HERE COMES THE SANDSTORM!

[CaptainFaux]

What's up, folks?

I've got the brilliant idea for making Desert themed Lizardmen. There's a thread of mine in the AoS general, but I'll post pics here too because, as a new painter, I do need a lot of help.
Right now they're all being stripped so I can start over, then I'm going to prime them in white.

After classes I'll post what paints I have and what I plan to use them for but here's a quick breakdown:

Bronze or whatever that one darker gold is for their scales. THIS IS MY FAVORITE PART! Shiny scales?! Hell yeah!

For shields I plan to do something similiar but also add Golden Gryphon and Liberator gold. They're Stardrake shields, for the love of god! Why would they be plain brown leather?!

For spears I'd like to make them look like obsidian or meteorite, since, y'know, thats what the fluff says they are. I've got black for base and grey for highlights and wil follow up with a gloss medium for that glassy look.

All the accent pieces that are obviously gold will be that bright, shiny ass i'm-rich gold, using the triad.

Bones will be your typical bone white thing, that dark brown wash followed up with the bright white for highlights.

I've got two greens for poison darts and maybe the eyes?

BONUS: I'm converting my skinks to camo skinks by putting them in different sceneries, such as bushes, rocks, sand, etc etc.



GIVE ME YOUR ADVICE BECAUSE I'M NEW TO PAINTING LIKE SERIOUSLY! Thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Crowsfoot]

List your paints and we will try to give you a system for your colours.

 

[n810]

ok, so your scales are going to be metallic, what is your skin color ?
also, Obsidian is also commonly a black with green highlights as well.

 

[CaptainFaux]

Here are the colours I'm working with as I pull them out of the box. They're all citidel paints

Deathclaw Brown - plan to use this with agrax for the spear hafts
Agrax Earthshade - obvious dark shade
Seraphim Sepia - lighter shade, probably wont use
Abaddon Black - black base
Ushabti Bone - layer
Karan Stone - layer
Tallarn Sand- probably the base for skin
2x White Scar - highlights for bone / white base?
Eshin Grey - highlights for black
Warpstone Glow - dark green layer - Base for Poison Darts
Moot Green - light green layer - Highlight for poison darts
Gehenna's Gold - copper looking gold layer I plan to use for scales
Liberator Gold - gold mid tone/ highlight
golden griffon - Dry compound for gold drybrushing

I also have some water droppers to thin stuff out.

After scrubbing I'm going to prime them all white. My roomate has a few reds for his chaos, as well as an orange and yellow type nonsense in addition to a plethora of acrylics.

ok, so your scales are going to be metallic, what is your skin color ?
also, Obsidian is also commonly a black with green highlights as well.

That's correct. The metallic scales are super sexy. When I go to paint my bigger monster types (basti, stega), it might be a little different, but I'll tackle that once the main body is done.

I also have a Necrosphinx, necro priest and two empire wizards that I REALLY need help with.

 

[n810]

Maybe this post will help...
http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/ye-olde-interactive-saurus-painter.4555/

 

[CaptainFaux]

I've used that a few times now and don't particularly find it helpful, honestly. It's good for a general idea, but I'm not a huge fan of it.

 

[n810]

There are my homemade versions later on in the thread.
and lots of ideas for color schemes.

 

[Crowsfoot]

So I take it your going to base, wash the drybrush your highlights?

Base coat the full model then give it a wash all over with Agrax earth shade, once dry, drybrush your highlights, don't try to do layers yet as it may frustrate you and put you off.

White base use Ushabti bone, don't wash unless you want a dirty white, highlight with Ushabti and white scar mix say 50/50 then do a lighter highlight with pure white.

You could do with a few more paints but your good to go with what you have.

Base your gold parts with deathclaw brown if your not undercoating in black.

 

[CaptainFaux]

I'll check out the rest of the thread, n8. Thanks for the link.


I'm a little confused by what you're saying to do Crow. D:

Here's where I got tonight: stripped clean and primed in white. Tomorrow I plan to start the basecoats. So i think you're saying to do white and then use ushabti as the midtone?

