This mini looks bad until the carapace...but don't worry...it ends up very nice. The methode I will demonstrate is VERY different from my Kraken guide. I'm going to use a combination of drybrushing and ink glazing wich will pull all the skin colors together. Also...MATTE VARNISH SPRAY is a must on this model...It will not look right without it...trust me.

Supplies

Ok here are the paints I used (tentatively..heh):

From left to right:

Vallejo Game color Chaos Black

Vallejo Model color German Grey

Vallejo Model color Neutral Grey

Vallejo Model color Medium Sea Grey

Vallejo Model color Sky Grey

Vallejo Game color Beasty Brown

Vallejo Game color Gory Red

Vallejo Game color Bloody Red

Vallejo Model color Light Orange

Vallejo Game color Bone White

Citadel Game Color Black Ink

Citadel Game Color Hawk Turquoise (on top)

Citadel Game Color Red Ink

Not pictured but used:

Reaper master series Linen white

Other supplies:

Citadel Game color Black Primer Spray

Citadel Game color Matte Varnish Spray

Citadel Large Dry Brush

Citadel Small Dry Brush

Vallejo 4/0 Brush

Testor's Polystyrene plastic glue

ZAP-A-GAP CA+ Super Glue

Clippers

Hobby/Exacto Knife

Model Flock

Static Grass

I think thats it...(i think?!)

STEP 1: Model Clean up

This is VERY important in this guide. You must get ALL the mold lines off of the model...WTF...why? Ah....DRY BRUSHING! This painting technique is great for exposing all of those little imperfections in the models..(yay..sweet...bleh). I needed to get out my Magnification lenses to see all the little lines. Anyway...clean up the model just like I described in my other guide (LOOK IT UP). No need for a pic of this I don't think.

STEP 2: Priming

Hmm...lets take a step back and look at the Behemoth models in the codex...Lets say the Warrior Shown on page 51 of the codex. Notice how dark the model is...I mean...its really dark....Well that is because its primer coat is BLACK!...Not too surprising though. Had it been primed white (I don't know why!?) the base color red would be waaaay to bright...pink probably...I only bring all of this up because it is important for young painters to understand the effect that your primer choice will have on the Hue and Tone of the model. Ok...enough of the art lesson...JUST SPRAY THE DAMN THING ALREADY KRAKENFIEND!! Jeez...ok ok....Well just apply this just like I did in the other Guide...Shake the primer very well....this will keep the primer mixed and it will be smooth on the model...(key since I'm going to dry brush!)....whew...enough of that...Do...I need a pic of a black primed gaunt?.....nah....probably not...

STEP 3: Base Coating

Now...this step is ANNOYING! Oh well....To begin, Get the Vallejo Game Color Gory RED out. You might want to add just a tad bit of water to the paint(like half a large dry brush) to thin it down some. Start applying the paint onto the model's skin. Yep...its very ugly looking..all mottled and gross looking. Thats because of how opaque a color like red is. Therefore there is only one way to "fix" this: Apply a lot of coats of red. So, if we are putting lots of coats of paint on, we want the coats very thin so as not to cover the model's details up (thats why you should thin the paint down some). I applied this paint with my Large Dry brush. Basically what you want to do is apply a thin coat and let it dry. Then apply another coat and let it dry...repeat until you get a very solid red. It took me about 4 coats to get the color in the photo. Don't wory about the crevices of the model right now...we'll take care of those later. It is going to be MESSY! Once base coated you will get something looking like number three below:

img src="http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l111/Tigurius_2006/Behemoth%20Photos/IMG_0163.jpg" WIDTH="500" HEIGHT="450">

STEP 4: First Skin High light

Ok...now on to the fun and easy parts...SWEET. Alright, first thing to do is mix some paint up. Take the Vallejo game color Gory red and mix it with the Vallejo Game color Bloody red. I used about 50/50 mixing...maybe just a little more Gory red to keep it from getting too bright too fast. Next I used my small dry brush to very lightly highlight the skin of the model by Dry Brushing. I ususally make a couple of passes on this guy because you want to gradually build the color. After about 4 runs over the whole model you should start to see the lighter color showing very well. Pay close attention to the upper parts of the arms and the legs..you want that rounded part to be brighter than the rest so give it as much color as you can. The tail is very important too because it should end up being pretty bright at the end. Look at the circled areas of the photo too see where you want the brighter color concentrated. After a good round of dry brushing you should end up with number four below:

