Ever bountiful, the internet recently provided this lovely old White Dwarf ‘Eavy Metal page featuring two splendid Hive Tyrants, painted by myself (the lower miniature) and Stuart Thomas (the upper).

We were proud of both pieces at the time, successfully bringing to life miniatures that were a little “messy” and providing some gravitas to a race that until that time had been pretty much overlooked since Advanced Space Crusade in terms of painters’ attention.

Of interest is the two very different colour schemes and what they represent.

Stuart’s model was the original release and painted a few months or so before mine (mine being a later “conversion” of the original sculpt by Michael Perry) and as such represented what was still the prevalent studio painting ethos (i.e., bright and colourful) of the day (although signs of the imminent shift away from this can be seen).

By the time I painted the second Hive Tyrant acceptance of a darker, more “realistic” painting style was taking hold, allowing me to take quite a different route in terms of colour scheme and the overall feel of the miniature.