Painting my first army - Separate unit colors?

Hey fellow lizardmen!

I painted my first unit of Skinks, and they actually look fantastic. I'm starting the second unit now and am wondering: should I keep the same paint scheme, or paint each unit of skinks different (i.e. to represent their unique spawning pools).

I really like the color of the first unit, but I may get tired of painting the same colors on 100+ models.

Anyway, has anyone ever painted every unit different? If so, do you like the final look of the army? I don't want my army to look all over the place, but if it came together nicely, I think I'd give it a try!. Any thoughts/ feedback would be appreciated.

 

I painted mine differently for just the reason you said. They look fine, but I regret it now, as they don't look like they belong together enough. If I were going to do it again, I'd still paint the units differently, but have something that ties them all together. Same fin colour, or same scale colour, or same skin colour. Obviously painting the weapons the same colour helps. Painting everyone's shields the same way definitely brings the army together, but might clash with the different colour schemes you choose.

More than anything though, IMO, is to paint the units in the same style, not necessarily colours. ie. If you're doing dry-brushing and washes, keep doing it. If you're doing some extreme highlighting, do it to all the models. If you're using muted skin tones, don't switch to bright ones. That sort of thing.

</twocents>

 

Sweet, thanks for the feedback. That's definitely something to consider - I plan on painting all of them in the same style - some highlights and drybrush. I tested out a new Skink, and I'm not sure he fits in that well. Perhaps I'll try swapping the scale color with the skin color and see if this looks more cohesive. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

Just do variation of crests -- plain, spotted, striped, etc.

The armies I've seen with greater variation than that don't look much like armies.

 

I agree with this. one cohesive colour for skin and one for scales, i would keep any variations to patterns as Dyvim Tvar said, or spot colours, eg. each saurus unit could have its own unique colour on the bony ridge on their crests and running down the spines in the centre of the scales on their back, each skink unit could have a different colour crest.

If you wanted obvious spawnings I would use different colours, for a more subtle alteration to make each unit slightly unique I would use the patterns (plain spotted striped) in colours that don't stand out too much from the skin tone (eg light grey or light blue spots on dark blue skin or vice versa)

I also find painting large numbers of models the same colour quite monotonous but adding the little details to make each spawning unique should break it up and makes putting the finishing touches on a model even more enjoyable

that said... they're your models, paint them so that you are happy with how they look

 

oh, one more thing! what i do for my models is: the larger the creature the darker it is. so saurus are painted using the same colours as skinks but with a little black mixed in, skinks are painted lighter and the highlights are pushed to be more extreme! I think of lizardmen as one race, so in the same way as the human race there are many variations in appearance and skin tone but nothing too contrasting. then you can go wild with colours for all the unique creatures of lustria like salamanders hope this helps!

Also I wouldnt mind seeing pics of the completed unit of skinks

 

Thanks for the tips! It sounds like subtle differences are the way to go. So far I have painted them with a red skin tone, green fin color, and light blue scales. They aren't the best in the world, but I think they're pretty good for my first army.

Bonz - I'd love to upload them, but am having some trouble figuring out how... Is there an easy way to upload pics?

 

What I've done (so far - i've been slack!) is all my saurus have the same coloured skin and similar scales. My skinks have darker skin and lighter scales of the same tones.
The way I differ the saurus is with a streak of colour on the top of their heads and small horns. Each unit (ie: spawning) has a different colour.
My skinks are all the same, except that I give the unit champions/heroes a red crest, whereas the troops get a green crest.

That being said, I bought a few saurus on ebay already painted which i need to repaint... I have months of painting ahead of me!

 

http://www.lustria-online.com/threads/posting-images.1648/


heres how to upload pictures!

 

YAY! It worked. Here's the first dude - I'll try to get the whole unit uploaded soon.








Bonz - I just checked out your painting blog - it looks amazing! It's definitely inspiration to further my painting skillz. Still, I'm pretty happy with my first go at it!

 

Looks really solid.

Definitely keep this color scheme going across the army.

 

Thank you, any feedback is always welcome

as usual i seem to be agreeing with dyvim tvar..

very nice colour scheme and very clean and neat painting style. one little touch that i particularly like is the use of two colours on the shield's scales, attention to details like this really make a model and if you keep this up you'll have a great looking army any chance of a unit pic?

 

Here's the first unit plus two!

I also uploaded a clearer pick of the shield - I used three colors (black for the cracks, a brown and pebble color for the shield). Do you mean that I should use 2 colors for each bump on the shield?

 

And another shot of the unit!

 

Really nice unit. The blending for the skink's skin around the tail and calves is really good. Agreed that the different coloured scales on the shields look great. You could do some edge highlighting or maybe drybrush the shield scales, but I'm not sure if it would add anything.

What colour is the "dirt" on the bases? It looks unpainted in the photos.

 

thanks for the feedback!! ill try a little more blending on the shield. i have a couple extra guys to experiment with... the base has three colors in it - two blues, and a light green. i aggree the photo didnt show it really, but it's supposed to look swampy. thus two shades of blue for dark and shallow water, green for the marshes theyre on, and some grass on top of the sand for a little more flavor

ill add a photo of a closeup on the base soon!

 

Here's a closeup on the base. It could probably use some touch up work.

 

great looking unit! now whats up next? and no i meant that using two different colours (brown and pebble) and alternating them on different scales looks good, i may have to 'borrow' that idea! i think leave the skink shields as they are, maybe try some edge highlighting on larger shields for saurus etc. but to me thats a very nicely finished unit you have there

 

+1

Looking forward to more.

 

Well, I'm building a pretty Skinky army (pun intended), so a lot more Skink Skirmishers - I still have around 30 to paint. I ordered a box of Chameleons that should be in over the weekend, so I'll probably work on that unit when they come in. I'm still debating what color(s) to paint them. I was going to go with an orange skin tone, but after this thread, I'm not sure if that'll clash with the rest of my army.

Eventually you can expect to see:

1 Slann
2 Scar Vets on Cold Ones
1 Skink Priest
50 Skinks
15 Chameleons
2 Salamanders

This is my 1500 pt list. If I ever finish painting that many models, I will work towards 2000 pts

I assume we'll have a new rulebook by then as well.