Krootid Stingwings

[Quareni]

Hi guys and welcome to my first WIP

I have a batch of Vespid Stingwings that I have given a simple headswap to have Kroot heads with their feathers removed. It\'s real simple, but I just couldn\'t stand the teeny-weeny insectoid heads of the original minis.
Now, my problem is how to paint them. As you can see on the image below that are meant for an army including both fire warriors and Kroots, so in order to make the army fairly consistent I need the Stingwings to fit in.

Their armour and weapons are going to identical to that of the fire warriors, but I\'m really at a loss about their skin. I\'ve considered a mix of grey and red but I fear it will be too indistinct. Therefore: Let me know if you have any ideas that might put me on the right track.

 

[lono]

Tough call... Hmmm, have you done any Tau with bare heads, and if so what colour is their skin? You could use the same red as on the Kroot for the majority of the Vespid, and then work some of another colour, perhaps the Tau\'s skin colour, into the membranes of the wings.

If not that, a glossy black skin colour could work and would be nice and simple to do.

The Tau and Kroot do seem to compliment each other well, so you definately need to give some thought to the Vespid to make it fit in.

 

[Quareni]

Thanks for the quick feedback. I\'m not too sure about using red as I want a distinct difference between the Kroots and the Stingwings (despite the identical heads). However, I like the idea of glossy black and might go with that...

Concerning bare Tau heads, here is the one I use as Avatar:

As you can see I\'m using a bluish grey that is not that dissimilar from the one GW uses.

By the way - the facemask is there to imply that not all planetary atmospheres are Tau friendly. I have always wondered about the minis\' apparent disregard for their own safety in hostile environments but of course it makes them look a lot more interesting. And yes: I know I\'m inconsistent as the Kroots and Stingwings are left to their own devices

 

[Manus]

Admit it - the facemask is there because of that horrible Tau smell
What about using that purple color you use on the Kroot hair/feathers, combined with som black for the wings. Some of the spikybits in a light color like bubonicbrown/bleached boneish. Weapons either same as the firewarrior or maybe red as the kroot.

 

[uberdark]

hi quareni,

so i am looking at your krootid and here are my reccomendations. i would reccomend keeping the bodies of the krootid in reds. but find certain bits to go with some greens. the wings themselves i would use greens to accentuate the reds. as for the gun, i would keep it gray to go along with the tau. afterall many wonder if the vespids are just being controlled by the tau anyway. i hope this helps. let me know what ya think.

cheers

uber

 

[Quareni]

I think it is a good idea with contrasting red and green (like on the Kroot), but sine the armour is green already, I think I will keep it out of the skin. I have begun to lean towards a very dark red with the wings shifting towards the purple of the Kroot feathers, but I am going to make some attempts tonight and see what I prefer - and of course I shall keep you updated here.

Thanks for all your comments and advice - keep it coming!

 

[uberdark]

btw guys if you can vote up this piece quareni just put up. i voted already. lets give him a real cmon welcome.

http://www.coolminiornot.com/155481

 

[Quareni]

Hi again

You just gotta love CMoN!

I have just spent three extremely frustrating hours trying to get to grips with the colour scheme of my Stingwings and have been THIS close to chucking them all away :flame: And afterwards, to fulfill my promise I tried to get the critters photographed with a 3.2 MP camera that has hit the floor at some point, shaking the lenses and whatnot :cussing:

And then what happens? I enter CMoN and find Uberdark\'s post. All anger is not exactly forgotten, but life looks a lot better - so THANK YOU, UBERDARK!! You are the man.

But: The Stingwings. Well, take a look and tell my what you think. The image is probably too dark to be of much use, but I will try to swap it for a better tomorrow.
I would love comments on the colour of skin and wing membranes and LOADS of alternative suggestions.

 

[hubbabubba]

Hi, looking good.
Big contrast between your kroot and tau, I\'d want to keep up the theme as already mentioned, but at the same time I\'d try to distinguish them from the standard kroot, manbe a different shade of red, or more brown/black.
I like the way the wings are looking in the last pic, go with it.

 

[uberdark]

i like the first one best. i still think you should paint the wings green and the membranes in between red. this would do well to keep them in connection with the kroot. imho.

keep it up and congrats on the 7 rating.

