Blog Huatli’s Horde

Very good advice. I’m nearly finished with the second set of ten and I think I’ll take a break to work on my engine today.

However, I am very happy with how they turned out. Still have the frills to do but I’m not sure what to do with them. Two of my first batch:

 

Really eye catching scheme on the skinks. What colours did you use?

 

Thanks guys!

@Lezlor i did a base coat of Karak Stone and did several dry brush layers of eshin gray. The scales are stegadon green washed with Drakenhof nightshade and then dotted with Granite Gray from apple barrel

 

You should be happy, they look great

 

Again, thank you guys for your kind words.

I finished the second set and it didn’t go as well but I learned a lot with them about techniques and the order in which they should be done lol

 

Nice work!!

My biggest piece of advice would be to use a darker base color on the skin and then do a layer of over brushing and then go into your dry brushing. You can start darker, then instead of going right into a pure drybrush (aka almost no paint on the brush) you can leave more paint on the brush and do some "overbrushing." This is just as fast as drybrushing and the goal is to move the model around so you use its natural edges to maintain your darker base color in recesses. Then after that first layer you can switch to a very light and brighter dry brush. This well help you maintain depth on your models, especially because you will be using this on the table top!

Good work and keep experimenting!! I know it can be a little frustrating when you have a vision in your head and then it doesn't turn out exactly the way you hoped, but it is the only way to improve

 

@Joshua Horchler this is really good advice I tried it out on the stegadon torso I’m working on, I do have a few questions though. The colors feel extremely muted, is it just a matter of doing another dry brush round or do I need to go up in the brightness of the pigment.

Also, how do you go about blending an underbelly color a bit better

 

I just typed out a long response but it didn't make any sense lol. I will get back to you later tonight after work

 

I like your skinks, they are turning out great!

 

Okay so here is what I call overbrushing. Overbrushing is similar to drybrushing but they are not the same. When you use overbrushing you still keep the brush damp and you have more paint left on it than you would if you were dry brushing. So to prep for overbrushing you would lay out your paint, thin it with a little water (I typically always thin GW paints with at least a little water), get some loaded on your brush and then whipe off like roughly 50% of it. This is not layering and it's not drybrushing. For me I use my largest round brush. Then if you were painting a Stegadon you would hold the model and instead of "whisking" it back and forth like you do when you dry brush, you instead position the model and brush in a way that the brush is parallel with the raised area you are painting. Then you would use the side of the brush, not the tip, and move it back and forth over the raised area, building it up over a few strokes, until you are happy with the brightness and tone. You can do this multiple times and the more paint you leave on your brush the stronger the results will be. This is similar to dry brushing because it leaves your dark base coat in the recesses, it is not an all over layer.

I hope that helps a little bit. It can be a very good technique for lizardmen because they have large raised muscles and scales. It is really about controlling your paint on your brush and using the model's sculpt to your advantage. It is a great compliment to dry brushing because if you only dry brush you may not get the color saturation you desire and also dry brushing can sometimes appear chalky.

Let me know if you have any follow up tips. I wish I could show you because in about 30s it would make so much sense But give it a go, if you fail, try again

 

Also in terms of blending the two tones together you can either mix up some midtones of the two colors, by slowly mixing them together and applying layers to the model or you could also thin down some washes and apply a few thin layers of wash to where the colors meet. I don't mind the harsh transition because a lot of lizards have white underbelly and it gives it a very Dinosaur vibe to me, but it's all about personal preference.

 

It can be very useful and faster than layering. It won't work on flat models, but when you have big Stegadon muscles it works great. The hardest part is learning how to position your brush and model and controlling the amount of paint and wetness on the brush. I would suggest starting with very little paint on the brush and then adding more if it is too light.

 

@Joshua Horchler @Aginor thanks for the discussion guys I learned a lot actually. I’m going to finish him off tonight and I’ll post how the experiment went!

 

I'm excited to see it. I wish I could show you some of my early models.... They were not even close to looking as good as yours. If you stick with it and keep trying new things you will keep improving! Feel free to PM me if you ever have any specific questions or are looking for feedback. I'm by no means a Pro, but I'd give you my honest advice for whatever that's worth

 

Making some really good progress. Still so much to do and honestly this thing is a lot more work than I anticipated