 

[Crowsfoot]

I'm a little confused by what you're saying to do Crow. D:

Here's where I got tonight: stripped clean and primed in white. Tomorrow I plan to start the basecoats. So i think you're saying to do white and then use ushabti as the midtone?

With white start with the midtone and highlight up, washing white makes it look dirty.

Remember to apply thin coats, 2 thin coats is better than 1 thick coat, it won't clog up the detail.

For your gold try base coat in Gehennas gold, wash with Seraphin sepia, drybrush with Gehennas gold, Light drybrush with Liberator's gold, edge drybrush with Runefang Steel (you need to get this)

 

[CaptainFaux]

What would you suggest for skin colour of desert lizards? I've got those tans (light browns) but I wonder if that's what's best. The biggest thing i want to accomplish are those shiny scales, which really just require the single coat of gold. For bones accomplished claws I like the dirty look that we can see on the gw models, where it's that brown shade at the bottom and lightens up as it goes.

 

[Crowsfoot]

What would you suggest for skin colour of desert lizards? I've got those tans (light browns) but I wonder if that's what's best. The biggest thing i want to accomplish are those shiny scales, which really just require the single coat of gold. For bones accomplished claws I like the dirty look that we can see on the gw models, where it's that brown shade at the bottom and lightens up as it goes.

Easiest way to paint claws/teeth etc,

Ushabti base, wash with Agrax, Ushabti again leaving a bit of Agrax showing, paint the tip in Scar white.

Skin, Tallarn base, Agrax wash, Drybrush Karak, Light drybrush Ushabti.

You can make any part of your model "shiny" just apply a gloss lacquer once dry.

 

[CaptainFaux]

Another question I have is do I basecoat the entire model or do I do it bit by bit? Like white to cover the primer, and then from there various shades for various areas such as weapon, accents, scales, claws and skin.

 

[CaptainFaux]

First of the Brightscales. I like the deathclaw brown for their backs underneath the gold! Lots more to do still, obviously. Thoughts?

 

[tom ndege]

I think you could try only drybrushig the scales with the metal color... I guess that makes it more shiny then shining, if you know what I mean. but I'm not an expert on painting...

BTW: Looks good what you've done!

 

[Crowsfoot]

Looks good so far, carry on basing the other areas then touch up then wash then highlight.

As you get more confident you can start trying to add more detail and more highlights, drybrushing is good but it lacks the crispness of layers and edge highlights.

 

[Crowsfoot]

Another question I have is do I basecoat the entire model or do I do it bit by bit? Like white to cover the primer, and then from there various shades for various areas such as weapon, accents, scales, claws and skin.

Really depends on the colours your using for example I'm painting the new Slaughter priest and Skull grinder and the scheme is Red/Brass and black with dark skin tones, I painted all areas then washed then highlighted.

If I was painting say Black/white I would do the black first to completion then do the white, doing it that way keeps the white crisp and allows you to judge what tone the white will be when finished.

 

[CaptainFaux]

Looks good so far, carry on basing the other areas then touch up then wash then highlight.

As you get more confident you can start trying to add more detail and more highlights, drybrushing is good but it lacks the crispness of layers and edge highlights.

I'd love to start learning those layers and edge highlights. I've been watching miniwargaming J religiously. I may be new, but I want these guys to be as high quality as I can. Painting is a huge relief for me and I am absolutely not satisfied with mediocre, even for mass models like my skinks and saurus lol. You should have seen the face of the manager of my local warhammer store when I told him I'm stripping everything over.

What would you suggest for layering and the edge highlights? I don't like the dirtiness of the tallarn. But I tried both undercoating with white and just putting on the base on the primer. The white looks MUCH better; the models that went tallarn right on the primer look waxy or something lol. They're dull.

I'm about to experiment with drybrushed scales vs just straight putting the paint on each scale.

 

[n810]

How's this ?

 

[Crowsfoot]

You won't get any depth until you wash and highlight, the base colour always looks flat until you complete every step.

Think of the base coat as 10% of your model, shading as 30%, highlight as 30% and detail including basing as 30%

Only when you complete all steps will it look right, maybe try just the scales until you get the look you want.

This is one of the hardest part of painting, you will gain a six sense pn what works.