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The Carapace is the easiest part of my models.
Its not a GW paint, but from a line called Model Master Acryl . Color is Dark Green Pearl, #4670, Comes in 1/2 oz pots. I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I paint GW Dheneb Stone foundation over the bare model for the base coat. Skin is a 1:5 mix of brown ink and GW Water Effects. Gives it the wet, organic look and a shader wash. Also is a seal coat, so water effects is pretty awesome.

Dark green pearl is pretty thick and dark green acrylic, and the "pearl" part is this whitish opalescent material that gets shaken into the paint mix like you would for a GW metallic. I drop some cut up spinefist bits in there to help shake it up and keep the mixture static in the pot. Have to shake it a lot so that the pearl flake won't settle out of the mix. Try and get as much of the flake as you can on the brush, too.

Then comes the easy part. Just glob it on like you would a wash. Take a appropriate sized brush for the carapace bit you want to do (don't use a big brush for small parts, it'll mess with detail) and flow it onto the carapace. I usually blow on it while I'm doing this, but hey, that might just be me. Work outwards from a central glob, using almost too much paint.

The effect comes from the pearl material settling out of the pool of paint you've left on the carapace. It clings together in a still wet globs of paint, the particles just cleave together and form little busts of just opal, which makes little "bling" shines on the model in bright light. Some areas have more of it and turn out the light green/shiny opaly color, and the parts where it settles completely out of the paint are left a very dark, rich green with streaks of the dark gray pigment used to darken the green paint at the factory.

The only trick to the process is making sure that you don't use too little or too much paint. Not enough to make it run, but enough to where it doesn't dry right away. Good rule of thumb would be so that it looks right on the model, but you wouldn't want to touch it because it's wet.

These look great! If possible, I'd like to see some better lighted shots of the carapace as I'm having trouble seeing the pearlescent/opalescent effect you're talking about.

Thanks for posting this!

Were these models dipped?

Anyway, great job on the carapaces. I'll remember this!

Cool effect. Nice to see some of the less x rated of your brood.

Sweet, however, I would slap these with some matte varnish or maybe satin varnish. Since pearls aren't usually shiny but matte and MAYBE a little bit satin.

Nope, not dipped. Same kinda effect as dipping, only I brush it on rather than dipping it in. Gives me more control, and takes longer. Hell, I don't know about you but my nids come a box at a time, and a few weeks apart at this point. Can't just be dipping them every single time.

Ahem we do have a tutorial section