STEP 5: Skin High light TWO

Still doing Dry brushing here. SIDE NOTE: I chose dry brushing for the character it can add to a model. It makes the skin look old and worn...which looks really sweet on tyranids. Anyway onto the painting. This is very simple. You don't even have to mix any colors! Just get out the old Bloody Red Vallejo game color and go to town with the small dry brush. Just like the first skin highlight, pay close attention to the high points on the upper limbs. AND, pay close attention to where the segments of the arms and legs meet. You will want a brighter red on these areas. In the photo I circled areas that you should ensure get a healthy dusting of Bloody red (Not TOO much though). Just concentrate on making sure that the raised areas get dusted. I only went over the model twice with the dry brush because the Bloody Red is sooo bright I did not want to over do it. When complete you get number 5 below:

STEP 6: Final Skin High light

Ok...now it can't be all fun...eh? *right* So now comes the hardest of the skin high lights...ho hum. Its not actually hard if you have pretty good brush control. Take out the Vallejo Model color light orange and begim to lightly paint the edges and extreme hight points of the model. Edges to hit are all the segmented arm and leg edges and the chest area. High points to hit are the extreme round part of the upper legs and arms as well as the round part of the head towards the back. Now this is not just any stroke of paint here. You want to lightly define the edges with this color because it is VERY bright. Therefore you want a very light stripe of orange as opposed to a huge BOLD stripe. The same goes for the extreme high points...you almost want to turn the 4/0 (thats the brush I'm using in this part btw) into a semi drybrush and very lightly apply the orange....key is subtle coloring. Make sure you highlight the face as well. Look at the photo I took and check out the edges and high points for what I'm talking about: You should get number 6 below:

STEP 7: Ink Glaze

Man...that model is looking pretty cruddy huh? Its like a bad Calculus problem....just sucks. Wish I could do something to sorta bind the colors together and darken the model at the same time....think...think..*DING* Ah ha! What if I Applied a red ink glaze to the model?...yeah...that could work. So what is an Ink glaze and How do you do it? An ink glaze is a thin coat of ink usually following dry brushing to remove/tone down the chalky effect caused by said dry brushing. In our case it serves three purposes:

1. Removes/Tones down the chalky look

2. Red ink will Help to bind all of our colors together

3. It will darken the model (which is good)

So, how does the ink "bind" the colors together? Answer: We have about four different shades of red on the model including the orange. The red ink will tint all the colors by its color thus giving the existing colors something in common with each other -- RED INK TINT! Thats good because that bright looking orange now is a bright red and so on. Now we are getting really close to what the codex did (wierd they never mention ink huh?). So now that you know what a glaze is and what it can do...time to learn how to do it eh? Its very very simple. Using the 4/0 brush, (yes I do mean the really small one) dip the brush in the ink then start coating the model with the ink. The reason for the small brush is so you can accurately control the flow of ink onto the skin..you DON'T want too much! Just enough to tint the colors down to the red ink's color...and thats it! Go over the whole model and you should end up with number 7 below:

Notice how shiny this guy is now....Stay tuned as i delve into carapace painting and other little details....later.

STEP 8: Carapace clean up and Black ink shading

Ok, so we have the skin color done...now onto the carapace. First thing to do is Use the Vallejo Chaos Black and clean up the red that got onto the carapace. Once again I start at the edges of the carapace and work my way into the middle. Unlike my Kraken models, I don't have the dark ink line to guide my black paint. Therefore you have to take GREAT care not to get the black onto the skin. Be VERY carefule around the head crest because the plates are not defined too well up there. Also the upper leg plates need extra care around them because of their curvature. While you have the black paint out go ahead and paint the mouth black and clean up the flesh borer. In this step I also like to do some crevice shading with black ink to get really good seperation. I don't do it on every crevice but I do use the ink on the segment joints and the diamond shaped (ok...oval shaped) crevice on the limbs. Just use the 4/0 brush and very gently dap some of the black ink in there. You just want enough to shade the recesses not douse it. Take a good look at the photo I snapped and pay attention to the areas I circled. Oh btw...one more cool thing I did with the black ink: Lining In. This is a pretty old painting technique by witch you use a black line for seperation and definition. I used it to define the area where the upper leg's skin and carapace plates come together. Be very careful if you do this ( too much ink is BAD!). When you get done, you should get something like number 8:

