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Hey,
Basically i have started my army and have a good amount of models, but i really cant decide on a paint scheme.
I have done a number of designs/tests in photoshop so as not to waste models.
-PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IMAGES-

I really want them to stand out from other armies, but also to be realistic and threatening.
I would like them to be quite dark and scary looking like real predator insects/arachnids.
The terrain type i would be making for my board is mainly city ruins, with aspects of tyranid plants slowly taking over.
But i don't want a jungle theme or too many bright and unrealistic colours.

A Paint test i have done on a model (sadly i haven't taken photos yet) ended up being light green with brown stripes on the skin,
This did look cool but had too much of a reptilian or velociraptor feel, and i want it to be more insectoid

The image i have in mind is dark scary creepy bugs crawling around corners of the ruined city and intimidating the enemy.
Im thinking dark browns with certain areas picked out with brighter but still realistic browns/oranges picking out certain areas like patterns almost war-paint or animal warning signs.

Anyway id really appreciate anybody's thoughts on the following images i have created as designs
And also any new ideas or links to animals/ other peoples schemes that reflect the dark, scary and threatening look i am wanting for my army

Please bear in mind these images i have done are not meant to be works of art, just to portray a colour theme or experimental idea
I am also open to the idea of mixing/combining schemes in the army that go well together to add some variety

*I just thought id like to add if anyone wants a quick explanation of how to create images like this themselves i would be happy to give a brief explanation/instructions or tutorial as it is not to difficult and gets quick results

Ive tried to steer away form having the chitin one colour, and the main body exoskeleton as another, since nearly all tyranids are painted this way, and looking at insects the arms and legs are generally the same colour as the shell, its mainly the soft underbelly that is paler.
But maybe its not the best idea, anyway im open to opinions and advice!



OPTION 1
Dark brown with stripes- Whip scorpion

Above is based on the patterns of a whip scorpion
I know a lot of dark areas would make details harder to see,
But there is something i think is cool, dark and threatening about a striped dark brown creature similar to the whip scorpion stalking and hunting down prey in a predatory fashion

Here are some more images of the same scheme close up and also on a warrior

This idea is growing on me and i like it, although i'm not sure if it would just be too dark and bland
it could perhaps be combined with albino versions with reversed colours and other slight variations

*Just as reference i really like the feel of Phil Kellys black and yellow tyranids that can be seen here:
( http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=1700100-gws )
I would think something like this but with more whip scorpion colours would be cool?
They look really threatening, but i would like more realistic browney bug-like colours but with similar shock appeal








OPTION 2
3rd edition cover influenced

Many of you may recognize this scheme as it is inspired by the tyranids on the 3rd edition codex cover, also kind of mixed with inspiration from insects such as cockroaches
I liked the way the heads stood out on the cover, and the warpaint-like line on the face which can be seen in all of these tyranid paint designs





OPTION 3
Albino- scorpion/ newly birthed soft insects look
Thought it would be cool to have some pale members in a dark army just as pigment mutations/albinos, or even newly birthed from a tervigon or spore as most insects have white/yellowed babies



Option 4
Generic lighter brown tyranid
To be honest i dont think this looks threatening enough, and kind of looks like the green one i painted but brown.
I could imagine a more jungle themed army of green and brown tyranids would be cool, i just don't think its what i want to go for.
Id rather darker and more threatening alien bugs.





OPTIONS 5,6,7
Just more general rough experimentation using roaches etc as reference
I liek roaches because they can have a large variety of patterns using the same 3 main base colours in the species







OPTION *
Finally, a scheme i do not really want to use, and similar to one i painted but without the brown skin stripes
I tried to combine a reptilian and roach feel, but the over saturated oranges etc look more fiery than roachey.
Plus like i said, this is to jungle like and i want dark scary city bugs
But hey we will see, and maybe it will inspire someone else so i included it anyway




So thanks a lot for taking the time to read this/ look at images.

Basically id love any feedback on any schemes, or any advice in general.
Basically i'm just stuck trying to pick/come up with a theme, so anything may help
And hopefully maybe one or two people will be inspired themselves.

Any advice specifically on OPTION 1 would also be great as id like to know if people think this would be a cool scheme

Thanks alot!
And look forward to peoples advice/opinions/suggestions
Your opinions help a lot
And i really want to make a decision and stick to it so i can knuckle down and get this army going

I'd go for option one. It's an unusual scheme and looks very menacing. I would like to add making the weapons another colour though. Maybe some boneish blades/talons.

