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I recently bought my girl friend some Tyranid warriors and she knows roughly how she wants to paint them and she wants to do a 'feathering' effect on the shells(whatever the heck it is) and i dont know how.

Please help , thank you !

Thin the paint. Use a good point brush, and drop a little of the paint onto a tissue - you don't want to splosh it on. Put the brush down a little away from the edge you want to highlight and pull the brush toward it. Repeat quickly and work along the edge - you'll notice a streaky sort of finish (ideal for chitin etc) but that each line has a gradient, stronger at the end point of the stroke.

What she needs to do is very lightly dapple the edges of the shells with a splayed-out paintbrush. Don't put too much paint on the brush or it will blob.

this is vid 6 out of a series but it explains the technique

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SX-931Otd-E

Yeah. I essentially did winter's and squig's ideas, but with my dry-brush. I can't show you though, cuz I just stripped them, but they were Leviathan themed. (liche purple on the edges of the black chitin).

Your problem lies not in being unsure of how to paint the warrior, but getting your girlfriend into warhammer.

Just kidding :p just last night my girlfriend saw my monolith and nearly broke it trying to open it lol

That feathering is used with a brush that can hold a really good tip and painting the streaks on. Starting in layers with progressively lighter and lighter shades of the chosen feathered color. When I was starting my bugs way back when I used http://www.necrotales.com/ as a good source for guides on how do do streaking and some other stuff.