I did not take pictures for the individual steps but here's a tip for a good looking bug carapace.

The idea is to drybrush a couple of colors with metallics mixed in. Should take you about 5 minutes to get a good look.

1. Prime the model black

2. Mix your paints. You add either silver or gold ot each color to give it a slight metallic look. 4:1 ratio should do. I went with:
Naggaroth Night (dark purple) + Silver
Sotek Green + Silver
Warpstone Glow (green) + Gold
Moot Green (high pigment bright green) + Gold
Averland Sunset (ochre?)+ Gold

3. Drybrush these from the outside going in, starting with purple+silver on the edges and ending with the yellow+gold in the middle.

Here's my example.

Very nice. I'm doing my carapace with a similar goal, but different technique. Haven't done it yet, as I still have the archers to paint, but I am wet blending purple and green, both with a large quantity of an irridescent medium on the chitin, followed by a very very thin layer of black on top and a light drybrush. It won't photograph as well as your paint job, but it gives the effect of those car paints that are a different color under the light. While the outward color will be black, light will make you see the green and purple underneath.

That's pretty cool.

Any chance of converting those to regular colours for those of us not using gw colours? (Dark green, medium purple, etc).

They look great!

I will try it when I finally get my core box

19 minutes ago, CMtheGM said:

That's pretty cool.

Any chance of converting those to regular colours for those of us not using gw colours? (Dark green, medium purple, etc).

I found this on google which should be of some use.

https://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

11 hours ago, CMtheGM said:

That's pretty cool.

Any chance of converting those to regular colours for those of us not using gw colours? (Dark green, medium purple, etc).

It's in there, just forgot about Sotek Green which is a medium dark blue-green mix. See below.

You could also do this by going with rainbow colours.

Naggaroth Night (dark purple) + Silver
Sotek Green + Silver
Warpstone Glow (green) + Gold
Moot Green (high pigment bright green) + Gold
Averland Sunset (ochre?)+ Gold

12 hours ago, shoeshine said:

Very nice. I'm doing my carapace with a similar goal, but different technique. Haven't done it yet, as I still have the archers to paint, but I am wet blending purple and green, both with a large quantity of an irridescent medium on the chitin, followed by a very very thin layer of black on top and a light drybrush. It won't photograph as well as your paint job, but it gives the effect of those car paints that are a different color under the light. While the outward color will be black, light will make you see the green and purple underneath.

I wanted to do that in a similar way BUT:

1. cannot find iridescent medium in any eshop in my country

2. I started with 32 reanimates and Mr. Antlers and now I could not be bothered and I still have 16 archers to go! So no wet blending or feathering for now. I am too lazy!

There's likely a nail polish that does this effect.

4 hours ago, Polda said:

It's in there, just forgot about Sotek Green which is a medium dark blue-green mix. See below.

You could also do this by going with rainbow colours.

Naggaroth Night (dark purple) + Silver
Sotek Green + Silver
Warpstone Glow (green) + Gold
Moot Green (high pigment bright green) + Gold
Averland Sunset (ochre?)+ Gold

I wanted to do that in a similar way BUT:

1. cannot find iridescent medium in any eshop in my country

2. I started with 32 reanimates and Mr. Antlers and now I could not be bothered and I still have 16 archers to go! So no wet blending or feathering for now. I am too lazy!

There's likely a nail polish that does this effect.

Shame you can't find the medium. Is liquitex not around in your country? Another option, should you choose to do so in the future, is pearl powder. Just mix it into your color. I used that quite a bit before I found an iridescent medium.

And yeah...I feel you. I'm starting out with a single box while I wait for a buddy to buy in so we can trade faction models, so I've got a lot more time to fiddle with fancier techniques. Which I'm sure I will regret once the other half of the army gets to me.

If I read it right, this belongs here https://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Paint_Range_Compatibility_Chart

As an entomologist, I approve of the coloration, which matches many of the carabid beetles. Nicely done!

Thanks Polda, never would have though about iridescent/metal mediums to get a chitin effect.