Can't wait for what you decide and post more pictures!

I do like the tongue on option one, and those stripes could be quite a striking pattern in a complete army.

Hey thanks a lot for the feedback guys!
Glad you like option 1 as i think something like this is what i will go for
--
Low_k
Cheers man, glad you think it looks menacing,
Interesting idea, i did kind of think the stripes on the talons looked kind of cool though as he felt a bit naked without it,
But i will do a couple more rough tests,
Maybe one with just boney whip/sword and the other with the talons boney as well
Will post when ive had a chance to do it and see what you think man
Thanks a lot hopefully will look cool when painted
--
Glaiceana
Thanks for the feedback, cool i was hoping it would be quite striking.
Yeah i figured it might be cool to have a more alien looking tongue so its not 100% bug and has a bit of an otherworldly aspect
--

Will do another test with boney parts soon and post that,

But in the meantime any other comments on any of the potential schemes from anyone looking at this thread are very welcome!
Even if you think they are all crap or dont like them, feel free to tell me what it is you dont like/could be improved

Thanks again!

First off, you're doing the right thing with looking at real life bugs for inspiration. Nature can come up with far more original designs than most can imagine.

I like the first scheme you have there, but I second the call to make the claws / hooves a different colour to the body. Or not necessarily a different colour, but not carry the stripes on to them. If you look at most real bugs, like the scorpion you have there, the claws aren't patterned and rarely are in my experience. The actual claws are usually monotone or have a fade from one end to the other.

On you models, making the weapons stand out a little bit will make them look less confusing and will be better on the tabletop to see what a model is armed with at a glance.

Also; making the underside/chest area plain/pale, as you mentioned, is a good idea for a model as it will make the whole army less confusing as a whole. You'll be able to tell what direction the models are pointing and how many there are, again that's good on the tabletop.

While I have done many differing Tyranid schemes (due to my unique approach to the hobby) and quite a few are based on real world creatures, there's only a few that are dark-ish in colour. Feel free to browse my gallery or my blog (they're pretty much all on the first page or 2 and not always some of my best painting), you may see something that will give you an idea.

Also, just searching for tyranids in the whole DD gallery may bring up a unique design that you wouldn't have thought of and will at least give a general feel for how well certain design choices work on an army.

Keep at it, like the ideas.

I like option 1 as well. It's definitely unique compared to most of the brightly colored Tyranids that I usually see. I think going with a very dark color scheme can be somewhat risky though because they can appear unfinished when looked at from a distance or in a poorly lit room.

Can't wait to see how the finished army turns out.

I fatted with the earlier coments.
Number one made me dizzy, do it!

Hey thanks for all the feedback again everyone
I've done a couple more studies on changing weapon colour etc i will paste below after ive replied to you guys

--

Dr H
Hey thanks for all the feedback man, very detailed and helpful with some really good points i have tried to take into account in my next images.
I did a paint over of the weapons and scythes, but also there was something i missed about the striped scythes, so i also did a version with just the bottom weapons repainted, leaving the top still striped just as a comparison
Also i had a look at you're gallery as you suggested, some really cool stuff in there man i liked the tyranids with quite abstract patterns and the outlines separating patterns, i couldn't look too much though as i am at work doing all this in secret haha, but yeah nice stuff will keep that outlining technique in mind when doing patterns.
Let me know what you think of these new variations if you want

--

Greenizbest
Cheers glad you like option 1 also, and yeah that is what i was thinking i see a lot of bright ones so wanted to maybe get something more earthy and realistic so hopefully that will come across in the paint. I agree also you made a good point that they may look unfinished and it is risky, i guess i will just have to try it out and see what can be done to overcome this. Maybe some slightly lighter brown drybrushed over the darker areas?

