Painting Black Insect Chitin

As usual I'm starting with a black primer followed by a white zenithal spray.

This immediately establishes the model's shadows while giving the Contrast paints something to react against. It's one of those steps that feels like cheating, but produces a huge amount of work for very little effort.

Now it's simply a case of blocking in the major materials.

• Black Templar on the chitin

• Wyldwood on the earth

• Skeleton Horde on the skulls

• Basilicanum Grey on the stone

The release itself leans more towards a desert aesthetic, but I wanted this model to match the rest of my collection, so I opted for a darker soil base instead.

If you're aiming for something more desert-y, swapping Wyldwood for Aggaros Dunes or another sandy brown will get you most of the way there - in fact, you can change almost any colour at this step, and still get similar end results (albeit not black).

Once the Contrast has fully dried, it's time for a drybrush.

I use a light grey across the Kelitrian and the rocks, followed by an ivory on the earth. Finally, I lightly catch just the head, claw tips and stinger with the same ivory.

At this stage the model probably looks far too bright, but trust the process, that's exactly where we want it.

We'll spend the rest of the guide carefully pushing everything back into shadow.

Now we start rebuilding the richness that the drybrush removed.

First comes an all-over coat of Vallejo Dark Vehicle Wash on the Kelitrian, taking care not to let it pool too heavily.

A quick mini-review while we're here.

I've only recently switched over from Nuln Oil, but I'm impressed so far. It flows nicely into recesses, dries a little softer than it first appears, and the bottle is infinitely nicer to work with. Between that and the lower price, I'm happy to make the change.

Next comes Agrax Earthshade across the base and rocks.

This not only adds texture, but subtly shifts the rocks away from the creature itself. Since both elements started from similar greys, these small tonal differences become surprisingly important.

Finally, I work Druchii Violet into the softer sections of the body and between the armour plates.

It's quite subtle, but that's the point.

We're borrowing directly from the scorpion reference, adding hints of colour without ever making the creature stop feeling black.

This is where the shell really starts to come together.

Rather than highlighting upwards, I'm actually glazing parts of the carapace back towards pure black using additional coats of Black Templar.

I focus these layers on the smoothest, hardest sections of the shell. Later on these areas will receive selective gloss, helping them read as polished chitin rather than flat armour.

Next, I reinforce the joins between larger armour plates.

Black-on-black schemes rely almost entirely on tonal contrast for definition. By darkening the seams where forms meet, the individual plates become much easier to read, even though they're technically all the same colour.

Finally, I go back in with another application of black wash.

This time it's much more selective.

Rather than covering the entire model, I concentrate on textured surfaces and deep recesses, gradually building richer shadows while preserving the brighter drybrushed edges.

The Keliterian already has its accent colour, now it's the base's turn.

I apply Athonian Camoshade in irregular patches across the stones, using it more as a green tint than a traditional wash.

The important thing is that this colour doesn't appear on the creature itself.

That separation helps the eye instantly distinguish the miniature from its surroundings, making the black shell stand out even more strongly.

To tie everything together I add a little brown flock using PVA glue.

Natural materials like this go a long way towards softening the crisp surfaces of a 3D print, introducing textures that paint alone struggles to recreate.

Outside the desert species, many scorpions favour damp environments full of leaf litter, so the darker brown felt like a good fit.

Once dry, I seal everything with another thin layer of PVA.

The flock then gets a quick light-brown drybrush followed by another wash of Agrax Earthshade to blend everything together.

Everything receives a coat of gloss varnish for protection, followed by matte varnish through the airbrush.

It can be a slightly depressing moment. The whole model suddenly looks flat, but don't panic.

The next step is where we bring all that contrast back.

After varnishing I revisit the model with targeted washes.

Rather than applying another all-over coat, I concentrate only on the deepest shadows and recesses that need a little more definition.

Most of the work here comes from Vallejo Dark Vehicle Wash and Agrax Earthshade, though this is also a great opportunity to reinforce your chosen accent colour with another little touch of purple if needed.

The effect is subtle, but it restores much of the richness that the matte varnish killed. This isn’t just busywork either, there’s a logic to matte-coating - instead of battling the different finishes of the basecoat paints, you’re rebuilding them in a way that you can control, something that will become all too clear in the next step.

Now for the fun part. Using Blood for the Blood God, I carefully paint along the softer membranes where the armour plates meet. The contrast between the matte shell and the glossy flesh goes a long way towards selling the illusion of a living creature.

Finally, I apply thick patches of clear gloss varnish to the base to create small puddles, before finishing with a single drop of Nurgle's Rot on the tip of the stinger. Every horrifying insect deserves a suitably unpleasant venom sac.

At this point I'm calling the Keliterian finished, but before we close out, I've collected every stage of the process so you can see how the scheme develops from start to finish.

Looking back over the project, hopefully one thing becomes clear. Painting black isn't really about painting black. It's about layering tiny shifts in tone, introducing subtle colours that almost disappear into the surface, and using different paint finishes to create contrast where highlights alone can't.

The purple between the armour plates ended up being one of my favourite parts of the scheme. It's barely noticeable until you start looking closely, but it gives the shell a richness that pure greys never quite achieve.

Hopefully this guide gives you a few ideas for your own projects, whether you're painting giant insects, sinister armour or anything else that needs to feel properly dark.

We always love seeing projects you lovely folks, if you wanna share your work, or ask for tips and questions from the Bestiarum Team and community, come join the Discord and get stuck in!

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Cheers,

Marcus @ Reliquat
Bestiarum Studio Painter