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Ok im getting some tyranids of the internet, and when i paint them i want there carpaces to be black fadinn into blues up untill a light blue or white, i was wondering if anyone has any sugestions for doing this. im not that great at painting, but i was thinking of doing this

Step1
base coat black

step2
paint on a mix of regal blue darkend with chaos black

step 3
drybrush(?) on normal regal blue, starting from the edges and working way through, but leaving some of the first layer of paint down in the middle or where the carpaces touch.

step 4
Drybrush(?) on enchanted blue, doing same as above, but using less so that some of the previous layer is left
and do that untill i get to white, or light blue. then put on Ard'coat.

paint black.
use white to highlight it (leaving black at the start and fading to white)
this can be done by using several thin coats of white.

next, use a blue ink, use it heavy at the start (by the black) and use a wet brush to ease the ink (washes work too) down the carapace, as it thins out it will get lighter.

lastly, use a light blue (ice blue works well) to add final parts to it.
do the same as the ink (water the blue down, but not too much)
as the paint thins it will leave white at the end.


if done right it will blend well, ill try and get some pics up soon.
takes some practice, so i would suggest a few trial runs on spare parts.

So the ink, is that somthing i have to buy, or can i take ergal, enchanted, or ice blue and just add water or somthing to make it a ink?

I noticed the word drybrush? a few times, In my opinion you will get a much better effect if you paint the selected layers carefully as opposed to drybrushing. following the contours of the model with fine brush strokes may take 10x longer than drybrushing, but the effect could be worth the time.

you can use any paints, just need to water them down


you can also do the technique i posted in reverse.
doesent make much difference, just seems to be quicker and you get a better idea of how its going.

About what ratio?

had to check for a moment then as i dont tend to mix via ratio's (i just mix and test until its to my standards of OK)

try to get it to the same sort of mix as the washes (maybe a little more water).
it needs to be thin enough that it does not cover everything, but it needs to be thick enough that it can be applied in a few layers.

Whats the wash mix? 1:1?

im not 100% on the wash mix structure.

i need to mix up more tomorrow anyway, so ill make a note of how ive done it and post it here, along with a tutorial for you on blending black - blue - white.

thanks alot, i just tried and i can telll i used to much water since it wont layer, so ill just wait since i used up the last of my purple trying

IF it were me.. i would do the original scheme you talking about.. starting with a really dark blue at the base of the armour plates moving through blue until the very tips are white.. i think that looks awesome. but instead of drybrushing i would do layering.. comes out much much nicer.. but takes heaps longer.

One of my Fexes...

The carapace there goes from Black to Vallejo Beasty Brown (GW Bestial Brown). It does that in five steps:

1 Black
2 Scorched Brown / Black (about 4/1)
3 Scorched Brown
4 Scorched Brown / Beasty Brown (1/1)
5 Beasty Brown

This is simple layering, done in a sorta striated pattern, so it blends pretty cleanly unless you get very close.

Striation in general is a good idea for chitin, just looks right.

If you're going from black, through blue, all the way to white, that's going to take a lot of layers to get a smooth transition. I'd guess at least eight. If you want more of a striated look, you can go from black to a mid blue in a pretty smooth way, then with some hard white over that.

Really depends on what you're going for.

I'd suggest you probably don't need to go all the way to white. A light blue grey would probably look better, as white over black will tend ot look exaggerated.

Also, FWIW, if you're going to be painting little bugs, you need to be able to do this same effect in a way that looks clean on the little guys too.

On mine, that's just black base, Scorched Brown, then Beasty Brown. On the smaller plates, you need less smooth transitions. Might make sense to pick some colors you can take right from the pot to use here, so you don't have to mix.

Nice, that what im aiming for. ill try your war as soon as i get my models

That fex reminds me of the rabbit from Donnie Darko. Weird.

lol, nice.