--

Shrouded lord
Hey not sure exactly what you mean but i think maybe it means you agree with previous comments, i hope it made you dizzy for a good reason and not cause its too busy haha, thanks for the comment

--

Here are a couple of quick images showing some changes i have made due to comments people have left about making the weapons different than the pattern on the body

>>Version 1-
Both sets of weapons recoloured differently from body
>>Version 2-
Only lower set of weapons recoloured, scything talons left striped- this was because i missed somethign about the stripes and like how they looked resembling the whip scorpions legs from the original inspiration- but maybe im wrong
>>Version 3-
Same as original version just for comparisons sakes


Version 1- all weapons painted over


Version 2 - just bottom weapons painted over


Version 3- same as previous all weapons striped


Version 1- closer


Version 2- closer


Version 3 closer


Version 1- Hormagaunt- scythes repainted


Version 2/3- Hormagaunt- Only has scythes so 2 and 3 are essentially the same. But this does have some extra details compared to the old striped one.

So basically thats versions 1, 2 and 3
1- All weapons different
2- Bottom weapons different, scythes still striped
3- All still striped

All comments and comparisons are welcome,
Let me know which you think would be best, or if you think a different approach all together would be better, or if you feel something is missing or would improve it and i will give it a try.
And if you think it is an improvement or not, and if you think i have missed out on some vital feedback.
I did want to make the bellies paler as suggested, but also wanted to retain the kind of warning orange-ness of them.
I had also tried the weapons as much lighter and bonier, but they drew attention away form the rest of the model and made them less dark and aggressive looking which was the theme i was looking for.

But yeah comments, suggestions, tips and opinions of all kinds are very welcome!

Thanks a lot for everyone's time and help

Thanks, I'm collecting unique schemes, you might say. As you can see, some work better than others and some are in need of a little improvement.

I'm favouring version 1.
The weapons are definitely better as a different colour. I like the little flecks of red/orange here and there too.
You may also want to try the blend from dark to light the other way round and see how that looks.

But, leaving the scything talons striped is not a bad thing and totally your choice.

I wouldn't limit myself to just insects for inspiration. To me, Tyranid are way more alien then that. Have you considered the following?



That being said, I really liked where you started with option 1. If your going for a semi-hyper realistic approach leave the weapons banded like the rest of their bodies. Makes it harder for prey to see the attack coming. If your worried about the detail being lost why not just do the basecoat followed by a nice drybrush. After the stripes are painted on (over the drybrush) the detail should still come through no problem.

i really like the whip scorpion version 1. I think it looks really cool!! id stick with all weapons in bone as it just picks out a little extra detail and breaks the model up,

This is a very nice looking painting scheme, but are you ready to paint 50-100 gaunts with those details?

I am following eagerly, I have been planning a naturalistic paint scheme for my nids as well, however I am drawing inspiration from a few species of fish (although you have me second guessing that).

My thoughts:

Option 1 looks great
Option 2 doesn't do much for me
Option 3 looks good too
Option 4 looks great, but I like the contrast of Option 1 more
Option 6, 7 are good, but option 5 is the best of that group.

Regarding Versions, I like Version 1, but Version 2 seems like a pretty nice compromise, especially if your top weapons are going to be rending claws, scything talons work well too, but not as well.

Personally, here is what I would do if these were the schemes I was looking at:

Option 1 for big bugs
Option 3 for little bugs (gaunts and smaller)

"Showcase Bugs" (really big ones/character/leader bugs) get something similar to 1, but with some of the lighter and reddish coloration thrown in from option 6 to make them more distinguished.

I think this might be a good inspiration for you (it was for me anyway): http://www.necrotales.com/necroTutorials/tut_painting_tyranids_01.php
also here: http://www.necrotales.com/necroGalleries/main.php?g2_itemId=370

What the artist there did was he painted his larger bugs in a more complex scheme, while the smaller bugs got a simpler but similar scheme, that way he didn't have to go nuts on painting tons of smaller bugs but still managed a cohesive force.

You sir are a genius.

All of your options are good. I think all of these are good on one model but I do not know how good all of them will be on an army as a whole.

I think some of the options would make your army confusing to use and to play against. A lot of game information about the load outs are hidden on models. Some of theese would work a lot like zebra camuflage during play, but not in a good way? I do not know, it would depend on your army as a whole. It would look exelent on mellee gaunts, and a bit confusing if you mix weapon on shooting gaunts. I personaly would go for one of the 3 patterns on the right (the 2 gaunts or the tervigon head). Both of the two gaunts offers a sense of direction with the colours on the top of the scale and would help to navigate the units. Also it would make up a good scheme when you get a lot of models heading in the same direction.