STEP 9: Carapace Texture striping

Well this step should look familiar to anyone who has read my Kraken guide. Its pretty much the same thing but with dfferent colors. Ok...first thing to do is mix the first layer. I used about 3 parts Hawk Turquoise to 1 part chaos black. Then, I used the 4/0 brush to stripe the carapace. Start from the center and work your way around till the whole thing is done. make sure you are using small strokes on the head as to distiguish the lines from one another. Also longer strokes are needed on the upper leg plates so keep that in mind. You will get number 9 below:

STEP 10: Stripe Highlights

Now that the base stripes are painted we just need to add highlight color to them. So, use the Hawk Turquoise and layer it right on top of the base stripe. Ensure you leave some of the previous layer showing so you get a color gradient. You will get Number 10 when done:

STEP 11: Final Stripe Highlight

Pretty much just like the last step except We need the lightest color. So, to make it, I mixed about 50% Hawk Turquoise with about 50% Vallejo Model color Medium sea Grey. Now just layer that on right ontop of the last coat. As before leave some of the last coat showing.SIDE NOTE: To give the model a little more umph I chose to layer one last color highlight in which I just added a little more grey to the mix (you don't have to do this). You should get something like 11 below:

STEP 12: Face Details

Start by Using Black ink to darken the eye sockets. Now we painted the mouth black during step 8 so now we just need to do the teeth. Use the Vallejo model color Neutral Grey and dot the teeth with it. Because this is a closed mouth gaunt....great care must be taken not to get the paint all over the pkace in the mouth -- JUST THE TEETH. Now then, after that I used the Reaper master series Linen white to high light the teeth....then you are done with the mouth. For the eyes I just put a DOT of Vallejo Game color Bone White....and thats it! You should get number 12 below:

STEP 13: Flesh Borer and Assembly

Man....still have this unpainted Gun...hmm....the codex Behemoth guns are done in Grey....so I'll try that. First I use my Vallejo model color German Grey to ring all the edges in the darkest grey that I have. That means all the little crevice edges near the front and on the handle as well. While we have this color out, we need to do some texture striping to the carapace plates on the gun as well as the hooves and claws of the body. Once this first color is down, we need to build on it with our other shades of grey. So Now I just highlight what I already did with the next colors going in this order: Neutral Grey, Medium Sea Grey and Sky Grey. Don't forget about the hooves and claws of the model. For the last little touch on the Gun, I painted the pipes Vallejo Game color Sick Green and then highlighted with Goblin Green.

Now for assembly: Just glue the Model into the base and glue the arm and gun in place with the Testor's Polystyrene glue. Once dry we need to VARNISH this guy really bad. So I just shook the Varnish very well and sprayed him down with the matte Varnish. SIDE NOTE: The MATTE Varnish is very important as it eliminates the shine from the ink. When done, you should get number 13 below:

STEP 14: Flocking

Well...this is the LAST step. I use the Zap a gap CA+ super glue and evenly spread it on the base. Dip the model in a bowl of flock (sand or whatever). Once Dry, paint the flock vallejo game color beasty Brown. Once that is dry, dry brush on vallejo game color bone White. Now put a dopr or two of super glue on the base again then dip it into the static grass. And Last but not least paint the outside of the base Beasty Brown....And TA DA...finished:

Hive fleet Kraken gaunt not included.

TIME....About 2 hours 30 minutes from start to finish. This methode is MUCH easier to pull off than the Kraken colors (thank you black primer!). Well thats it. Any questions...just PM me. Hopefully this will help all the aspiring Behemoth painters out there (C'mon...you know you like Kraken...right?).