Blog My first Seraphon

[PartyFoul]

Hello, I'm building my first army of Seraphon, and I'm starting with a unit of 20 Saurus Warriors. I assembled the first 10 over the weekend and primed them this morning. I picked one of these ten to be a test model while I work on sorting out a palette for the unit / army.


From reviewing other painting logs and how-to's, it looks like Citadel's Stegadon Scale Green is the go-to base color. I picked one of my Saurus Warriors to be a test model and gave him a full coat.

I picked up a few color options the other day, and wanted to see what they looked like out of the bottle, so I painted test drops on a piece of paper.



I decided to go with VGC Turquoise and painted a light layer.



Next, I gave him a thorough wash of Citadel Reikland Fleshshade



While that was drying, I mixed up a highlight from the Turquoise, adding one drop of VGC Sun Yellow and two drops of VGC Dead White to four drops of Turquoise. I also added a drop of Liquitex Matte Medium. With the wash dry, I painted a light layer on top of the Turquoise.



Finally, I did a light drybrush with a 5:1 mix of VGC Turquoise and Dead White. I added a drop of Liquitex Gloss Medium to this, which seemed to make the scales pop a bit. My lighting isn't great, though, so you don't really see this in the photo, below.



Here's the palette I ended up with. All of these, except for the Reikland Fleshshade are mixes starting with VGC Turquoise.



Next on my list is figuring out the red / red-orange contrast color for the spines.

 

[Bowser]

That turquoise looks so good! These guys are going to look amazing!

 

[Crowsfoot]

I admire your enthusiastic approach to mixing colours, me I could not be bothered to do that so I use GW paints and follow the system they developed to a degree.

Looks good so far and with a red contrast they will look amazing, any idea on shield colour?

 

[PartyFoul]

I admire your enthusiastic approach to mixing colours, me I could not be bothered to do that so I use GW paints and follow the system they developed to a degree.

Thank you! All things being equal, I'd rather just use straight colors from the pot. However, I've had mixed results at best when I've tried to do so. I'm pretty new to the hobby, but one thing I've observed is that the minis and armies which look best to my eye tend to have great, limited, color palettes. To that end, I'm trying to use as few base colors as possible, and then nudge them in different directions for highlights, etc.

Any idea on shield colour?

I'm thinking through two options. 1) Use the red contrast color as the shield "base," or 2) use a dark base color for both the shield and the weapon handle. The fifth photo on GW's Saurus Warrior page has something like this, and I like that the shield isn't as prominent and that both it and the weapon use the same base. The 'Eavy Metal Saurus Warrior on p. 62 of the Battletome also is done this way.

Since I'm going to have a wardrum SW, I get at least one freebie for experimentation, so I may try both options.

 

[PartyFoul]

This morning, I decided to investigate the various red options I had off the shelf. This consisted of Citadel Evil Sunz Scarlet and Wild Rider Red, and then I also tried VGC Bloody Red straight out of the dropper and mixed with varying degrees of VGC Sun Yellow.



I liked the VGC Red + Yellow in a 5:1 mix the best, so I went for it and added it to the turquoise test model. I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, although I may add one more layer of the base where it seems thin. Since this red is a pretty pure contrast color to the blue-green we're using, if there's any transparency, it becomes really dark. I also plan to add dry brush highlights at minimum. Here he is for now.

 

[n810]

It wouldn't hurt glue the heads and left arms on before painting,
I do understand perhaps not gluing on the shield before painting.

 

[Essmir]

It seems like your painting is going well and you have a very good strategy for picking out colours for your minnis!

 

[spess]

Nice contrast color there, almost looks like a salmon red/pink? When there's a big contrast between two colors, I typically like to lighten the non-base color with a bleached bone drybrush almost, and then add a neutral wash to the entire model. Greens would also look good with your scheme, and if you're looking for a splash color or warpaint or something, maybe look into yellow?

Like @n810 said it wouldn't hurt to assemble the models just a little bit more before painting. Thinking back to previous armies I used to construct/paint my minis like you, but ran into a few issues (maybe due to my lack of painting experience). First I would notice that sometimes the heads and arms wouldn't exactly match the rest of the body because I had painted them separately. Second when I would glue them together, there would be some glue residue that covered up some paint. Lastly for me personally it got really tedious painting 4 different pieces vs a whole model + a shield.

Anyway to each their own on painting styles -- if this is something that works for you, then keep doing it! As long as you're enjoying the hobby is really all that matters. Really looking forward to some finished minis!

 

[PartyFoul]

Thanks @Essmir and @Wesley! I agree with you on the left arm - I think I have PTSD from 40K Shoota Boyz where you can't paint the torso at all if they're assembled.

Regarding adding green to the mix - I was actually thinking about using that Stegadon Scale Green as the base color for the weapons / shield also, since it's the base elsewhere on the mini, and use a yellow or yellow gold to highlight the metal accents on the weapon / do a pattern on the shield. Thanks again for the feedback!

 

[PartyFoul]

and @n810 !!, sorry, you were above the fold on my screen.

 

[PartyFoul]

Hello all, it's been a few days since my last update. In the interim, I went ahead and painted the rest of the first ten the same as the test model. I also left the weapons with their Stegadon Scale Green base coat and added GW Auric Armor Gold for the Celestite accents.

I painted the shields Stegadon Scale Green as well, but I didn't like how they looked next to the painted models. In an effort to keep the palette as simple as possible and use the fewest number of paints, I decided to try mixing the Vallejo Red with the Turquoise and see if I could get a darker red. This is about 6:1 red to turquoise, compared to the Stegadon shield.



Here's the first eight with shields and weapons. I plan to wash the shields with Reikland Fleshshade and drybrush the shield with regular VGC red, mixed with a bit of gloss medium. @Essmir - I may experiment with your recommendation to use a bit of a bleached bone drybrush on the contrast reds.



While I've taken a somewhat circuitous route getting here, I've ended up with a pretty traditional / old school Lizardmen color scheme. Well, i suppose if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I will also be rebasing these guys on circle bases, probably just with GW Armageddon Dust texture paint and a tuft or two per base.

 

[n810]

Not bad at all, It definitely looks like the old skool Spawning of Sotec scheme.

 

[Warden]

I like the red stripes on their faces, I definitely agree with @n810 I immediately remembered the pictures from the old book! Spawning of Sotek!!

Great stuff, moar pictures!

 

[Bowser]

This is such an incredible paint job can't wait to see them based! The colours are just so brilliant.

 

[PartyFoul]

Thanks again for the feedback and encouragement!

The basing is actually taking a bit of a left turn, as I've decided to multibase these guys for KoW, rather than go the AoS route. In my current list, these Saurus Warriors will be a centerpiece horde unit, and I'm hoping they look even better in a diorama.