I'd definately go for baby bugs scorpion look. If you can pull it off (and might not be that hard, gloss varnish ftw) it should look awesome and disturbing.

I doubt that I'd be able to decide whether to go creamy with body or carpace though so would probably paint entire nid like that plus a few thin dark stripes on the carpace maybe, like the scorpion on the picture.

But really scorpion nids, that is something imo.

i really like the look of the natural camo pattern on these, but - something to consider is : dont set the bar too high for a standard to keep across your entire army. are you actually considering painting all that detail work and dots and crazy line work on each and every hormagaunt claw and tyranid warrior claw, etc..? You nailed it on your sample and it looks great, but can you paint 50-80 of them that way?

by the way, these are some of the coolest and most original paint jobs ive seen on nids. i just really dig the natural look. so if you are madman enough, then go for it!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
also one more thing to consider, and this is important.

Models up close for detail inspection, and models from 5 feet viewing distance on tableop are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things. Your samples look fantastic up close, but from 3-5 feet away its just gonna be a brown blob. you would wont be able to see that high-contrast difference between skin and carapace. its brown ontop of brown. and the army might end up looking like a black - brown blog of confusing shapes.

but up close they are the cats tits!

I've never used one but i think an airbrush would probably be a massive help to you on this one

 neal1975 wrote:
i really like the look of the natural camo pattern on these, but - something to consider is : dont set the bar too high for a standard to keep across your entire army. are you actually considering painting all that detail work and dots and crazy line work on each and every hormagaunt claw and tyranid warrior claw, etc..? You nailed it on your sample and it looks great, but can you paint 50-80 of them that way?

by the way, these are some of the coolest and most original paint jobs ive seen on nids. i just really dig the natural look. so if you are madman enough, then go for it!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
also one more thing to consider, and this is important.

Models up close for detail inspection, and models from 5 feet viewing distance on tableop are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things. Your samples look fantastic up close, but from 3-5 feet away its just gonna be a brown blob. you would wont be able to see that high-contrast difference between skin and carapace. its brown ontop of brown. and the army might end up looking like a black - brown blog of confusing shapes.

but up close they are the cats tits!

The cats tits. Never heard that One before.

Dr H wrote:Thanks, I'm collecting unique schemes, you might say. As you can see, some work better than others and some are in need of a little improvement.

I'm favouring version 1.
The weapons are definitely better as a different colour. I like the little flecks of red/orange here and there too.
You may also want to try the blend from dark to light the other way round and see how that looks.

But, leaving the scything talons striped is not a bad thing and totally your choice.

Ah awesome yeah the gaunts with fish-like patterns and striped genestealers you have done are very cool will use them as reference among other images when painting.
Awesome man yeah maybe you are right about the talons, i will have to just test both i suppose and see how it goes
Thanks alot for all the feedback man!

guinness707 wrote:I wouldn't limit myself to just insects for inspiration. To me, Tyranid are way more alien then that. Have you considered the following?



That being said, I really liked where you started with option 1. If your going for a semi-hyper realistic approach leave the weapons banded like the rest of their bodies. Makes it harder for prey to see the attack coming. If your worried about the detail being lost why not just do the basecoat followed by a nice drybrush. After the stripes are painted on (over the drybrush) the detail should still come through no problem.

Hey, yeah i had considered much brighter creatures, but i see a lot of really bright tyranid armies and sometimes i think they can make them a bit unrealistic, but still really cool. I just personally felt like for this army i wanted to take the more realistic big dark scary bug kind of approach, im not sure why really, i think cause they will be on city terrain and ruins alot and i feel the brighter colours are more suited to a jungle environment.
Ah cool yeah thanks for the tips man, yeah that sounds like a good approach. I will try out the talons both ways and see what looks better on the miniature.
Wil put up some pics when i get time to do some tests on the models
Thanks alot for the feedback and reference/tips man

optometris wrote:i really like the whip scorpion version 1. I think it looks really cool!! id stick with all weapons in bone as it just picks out a little extra detail and breaks the model up,

Awesome thanks man, im glad you like it. Cool yeah that is a good point about breaking the model up, and i think maybe it will end up looking better that way as you have suggested, but i will test both.
Cheers

Kroothawk wrote:This is a very nice looking painting scheme, but are you ready to paint 50-100 gaunts with those details?

