A step-by-step guide to painting Tyranids and getting spectacular results with just a few colors
Want to paint your Warhammer 40k Tyranids without the hassle and with striking results? Then this tutorial by Jon Gómez (Pintureando) is for you. We're going to paint a Tyranid Termagant with a simple palette, using Vallejo products: Xpress Color, Game Color, Primer and a touch of airbrush or spray. Ideal for large armies or quick games!
Get all the paints from this tutorial
Download the PDF version at this link
🧪 Miniature preparation
Before painting, let's prime the figure correctly to achieve good contrast:
Base primer
- 7 parts Brown Leather Primer (70.626)
- 2 parts Black Primer (70.602)
- With spray, you can use a Leather or a black directly.
This mix creates a dark base ideal for applying vibrant colors like Velvet Red.
Zenithal highlighting
With airbrush or spray:
- 3 parts White Primer (70.600)
- 1 part Skeleton Bone Primer (70.627)
- With spray, you can use a white or a bone directly.
This is applied in a zenithal direction to establish initial highlights.
🎨 Applying the main colors
Skin
Carapace
This already gives the miniature shape and character with just two colors.
✨ Lights and highlights
General lights with drybrushing
-
Game Color Skull White (72.001) on edges to highlight volumes.
Lights on the skin
-
Mix of Game Color Bloody Red (72.010) + Skull White
Lights on the carapace
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Game Color Stonewall Grey (72.049) and again Skull White, reducing the application area with each pass.
👁️ Important details
Eyes
- Xpress Color Nuclear Yellow (72.404)
- A final dot with Skull White to bring them to life.
Tongue
Hooves
- Mix of Black Magnolia + Coppery Brown (72.421)
- Then highlighted with Game Color Charred Brown (72.045) + Bone White (72.034)
🪨 Painting the base
Colors applied wet directly onto the base:
- Xpress Color Wasteland Brown (72.420)
- Xpress Color Orc Skin (72.415)
- Xpress Color Copper Brown (72.421)
Finished with drybrushing using:
✅ Final result
And that's it! In just a few steps you have a Tyranid with contrast, volume and personality, perfect for the battlefield or themed display cases. Thanks to the versatility of Xpress Color and the power of drybrushing with Game Color, you get a high-level result without any hassle.
🛒 Want to try it yourself?
Find all the products used in this tutorial here:
💡 Extra tip
This scheme is based on the Hive Fleet Behemoth swarm, but you can change the main tones to represent any other Tyranid fleet. Experiment!
✨ Happy Painting! 🚀
Thanks to Acrylicos Vallejo and Jon Gómez (Pintureando) for the tutorial