Hey! After many years i have finally decided to get back into wargaming (Best decision EVER) I used to be into it when i was very young at the age of 10-12 and i lost the interest in my teenage scumbag years. The last few years i've really gotten back the interest, tho i didn't have the money for it earlier due to moving out etc. My choice fell upon a lizardmen army of course, and i decided to start off with the Battalion for now. I'm kinda leaning toward a toxic, orange/yellow theme on my Lizards, and after browsing this forum for a while i have really been amazed by some of the skill people have here.. So my question is, would anybody care to share a few tips and tricks on how to paint my army to not look like the paint is just thrown on.. I've been looking up alot of paint technique videos, but i feel like to put the cherry on the top i need some pro lizard painting tips for this particular color scheme!
If you're going for bright colours like yellow and orange then I'd suggest that you start off base coating your models white. Those bright colours have a hard time sticking on dark base coats. In my own experience getting shadows and such on yellow and orange models is best done using shades and washes. GW has some washes that are good for this. I'd recommend some yellow, orange and red washes. When painting bright colours i find using some extra water in the mix gives better results. The paint becomes much smoother and not so grimy as you get with more dry paints and drybrushing. IMO drybrushing fits darker colours abit better, altough drybrushing the bacl scales usually yields good results regardless of colour choice. Also spending some time on the bases is really satisfying. I regret not doing that on my first lizzies... Any other questions are most welcome!
I couldn't agree more with Hojdar! Spend time on the bases! To have the best possible result on your models I would try and get the basing and the miniatures done seperately. I would recommend using spackle or putty from a DIY market as sort of a basecoat for the base. This will give your bases an uneven ground, which looks way more naturual than just stuff on the base. It is good to add rocks and stuff before it dries. After it dried you can cover the rest with dried soil. I would always recommend soil over sand as it just has so much more details. It helps to fix your miniautes using Patex (stuff to fix posters to your walls) so an old painting pot. This way you can turn the miniature around a lot easier and your hands will thank you as well if you are painting for a longer time. Also, you should get a wet palette as it will just help you keep the state of your used colors for a longer time as you will want to water down you colors. Most importantly, you should try and find out, what your style of painting is. Are you happy to paint 10 at the same time or are you happy to finish one modell and start the next. 10 at a time takes less time in general, but if you prefer it the other way you should stick to that as you will have better results if you enjoy painting.
All good advise, although i perfer a regular pallate to the fancy wet pallate, probaly becausei use cheap watery craft paints for the most part. Oh and don't paint your favorite model first, trust me, you'll thank me later. (paint him later when your skills have improved)
Appreciate the quick and helpful response! I'm gonna make my own wet palette from tupperware / parchment paper... Since i'm not really gonna be playing the game for the first bit of time, painting/assembling and getting the best possible results is my interest, so i'd say i'm one of those guys who has 2 models going at a time maybe, but no rush at all. I'd hate to do sloppy work in such an expensive hobby. Besides, painting is the most fun part to me, along with assembly and so on... I was intending to do the basing separately, i wasnt really sure what to put on there, but my plan is to buy a bunch of styrofoam, carve out some small rocks etc to make the basing abit more interesting, always make the models look more "alive" to me. And since i'm gonna do a terrain solely for display, i'll be needing the styrofoam anyway... Does somebody have a good idea for putting some plants on the base? Or where i could buy some? Once again, thanks for the helpful tips!
I would advise not to use styroform on your base... Use real rocks apart from giving the miniature a bit of weight it will always look better! It is really difficult to get styroform into the form you like in such a small scale... For plant it really depends. There paper plants and etched plants that look great as they have the right scale, but you can also try the aquarium plants. I would suggest to paint those as well for a more natural look though...
I might have a whole blog about basing making terrain with tutorials... (Cough.. it's-in-my-signateure-link ...cough)