Hey yeah thats a good point, but im much more into the modelling and painting side of the hobby, so im thinking the army would be completed over a long stretch of time. But you are correct, im sure it would take ages and they would have to be simplified, but these images are just supposed to be kind of generic showing a feel that could be used for any member of the army. but yeah nice point and im sure there will be edits and simplifications dependent on time and model size.
Cheers

chaos0xomega wrote:I am following eagerly, I have been planning a naturalistic paint scheme for my nids as well, however I am drawing inspiration from a few species of fish (although you have me second guessing that).

My thoughts:

Option 1 looks great
Option 2 doesn't do much for me
Option 3 looks good too
Option 4 looks great, but I like the contrast of Option 1 more
Option 6, 7 are good, but option 5 is the best of that group.

Regarding Versions, I like Version 1, but Version 2 seems like a pretty nice compromise, especially if your top weapons are going to be rending claws, scything talons work well too, but not as well.

Personally, here is what I would do if these were the schemes I was looking at:

Option 1 for big bugs
Option 3 for little bugs (gaunts and smaller)

"Showcase Bugs" (really big ones/character/leader bugs) get something similar to 1, but with some of the lighter and reddish coloration thrown in from option 6 to make them more distinguished.

I think this might be a good inspiration for you (it was for me anyway): http://www.necrotales.com/necroTutorials/tut_painting_tyranids_01.php
also here: http://www.necrotales.com/necroGalleries/main.php?g2_itemId=370

What the artist there did was he painted his larger bugs in a more complex scheme, while the smaller bugs got a simpler but similar scheme, that way he didn't have to go nuts on painting tons of smaller bugs but still managed a cohesive force.

Awesome man i am glad you are eagerly following, it would be cool to see the natural scheme you are planning for your models!
Wicked yeah those are good points, especially about larger and smaller bugs, i guess it will develop and change as i test it on the real models and see what works best.
When you say option 1 and 3, do you mean the options from the beginning? or 1 and 3 from the 3 versions more recently? Either way i get the picture about them being different, cheers dude

Nice material there, i have seen that article before and i agree it is really good and helpful, i tihnk i will have to give it another look over and read it properly, as i get distracted by the pictures! haha

But yeah all great points i will take into account thanks alot for the feedback man

Niiai wrote:You sir are a genius.

All of your options are good. I think all of these are good on one model but I do not know how good all of them will be on an army as a whole.

I think some of the options would make your army confusing to use and to play against. A lot of game information about the load outs are hidden on models. Some of theese would work a lot like zebra camuflage during play, but not in a good way? I do not know, it would depend on your army as a whole. It would look exelent on mellee gaunts, and a bit confusing if you mix weapon on shooting gaunts. I personaly would go for one of the 3 patterns on the right (the 2 gaunts or the tervigon head). Both of the two gaunts offers a sense of direction with the colours on the top of the scale and would help to navigate the units. Also it would make up a good scheme when you get a lot of models heading in the same direction.

Hey cheers man haha i think genius is pushing it a bit though!
Yeah all really good sound points, and i agree there will be issues to work out due to gameplay, confusion etc, but i suppose these are all things i will have to work out once actually painting models through trial/error and seeing models beside eachother as it can be quite hard to imagine. So i guess i will jsut have to go for it and find out, whilst keeping those points in mind and trying my best to rectify issues that arise along the way.
Thanks alot dude

Plumbumbarum wrote:I'd definately go for baby bugs scorpion look. If you can pull it off (and might not be that hard, gloss varnish ftw) it should look awesome and disturbing.

I doubt that I'd be able to decide whether to go creamy with body or carpace though so would probably paint entire nid like that plus a few thin dark stripes on the carpace maybe, like the scorpion on the picture.

But really scorpion nids, that is something imo.

Hey cheers for the feedback man, yeah i think the pale scorpion baby version could have some potential, although a lot of people have mentioned they like the whip scorpion dark version the best and id have to say that is also my choice. But i do think it would be cool to have occasional albino members of the army, either really pale as if just birthed, or perhaps more of a light creamy brown with dark stripes, like the opposite of the dark brown one, as if its colours are inverted.
But yeah nice to see people have a variety of opinions, and i would like to have a bit of albino flavor in the army somewhere even if only a few models,
cheers man

neal1975 wrote:i really like the look of the natural camo pattern on these, but - something to consider is : dont set the bar too high for a standard to keep across your entire army. are you actually considering painting all that detail work and dots and crazy line work on each and every hormagaunt claw and tyranid warrior claw, etc..? You nailed it on your sample and it looks great, but can you paint 50-80 of them that way?

by the way, these are some of the coolest and most original paint jobs ive seen on nids. i just really dig the natural look. so if you are madman enough, then go for it!



