Start on a new lizardmen army - Army Painter being used.

hey hows it going. I'm completely on the Fantasy Battle train and have undertaken to paint up a lizardmen army. As it stands I've nearly built 2000 points and have started to paint it up. I have a lot of trouble getting free time to paint so I've decided to give army painter a try. These are some photos of my assembled models and paint schemes.




















Any chance of feedback? So far I'm really liking how much time army painter is saving for me. As it stands I'm committed to finishing my first saurus squad. Scar-Vet leading a block of 27 suarus warriors with spears in a 7 x 4 formation (tray is assembled so I'm sticking to it). Any ideas how to build an army around this block? To bring it up to 1250 points? Anyway I should probable post those questions on a different thread. I would appreciate some feedback though on the colour scheme. Have a good one.

 

i really like it. speed painting at its finest

just make sure to apply a coat of antishine when you are done

 

looks pretty good, how fast did you manage to paint it?

 

Thanks for the feedback. The test model took me about an hour from prime to dip. I've been at it each night for about 1 to 2 hours plugging away at the unit as a whole this last week. As it stands I've finished the greens on all the models and now I'm working on painting all the spears (nearly done). I'm hoping to have the lot ready for dipping some time next week.

I'm loving the army painter so far as all I want is a table top ready army to start getting into some good games. I have the anti-shine spray and man does it make a difference. When I dip the lot though, I think I might get an old brush to sop up some of the dip so it does not pool as much.

 

Looks pretty good for a spped painting technique, nice work!

 

Very cool! They are looking really good.. and a non-traditional color scheme - refreshing and done well. I like it!

Also, a big thank you for taking the time to show the step by step. I have been looking recently in the past week at Army Painter, primarily their dipping stain, as I just purchased a 2500+ point Tomb Kings army that will need painting and thought the dipping would save a lot of time with skele's. Although the website shows specific models of before and after with it, I was wondering how they would look on other models too.. and I must say for speed painting (especially on rank and files), I really like it! Question for you though.. how fast are you going through the Dipping solution - meaning approx. how many models roughly do you expect to be able to use in a single can? It seems that there is some wasted with having to fling or flick the model's excess dipping solution off.

Thanks again and looking forward to reading more updates!

- Lord Cedric

 

you can easily dip an entire army in one can

 

Looking nice. I like the way it looks quite natural. Though I'm not convinced dipping is faster or better then washing

 

it is WAY faster (if you do not include drying time, but tbh you shouldnt). washing looks better naturally, but there is a huge difference in work effort.

 

I dunno, for the Skinks in my painting log...

http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/some-of-my-lizardmen-updated-with-a-cold-one.6951/

The wash stage only took 2 minutes per model in the end, and I've painted up some Savage Orcs who use a method very similar to dipping except with a wash (paint on basic flat colours then wash the entire thing, weapons, clothes, skin and all in Devlan Mud) and they again only took about 2 minutes each to wash. I keep an eye on the time because my current armies at the moment (Lizardmen, Orcs and Tyranids) I'm trying to keep to speed painting them.

The time consuming part for me is painting the base colours on, once that's done, I could wash an entire army of maybe 50-100 models in an afternoon, which I would have thought was much the same time it would take to set up a dipping station and do all the dips. Its cleaning the mould lines, gluing together then painting on the base coat which takes me maybe a week to a weekend per unit. The actual wash stage is quick. Usually washing an entire unit, I've finished washing the last model before the first one has even finished drying.

 

I think a big pro for the dip is the price. It cost me about 30 dollars (canadian) for the 250 ml tin. I think the cost of buying 250 ml of devlin mud would really add up. I'm fairly confident the tin will do me for the whole army. Now I've only dipped one test model but it seems to pull in on itself more than a wash of devlin mud would. I noticed this on the blade edge of the model and on the face (notable around the teeth). Mind you I don't normally paint with washes to begin with. With my 40k Eldar I normally layer up from a dark prime.

@allseeingskink - I really dig your mini's man nice bright and vibrant.

So as of last night this is the current status of my unit of Saurus:



I've got my browns, silver and greens down and have started painting up the gold bits. I think what I like most right now is the time saved in set up of my work station. Right now I have a pot of shining gold a palette and a cup of water buy my unit. Makes it easier to sneak away for 20 min or so when I have time to put some paint on my mini's

 

about the price... you wouldnt need to buy 250 ml of devlan mud for a single army. if you painted it on instead of dipping you could probably get by with two cans, possibly 3, making the devlan mud much cheaper. its the time you save, not really the money.

 

Well, after reading this thread I decided to take my hour and a half round-trip jaunt to my "local" hobby store and picked up some Army Painter primer, mat varnish, and the Strong version of Quickshade. Also came with a "free" booklet with painting advice using Army Painter's 4 step program. I haven't broke into it yet, but am planning on it this coming week.

- Lord Cedric

 

Just a few photo's to show the steps I have completed so far. My next move is to glue the shields onto the lizardmen themselves. Then I'll finish up the golds and just have the few red and white bits left before dipping.

 

my honest opinion is that the shields were probably a bit of a blunder. I would very much recommend a contrasting colour to keep the unit from looking dull. I do like the green theme on the sauruses, but adding green shields will move them from "natural" and "cool" to "dull".

Traditionally red is the complement color to green, but you do not have to use it. Blue, purple, orange, yellow, pink, a yellowish brown, there are plenty of great options that will add a splash of color to the unit making it stand out on the battle field rather than fade in to the background.

 

I hear ya man. I was avoiding using complementary colours to prevent any blemishes from the dip standing out. Its not really an issue with the shields though as its all one colour anyway. I have a can of demonic yellow waiting to be used on my skinks. I'll give a shield a blast of it and see how it looks. One advantage to painting the shields yellow is that it will tie the saurus ascetically in with the skinks (yellow skin and orange scales).

Edit:

I've just finished painting up the shields. I'm glad you pointed me in that direction as I'm happy with the result. Only Reds and Whites and the unit will be ready for dipping.



Further Edit:

One more photo with a dipped shield in place.

 

Wow, very cool. My problem is that my Saurus have tiger striping, so even though I can get the base colors on fast with an airbrush, each one then takes about a half hour to 45 min to stripe neatly and convincingly. I have about 20 more to go...wishing I had dipped instead right now...

 

i think the yellow shields are a major improvement. congratulations sir!

now, im looking forward to the skinks

 

Managed to nearly finish the saurus. I just need to paint some finishing touches on the banner and drum then the unit is good to be dipped. I wanted to see how the yellow primer would look so I decided to build a unit of skink skirmishers. I'm really happy with how solid the yellow is with the primer.

 

Wow amazing work. Love the saurus can´t wait the skinks.