'nids part 358 - #DreadTober High Rule Dude and Screamer Killers Flesh and Talons

Afternoon #WarHamFam and #WarhammerCommunity it's the 24th of #DreadTober and I've been #PaintingWarhammer on my Tyranid High Rule Dude and I've been so busy I didn't have time to post this update last week.

My focus has been on highlighting all the red fleshy bits.

Then all the black talons, claws and spikes.

I got all the adrenal glands highlighted too as well as the eyes and teeth.

The rotting strawberry of doom.

The teeth have made such a huge difference and this is literally just VGC Stonewall Grey and then white. No shades, washes or wet blends! And yet I'm convinced it's somehow tied everything together.

All the chunky brushstrokes look like some comic-book style colouring.

The spikes too, it's all coming together now and I can't wait to put some gloss varnish on all those spikes.

I did the legs, but foolishly did not consult my Tyrannofex blogpost beforehand to give me the exact recipe of how to create the angry red effect. 

It's hardly different but it would have made a bit of sense given I actually noted how I did it. And also it was DreadTober2020 which has a nice continuity to it!

And the massive talons, I've done much lighter highlights on the red than usual. 

I'm not sure if I'll live to regret that or not, but it all matches on the model, even if it's not as consistent with some of my other big bugs.

The talons too are a bit clunky with the highlights but I just wanted to get it done at this point. I'm not sure about the veins on the shoulders, if I need to do anything to blend them in a bit...?

Regardless, there's still some shading to add in places, but I'll do that when the model is fully mounted and I can decide on how I'm going to shade it.

Now the guns mostly match the Hierophant, at least I consulted the blog for this.

That said, I'm not sure what I was thinking that the underslung pipe/strut should be green like it's delivering bio-plasma to the gun, when it fact it ends in a bayonet talon! Still I'll do it green.

And to the Screamer Killers - both got their highlights.

And I now fully understand why the legs don't work. Firstly, there are 6 armoured plates on the thigh and 4 on the shin, when usually it's 5 and 3.

Those additional plates fill up the space more, rather than show bits of the fleshy joints or weaker armour. It creates a solid armoured leg.

Which I suppose for the function of the creature makes evolutionary sense but it's diverging from the Tyranid design language in a way that looks plain odd.

From the side it's not too bad, as you can see the other colours from the scheme.

But from the front, and particularly how the angle of the knee bends back in such a way as to make the armoured plates look continuous from a tabletop perspective, well they just look like trousers.

While the new Norn Emissary, as a bigger creature still holds to the 5 and 3 rule. Has a slight taper to the plates too, so you can see the weaker armour at the sides and the knee bend is in such a way as you can see the top part of the shin. 

When I get the Norn done you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, this has all worked out pretty well. Green and blue plasma to do next and then some shading.

The heads have worked really well and once again the teeth just make it so comic-book.

As much as I'd love to do something more grimdark and downright scary I love how this is straight out of Ben 10 or some other kids cartoon.

It's still cool, even if it's toy-like. As I come to terms with what I'm capable of painting nowadays I'm just grateful it has come together despite it.

I mean even all the dark blue, thanks to the washes, has somehow worked out OK when pre-chitin highlights it looked really dodgy.

Nearly done, just the glow FX, shading, some details on the bases, varnish and TO DONE!

Can't wait to see them finished.