Today The Army Painter walks us through how to paint a Tyranids horde fast while also making them look great- check it out!
The Army Painter is known for having some of the best and most affordable paints on the market! But they also have an extensive collection of painting tutorials and paint guides- like this one on getting your minis looking great with Speedpaints.
Their tutorials are perfect for learning how to get your models on the table and looking great. If you want to see everything The Army Painter has been releasing and their other painting tutorials, check them out here.
Just as a note, all the paints, and tools used in this video will be from them, and you can pick up all the colors and Speedpaint here. Let’s see how to do it!
How to Paint a Tyranids Horde: Army Painter Tutorial
They are doing this tutorial a little bit differently, but we’ll still break it all down into steps for you. To start, he sprays all the models Black. Then, once dry, does a top-down spray with Barbarian Flesh.
Airbrushing:
He starts with a Chimera Red Air Paint and just hits all the fleshy areas. Next, he goes back to Barbarian Flesh and lightens the skin up with it. Finally, finishing it off with a final highlight of Hobgoblin Hue. Before you move on though, he does a Matte Varnish over the whole thing.
Washing & Speedpaint
He starts with a Red Tone and water in a 50/50 mix and washes this onto all of the parts that aren’t scales. for the bases, he breaks out the Dark Wood Speedpaint and just covers all of the bases. Now, he goes to the Grim Black Speedpaint and does everything he wants in the color like the scales and claws. Next, he lets it dry for about 30 minutes and then gives it a coat of Varnish.
Adding Effects
He takes a small sponge with Dungeon Grey and starts just dabbing highlights onto the scales. He just hits the highlights quickly and uses them to highlight. He then moves to Ash Grey and does another smaller layer of dab on highlights. Then, go back to the Red Tone and dab it on without water so it really starts to highlight the models.
Finishing the Bases
To start, he goes with the Ash Grey and highlights the bases, and finishes them off with some Winter Tufts thrown on.
Final Steps
To get the fleshy parts to look more fleshy he adds some gloss varnish to give it more texture. To finish it, he takes an old brush with half the bristles cut off and mixes Gloss Varnish, Dark Wood, and Slaughter Red. He then just flicks this onto the model for that little bit of extra flavor on the skin.
Finished Models
It only took him 2 hours and 8 minutes to do three squads! Pretty sweet.
Be sure to follow The Army Painter on Youtube for more great content like this.
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
