Help Painting advice.

Hey folks!

I recently got the seraphon get started box! I really love all the models and extra bits.

I've glued everything together and Want to start painting, but I'm kind of nervous about starting.

My idea is to do red skin with yellow scales for the saurus and paint the carnosaur and cold ones in a desert style I saw on the maw krusha from the recent tale of four gamers.

All I read about washes, shading and dry brushing kind of freaks me out.

Any advice for putting these ideas into practice?

Thanks in advance!

 

This is the desert style I'd like to replicate.

 

Hello there! Welcome. Based on your post I'm assuming you are new to the hobby and hopefully I can give you some tips.
I just grab the SC box about a month ago, but I have been playing Warhammer 40k for about 3 years now.

First off, I'm assuming since you've glued everything together that you got all the good hobby tools: snippers, mould line remover, files, exacto knife, and glues (super or plastic). Make sure you clean up your mould lines (the lines that are usually where two halves of the plastic mould meet) by using an exacto knife or the mould remover tool. These stand out dramatically once paint is applied and really distracts from the overall feel of the model. Also, clean up any pieces of sprue that are still attached to your model, and file off the excess.

Once your model is "cleaned up", you can either choose to go ahead and glue it to the provided bases (the black circles or squares that came with your box) or do the base separate (that's a different topic we can delve into later if you want). Time to prime! I use the expensive overcosted Games Workshop Citadel Chaos Black primer because its very smooth. You can pick up any type of plastic primer from a hardware store though and save some money. Make sure you spray roughly an arm's length away from the model and do bursts of spray instead of heavy coats. This helps maintain the detail on the model. Let it dry for at least 15 minutes (I usually do a bunch at once then come back later in the day).

Next, its time for paints! If you stick with Citadel paints (there's also P3, Vallejo, ie) then there are different types of paint, which usually means different saturation of pigment). You have your base paints, which are higher pigment concentration, these go on first to provide a good foundation for the rest of your paint layers. Always thin down your paints with a little bit of water to make it smooth. 2 thin layers is always better than 1 thick layer, don't clog those details! Next are your layer paints, these go over your base paints and have a little less pigment in them, so the base color adds to your layer paint. Once both of these types are down, its time for a good wash. These are extremely watered or diluted down paints that are the consistency of water. These are used to pull out the details of your model. You want to use a good amount of this, but make sure it doesn't pool in any section. Let this dry for AT LEAST an hour. Once that's done, its time to use some different, preferably more bright layer paints - this is called highlighting. You want your highlights to be close to the same color family as your layer paints as you are just really brightening up the model again since the wash darkened the model down. If this is your first time painting, I wouldn't worry about edge highlighting as much, its something I still don't do as I don't have the patience.

There is also a great technique for scales and us Seraphon players called drybrushing. This is SUPER easy. Basically you want to get a drybrushing brush as the bristles are much different. Dab a little paint onto it, and then user a paper towel to wipe most of it off, then you will just "paint" the model lightly and the paint will catch the details and edges. GW does make a separate Drybrush style of paint? They are thick, kind of like PlayDough, I've only used a couple, they are OK.

A good rule of thumb for table top is 3 colors. Now its time for hopefully answering your question about the color scheme!
For what you are wanting (red skin, yellow scales), this is what I would advise:

Scales
Instead of yellow (yellow pigment is a pain to paint, at least for me) I would do a tan/brown, which would match closer to the "Desert Sand" feel.
Base: Zandri Dust
Wash/Shade: Agrax Earthshade
Layer (drybrush): Ushabti Bone

Skin
Base: Darker Red: Khorne Red or a bit brighter Mephiston Red
Wash/Shade: Use the Agrax again to save money, this will make it look more "muddy", or Nuln Oil to make it look a bit darker, and not as... muddy? Just dark.
Layer (drybrush OR highlights): Evil Sunz Scarlet or highlights with Wild Rider Red (this is very bright)

Leather straps and bits can be: Dryad Bark or Rhinox Hide, then use Gorthor brown for highlights.
Gold icons and bits can be: Balthasar Gold then one of the Gold layer paints (I use Gehenna's Gold).

I hope this helps!

 

Welcome aboard! Uh yeah, what @Aphotic said!

 

I duno if he is planning on painting red and yellow, you might consider priming with white instead of black.

 

I used a black primer for my entire Blood Angel army and had zero issues with coverage. Now I agree 100% with yellow, but I advised on going for a tan/brown route instead of yellow, especially for the desert theme. Otherwise, white or grey primer would be best. I've used a white primer before and it came out chalky/textured on my model - same conditions/temperature as when I used black -- so I just avoid it all together.

 

That me be more of a specific brand than the color in general.

 

Wow @Aphotic thats some fantastic advice

 

Indeed. Although, it usually only takes something bad or expectations-not-met once for me not to try it again.

 

I recommend Rustolium Automotive Primers.
It has a nice fine spray and bonds well, comes in like 4 colors,
also it cost like 1/2 what they charge for the hobby brands.

 

Thank you so much, sir! What An incredible reply! I'll be right down to GW right after bjj!

 

Any time! Let us know how it goes, maybe start a paint log to show your progress.

Also, the WarhammerTV YouTube is fantastic for learning tips and tricks.

 

I

I did two thin layers of averland sunset followed by a tyrant skull (dry paint recommended by the GW guy) and an agrax wash and loved the effect! Thinking of doing my shields green to offset all the desert colours.

I'll start a blog once I've got a good scheme

 

Awesome, can't wait to see pictures! Would like to see how that turned out.

 

It looks pretty cool.

Not sure if I should keep the shield the same as the scales, blue or another colour.

What do you think?

 

I think a fiery orange would look best on these shields.

 

Its odd because the complimentary color to yellow is purple, which.. would look interesting if you did more of a light purple than a bright/dark one - but that's not very desert-y.

However, green is complimentary to red, but I'm not sure that would look the best either, cause of the tan.

Orange might work like Bowser said. Would have to test it out to make sure it doesn't clash too much.

 

I didn't like green. Not too happy with blue eirher. I'll try orange tomorrow, I'm also not too keen on the Gold from the basic painting set. I'd like something brighter for the weapons!

 

Perhaps it needs highlighting with a much lighter blue ?
to better match the tone of the yellow skin.