 

[Manus]

I think the wings on the last one looks absolutely disgustingly alien insect like - go with that. Why not put those wings on the red body but tone it down a bit so they look darker and different from your kroot. Those heads work actually a lot better than the originals, they look really nasty - good!

 

[Larre]

the middle one is the best! deifinetly!

//Larre

 

[Quareni]

Again: Thanks for the feedback. I have been looking at the minis today in a new light but I am still not quite happy with these first drafts. The rightmost attempt at the wings was the last thing I did in the evening and is a direct result of my growing frustration, but like Manus and HubbaBubba I think they could be the solution for the wings.

But the body... I might try a darker red still, but it is difficult (at least to me) to do it dark and still maintain definition and life in the mini, so alternatives are coming up one of these days. Today I borrowed a book on insects at the local library, and it has sparked a couple of ideas that I might make attempts at during the weekend.

@Larre: I don\'t exactly disagree with you when it comes to the mini on it\'s own, but the blue simply doesn\'t tie in with the rest of the army, so I\'m afraid it\'s got to go.

@Manus: Yeah - the heads may be a bit too big for the bodies, but they certainly bring a lot more character to the minis. Alien nastiness rocks!

@Uberdark: I think I will do one exactly as you suggest simply to see it IRL. It might work.

Thanks to you all for the attention - keep the advice coming.

 

[emopainterguy]

I really really like that conversion. It looks a lot better. The photo is a little dark so I can\'t really say too much about the colour schemes other than I like the last one most. The wings stand out so much clearer from the rest. It\'d be interesting to see how they look on the red skin, I think it could work very well.

 

[Prophet]

 

[Quareni]

Right - I\'m back.

Here\'s the result of my further work on the dark red solution.

As you can see, I\'ve given it the fleshy wings and added some dark stripes to the carapace to break up the horisontal stripes and to try to make it look more organic. Obviously I have finished no details and the weapon has only been given the base colour to give an impression of the pallette.
I\'m still working on two other experiments, so please let me know what you think of this one. All suggestions are welcome.

 

[emopainterguy]

I\'m a big fan of this one over the others so far. The only thing I\'m not too keen on would be the little bone coloured knobbies on the knees and arms and such, I would probably just paint them red as well. Just my 2 cents though, it could look good when if you cleaned it up (which from the sounds of it you will).

 

[Manus]

Looks good Kris. The wings are just perfect IMO. I think that I would keep the spiky bits a different color than the main body just for contrast (otherwise it could become the lobster of the game lol) . It is a bit dark (wich is good) and neeeds the areas with light colors. Any unpainted areas you can paint the armour-green or similar contrasting color? How about getting it together with the firewarrior and Kroot for a reshot of the first pic.

 

[Quareni]

Ok, so I\'m back again. In the meantime I\'ve gotten a new job which is really nice since applying and so on has kept me from my brushes far more than I have liked. But now, with the job in the bag, I have found some time to paint again, and the Stingwings have been the most pressing job.

As I mentioned earlier I have looked through some inspirational material but ended up drawing a blank. I started work on a bone-coloured variant but it ended up so badly that by now I have painted it over again. The red one is still the main contender for the colour scheme but with some tweakings. Here is the first one actually finished with the same neighbours as the previous:

The colours (especially of the Kroot) are not quite right, but photography seems to cause me no end of trouble, so bear with me for now. As you can see, I\'ve replaced the bone spines on knees, fists and so on with green (inspired by Uberdark) and added highlights etc.
I have also added a stripy effect to the carapace to make the mini look more insectoid and I\'m quite pleased with the result. However, I\'m not really sure that the contrast between the deepest shadows and the highlights is harmonic and I\'m very interested in hearing suggestions of how to improve this.

Do let me hear your comments.

 

[Manus]

good to see you back, I think it look good with the green spiny bits. The colorscheme is still my favorite and looking good, think you could get away with a further highlight.
Some insects and spiders have strong contrasting colors at the joints maybe you could use that to bring some more colors in to him. I\'ll see if I can come up with some pics - or try ask Bill, he seems to know his creepy crawlers.