Automatically Appended Next Post:
also one more thing to consider, and this is important.

Models up close for detail inspection, and models from 5 feet viewing distance on tableop are TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT things. Your samples look fantastic up close, but from 3-5 feet away its just gonna be a brown blob. you would wont be able to see that high-contrast difference between skin and carapace. its brown ontop of brown. and the army might end up looking like a black - brown blog of confusing shapes.

but up close they are the cats tits!

Hey thanks alot man for all the feedback and kind words! im really glad you like them
yeha you make a lot of good points, some of which other guys have pointed out too. But yeah the colour scheme and all the details is just kind of supposed to be a general representation and some may have less, some may have more, depending on the model. I guess it was just kind of an incorporation of the general feel the army could have.
But yeah alot of good points about the distance and hard to distinguish-ness, but as i mentioned in another reply, i tihnk i will have to just to for it and see what happens, as i cant really imagine what they will all look like together until i have some painted models themselves. But yeah all important stuff i will have to try and work around/ counter as i paint and make adjustments along the way i suppose.
All great food for thought man and nice points,
Thanks alot for all the feedback and i am really glad you like the ideas, ill try my best to see if i can counter the distant brown blob effect and see how it goes, i guess it could end up crap but no knowing til you try and make it work i suppose,
And its awesome you think so highly of the scheme ideas it means alot
Cheers dude!
Will have to see how they turn out

optometris wrote:I've never used one but i think an airbrush would probably be a massive help to you on this one

Hey ive never used one either, but they look interesting. Cheers i may have to give it a go sometime, for now i think ill have a go with brushes first, but definitely something to consider for the future. May watch some tutorials.
Thanks man



Wow that took a long time to reply haha,
Thanks alot to everyone giving their opinions and feedback, it really helps a lot and definitely impacts how the final models will look and points out lots of things for me to consider,
Anyone else feel free to post replies or more feedback or ideas as anything is great and helpful
In the meantime i will have to try and free up some time over the next few weeks to get some real paint tests done, and ill add them to this thread for opinions when ive done some to see what all you guys think of the developments,

Catch you all soon and thanks again to everyone who has helped and thanks in advance to anyone with new ideas/opinions to post
Everything has been invaluable and a great source of ideas and information from you all!
Have a great week guys!

Will update once ive had time to do some painting on models,
Looking forward to gargoyles as i think they could have cool dark orangey red patterns on the wings, who knows
Cheers!

I am looking for a scheme right now, and I'll be watching this thread... : ]

Great stuff! I still like version 1 with the boney weapons. But other posters made a good comment; Are you willing (and not getting too bored) to paint many footsoldiers in such a difficult colour scheme?

Whatever you decide on the colours, I will follow this thread to see the progress.

I have to ask: are you paint aptterns done on a computer?

I would -REALLY- recoment you doing it IRL to get some hands on experience with tecnuiqes vs style. With some compremises a lot of your scheemes can be done vet fast with very broad strokes, bold patterns washes and glase. A good result is not synonymus with a big amount of time invested. Especialy if you are going for that macro look instead of a micro look. (There was a grey tyranid armie on a white dwarf that was done quite rapidly i belive. It was shades of a very grey green with yellow patterns on the scale. All that yellow made for a striking colour on the macro perspective.)

Also: If you are going to paint the tyranids like this try not to get boged down in the details of the model. Focus on the model as a whole. Eyes, mouth, the little vents and the carapace. Do not diferensiate between them. Just ad thegeneral colour and then ad pattern on top.

Swarmsculptor, When I say Option 1 and 3 I mean the original and when I say Versions I mean the second attempts (for lack of a better term you did).

Out of all the options you presented, my favourite is the first one, but while neat, I doubt any of those colour schemes would stand out on the table top as they're all quite dark and monochromatic.

If you want to draw inspiration from real insects, try looking at insects (and maybe even crustaceans) with more vivid colour schemes.