Tutorial: How to paint Tyranids Hive Fleet Behemoth

If the new releases have left you with a scratching behind your eyes as the Hive Mind instructs you to collect Tyranids, then look no further. Tale of Painters are proud to announce that we will be posting detailed tutorials for all three of the main Hive Fleets. Behemoth is first. 

This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of how to paint. For the beginners, I will explain the techniques as I go along. Each picture below shows four chronological steps. Underneath each picture are the corresponding instructions. Each step shows the paint I used during that step.

Paints you will need for this tutorial:

Black Undercoat

Mephiston Red (base)

Evil Sunz Scarlet (layer)

Wild Rider Red (layer)

Kantor Blue (base)

Teclis Blue (layer)

Temple Guard Blue (layer)

Bugman’s Glow (base)

Kislev Flesh (layer)

Bloodletter (glaze)

Zandri Dust (base)

Flash Gitz Yellow (layer)

Stormvermin Fur (layer)

Dawnstone (layer)

Armageddon Dust (texture)

Screaming Skull (layer)

Steel Legion Drab (base)

In case you need to expand your paint collection, head over to Wayland Games or Slave to Painting, which both stock a huge selection of paints at competitive prices.

1. Undercoat the model black. You can do this buy hand with Imperial Primer. Or use a black undercoat spray or use Vallejo Surface Primer and an airbrush. 

2. Paint the skin with Mephiston Red. This will take two coats. Try to leave some of the black undercoat showing in the darker recesses. 

3. Highlight the skin with Evil Sunz Scarlet. Leave Mephiston Red as shading. 

4. Highlight the edges and upper rounded areas with Wild Rider Red. 

5. Paint 50% of each carapace plate with Kantor Blue. The half you paint should be the half nearest the edge. Check the picture above if you’re unsure.

6. Paint the edges of the carapace with Teclis Blue. A nice thick line is required.

7. Now paint a thinner line of Temple Guard Blue on the edges of the carapace leaving the previous layer showing. 

8. Paint anything fleshy with Bugman’s Glow. This can be tongues, lash whips, feeder pipes, tendrils etc. 

9. Highlight the fleshy part with Kislev Flesh. 

10. Wash the fleshy part (never thought I’d write that on Tale of Painters) with Bloodletter Glaze.

11. Paint the teeth with Zandri Dust.

13. Highlight the teeth with Screaming Skull.

13. Paint the eye with Flash Gitz Yellow. Don’t forget any eyes on the weapon. 

14. Highlight the bio-weapon’s body with Stormvermin Fur.

15. Add some more highlights to the bio-weapon with Dawnstone.

Finally base the model in a way which fits in with your collection. I used Armageddon Dust texture paint highlighted with Screaming Skull and the base edge was painted with Steel Legion Drab.

Come back soon for the second tutorial in this series where we paint Hive Fleet Kraken.

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