepy looking gigeresque nids. The battle wounds idea is good to, I know where that whole AvP reference came from there was a distinct alien that had the scar of a preds net cut into its skull, that would make a good idea for adding color, just remember the blood isn't very fluroescent, but nurgle green like. Anyway your still on the right track


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## SilverTabby (Jul 31, 2009)

The inner jaw is the same colour as the carapace, only a fraction lighter (though that. May be a result of all the drool). Mithril or chainmail teeth and claws would work. Eyes - personally I'd go with jet black, but if you want to emphasise the colour glazes go for deep purple or deep green.


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

Good grief, the urge to do a Tyranids army as my next project is increasing.


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## shaantitus (Aug 3, 2009)

I am glad i got rid of my nids or I would be doing the same jace. I have to finish all my unpaintedguard and my titans before i do anything else.


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## OgreChubbs (Dec 13, 2011)

I love it, stay with the theme. Some times the theme trump's the colour sceheme.

Yes they look dark and not very eye catching from a far but thats the point they are hunters predators who sneak up and kill you, if you add green ink or dark angle green as a base it will add contrast with out taking away from the theme. BUT STAY WITH THE THEME!!!!!!!!! It looks good just not eye catching WHICH IS WHAT IT IS SUPPOSE TO BE!!


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## Jace of Ultramar (Aug 2, 2011)

shaantitus said:


> I am glad i got rid of my nids or I would be doing the same jace. I have to finish all my unpaintedguard and my titans before i do anything else.


Yeah, I hear you. I originally thought of going 'nids when I was selling off my Magic last year. I need to finish my Crimson Fists before I start something else. I may look into used models of 'nids but that's so very far off. However, I'll keep a close eye on this thread for inspiration purposes.


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## osmesis (Sep 19, 2011)

See this thread for new pics and army list (I didn't end up painting them differently as everything I changed I didn't like as much as the original scheme)

http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1297400


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