It’s Flickr Thursday
With close to 35,000 pictures and nearly 3000 members, the Games Workshop Flickr page is growing at an exponential rate these days. Before work we normally scan through all the new pictures to see what's turned up, and we're rarely disappointed by what we find - the standard of painting is, to be honest, quite staggering at times. It was while I was hunting for some inspiration for a new Warhammer 40,000 army that I found this beautiful Tyranid force painted by Simon Elsen, who goes by the name of Terrorfex on Flickr. What I didn't realise was that Simon's got a lot more than just Tyranids in his gallery...
Simon: I was first inspired to collect Tyranids when I saw Marco Schultze's Hive Fleet Moloch (they were the red and black ones that made an appearance in the Warhammer 40,000 Apocalypse rulebook). Since then my own Hive Fleet has grown progressively larger and more critters have found their way into the collection. Over the years I've also spent a lot of time learning to sculpt my own details, hence why there are so many bizarre creations in the army.
All the models were undercoated with Chaos Black Spray and drybrushed with Dawnstone. I then applied Nuln Oil and Carroburg Crimson to shade the skin. The chitin plates were re-basecoated with Abaddon Black and the striations were applied in Khorne Red and Jokaero Orange. The claws and teeth were all painted with Rhinox Hide, highlighted with Karak Stone and washed with Agrax Earthshade.
All the green areas are painted in Caliban Green followed by Moot Green. The heads are painted in Screamer Pink, highlighted with Emperor's Children. I painted the red marks on the heads with Khorne Red, painted the eyes in Yriel Yellow and the tongues in Kantor Blue shaded with Asurmen Blue.
Dan: Simon also has two other armies in his gallery - Eldar and Renegade Guardsmen.
If you've read the Siege of Vraks books by Forge World then you'll know that Chaos Renegades are constantly popping up across the Imperium. As with many of his armies, Simon planned to get them painted quickly but effectively, and all of the tanks were started and finished on the same day. They were basecoated using a mix of Dawnstone and Karak Stone, which was further highlighted using pure Karak Stone. Simon then used a selection of oil paints and weathering powders, as shown in the Forge World Modelling Masterclass Vol.1 and Vol.2, to add battle damage to his vehicles.
Simon's Eldar army is particularly lavish, what with all the freehand artwork all over his tanks. Much like his Renegade Guardsmen though, Simon painted the whole army in a single week. The army is based around a force of Eldar pirates who have devoted themselves to Slaanesh, which, as we all know, is a bit risky at the best of times. Of all the units in the army, the tanks are the ones that stand out the most, but according to Simon they were painted in only three stages. After undercoating them with Chaos Black, Simon painted the freehand design on using watered-down White Scar. He then covered the whole model in Biel-Tan Green. That's it. Yes, really, that's all, nothing more than that.
If you'd like to see your miniatures on the Games Workshop blog, or even in the hallowed pages of White Dwarf, then what are you waiting for? If you've got some truly stunning miniatures and you can take some high quality pictures of them, then send them to us at whatsnewtoday@gwplc.com and we'll gladly take a look. Don't forget to write a few words about them too, such as how you painted them and how you use them in your battles.
